By Mustapha Jallow
The officials from the National Council for Civic Education (NCCE) in collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) had challenged Gambian women to thrive in leadership positions and accept challenges that came a long way.
The women’s leadership project under UNDP is part of an education and sensitisations drive to encourage more women to participate in the district-level elections to improve their representation in decision-making.
Themed: “Empowering Women Transforming Society,” the project aims to strengthen the capacity of women at the grassroots level, empowering them to mobilize support for aspiring female candidates.
It will also be conducted across three selected regions of the country, namely Upper River Region (URR), Central River Region (CRR), and Lower River Region (LRR), where women organizations and networks in regions are mainly targeted.
Speaking in Fatoto, Thomas Kimaru, the UNDP-Project Manager, said the campaign aimed to see more women elected as Councillors and National Assembly representatives.
He said their mission is to build the capacity of women’s grassroots organizations, so they can be able to mobilize support at the community level — for more women to be able to be elected but also support women who will come out to contest in the next elections.
In that process, UNDP’s Kimaru, said men are also taking part in the engagement, to help women participate and win elections. The program further seeks to achieve gender balance and equality in decision-making through the empowerment of women, girls as well as persons with disabilities.
“We hoped that through this engagement and others, we will have more women participation in leadership positions,” he says.
Kimaru further explained how UNDP has a very strong mandate to support what he called “inclusive democracy,” which he stated ensures that no person is left behind in leadership.
“UNDP ensures that all members of society participate equally in political leadership and are also free to participate in elections,” he added.
However, he observed that in the Gambia, you have the lowest numbers of women elected in parliament and councils respectively.
To change the narrative, according to him, more women empowerment needs to be done, especially in groups, networks, and organizations. He believes that women can be able to mobilize better for women leaders.
Mr. Yusupha Bojang, NCCE’s Chief Civic Educator, explained how most females face challenges in terms of support, which he added makes it difficult for these women to be successful in their quest — especially lack of party tickets.
Such challenges, he said, prompted NCCE and UNDP to come up with other strategies to help strengthen existing networks in communities or regions, to support women in capacity in various areas in leadership roles.
“We want to bridge the iniquities gap between men and women in leadership positions,” he said.
“This is the time for these groups to pool their hands together and act in a concerted, coordinated, and consistent manner to achieve results,” Bojang said.
He therefore called on all women to be involved in the decision-making processes at all levels since such engagements were vital.
Hawouly Baldeh, lady-Councillor for Katora, Fatoto slammed male candidates for their ungratefulness after they were elected to office.
“We select and vote but when elected, they will forget about the women who stood for them during the campaign,” she says.
Baldeh stated how hard they fought in voting their representatives in the ward councillors but yet they are not represented well in the decision-making process.
“It is high time we empower our fellow women to be fully represented at the decision-making table across the country,” she told her fellow women and officials.
Mr Abdourahman Baldeh, Alkalo for Fatoto, explained how his people benefited from similar training in the past, which helped boost the awareness level of his people, especially on civic rights and responsibilities among others.
Notwithstanding, he warned those taking part in political leadership to be mindful of their actions and advised them to stand by the truth.
For Aja Juma Trawally, Ex- Ex-Lady-Councilor Gambi-Sarra Lamoi, thanked both NCCE and UNDP for their continuous support and empowering of women at the grassroots level.
She quickly lashed out at her fellow women for not participating much in decision-making, arguing that for years NCCE has been educating them yet still women remain behind in terms of taking key political positions.
The ex-councilor went on to lament that lack of resources and divisions among women were some of the reasons why many women were not showing interest in leadership roles.
“We {women} should not allow men to dominate key positions. We need to start thinking critically and support one another in any political struggle,” she says.
Therefore, she added: “I call on all women in this region to rally behind our fellow women. Let’s support each other, so we can be able to dominate most leadership positions in Assembly, council, party, and government levels.”
Trawally promised to share all the knowledge they learned from the discussions with their colleagues, saying that if key positions are dominated by women most of the suffering of women across the country will come to an end.
