ChildFund the Gambia on 24 July 2015 launched a
village credit and loan scheme to empower local businesses and help reduce
activities that contribute to environmental degradation.
The event, which took place at the Tanji Youth Centre in Tanji, was just one of the activities of a five-month project on climate change and the environment supported by the Global Climate Change Awareness (GCCA).
In his opening remarks on the occasion, the programme director at ChildFund, Mustapha Kebbeh, said climate change is a global phenomenon that calls for concerted efforts from all stakeholders both in the public and private sector.
“As such Childfund the Gambia deemed it necessary to take up a five-month GCCA project on climate change to help communities,” Mr Kebbeh added.
The village credit and loan scheme involves a D300,000 grant to be shared among five communities in the coastal area, namely Brufut, Gunjur, Sanyang, Tujereng and Tanji.
“The scheme will empower local businesses and help reduce activities that contribute to environmental degradation such as felling of trees, sand mining, bush burning and other related activities that contribute to climate change,” explained Mr Kebbeh.
He concluded by urging the beneficiaries to make best use of the loan scheme and engage in meaningful income-generating activities.
Speaking on behalf of all the Alkalolou of the communities that benefited from the grant, Lamin Bojang, Alkalo of Tanji, thanked Childfund the Gambia and all its sponsors for their generous gesture of goodwill.
He promised that the communities through the help of the grant would find alternative means of attaining their livelihoods which “wouldn’t be harmful” to the environment.
