Board committee members of Kaira Suu, a Child Fund affiliated organisation operating in Kombo North, West Coast Region, recently concluded a three-day intensive training on child protection rights.
The training, held at Sanyang Clinic, was supported by Child Fund The Gambia office.
Speaking at the ceremony, Ousman Darboe, Kaira Suu Chairman, underscored the significance of protecting the rights of the children.
He says every child has right to education, health among others but he was quick to say that every right goes with a corresponding responsibility.
"It is a right for a child to be sent to school but it is the responsibility of the child to learn as well," he added.
He then commended Child Fund for the strategic supports they have been rendering to them for the past years.
Lang Dibba, Kaira Suu Federation manager, said the purpose of the training is to develop the capacity of board members on child rights protection.
According to him, children have rights such as the right to food, the right to education, the right to respect elders, and the right to health.
He also said that Kaira Suu is affiliated to Child Fund and has been implementing communities' sub-projects through its structures on the ground in Tujereng, Tanje, Siffoe, Sanyang and Janbangjelly all in West Coast Region.
Some of the intervention areas, he said, are support to students to achieve their education up to university level, provision of clean water for the communities, construction of staff quarters for nurses, and children sponsorship just to mention a few.
Habib Bah, Child Fund Area Manager for the area, said the training is an ongoing programme for his organization. "This is to ensure that staff and members of the federation acquire requisite knowledge with child rights issues and the techniques to protect them," he said.
According to him, Child Fund has guiding principles that govern their operations and this includes respect the intrinsic value of the individual child.
He said they also recognise the value of each sponsor and endeavour to achieve their core intent.
Child Fund provides operational framework to establish consistent expectations to ensure quality programming in line with the corporate strategy and business model.
Such support, he said, could be used to set clear and reliable performance standard that serves as guidepost for evaluating and improving performance of child fund programme-approach whichhas three critical components integrate and lays out guiding principles for the entire organisation.
Malang Fatty, the programme manager for Kaira Suu Federation, stated that the rights of children are on negotiable as the children needs to be well prepared and molded to be responsible citizens and leaders of this country in the near future.
He commended Child Fund
Lamin Bojang of Brikama Area Council also highlighted the importance of protecting the rights of the children to shape and groom them into becoming good people in the future.
The ceremony was characterised by a presentation of certificates to twenty-two participants that successfully completed the training.
