Joint Undertaken in Communities Education (JUICE), a local organization, on 24 June 2012 trained women under the auspices of Brufut Nyaffling Kambeng Kafo on food processing and preservation held in Brufut.
The training brought together women to learn the new skills to be able to acquire the required knowledge and skills to be able to engage in meaningful development, thus relied on the skill for living.
Speaking at the opening ceremony, Faye Suso, development and networking coordinator under the project, said the JUICE project was established in 2004 by a group of development-oriented people who have extensive experiences and knowledge in development, to support women cause by empowering them, with life and marketable skills to boost their income generation avenues and reduce poverty.
According to him, JUICE is a local organization legally registered aimed at providing marketable skills training and opportunities for women kafo, youth organizations, and community-based organizations to ensure they got the right skills and knowledge for economic independent.
Highlighting some of their interventions, Mr Suso revealed that their project is a small project but sustainable because since inception, they have trained series of youth, women groups and other institutions and even support schools by donating learning and teaching materials to schools.
He added that JUICE constituted a management board who are voluntarily working for the organization and most the programmes are financed through donation and other forms of support.
He commended David Bruce, wife and family and annex and Julie Fox family for their benevolent gesture in supporting of a worthy cause.
To him, his organization is committed to the provision of quality training and the promotion of entrepreneurial development by using home produce to finish product for healthier and best quality for consumption.
“Today’s training is based on food processing using fruits and vegetable convert it into finished products which can preserve for 6 months,” he added.
Our intervention programmes are well taught they are being identified, expressed and defined by the communities or kafos themselves, we just provide them the skills of their choices trying to link it to the market system for income generation.
Suso revealed that at the end of training the beneficiaries will be given a starting capital to kick-start their programmes and expand into other communities who may need their support in terms of such training. He commended the able lecturers and teachers from Gambia College, community development office and other institutions for giving their utmost best by training the women on the requisites skills and knowledge to be self-reliant.
For her part, Assiatou Jallow, president of Brufut Nyaffling Kambeng Kafo, said the initiative was the first of its kinds for her organization to be trained on such a laudable and worthy cause for Gambian women.
According to her, the proceeds from the petty business is what they use to support each other as members and save part of it for future interventions and expansion. She said her members are very committed but need support to be able to realize their goals and objectives.
She commended JUICE project for their timely intervention and assured them of their readiness to replicate the skill and knowledge to their various communities’ members for wider coverage in ensuring that the women and youths within the area are capacitise.
Mariatou Saho, secretary general of the kafo, said the training was vital and besides all the raw material needed are abundantly available at low or no cost and some of the product process are mango jam, mango juice, tomato paste, tomato ketchup, onions pickles, pepper paste among others which are widely in demand in the market.
She appealed to NGOs, the government and philanthropists to support them to have a centre where processing, preservation and marketing can take place.
