Sunday, April 29, 2012

Pillay urges states to inject human rights into Rio+20



NEWS RELEASE:GENEVA (18 April 2012) – As negotiations on the Rio+20 Conferen ce outcome enter a critical phase, UN Human Rights chief Navi Pillay has urged all United Nations Member States to ensure that human rights are thoroughly integrated in the discussions and in any final outcome. 


Twenty years after the adoption of the landmark Rio Declaration, the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development is due to convene in June this year. Regrettably, said Pillay in a letter sent to all UN Member States, the draft outcome document of the Rio+20 Conference fails to take sufficient account of human rights imperatives. 

GIABA To Hold World Press Conference


The Inter-Governmental Action Group against Money Laundering in West Africa (GIABA) will hold a World Press Conference, bringing journalists and media executives from various media houses within and outside the West African region on 27-28 April, 2012, at Radisson Blu Hotel, Dakar, Senegal GIABA, a specialized institution of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) as well as Financial Action Task Force-Styled Regional Body (FRSB) was established by the Authority of Heads of State and Government of ECOWAS in the year 2000 with the mandate to protect the national economies and financial system of member States from abuse and laundering the proceeds of crime, in an email made  available to Mansa Banko

GIABA To Hold Briefing Session For ECOWAS Ambassadors, Partners




The Inter-Governmental Action Group against Money Laundering in West Africa (GIABA) will hold an Annual briefing session for ECOWAS Ambassadors and development partners in the Republic of Senegal on the 27th April, 2012,  at Radisson Blu Hotel, Dakar, Senegal, a press release from GIABA disclosed. 
GIABA, a specialized institution of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) as well as Financial Action Task Force-Styled Regional Body (FRSB) was established by the Authority of Heads of State and Government of ECOWAS in the year 2000 with the mandate to protect the national economies and financial system of member States from abuse and laundering the proceeds of crime.  

Friday, April 27, 2012

Gambia News Online Publisher attends World Press Conference

Lamin Jahateh, editor and publisher of Gambia News Online, an online newspaper, on Thursday left to Dakar, Senegal, to attend the World Press Conference organized by the Inter-Governmental Action Group against Money Laundering in West Africa (GIABA).
Mr Jahateh, who is the national correspondent of  (APA), will join other journalists and media executives from various media houses within and outside the West African region at the conference which is meant to sensitise information managers to their responsibilities and obligations under the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) regime towards fostering and strengthening partnership between GIABA and the media in the fight against money laundering and terrorist financing in West Africa.

Thursday, April 26, 2012

Highlights from the Africa Carbon Forum in Addis Ababa



Fourth Africa Carbon Forum
Highlights for Friday, 20 April 2012
 
DAILY WEB COVERAGE
 
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The fourth Africa Carbon Forum concluded its discussions today at the United Nations Conference Centre in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Participants convened over three days to discuss the latest developments in the carbon market and to identify means by which the Kyoto Protocol’s Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) and other mitigation mechanisms can be successfully applied in Africa. Today’s meeting included plenary sessions on forestry and agriculture and on global perspectives on the future demands for offsets; two round table discussions on benefits to Africa from “climate smart agriculture” and on carbon market linkages. Two workshops were also conducted on new market mechanisms and on REDD+ linkages between projects and national frameworks. As well, two training sessions provided participants with information on establishing national/regional grid emission factors and on carbon and sustainable agriculture land management. John Kilani closed the Forum at 5:20pm.
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 L-R: Tewolde Berhan Gebre Egziabher, Director-General, Environmental Protection Authority (EPA), Ethiopia, congratulates Henry Derwent, President and CEO, IETA, at the closing of the Forum. 
 
