By Omar Bah
The Global Youth Innovation Network (GYIN) has commenced the disbursement of different materials and poultry feeds to their 2018 rural youth award winners and runners up.
GYIN is a fully youth inspired and youth-led network for youth entrepreneurs and rural micro-enterprises committed to acting as hunger fighters, change agents, and innovators, driven by the passion to see generational transformations and changes from the grassroots to the global level.
Speaking at one of the presentations in Abuko, the GYIN-Gambia monitoring and evaluation officer, Modou Lamin Darboe said the disbursement is the first stage of the distribution to the award winners and runners up according to what they demand.
He said the network decided to buy materials for the winners instead of giving them the cash because last year some of the winners did not use the money as it was intended.
“We are doing this because we learned from experience last year, because some of the winners did not use the money as expected…And given our main objective is to build rural enterprises, it is only fair if our interventions are reflecting as expected,” he said.
He said this time around they would conduct monitoring and evaluation based on the areas of business the awardees are engaging in before they would disburse the remaining package.
“I want to emphasise that we want to see these young business owners successful and internationally known for their success in their various businesses. Before giving the second part of the award we have to assess the first disbursement and know how far they have gone,” he said.
Meanwhile, speaking shortly after receiving his first disbursement of poultry feeds, the runner up young agribusiness of the year 2018, Modou Lamin Fatty said he is glad to receive his first disbursement.
He expressed his satisfactory in the way GYIN decided to distribute the cash prizes to their respective winners.
Fatty called on the Gambia Government to support GYIN in their drive towards empowering rural youth, saying GYIN as the only organisation that is engage in awarding emerging rural entrepreneurs they deserve the support of every genuine Gambian.
GYIN, he added, is capable of bridging the gap and as well contribute significantly in helping the country to achieve its targeted food self-sufficiency goals if given the necessary support they desire.
He called on his fellow young people to engage in agriculture, saying those days are gone to sit and say things are not easy or there is no employment.
Brief background
Mr Fatty is a 22-year-old poultry farmer and the chief executive officer of ML’s Poultry Farm in Brikama, West Coast Region.
ML’s Poultry started operation in 2017 to address SDG 1, which is zero poverty, and SDG 2, zero hunger. On SDG1, ML’s farm provides employment for youth who are interested in poultry.
For SDG 2, ML’s Poultry would provide meal especially for those who need chicken, which is a very good source of protein to contribute to the country’s food self-sufficiency drive.
