Brikama fish vendors speak to Mansa Banko blog

On Wednesday 16^th March 2016, Mansa Banko blog visited the Brikama Market in the West Coast Region (WCR) to chat with the fish vendors on pertinent issues concerning their welfare vis-à-vis the market.

Brikama is also considered as one of the biggest market in the Gambia that offers and supply affordable commodities to the masses. The fish market is no exception.

“I have been a fish vendor for the past 11^th years. It is through the fishing industry that I become a successful man and I am also the bread winner of my family,” says Mr. Modou Lamin Sabally, a fish vendor at the Brikama market. 

 

In Gunjur Fishing Site: Fish industry, a lucrative business

A young fisherman in Gunjur fishing centre has told Mansa Banko blog that fishing is a profitable business that takes care of his family needs and responsibilities. 
 

Mr. Buba Badjie said: “I engaged in fishing some years back. I go to sea both day and night in order to settle my family needs but so far so good, I can brag to say that I feed my family and pay my children’s school fees thanks to the fishing industry.

“I believed not everybody can get a white collar job. There are many opportunities awaiting people especially the youth to grab in the fishing sector.”

‘Fish is not expensive in Tanji’---Vendor

Mansa Banko blog has visited one of the busiest and biggest fishing sites in the Islamic Republic of The Gambia to share the stories of the fish vendors and sailors after attending the African Journalists for Sustainable Fisheries Workshop in Elmina, Ghana.

The high profile workshop gathered more than 140 journalists drawn from 40 African countries- February 29^th to March 4^th, 2016.

The World Bank, African Union- Inter-African Bureau for Animal Resources (AU-IBAR) in collaboration with the USAID funded the workshop. 

The workshop culminated with the opening of an Award Competition for African journalists from the 4^th to 17^th March, 2016 to submit fisheries-related stories.

Tanji Village, often called the Tanji Fishing Village, is close to the Atlantic Ocean beach, in the northern section of the Kombo South District, West Coast Region of the Islamic Republic of The Gambia, in West Africa.

No fish, no health- Fish meal contain proteins

In Africa, including the Islamic Republic of the Gambia, many families suffer from malnutrition due to lack of good quality fish consumption in their houses.

The problem of malnutrition affects the entire population, but for children under five and pregnant women are especially vulnerable. 

Poor communities are more dependent on the natural resources they find in their surroundings than wealthy people are. The poor, moreover, are especially vulnerable in situations of crisis. 

The fishing sector is important for developing countries in other ways as well; it is a source of income for fish-folk. 

We mainly treat malaria, pneumonia, diarrhoea, anaemia, hypertension and pregnancy related complications- and most of them are made worse by malnutrition.

If fishing grounds are to stay rich in the long run, they must not be over exploited to provide food for millions.

GENDER AND YOUTH: New models of masculinity and feminity to fight gender inequality

Women and Youth

The Policy Framework and Reform Strategy for Fisheries and Aquaculture in Africa- Creating a conducive and enabling environment for the fish sector to create equitable, social and economic development in Africa, highlights that, to a make sustainable positive changes in gender equality, a long-term bottom-up process requiring adequate funding is needed and to recongnize the critical role played by women within fisheries.

According to the Policy document, putting in place mechanisms to promote and protect women’s rights to participate in all aspects of marine, coastal and inland water fisheries governance and management and seek to improve access of women to fish and fish markets, particularly through the provision of credit at affordable rates is key. While consideration of age is important in gender analysis, youth also needs specific attention in its own right.

AAPI remains cognizant of the on-going conflicts within Africa

In November 1981, the United Nations passed resolution 36/67 and declared that the third Tuesday of September shall be officially proclaimed and observed as International Day of Peace and shall be devoted to commemorating and reaffirming the principles of peace globally. The adoption of resolution 55/282 in 2001 declared September 21^st as a Day of non-violence and ceasefire.

The role of biological diversity in sustainable development

22 May 2015 – As the post-2015 development agenda emerges, this year's theme for International Day of Biological Diversity reflects the importance of biodiversity in achieving sustainable development. Smallholder farmers in rural areas of developing countries produce much of the food in the developing world, and given that food availability needs to increase by 60-70 per cent by 2050, in the future we will depend on them to produce even more. Biodiversity plays a vital role in smallholder farmer food production systems and contributes to increased crop yields and incomes, maintaining healthy ecosystems, mitigating climate change, and securing sustainable livelihoods and access to clean and safe water.

Business and human rights in Africa – first UN regional forum

ADDIS ABABA / GENEVA (10 September 2014) – Business enterprises, governments, civil society and national human rights institutions from across Africa will meet in Addis Ababa from 16 to 18 September to discuss key business and human rights challenges for the continent.

The African Regional Forum on Business and Human Rights is convened by the UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights with the support of the African Union, the UN Economic Commission for Africa and the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. It will bring together 250 participants.

“This meeting has no precedent in the region. It is the first time such a wide range of stakeholders will gather to openly discuss how better to ensure that human rights, business and economic development work together. It is a unique opportunity to promote national and regional action plans on business and human rights and the scaling up of responsible business practice,” said Michael K. Addo, who chairs the UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights.

US DEPUTY ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF STATE AND TRIP ADVISOR HEADLINE THE AFRICA TRAVEL ASSOCIATION’S U.S.-AFRICA TOURISM SEMINAR

Still time to register for the travel industry event in Washington, D.C. on February 21, 2014

 

The Africa Travel Association announced today that Ambassador Bisa Williams, Deputy Assistant Secretary at the Bureau of African Affairs of the US Department of State, and Mark Preston, Northeast Sales Manager of Destination Marketing at Trip Advisor, will headline the travel trade organization’s Seventh Annual U.S.-Africa Tourism Seminar. The stand-alone travel industry event will take place on Friday, February 21, 2014 at the Washington Convention Center, a day prior to the Washington DC Travel & Adventure Show, a two-day consumer expo.

 

Co-hosted once again by the African Union Mission to the USA and with premier sponsor, the Washington Travel & Adventure Show, the event offers tourism industry leaders and professionals from both Africa and the USA the opportunity to network with fellow professionals interested in Africa and to meet the industry’s top decision-makers. It also offers participants the opportunity to learn about Africa’s destinations and their diverse services and products. In 2013, 150 participants attended the event, including representatives from more than twenty African countries.

More Productive Jobs for Africa s Youth Vital for the Region's Economic Progress, says New WB Report

Washington, January 27, 2014 With more than half of Sub-Saharan Africa's population now under the age of 25, and as many as 11 million young Africans expected to join the labor market every year for the next decade, creating millions of productive, well-paying jobs will be vital to boost economic growth, significantly cut poverty, and create shared prosperity in Africa, according to a new World Bank report on youth employment in Africa.

 While many African economies have registered impressive economic growth in recent years, poverty levels across the region have not fallen as much as expected and young people looking for better-paying work have been at a great disadvantage. This is partly because many African countries rely heavily on oil, gas, and mineral extraction which boosts economic growth but does little to create new jobs for the region s fast-growing youth population or reduce overall rates of poverty. 

 In a new comprehensive regional report on the subject, Youth Employment in Sub-Saharan Africa notes that close to 80 percent of the workforce will continue to work on small farms and in household businesses in the near future. While the modern wage sector is growing very fast in some countries, it cannot create enough jobs to meet the youth employment challenge now preoccupying governments in every corner of the continent.