The training was funded by United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco).
Senior Programme Officer at the National Commission for Unesco Maimuna Sidibeh in a statement delivered on behalf of the secretary general of NATCOM said: “Investing in youth is pertinent given the context of The Gambia, which has a youth population of 63.55percent under 25 years of age. The project will support several activities to be implemented by the national youth council under the supervision of the ministry of youth and sports. These activities will be in different categories including governance which will have activities such as mid-term review of the current national youth policy, and support the regular holdings of meetings of the national youth council. The awareness raising activities will include media programs and sensitisation workshop on the policy for policy makers and key stakeholders in its implementation. The capacity building component will focus on conducting training workshops for youth leaders on leadership and organisational management and support seven municipal and regional youth committees and the secretariat of the national youth council so that the two entities of the council can perform their monetary and supervisory roles efficiently.
“The National Youth Council is currently operating under the current National youth policy of 2009 to 2018. This policy has been formulated to guide the government, its development partners, youths and youth organisations on their operations in The Gambia. The policy was also formulated as a strategy paper to assist the youth council, central government and partners as a basis to invest in youth programmes, which are aimed at sustaining the gains registered in the past policies and further prove the need for greater investment in youth development initiative. It is for this reason that I Implore you to take these three days convergence seriously as the ideas that will be generated from it will sufficiently add value to the implementation of the rest of the project activities.”
Chairman of the National Youth Council, Fabakary Kalleh expressed delight and gratitude for the successful implementation of the program. He told the participants that the training activity is very significant for the youth and the country as a whole. He advised the participants to make best use of the training and reminded that the government is always concerned about youth matters.
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