CFCO Holds Disaster Management Workshop

Disaster is said to be a serious disruption of the function of a society, causing widespread human, material or environmental losses which exceed the ability of the affected society to cope using its resources. That is the main reason why the Children for Children Organisation (CFCO), has come into existence to put an end to human sufferings and poverty.

It is against this backdrop that the organisation recently held a one-day consultation workshop on the views of the frontline project at the National Nutrition Agency (NaNA) hall in Kanifing.

Speaking at the occasion, Abdoulie Badjie from CAN, which is under the auspices of CFCO gave the introductory remarks.

The National Coordinator of CFCO, Ibrahim Ceesay, gave the welcoming remarks and urged all the participants from different regions of the Gambia to participate fully in the programme as the workshop is a very important one.

"Until a few decades ago, disasters were viewed as one-off events and responded to by governments and relief agencies without taking into account the social and economic implications and causes of these events," he said.

"Hence it is the community that is affected it is very important to involve them fully in the activities of Disaster Risk Reduction and to capacitise them on the preparedness and response skills," said Michael Secka a community representative from Basse.

The keynote address was made by Mr. Ebou Njie of Concern Universal, who dwelt on Disaster Risk Reduction as well as its response. He further stated that a lot needs to be done in order to see to it that disaster is controlled in the country.

Mr. Essa Khan, the Executive Director of the National Disaster Management Agency  (NDMA) also threw more light on the Hyogo Framework for action in the Gambia and what it entails.

He cited five priority areas namely governance, risk assessment and warning, knowledge and education, underlying risk factors, disaster preparedness and response.

The theme of the workshop focused on disaster management and risk reduction in the Gambia.

The achievements of the project/ workshop included emergency response and disaster risk management funds when the need arises.