West Africa - The vice president and minister of Women's Affairs, Aja Dr Isatou Njie-Saidy Saturday presided over the official launch of the West African Network of Young Female Leaders Gambia Chapter, at a colourful ceremony held at the Paradise Suites Hotel. The network, an initiative of the Ecowas Gender Development Centre (EGDC) is designed to empower young female leaders as well as encourage them forge ahead so as to correct the imbalances that exist between men and women in decision-making processes in their various countries. Graced by the deputy speaker of the National Assembly-Fatou Mbaye, Minister of Youth and Sports Sheriff Gomez, PS's and senior government officials, the launching, was preceded by a three-day leadership and Gender Mainstreaming Training, and attracted participants from the sub-region.

Ya Amie Mbaye, the newly elected president of The Gambian Chapter, thanked the VP for agreeing to officiate the launching. She averred that the move symbolises the true political will on the side of the government for the recognition of women in nation building. She said: "The establishment of this network is an opportunity for young female leaders to get together to conduct all discussion and undertake efficient and effective activities that contribute to the promotion of the girl. Under the support of the Ecowas Gender Development Centre, [we] saw the need for West African young leaders to come together to pool their experiences and efforts to foster peer states, create awareness which must be accompanied by concerted actions for the involvement, participation and representation in all structures and decision-making process." Mbaye also hailed the efforts of the Gambian leader in creating an enabling environment and for his continued recognition of females as partners in development in the country's quest to attain the MDG"S and Vision 2020.

For her part, Aminata Dibba, the director of the EGDC based in Dakar-Senegal, expressed heartfelt gratitude to VP Njie-Saidy and through her the Gambian leader and government of The Gambia for the warm reception accorded them. "The choice of The Gambia as the venue of the meetings of the Bureau of the Network of Young Female Leaders of West Africa as well as the leadership and Gender Mainstreaming training for young female leaders is no coincidence. For it is well known that the issue of youth advancement development and empowerment is a priority for the government of The Gambia. This has been adequately demonstrated by the policies and programmes that have been put in place by the competent Gambian authorities, championed by the Gambian leader," she stated.

Dibba further asserted that by bringing together the young female leaders in The Gambia, they will be able to witness on firsthand basis the youth-friendly and female-friendly environment that happily exist in The Gambia. She extended special greetings from Ambassador James Victor Gbeho, the president of the Ecowas Commission and Dr Adrienne Diop, the Commissioner for Human Development and Gender, who she said, have asked her to extend their best wishes for the successful launch of the network in The Gambia.

Dibba said her organisation is indeed proud to be associated with the launch, and went on to congratulate the network and all the young women of the Ecowas member states for the wonderful achievements. She added: "The launching of the Gambia Chapter today is therefore very timely and relevant for several reasons as it epitomises several years of struggle to get women emerge as leaders. One of the factors that militated against women assuming leadership positions within the formal sector was their lack of education or low level of illiteracy. With the democratisation of education and girls going to schools and completing their education to the highest level, lack of education is no longer a factor that can obstruct women from participating in the decision-making process."

The EGDC boss averred that it is for this reason that her organisation initiated the creation of the Network of Young Female Leaders of West Africa in 2009 and provided financial and technical support for the setting up of the regional secretariat of the network and the national chapters in all the 15-Ecowas member countries. She disclosed that the launch of The Gambia national chapter makes it the third to be set up after those of Guinea Conakry and Senegal. She assured of her organisation's continuous support to the network to consolidate its structures and effectively exercise its mandate.

She also appealed to all development partners and organisation to support these young female leaders in their bid to contribute their quota to the development of the Ecowas region. Dibba concluded by thanking all the young female leaders and others who provided support towards the successful launching of the Gambian chapter of the Network. In her launching statement, VP Njie-Saidy opined that the significance of the initiative cannot be overemphasised, as it involves the very important sector of the society -the young people. She said: "When deconstructed the two separate component of the same person that is being a 'youth" on the other hand being a 'woman" on the other, both are whom we represent important component of any society, and, when encapsulated into one become even more formidable, underscores the significance of this event."

VP Njie-Saidy used the opportunity to expressed appreciation to the EGDC and her staff and their local counterpart -Women's Bureau and the National Chapter for what she called their diligent preparation of the training session and the launch event. "I would like to preface my statement by reminding all of you of the enormous responsibility that we have i.e. our government at National Level and the EDGC at the regional level to work strategically and visibly together with the Young Women's leaders of West Africa in support of our collective efforts to ensure that our rights are respected, protected and fulfilled. Women's rights and the rights of the young people are very high on the global development agenda," VP Njie-Saidy told the gathering.

She added that The Gambia subscribes to this global agenda evident in the number of international and regional instruments that it is signatory to, stressing that beyond signing and ratifying these international instruments, The Gambia has gone beyond further by domesticating these instruments into national legislation that guarantees and protect these rights by developing policies that ensure the implementation of these laws. She emphasised that some of these conventions and protocols include the convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) 1997 and the Beijing Platform for Action (1995) among others. Recognising the critical role that youth play in the socio--economic development of the country, VP Njie-Saidy informed the gathering that government has put in place several mechanisms that are designed to address the issue of youth.

VP Njie-Saidy said that the National Youth Policy and POA 2009-2018 has been developed and is a follow up to the 1999-2008 Youth Policy and POA. She explained that the National Youth Policy 2009-2018 is a blueprint for Gambian youths, that will engage them in a serious manner. She further explained that Gamjobs is designed to create an enabling environment for employment creation in order to develop a skilled versatile, dynamic and efficient workforce, thereby creating opportunities for wage and self-employment for 10,000 youths in both the formal and informal sector economy.

VP Njie-Saidy maintained that without education it is evident that girls and women cannot claim their rightful place in society and that all the calls for gender equality will come to nought if girls and women continue to lag behind their male counterparts in the educational arena. "As you proceed with your network activities you will learn that there are indeed many initiatives that have been developed at the national, regional and international levels to empower women and by so doing facilitate gender equity and equality," she added. She then assured that the government will continue to give them all the support they need to achieve their objectives.

Others speakers included-Guilavogui Jeonme- the regional president of the West African Network of Young Female Leaders; and Satang Naban, the vice president of the Gambia Chapter, who delivered the vote of thanks. The climax of the launching ceremony witnessed the presentation of certificates to participants from the sub-region who underwent a three-day Gender and Mainstreaming Training.

Sheriff Janko

The Daily Observer/05/04/2011