 

Tuesday, April 24, 2012

GAWFA introduces mobile banking to reach clients nationwide

GAWFA CEO, Dr Oley Njie-Mbye
The Gambia Women Finance Association has introduced mobile banking system geared towards making mobile money transactions both easier and more available to its clients most of whom live in remote rural areas without access to traditional brick-and-mortar financial institutions.
The project, funded by the Spanish Cooperation Agency, an international agency fighting against poverty around the world, will reduce costs for Gawfa and increase customer convenience.
The 18-month project, approved by the funders in March this year, will help Gawfa’s clients to have improved access to Gawfa-offered financial services by allowing them to access their account with ease and comfort at the place they (the clients) want it. 

Objectives of the SEYCOHAIDS 2012 Conference


Lilongwe 2012 will bring another opportunity for youth within Africa and the Diaspora to interact, share ideas and good practices on HIV/AIDS, Sexual Reproductive Health and rights issues in the region. 

The broad objectives for the Conference are:

The Post fails a young blogger

,

The Post just had a rough few days. It was shut out of the 2012 Pulitzer Prizes, which were announced Monday. On the same day, journalists here had to accept or reject The Post’s fifth buyout offer in nine years. The union representing newsroom workers says that at least 32 accepted, and probably more. And the prior Friday, a Post blogger, Elizabeth Flock, resigned.
I think that the most noteworthy event was the resignation of Flock, a woman in her mid-20s whose job was filling The Post’s breaking news blog, called blogPost. It was designed to be about the national and international stories popular from hour to hour — trending — on the Internet.

Forests and women – some encouraging signs


One of the first professional positions I held was as a ‘Women in Development Specialist’ in the early 1980s.  Despite decades of research, many of the problems identified in the 1970s and 80s persist: the invisibility of women’s forest-related work for policymakers, extension personnel, and even researchers; the inattention throughout the value chain to the forest products women use; a lack of women’s voices in policymaking, as well as in household decisions related to forests; the inadvertent but adverse effects on women of well‑meaning forestry programs.
The recent special issue on ‘Forests and Gender’ (International Forestry Review) is a breath of fresh air. While the scientific forestry community has been receptive to studies of women’s forest-related work, they have found some of our more theoretical and qualitative studies a hard slog. The use of terms such as ‘hegemony’, ‘symbolic representation’, ‘alterity’, and ‘habitus’ render such studies inaccessible to foresters.

Kazakhstan: Prominent journalist stabbed and shot in suspicious circumstances


Astana, 23.4.12: Uralskaya nedelya journalist, Lukpan Akhmedyarov was attacked by a group of three men on the night of April 19-20 near the porch of his house. Akhmedyarov is known for his criticism of the government and participation in protests.

“This vicious attack on a prominent journalist like Lukpan Akhmediyarov is a severe blow to the Kazak journalistic community. It proves once more the vulnerability of those who dare to express their opinions publicly in Kazakhstan,” said Dr Agnes Callamard, ARTICLE 19 Executive Director.

Monday, April 23, 2012

Fatou Bensouda among 100 most influential people in the world

Next ICC Prosecutor, Bensouda
Gambian-born Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) Fatou Bom Bensouda has been named among the 100 most influential people in the world by Time Magazine of the United States.

The appointment of Mrs Bensouda, who has been Mr Moreno-Ocampo’s deputy throughout his tenure, was unanimously approved at a meeting of the legislative body of the ICC, the Assembly of States Parties (ASP), in New York in December last year.
Mrs Bensouda, a former senior legal adviser at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, which is trying key figures responsible for the 1994 genocide in the Central African state, got the job ahead of three other short-listed candidates.

Expected to take office as chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) on June 16, Fatou who will be serving as the court’s second prosecutor and the first African woman to assume the top job at an international tribunal, faces daunting challenges in advancing the court’s significant, but still fragile, progress. 

