A five-day capacity building workshop on entrepreneurship skills development is underway at the Paradise Suite Hotel in Kololi.
Speaking at the workshop, Fatou Jassey Kuyateh, the Permanent Secretary for Woman Affairs under the Office of the Vice-President stated that the Women's Bureau under the Ministry of Women's Affairs is mandated to implement a project that will enhance the livelihood of women and girls.
According to Mrs. Jassey Kuyateh, over the years Women's Bureau has implemented a series of capacity-building training programmes, aimed at enhancing women's effective participation in decision-making process.
She noted that The Gambia's primary development agenda is to reduce poverty and promote sustainable and equitable development.
According to her, in The Gambia women constitute 51% of the population.
"They are involved in all sectors- formal or informal and are responsible for over 60% of the agricultural labour force and about 90% of the rice and vegetable production. They are the producers of the bulk of the family food," she added.
Permanent Secretary Jassey Kuyateh further revealed that Gambian women, particularly, those at the rural areas, mostly operate at the informal level. She lamented that most often they lack capacity and the experience to go into large-scale production or even consolidate their small enterprises.
Mrs. Jassey Kuyateh urged the young women who took part in the training programme to interact and learn from each other.
