Press release (OIC Secretariat, Banjul)
The Gambia OIC Secretariat has appointed Mrs Binta Jammeh-Sidibe as the chairperson of the Local Organising Committee (LOC) for the 16thHeads of State and Government Summit of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, which will be hosted by The Gambia in 2022. The appointment takes effect on February 1st 2020.
Mrs Jammeh-Sidibeh is a retired seasoned public administrator and a renowned gender activist who served in various capacities in The Gambia and beyond for more than four decades. She is the current representative of The Gambia on the Turkey-based OIC Women’s Consultative and Advisory Council. She also doubles as the chairperson of the Gender Policy Committee of the OIC General Secretariat, which is based in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. In the past, she has presented reports on behalf of the Government of The Gambia at OIC Ministerial Conferences on Women in Azerbaijan and Turkey, respectively.
Mrs Jammeh-Sidibeh said the following of her appointment: “I am very happy about it. It is a call to national duty to contribute my quota yet to the national development of this country. For the OIC Gambia Secretariat, I would like to see us be successful in this big assignment, which is the hosting of the summit in 2022. I will bring my committees together immediately to work hard and achieve our objective of having a summit second to none.”
Reacting to the appointment, the chief executive officer of the Secretariat, Mr Yankuba Dibba, said the new LOC chair brings a wealth of relevant experience to the job.
”We are hopeful that her coming will add great value and vigour to the ongoing project implementation works. I do not think we could have a better candidate”, CEO Dibba remarked.
In her new role, the chair of the LOC will oversee and coordinate the works of the various sub-committees responsible for the implementation of the different projects ahead of the 2022 summit in The Gambia.
Mrs Jammeh-Sidibe is widely recognised as a strong advocate for women’s empowerment in the country. She is the current executive director of the Association for Promoting Girls and Women’s Advancement in The Gambia (APGWA). Previously, she served as the executive director of the Women’s Bureau. Mrs Jammeh-Sidibeh is the recipient of several national and international awards including the Insignia of Member of the Republic of The Gambia (MRG) conferred on her by the President of the Republic of The Gambia, and special recognition awards by the United Nations and Amnesty International Germany.
