By Ndey Sowe
The SOS Children’s Villages on Saturday December 8th 2018, held a session with members of the National Assembly Select Committee on Children (NASCC), at the SOS Children’s Village in Bakoteh.
In order to consolidate their work, the SOS Children’s Village the Gambia, engage the NASCC in collaboration with three other alternative care providers in the country, as part of their activities in the already signed memorandum of understanding.
Among the main objectives of the session, was to discuss the situation of providing alternative care in the country.
According to SOS officials, the village assures the wellbeing of children, and supports caring parents and caregivers; that this is achieved through close cooperation and strong advocacy involving families, communities, state authorities, and various partners, who need to work together to create a strong safety net for children.
In her welcome remarks, Mariatou Sallah, the National Director, said SOS Children’s Villages is an international non-governmental social development organization that has been active in the field of children’s rights and committed to children’s needs; that since 1982, they have shown welfare and concern on children’s issues, by focusing their work on children without parental care and those at risk of losing parental care from families. She opined that guided by the spirit of the UN Convention on the right of the child and the Children’s Act 2005, the SOS Children’s Villages in the Gambia, advocates for the rights of children and believes that a child’s development is best achieved in a conductive environment; that without the existence of rights, children will suffer from poverty, homelessness, insufficient financial support, abuse, neglect, preventable diseases, and unequal access to education and the justice system, that does not recognize their special needs.
Sallah said children’s concern must be recognized and respected; that the state alone is the rightful agency to protect children’s rights and their wellbeing.
“We do recognize that with many children, there is a distinct deficit of childhood and citizenship. This is primarily due to a deficit in state policy and planning,” she said.
On his part, Ousman Sillah, the National Assembly Member for Banjul North on behalf of NASCC, applauded SOS officials for recognizing and engaging the National Assembly at their session.
However, Sillah apologized to the officials of the SOS on behalf of NASCC, that the session was not fully attended by his colleagues; that this was unfortunate because at this time of the year, most of them are engaged with budget and other trainings sessions. He assured that the NA Select Committee will always be at their disposal, and will consult his colleagues so that in January, they can have another session to hear their issues and to articulate on them at the level of the National Assembly, in terms of advocacy and support needed.
On his part, Yankoba Jabbi, director at the department of Social Welfare, gave similar remarks and said Social Welfare is the primary Government agency responsible for the protection and promotion of the rights and welfare of all vulnerable groups in the Gambia, including women, children and girls. He said his department provides a host of services to the general public among these are concealment for victim survivors of sexual abuse, exploitation and rehabilitation, and reintegration programs for child marriage, paternity disputes, maintenance, custody and access to referrals, such as children’s cases to the Courts, when peaceful settlement or reconciliation, fails. He urged all partners including SOS, to collaborate.
