The
Youth Empowerment in collaboration with the Ministry of Tourism and Culture and
National Centre for Arts and Culture, Tuesday, launched the first ever Youth
and Trade Roadmap for The Gambia’s creative industries.
The
Youth and Trade Roadmap is meant to support innovation and improve on the
productive capacity of SMEs, strengthen institutional support and increase
economic value and market access to foster economic growth, employment
creation, entrepreneurial ventures and skills development.
The
Roadmap, among other things, outlines a plan of action to activate economic
opportunities related to skills development, entrepreneurship, market-led value
chain development and sector coordination.
In
addition, the roadmap has mapped out all key crosscutting industry themes for
youth empowerment and employment, namely MSME competitiveness, technical and
vocational education and training (TVET) effectiveness, policies’ relevance and
implementation, and institutional capacities.
Further
to that, it also outlines strategic objectives that will activate economic
opportunities related to skills development, entrepreneurship, market-led value
chain development and sector coordination.
The
Youth and Trade Roadmap for the Gambia’s Creative Industries was developed
under the guidance of the Ministry of Tourism and Culture, National Centre for
Arts and Culture, with technical assistance from the International Trade Centre
(ITC) as part of the Youth Empowerment Project (YEP).
The
Youth Empowerment Project (YEP) supports youth employment and entrepreneurship
in the country in order to address the root causes of irregular migration, and
it is funded by the European Union (EU) under the Emergency Trust Fund for
Africa.
Presiding
over the launching of the Roadmap, Hamat N.K. Bah, minister for Tourism and
Culture disclosed that the Roadmap is aligned to the country’s development
priorities identified in the National Development Plan (NDP) 2018-2021.
He
noted that the Roadmap for the creative industries comes at a crucial time to
strengthen sector development in the country, address major competitiveness
constraints and directly empower youth.
To
promote the Gambia’s cultural heritage, he pointed out the need for synergies
between the tourism sector and new technologies to be further developed.
Among
other key priorities identified in the Roadmap by the stakeholders, Minister
Bah said it is to protect intellectual property rights with the aim of
increasing income of the creative actors and protect their creations.
“The
government will take this matter in hand and seek technical assistance in this
regard, it is of the utmost importance that Gambia enforces intellectual
property regulation to protect and strengthen the image of Gambian creations,”
Mr. Bah assured.
The
minister congratulated all the stakeholders for their time, insights and
efforts to come out with the worthy roadmap. He therefore thanked International
Trade Centre (ITC) for its technical assistance in the successful design of the
Roadmap, while extending appreciation to the European Union (EU) for funding
the Youth Empowerment Project (YEP).
EU
Ambassador to The Gambia, Deputy Executive Director of International Trade
Centre, Mrs. Dorothy Tembo, director general, National Centre for Arts and
Culture, Hassoum Ceesay, representative of Sector Association, Modou Lamin
Sowe, Philip Kupert director of Goethe Institute among others delivered
statements at the launching.