Saturday, April 21, 2012

Malawi: SEYCOHAIDS 2012 Conference Gathers Pace


www.seycohaids.org: "We welcome you to the website of the Southern and Eastern Africa Youth Conference on HIV/AIDS and Reproductive Health Rights for Sustainable Development (SEYCOHAIDS) 2012 to be held in Lilongwe the capital of Malawi  on 6 - 8 June 2012.
"The Southern and Eastern Youth Conference on HIV /AIDS  SEYCOHAIDS 2012, is organised by Global Hope Mobilization-GLOHOMO, in a partnership  with the Malawi Government youth organizations, coalitions and networks, UN and governments working on HIV and Sexual and Reproductive Health of young people  in Africa. The SEYCOHAIDS 2012 is made up of youths from SADC, EAC, ECOWAS, COMESA and other youth networks’ such as Africa Youth for Science and Technology , Global Youth Coalition on AIDS (GYCA) and AFRIYAN

SEYCOHAIDS 2012 Communications Team Welcomes Journalists

PRESS STATEMENT:


Dear Editors and Journalists, 

As planning for the Southern and Eastern Youth Conference on HI/AIDS and Sexual Reproductive Health and Rights   (SEYCOHAIDS 2012) gathers pace, the SEYCOHAIDS 2012 Communications Team welcomes you to the SEYCOHAIDS 2012 Online Media Centre. This page of the SEYCOHAIDS 2012 website is designed to assist you with your planning and coverage of the conference, and will provide media delegates attending SEYCOHAIDS 2012 and those covering the conference remotely with timely information about the conference programme. 

Crowdsourcing tool to map World Press Freedom Day celebrations around the world



DAILY NEWSLETTER SERVICE: This year the main celebration of World Press Freedom Day will be held in Tunis from 3 to 5 May 2012, jointly organized by UNESCO and the Tunisian Government under the theme, New Voices: Media Freedom Helping to Transform Societies. The event is also a worldwide one that will be visible thanks to the Ushaidi Platform.
The recent uprisings in some Arab States have highlighted the power of media, the human quest for freedom of expression and the confluence of press freedom and freedom of expression, through various traditional and new media. This has given rise to an unprecedented level of media freedom.

"Insurance Is All About Trust "- Says CBG First Deputy Governor


Dawda Sarge 
The West African Insurance Companies Association (WAICA) a regional association of insurance companies and institutions in English West Africa, is holding its 34th Annual General meeting.
The meeting dubbed "Professional and Ethical Behaviour in the Insurance Industry" and is taking place from 15th to 17 th April, 2012 at the Kariaba Beach Hotel and the meetings is been hosted by the Insurance Association of the Gambia (IAG).
WAICA was founded in 1973 by five English speaking countries of West Africa – The Gambia, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ghana and Nigeria. The meeting brought together about 200 insurance practitioners.
Reading a prepared statement on behalf of the Minister of Finance and Economic Affairs, Mr. Basirou Njie deputy first governor Central Bank of the Gambia (CBG) said that the theme of the conference "Professional and Ethical Behaviour in the Insurance Industry" is indeed apt adding that insurance is all about trust.
According to him, the customer places his or her trust in a company and expects that it will deliver upon its promises at the agreed time or event.

Thursday, April 19, 2012

Training of Trainers on Sustainable Land Management


Sustainable Land Management Project, (SLMP) a unit under the Participatory Integrated Watershed Management Project (PIWAMP), organized a six days training of trainers on Sustainable Land Management for sixty multi-level partner stakeholder institutions.
SLMP project seeks to address interlinked problems of rural poverty, food insecurity and land degradation.
After the training, trained participants are expected to conduct a step-down training for extension workers and farmers in their respective regions.
Participants were divided into two groups-participants from Western Gambia-West Coast, North Bank and Lower River Region respectively were group one and Easter Gambia comprises participants from Upper River, and Central River North and South were group two.
The training was held at the Agricultural Rural Farmers’ Training Centre at Jenoi in Lower River Region from 11-13 April for Western Gambia, and 14-16 April, 2012 for Eastern Gambia participants respectively.

