Yamudundow Jagne- Jobe, the chief guides’ commissioner of the Gambia Girl Guides Association said of the programme: “We have girls from the United Kingdom Girl Guides Association who are currently here for the implementation of this project and will be with us for three weeks. This is a five year project that has been signed between the Gambia Girl Guides Association and the UK Girl Guides which is now in its third year. At the end of the project, we are going to review the program to see how we are doing and where we should improve and the way forward. Hence, this year is a very important year for us. They are in Banjul to train the guides at all levels of guiding across the country. We started with the executive and guiders and now they are conducting training for young leaders. We will travel up country to all the regions because the association is trying as much as possible to decentralise guiding in the country. We have a center in Brikama and Soma as part of our decentralisation initiatives. The project is not only looking at guiding girls at the central level but also at rural areas given the importance of rural guiding. The rural guides will therefore also have their own share of the cake in terms of capacity development. This is a very important project for the Gambia Girl Guides Association because as a member organisation if we do not have strong people with strong capacities among others, we will not be able forge our way. We see capacity building as a core of all our activities. Through the ongoing training and skills development at both the national and international levels, leadership and succession will be easy. So therefore, capacity building is paramount and pivotal in all our activities in guiding.”
Anna Senghore, senior mistress of Busumbala-Farato Lower Basic School and the chairperson of the training team said: “I am really impressed with this Gold project because the project is in its third year and the training team coming to The Gambia. Even though it is a different group, they have been helping both the guiders and guides in terms of skills development through intensive training activities. We really appreciate their partnership because they are giving us much training as far as guiding is concern. The objective of these trainings is to mould our girls and young leaders as you know these girls are going to be future leaders. Simply put, we are molding them to be good and responsible leaders in future.”
For her part, Emma Guthrie, team leader and senior section guide leader of the UK Girl Guides Association said: “The project we are running is called the gold project and we have been coming to The Gambia for the past three years. The aim is to build the leadership in the Gambia Girl Guides Association and help the association with their own organisational system and structure so that they can develop and grow. We are training them on leadership and advocacy, how to exchange ideas, and working together. We have seen the difference since we started the training for young guides and have found out that they are competent. At the end of the training, we will want to be in a position to know where the Gambia Girl Guides Association’s next step will be. In addition, it is about how they can also empower themselves and their communities. I hope the relationship and partnership will continue because it is a very strong link and we are pleased to be in The Gambia. I hope the friendship will continue in the next years to come.”
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