ActionAid International – The Gambia (AAITG), in partnership with the National Youth Council (NYC), has engaged 3,000 young people through 11 regional town hall meetings to raise awareness of the National Youth Policy Implementation Framework and promote youth participation in its implementation.
Held from October 1 to 10, the engagements covered the Upper River Region (URR), Central River Region North (CRR-N), North Bank Region (NBR), Kanifing Municipality and Banjul.
The meetings provided a platform for young people to understand the framework, its importance and the roles of stakeholders in translating the objectives of the National Youth Policy into practical action.
Saikou F Bah, Project Officer at ActionAid International The Gambia, said participants consistently raised concerns about unemployment, limited economic opportunities, access to quality education and meaningful participation in decision-making.
He said youth unemployment remained a major challenge, with participants calling for increased investment in skills development, entrepreneurship support, access to finance and decent employment opportunities, particularly for young people in rural communities.
Bah added that participants stressed the need to move beyond consultation and become active participants in planning, implementing and monitoring policies and programmes affecting their lives. They also called for equitable access to quality education and vocational training, alongside stronger links between education, skills development and labour market demands.
According to Bah, recommendations gathered from the meetings would be documented, analysed and shared with relevant government ministries, departments, agencies and other stakeholders to inform implementation plans and priorities at national and regional levels.
He said ActionAid and the NYC would continue facilitating dialogue between young people and policymakers while strengthening feedback mechanisms through youth networks, regional youth committees, civil society organisations and community structures.
Bah also encouraged young people to monitor the policy’s implementation, track commitments and report gaps in service delivery. He noted that active youth participation was essential for promoting accountability and contributing to national development.
Ebrima Ndow, Monitoring and Evaluation Officer at the NYC, said the council would strengthen coordination with the Ministry of Youth and Sports, government institutions, local authorities, development partners and youth structures to ensure concerns raised during the meetings were reflected in action plans, programmes and resource allocation.
He added that the council would improve monitoring and reporting mechanisms to track commitments, identify implementation gaps and provide feedback to young people on progress.
“Our objective is to ensure that the voices of young people are not only heard but also reflected in policies, programmes and decisions that affect their lives,” Ndow said.
He further explained that the NYC would promote youth participation through community-level feedback, tracking commitments and reporting implementation challenges. “Where feasible, digital platforms would be used to share progress and gather young people’s views.”
Alasan Jawo, Youth Coordinator at the Department of Youth and Sports, described the National Youth Policy as a guiding instrument for coordinating, implementing and monitoring youth development programmes. He said the implementation framework covered eight key pillars.
Jawo noted that the ministry’s strategic plan and the department’s work plan were aligned with the policy, adding that stronger coordination among implementing institutions was necessary to achieve its objectives.
He identified skills development, entrepreneurship and the mismatch between educational qualifications and available employment opportunities as key challenges requiring collaboration with other institutions, particularly the Ministry of Education.
On entrepreneurship, Jawo highlighted the role of the National Enterprise Development Initiative (NEDI) in providing training and support to young people seeking to establish businesses. He also stressed the importance of partnerships with the private and agricultural sectors in expanding employment opportunities.
Jawo emphasised the need to improve information dissemination about youth programmes, particularly in rural and hard-to-reach communities, to ensure that young people are not left behind.
He said the department would work to ensure that young people at village, district, regional and national levels were informed about the policy and the opportunities available to them.
“The Youth Policy says no one should be left behind. We will therefore strengthen information dissemination to ensure that young people, including those in the most remote communities, are reached,” he said.
The town hall meetings form part of ongoing efforts by ActionAid, the NYC and other stakeholders to strengthen youth participation and accountability in implementing the National Youth Policy. Stakeholders maintain that its success will depend on effective coordination, sustained investment in youth development and meaningful opportunities for young people to influence decisions affecting their future.
