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National sports council laments lack of funds

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Marcel Mendy made the comment last week during a two-day consultative meeting of stakeholders under the Ministry of Youth and Sports at the President International Award in Bakau.

He said: “The National Sports Council has been beset by a number of constraints such as the insufficient monthly subvention of the council which has greatly affected the operations of the Council as it cannot meet the cost of certain important activities and the increasing demand of the young people of the country which has forced the council to depend on more project funded activities. The council also has only one vehicle to monitor regional structures, and lacks a land to accommodate the secretariat of the National Sports Council.”

Mr Mendy stated that the country’s sports infrastructure is in a bad state with limited financial resources to support national sports associations and programmes. He said but despite the challenges there are plans for 2015 which will ensure the smooth operations of all sporting activities in the country.

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“The plan includes rehabilitating and refurbishing the Upper River Region, Lower River Region and Central River Region mini stadia, provision of training footballs to regional football associations and the Gambia Football Federation league clubs, the provision of office space and furniture to national associations, development of a five-year framework for sports development and the popularisation of the national sports act among a host of others.”

 

NYC unveils 2015 plan

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Meanwhile, the executive director of the National Youth Council, Lamin Darboe has said that his institution will embark on rehabilitating and operationalising youth centres in all the regions in the country. He said there is need to establish a youth house for the National Youth Council secretariat and youth-related institutions.

“The 2015 plan also includes prevention and response to ‘back way’ migration, restructuring of NYC secretariat, development of a strategy and roadmap for NAYCONF 2014 resolution implementation and review and partnership and networking between national, regional and global [institutions]. Our planned budget estimates at 8,000,000 million dalasi with anticipated funds of over 3,000,000 million dalais from the UN system, government and registration funds from youth groups.” 

The National Youth Council was established by an Act of Parliament in the year 2000 with the main function of coordinating all youth programmes in The Gambia. The creation of the council also aimed at enhancing the participation of young people in national development efforts thus recognising the fact that young people are critical constituents of national population with innate potentials to transform the society. Apart from coordinating, planning, monitoring and evaluating youth programmes, projects, and activities, the National Youth Council (NYC) as a youth parent body is mandated by an Act of Parliament to advice government on youth matters in The Gambia.  

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