GAMBIA: Gov't, CSOs, other to receive US top official

Stephen Schwartz

Stephen Schwartz, director of the Office of West African Affairs of the U.S. Department of State, will be visiting The Gambia on Wednesday, December 11 to meet with government officials and members of civil society in support of the strong bilateral relationship between the United States of America and the Republic of The Gambia. 

US Embassy Banjul Office in a media release stated that  Schwartz will hold a press conference with the media to speak and answer questions about the strong ties between the U.S. and The Gambia, the purpose of his trip, and President Obama’s Young African Leaders Initiative. 

About Schwartz

Stephen Michael Schwartz began his assignment as director of West African Affairs on August 14, 2013.  This follows his tours as deputy chief of mission in Lusaka, Zambia and as deputy director in the Office of Australia, New Zealand, and Pacific Island Affairs.

“HAVING YOUR OWN ENTREPRISE REWARDS MORE”- CU Consultant Tulinabo

Mr. Aloysius Tulinabo Consultant CU-Gambia

Mr. Aloysius Tulinabo Consultant Concern Universal-Gambia (CU-Gambia) ascertain that for someone to have his or her own enterprise rewards more, by justifying his words, he said that entrepreneurship offers a greater possibility of achieving significant financial rewards than working for someone.

Making a PowerPoint presentation at a four days training (2^nd to 5^th Dec.) on Entrepreneurship for MDFT members at the Agricultural Rural Training Centre at Jenoi in the Lower River Region

He defines entrepreneurship as someone who engages in the creation of new business with the aim of achieving “success, growth and profit”.

Gambia: Entrepreneurship training is crucial to fight poverty

PS Cole giving his speech

Mr. Asheme Cole, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture has emphasized on the importance of entrepreneurship training saying that entrepreneurship training is very crucial if The Gambia as a nation want to fight the ills of poverty, through increase food production along the entire food value chains citing rice and vegetable.

Cole was addressing 60 participants-MDFT’s at the Jenoi Agricultural Training Centre in Lower River Region organised by the National Agricultural Land and Water Management Development Project best known as Nema  and is been conducted by Concern Universal-Gambia who won a bid to implement the training.

Smallholder farmers’ faces poor access to markets- Banky Njie Nema

Banky Njie Nema addressing 60 MDFT Members

The livelihood of our smallholder farmers are often constrained by poor access to markets and limited entrepreneurial skills for adding value to produce with the Nema training, MDTF’s will show vulnerable farmers how to penetrate the markets been it in The Gambia or beyond- Banky Njie Business Development Officer, National Development Agricultural Land and Water Management Project (Nema) told a gathering of 60 participants.

Nema in collaboration with Concern Universal-Gambia is conducting Entrepreneurship training from the 2^nd -5^th December, 2013 for Multi Disciplinary Facilitation Team members (MDFT’s) at Jenoi Agricultural Training Centre in Lower River Region.

After 31 years of successful work empowering smallholder farmers in The Gambia to increase their productivity, IFAD is now scaling up activities to cover agricultural areas across the whole country. A new IFAD-supported project, the National Agricultural Land and Water Management Development Project (Nema), known in the local Mandinka language as Nema – meaning “peaceful and prosperous.”

Infrastructure in Africa: AfDB Group’s Africa50 Fund partner of the BUILD Africa Forum on infrastructure in Africa

BRAZZAVILLE, Republic of the Congo, December 2, 2013/ -- The BUILD Africa forum (http://www.buildafricaforum.com) is pleased to announce a strategic partnership with the African Development Bank Group’s Africa50 infrastructure fund.

The forum will take place on February 5-7, 2014, in Brazzaville, Congo

Held under the High Patronage of Denis Sassou N’Guesso, President of the Republic of the Congo, the BUILD Africa Forum will address Africa’s infrastructure challenges by bringing leading public and private sector stakeholders to the table. The forum will take place on February 5-7, 2014, in Brazzaville, Congo.

Working together, the BUILD Africa forum and Africa50, the AfDB's single-A infrastructure delivery vehicle, will showcase innovative projects in Africa and develop a structural framework for these and other future projects.

LHDP income generating activities, improves rural farmers' livelihood

Small Ruminants Bani Kekoro village, URR

The Livestock and Horticulture Development Project (LHDP) aims to help small-scale rural producers, who are mainly women, to increase their incomes by improving the yield and quality of their horticultural and livestock products. The project also targets young people through the establishment of pilot gardens and market-oriented small livestock and poultry production units.

LHDP which is a co-financing project- the International Fund for Agricultural Development (ifad.org)  at a cost of US $8.0 million grant and the African Development Bank (afdb.org) US $4.9 million and the project is directly benefiting 10,390 households from 2010-2015. The IFAD component was approved in December 2009 and was signed and launched a national level on 15^th March, 2009. 

The project which provides practical support to the villager groups known as Kafoo-has today increased our income, reduce poverty and promote our small businesses and entrepreneurship in our local communities says Mrs. Fatou Kanteh President Bani Kekoro village, Upper Fulladu East in Upper River Region.

Slum2school leader address OYW aspiring leaders

Mr. Mohamed Camara, Nigerian ‘Delegate OYW 2013

Mr. Mohamed Camara, Nigerian ‘Delegate’ at One Young World Summit held in Johannesburg, South Africa 3rd October, 2013; Education plenary session on the topic: Compassion for the disadvantaged children in slumps says  “I am grateful for the privilege to address this dynamic audience on education. I was born into a world of absolute illiteracy; neither of my parents had a formal education.

 I had little hope of one. But motivated by my parents’ profound frustration and resulting financial difficulties, I took my studies very seriously. Eventually I got admitted into the University of Lagos on scholarship, emerged National debating and quiz champion in Nigeria, and won a scholarship to attend the prestigious Impact Your World Leadership Academy, graduating top of the class. I tell this story to people living in slums, to give them hope and inspire them to educate themselves and end poverty in their generation. However, hope is not a strategy, without action.