The formation of the new network and the election of executive members were held at Tendaba Camp at the end of a five-day training organised by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).
Training was organised to get journalists au fait with the work of the UNFPA in The Gambia.
Pa Modou Faal of the Daily Observer newspaper who was elected national coordinator said the membership of the network, for now, is open to only those journalists who attended the five-day training of UNFPA.
Mr Faal assured that the executive would work with the general membership and partners like the UNFPA and media chiefs to move the network forward.
The network was established, among other things, to showcase the good work the UNFPA continues to do in The Gambia.
“So many people including journalists did not know the existence of UNFPA much more to know that it was established [in The Gambia] in 1972 but we are privileged to have such information during the course of the training,” Mr Faal said.
“Now what is expected of us since we are well equipped about the work of UNFPA is to make sure that we disseminate the rightful information to the general public as far as UNFPA’s work in The Gambia is concerned,” he added.
Another development from the five-day training was that individual journalists from each media house were identified as focal person for UNFPA in their respective media houses.
The focal persons are to serve as contact persons between UNFPA and the media houses, Mr Faal said.
Other executive members of NJORPAD are Halimatou Ceesay, deputy national coordinator; Amadou O. Bah, secretary general; Alagie Manneh, assistant secretary general; Rohey Jadama, treasurer; Bakary S. Dampha, auditor; Yusupha Bojang, public relations officer; Modou Lamin Touray, West Coast Region focal person; Mafugi Ceesay, Kanifing Municipal focal person, and Sainey Dibba, Ebrima Njie and Baboucarr Camara as advisers.
