By Olimatou Coker
The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) office in The Gambia, last week Wednesday held a forum to review and plan ahead of its 2022 programmes. The two-day event took place at the Sir Dawda Jawara Conference Center. The meeting brought together all implementing partners of UNFPA programmes to take stock of the achievements registered within the course of the year, as well as highlight the lessons learned and plans for the coming year.
Mariama Fanneh, director at the national population commission secretariat, thanked UNFPA through the country representative for supporting The Gambia in trying to ensure that everybody that needs a modern method of family planning gets it and nobody has to go through any sexual and gender-based violence including female genital mutilation (FGM), child marriage and also, no woman dies of preventable maternal death.
She thanked the implementing partners for their support and collaboration throughout the years and asked for more of that to achieve the SDG in 2030.
Kunle Adeniye, the UNFPA country representative, said the reviewing and planning of the programme are important because it helps to plan activities and deter failures.
“We appreciate what is going on today, but also want to encourage the participants to participate with their strength especially with their mental capacity”.
Adeniyi pointed out that some of the solutions today are not the hardest to think about, adding that they are just related to a mindset shift and behavioral change.
Kebba Bojang, representing the Gambia government thanked the UNFPA for its continuous support to population and development in the country, which he said dates back to 1972 leading to the formulation of the first ever national population policy and programme, the development of a comprehensive institutional framework and the establishment of the national population commission (NPC).
“UNFPA and the government of the Gambia continue to enjoy a long-standing partnership in the improvement of the quality of lives of all Gambians, mostly women, and girls,” he said.
