Salimatou
Fatty, founder of the Salimatou Foundation for Education (SAFE), recently
represented West Africa at a conference dubbed ‘The Taiwan Foundation Democracy
Conference’ held in Taipei, Taiwan.
The
conference attracted wide participation from representatives drawn from Asia,
Africa, Europe, Middle East and America.
The
young Gambian advocate was the only West African at the conference speaking on
political participation by young people. The event was organised by the Taiwan
Foundation for Democracy in partnership with Community Democracies.
The
forum was aimed at enhancing youth participation in governance, politics and
the democratisation of their countries and the world at large.
Salimatou
Fatty, speaking at the conference, emphasised the importance of the conference,
saying they were able to proffer recommendations on how to empower young people
from across the world to engage in the processes of good governance.
She
said youth participation is one of the pillars of democracy and the conference
would enable her to promote civic education in The Gambia and the rest of the
West African sub-region.
Ms
Fatty urged the youth of Africa to participate in the governance processes by
promoting democracy, peace and stability in their respective countries.
Salimatou
received praises from her colleague delegates due to her African heritage as
she was the only representative from the West African region.
She
encouraged young Africans to always promote their rich culture during
international conferences.
The
conference gave delegates great insight into negotiation skills, the power of
persuasion, democracy, governance and politics.
Salimatou
Fatty is the Executive Director and founder of the Salimatou Foundation for
Education (SaFE), a right-to-education civil society organisation that promotes
and advocates for the provision of free, relevant and quality education.