Green Tech Company received SEED Award 2011 for Environmental Solution And Social Efforts


GREEN TECH MD 
PRESS STATEMENT; Green Tech Company Ltd, working in partnership with Global Unification, Ngyanya Killing Support Group, MOBSE/SAFMU, The Green Mamba Garden Lounge and Green Mamba Experiences, was announced as one of the 34 winners of the prestigious international SEED Award in December 2011. 

The SEED Initiative (www.seedinit.org) is founded by UNEP, UNDP and IUCN to support small scale enterprises heading for sustainability. Green Tech, as the first Gambian company, was awarded as exceptional social and environmental start-up enterprise. The award provides recognition, capacity building and linkages to potential cooperation partners and support programs. 
Thus it is accompanied with a capacity building programm, which consists of remote tutoring, an in-country capacity building workshop and a symposium and workshop around the awarding ceremony. Green Tech was represented by the MD from 29th-31st of March, in the enriching program in Johannesburg.
Hannah Foster, ACDHRS
The North Bank Evening Standard- The Executive Director of the African Center for Democracy and Human Rights Studies, ACDHRS, Mrs. Hannah Foster described the human rights situation in Africa as precarious. 
She said the recent coup in Mali and the continuing unrest perpetrated by the Tuareg rebels, the unrest inflicted by the Boko Haram sect in Nigeria, and the continuing repression of peaceful protests in Tunisia demonstrates a lack of respect for human rights.
Non-governmental organisations  from within and outside Africa converged in , 2012 to discuss the precarious human rights situation in the continent.
While remembering victims of human rights violations in Africa, Mrs. Foster implored on the Governments to practice what they preach in order to consolidate the gains registered against impunity. 

NAWEC to dismiss some staff?



 Gambia News Online: Some staff members of the National Water and Electricity Company might have their services terminated if the recommendation of an independent consultant brought in to assess the company’s fiscal discipline is approved.
The National Water and Electricity Company Limited has been asked to make redundant some 45 members of its staff following a staff audit of the company by “an independent consultant” to ascertain whether the financial-deficient state-owned company is overstaffed.
As part of the recommendations at the end of the assessment, the consultant says the public utilities provider should make redundant 45 staff, as it was discovered that the services of these people are “obsolete” and “can be outsourced” to save the heavily-indebted company some cost associated with salaries to retain much needed revenue.

GYIN-Gambia's SG, Meita Touray In Ethiopia

GYIN-Gambia SG Meita Touray

Ms Meita Touray Secretary General of the Global Youth Innovation Network-Gambia acronym GYIN-Gambia, who is also a Reporter with the Daily Observer Newspaper has been invited to attend the fourth Africa Carbon Forum (ACF) which is schedule to place in the Ethiopian Capital Addis Ababa from the 18th-20th April 2012. Ms Touray on Tuesday 17 April, 2012 left Banjul International Airport for Ethiopia. 

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Greening Africa’s Future, Carbon market actors connect at the 4th Africa Carbon Forum


(Addis Ababa, 18 April 2012) – The 4th Africa Carbon Forum (ACF), this year in Addis Ababa, opened its doors today to over 1,000 registered participants from across the globe to foster a discussion on climate change and carbon finance in Africa.

The message resonating this year from Addis is that Africa represents a golden opportunity for a green future. 

The vast potential represented by African countries in the fight against climate change cannot be underestimated,” said Christiana Figueres, Executive Secretary of United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). “The Africa Carbon Forum is where potential projects and developers and funders can meet, exchange ideas, and – it is hoped – take the concrete steps toward greening Africa’s future.

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

7 Questions For WFP's New Executive Director Ertharin Cousin




Ertharin Cousin began her tenure as WFP's 12th Executive Director on 5 April 2012. Find out more.Copyright: WFP/Giulio D'Adamo
In her first week at the helm of the world's largest humanitarian aid agency, WFP Executive Director Ertharin Cousin fielded questions from staff about herself and her plans for the fight against hunger. Here are some of her answers.

