Churchill’s
Town, The Gambia – The Global Youth Innovation Network Gambia Chapter (GYIN
Gambia) has today announced it will be holding a National Youth Summer Camp
from July 24-31, 2016 in Jenoi, Lower River Region (LRR).
The
first edition of the National Summer Camp known as “The Entrepreneurship,
Leadership and Information and Technology (ELIT 2016) Summer Camp” will allow
rural youths to demonstrate their abilities, plans and share among themselves,
experiences in their various initiatives and ventures.
The
one week event to be hosted at the Rural Farmers Training Centre will take the
form of individual and group presentations, quiz, comedy, culture, etc with
field visits to various locations such as agricultural project sites, cultural
sites and markets. Forty (40) participants from across the six agricultural
directorates are to participate in the event.
“The formation of this group of young
entrepreneurs resulted to ambitious discussions among them through social media
and several live meetings to scale up the spirit of self reliance,” GYIN Gambia
National Coordinator Mr. Mamadou Edrisa Njie said.
“Consequently,
it became a unanimous agreement for them to organise a general meeting for
members to further up this ambition, hence, the summer camp.
“The
summer camp will also allow participants to interact, discuss and review case
studies on different aspects of life with a view to learn and to adopt the
models that suit their own progress.”
Mr.
Ebrima Bah, Chairperson GYIN ELIT 2016, said: “As per the background of the
members as rural youth who are mainly low income earners, the summer period is
an ideal opportunity to engage them into such a meaningful outing.
“The
camp will serve as a peer knowledge sharing platform. Leadership and
Information, Communication Technology have been added to the camp syllabus
based on their necessities for one to become a successful entrepreneur.”
“The
summer camp is not necessarily scheduled to be an evaluation tool on the
performance of youth in the field of business but it has the potential to show
the development concerns of the rural youth under the flag of the
organisation.”
Thematic
Areas
Participants
will be exposed to the following thematic areas:
ENTREPRENEUSHIP
DEVELOPMENT: Entrepreneurship Programmes and Opportunities; Small Business
Management; Fundraising and Resource Mobilization; Developing Business Plans;
Linking Young Entrepreneurs with Micro Finance Institutions; Expose Young
Entrepreneurs to Opportunities in Agricultural Projects
LEADERSHIP:
Concepts and definitions of Leadership; The concepts of Non-Violence;
Gender-Based Violence; Good Governance;
Women in Politics; Human Rights
INFORMATION
TECHNOLOGY: Introduction to IT; Social Media Usage and Benefits; Networking
Sites; Online studies; Fellowship Programmes/Conferences and Seminars
The
participants will also have the time to engage in some social and sporting
activities like football, volleyball, basketball; drama, debate, quiz; cultural
performance; live skills; site visits. Participation in the Summer Camp is
Voluntary. Certificates will be given to all participants upon completion of
the Summer Camp.
Background
info
Founded
in 2011, GYIN Gambia is a national youth network operating across the country.
It is The Gambia Chapter of the U.S.-based GYIN International. GYIN Gambia aims
to contribute to the reduction of poverty among poor rural youth through
exposure to opportunities and business prospects, innovation, and knowledge on
replicable youth successful models income generating initiatives and to enable
them to create and engage in sustainable small scale agri-businesses and
entrepreneurship.
Currently,
GYIN Gambia is implementing the Creating Opportunities for Rural Youth (CORY)
project. This project is supported by the International Fund for Agricultural
Development (IFAD) in The Gambia, Nigeria, Cameroon and Benin from 2014 to
2017.
In
The Gambia, 200 youths have been trained 200 on entrepreneurship based on the
model of the Colombia Business College. The beneficiaries have since decided to
form the CORY REVCEL Training Alumni to better prepare themselves for the next
stages of the project which include higher levels of entrepreneurship and
acquisition of loans and grants to start or develop their own ventures.
For
any enquiries, contact:
Mr.
Mamadou Edrisa Njie,
GYIN
Gambia National Coordinator +220 3938929
E:
gyingambia2011@gmail.com / gambia@gyin.org
Mr.
Modou S. Joof,
GYIN-Gambia
Advocacy and Communication Officer
+220
2122784