WFP Welcomes Appointment Of New Executive Director




Ambassador Ertharin Cousin at the November 2011 meeting of WFP's Executive Board in Rome.
(Copyright: WFP/Giulio D'Adamo)
The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) today welcomed the appointment of Ertharin Cousin as its new Executive Director, following confirmation by the office of the UN Secretary General that she would assume the post at the head of the world’s largest humanitarian agency later this year.

WFP Ertharin Cousin's Biography




Ertharin Cousin, WPF Executive Director

Ertharin Cousin began her tenure as the twelfth Executive Director of the United Nations World Food Programme on 5 April 2012. Ms Cousin brings more than twenty-five years of national and international non-profit, government, and corporate leadership experience focusing on hunger, food, and resilience strategies. Cousin guides the World Food Programme (WFP) in meeting urgent food needs while championing longer-term solutions to food insecurity and hunger.
As the leader of the world’s largest humanitarian organization with approximately 15,000 staff serving about 100 million beneficiaries in 78 countries across the world, she is an exceptional advocate for improving the lives of hungry people worldwide, and travels extensively to raise awareness of food insecurity and chronic malnutrition.

WFP Executive Director Writes To Mansabanko



Ertharin Cousin
Executive Director
World Food Programme
Having served as the United States Ambassador to the UN Agencies for Food and Agriculture since 2009, I have watched WFP become an increasingly innovative agency. This has enabled us to not only reach more of the world’s hungry but also to cultivate an ever-growing community of supporters such as you dedicated to giving a hand up to families and communities who need us the most. The full text of the letters reads...






"Mamadou Edrisa Njie -- 

"It is a distinct honour to write to you for the first time as Executive Director of the World Food Programme. 

"I’m a firm believer that our past paves the way for our future. Growing up in Chicago, my family and I saw poverty and hunger in our own community. Despite this, my parents strongly believed that situations should not limit opportunities. Through their support and sacrifice, they made sure that my sisters and I were empowered through education.

"This is exactly what WFP is making possible for millions of families around the world through school meals programmes. What a privilege it is for me to now be at the helm of this outstanding organization -- the largest humanitarian organization in the world. 

Global community needs to invest in MRV capacity in forest-rich developing countries to make REDD+ work





For immediate release
Centre for International Forestry Research

BOGOR, Indonesia (17 April 2012) _ The international community needs to help developing countries increase their ability to measure and monitor the amount of greenhouse gas emissions that they save by safeguarding their forests if a UN-backed climate change mechanism known as REDD+ is to attain its objective of cutting emissions, according to a new study that reveals major capacity gaps in most tropical forest-rich nations.

MCW MARKS THE 18th ANNIVERSARY OF THE 1994 GENOCIDE AGAINST TUTSIS IN RWANDA, Jacqueline Murekatete Calls on Participants to be Ambassadors of the Unheard Voices of Survivors


  NEW YORK, April 16, 2012 — MCW (Miracle Corners of the World) and its partner genocide prevention education program, MCW Jacqueline’s Human Rights Corner, held its sixth annual commemoration of the 1994 genocide against Tutsis in Rwanda yesterday at New York University Law School. To mark the 18th commemoration, almost 100 participants gathered to learn about the importance of survivors’ testimonies, memorialization and post-genocide justice.

Monday, April 16, 2012

High-level panel on the CDM policy dialogue to conduct Africa-wide stakeholder consultations

  PRESS ADVISORY - (Bonn, 17 April 2012) –  The high-level panel established to conduct a dialogue on the past and future of the Kyoto Protocol’s Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) will hold its first Africa-wide stakeholder consultations at the margins of the Africa Carbon Forum that will take place from 18 to
20 April in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Sunday, April 15, 2012

IFAD: The State Of Rural Poverty Today


The population of the developing world is still more rural than urban: some 3.1 billion people or 55 percent of the total population, live in rural areas, according to International Development Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), 2011 report on rural poverty.
However, between 2020 and 2025, the total rural population will peak and then start to decline, and the developing world’s urban population will overtake its rural population, the report added.
The report cited Latin America  and the Caribbean, and the East and South East Asia where the number of rural people is already in decline.
Elsewhere, the growth of rural populations is slowing, while numbers will start to decline around 2025 in the Middle East and North Africa and in South and Central Asia, and around 2045 in sub-Saharan Africa.

Mansabanko Account's Of The National Assembly Polls


By Ebrima Bah

Following the re-election of President Yahya  A.J.J. Jammeh in   last year’s Presidential race, Gambians on 29 March, 2012 once headed to polls to elect a new badge of National  Assembly Members  for a  five year  parliamentary . 
 The election went smoothly virtually in absolute silence. By silence here is meant the absence of the usual noise and hullabaloo associated with Gambian elections leaving the  greater number of the electorate oblivious to the day’s major activity on that election day. 
The election took place at precisely  510 polling stations in 23 out of 48 constituencies.  They well  managed by 92 assistant returning officers across the country’s seven administrative regions on that Thursday 29 March.
Another 792 polling centres  did not take part in the electoral process.  thanks to  the boycott staged by six of seven opposition parties. 
Out of the opposition parties that took part in the preceding Presidential polls, the National Reconciliation Party (NRP) became a “blackleg” this boycott of  the National  Assembly  election of March 29, 2012. 

On Harmonization Of Accounting, Financial Reporting




A regional workshop on the Harmonization of accounting and financial reporting for Banks and other  Credit Financial Institutions in ECOWAS on 2nd of April 2012, opened at Kairaba Beach Hotel. In his statement, the Director General of the West African Monetary Agency(WAMA),Professor Mohamed Ben Omar Ndiaye said that transparency, accounting and Public confidence both at the local and the international level in the Banking system is critical for the economic and monetary integration process in the sub region.
The workshop, he said, is part of the recommendations of the 40th WAMA statutory meeting of the Committee of Governors of Central Banks of ECOWAS member states which was held in Conakry in  July 2011 and that WAMA was enjoined to draw on the expertise of the central banks in order to carry out its single currency road map assignments under the economic and monetary integration project of ECOWAS. 
The overall objective of the workshop, he stated, is to propose a harmonized accounting and financial reporting framework for banks and other credit institutions in West  Africa  aimed at ensuring compliance with International Financial Reporting  Standards (IFRS).

NACOFAG President Speaks To Mansabanko


Muhammed Fayenkeh, President of  National  Coordinating Farmers Organizations otherwise called NACOFAG, has spoken of his organisation preparedness to respond to the food crisis in The Gambia.
In an exlcusive interview with this Magazine at his office in Brikama, he said they would ensure the availability of quality seeds  to Gambian farmers for the next raining season.
Fayenkeh, who was speaking  to this reporter, barely three days after NACOFAG officials and Board of Directors met  with the Vice President, Dr. Aja Isatou Njie- Saidy at State House, said the visit was to inform the government about their plans to join in its in respond to the current food crises in the country.

Saturday, April 7, 2012

Food prices remain nearly unchanged in March


5 April 2012, Rome - World food prices in March remained virtually unchanged from their February levels, according to the latest FAO Food Price Index, published today. The Index averaged 216 points in March, compared to 215 in February.

Friday, April 6, 2012

Independent Candidate Takes Kombo Central


PIX SOURCE: The northbankeveningstandard blo

Voters in the Kombo Central constituency on 29 March, 2012 voted out  APRC Abdou FHS Jarju, and replaced him with Mr. Buba Ayi Sanneh, an Independent candidate as their National Assembly member for the next five years.
 Described by many as the “choice of the people” in the area, Sanneh secured a total number of 13, 903 votes and APRC’s Jarju got 11,912 - a margin of 1,992 votes representing a total of 48 percent.
“The turn out for this National Assembly election is very low,” said Madam Isatou Jaiteh, Presiding Officer Wellingara Praying Ground Polling Station, Stream three speaking to Mansa Banko.

UN To Help Over 300,000 Vulnerable Gambians


WFP
Over 300,000 vulnerable Gambians will benefit from UN emergency support, a press release from UNICEF office in The Gambia, obtained by Mansa Banko, disclosed.
Below is the text of the full release:
Banjul, The Gambia, 30 March, 2012 – In the wake of the 2011 drought in the country, the UN System in The Gambia announces today its commitment to provide immediate humanitarian support and recovery assistance to over 300,000 vulnerable populations in the most affected 19 districts, out of the 25 affected regions, of the country. 
This response begins in April 2012 and will cover the length of the lean season, from March to September 2012.

Dem's Encounter With Indian Journalist Ahead of Rio+20


Rio +20 is around the corner and environmentalists, especially youth activists, around the world  are gearing up for the big environmental show. Keeping in tune with the tradition of STEP to give voice to people in developing countries , Anuj Sharma, Journalist and a writer for  Alter Eco and Times newspaper, also a contributor with the Jester Magazine in India, caught up with Ebrima S. Dem, national coordinator of Gambia chapter of Global Unification International (GUI) and Climate Change Focal point for The Network of African Youths for Development, to understand the green concerns emanating in Gambia and get an update on GUI Gambia’s preparation for the event. 
The interview story was made available to Mansa Banko through an email. Follow the interview:-


Anuj: So tell us, how did the green journey begin for you; what sparked your interest and concern for the environment?

Ebrima: My interest in the field of sustainable development grew out of a personal desire to help and support my community. I was born in a village and spent my childhood in a setup where local communities used to take everything they need from the forest, such as medicine, food, shelter, and fodder for their animals, in a very sustainable way. Everybody used to take resources from the forest only to satisfy their needs.
However, in recent times, people have become greedier and commercially oriented. A large number of trees have been cut and sold as timber firewood, charcoal. The rate at which the forest is now been destroyed is alarming.
As a young person, I thought that I should do something to reverse this trend. Hence begun my green journey; a journey to work in collaboration with local communities, so as to fight for and develop a safer climate regime.

GAMBIA: NEA To Replace Plastic Bags With Paper Bags


WASTE PLASTIC BAGS

As plastic waste bags are becoming a major concern for the National Environment Agency (NEA), plans are underway to replace them with paper bags,  Mr. Muhammud Jallom Jabang, Senior Programme Environment  Quality Officer at  NEA informed journalists during an interview at the sideline of the NEA organized forum with relevant stakeholders. 
The forum, held at NEA headquarters in Kanifing, was attended by manufacturers, importers and senior government officials.
Jabang told journalists that plastic waste bags have become a major concern and efforts at curbing its proliferation in the environment would form basis for discussion with relevant stakeholders involved in manufacturing plastic bags in the country.
According to him, the NEA on many occasions, has invited plastic bags manufacturing companies to  meetings  with a view to come up with possible solutions, and ultimate ban of plastic bags in the country.

Thursday, April 5, 2012

IDB Grant To Reduce Gaps, Improve Performance


The  Minister of Finance and Economic Affairs (MoFEA), Mr. Mambury Njie  has stated that the government “firmly believes” that the Technical Assistance Grant for capacity Building  in Project Management from the Islamic Development  Bank, would address the present capacity gaps and greatly improve performance not only in the implementation of IDB funded projects, but other donor funded projects as well, to the benefit of The Gambia’s development agenda.
   The objective of the US$400,000 Technical Assistance project, launched at Kairaba Beach Hotel.
The IDB Project geared to enhance the capacity and knowledge of the project management staff of the Government Ministries and Agencies involved in implementing IDB projects (in the areas of procurement, project management and monitoring and evaluation of donor funded projects), to ensure the successful and timely implementation of those projects.