With support from the EU-UNDP GREAT Initiative, the week-long initiative was held under the theme –“Empowering Youth for Civic Responsibility and Peer-Led Learning”.
The civic engagement couldn’t have come at a better time than now when the country is fast approaching crucial elections slated for December 2026. Therefore, the timing is not accidental. It is strategic because elections are not won in ballot boxes alone. They are won in classrooms in ‘Bantabas’ and WhatsApp groups and in the minds of young people long before they queue to vote.
The initiative, staged with schools and civic clubs, is about one thing- putting power back in the hands of the citizens starting with youth.
For too long, civic education in The Gambia has been treated as an afterthought. We teach math, science, and history. But we barely teach how democracy works, why vote matters and what to do when one’s rights are violated.
As rightly stated by Ansumana Ceesay of NCCE- young people are not only future leaders of this country; they are today’s change makers. If we wait until 2040 to involve them, we will have lost crucial elections and possibly the country.
Touch-down lectures don’t change behaviour. Conversation does. That is why this civic drive is built on peer-to-peer learning and youth youth-network.
A 19-year-old explaining to another colleague of same age why election matters will always land harder than a minister reading a speech. When students in civic clubs debate democratic participation, when they monitor rumours during election, when they become ambassadors of positive change in their communities, that is how a democratic culture is built.
Thus, this forum is vital in many ways. The 2026 presidential election will test every gain we made since 2017. Will young people vote based on issues or handouts?
Will they reject hate speech and tribal politics? We will only know if we prepare them now. Civic education is that preparation.
The EU-UNDP GREAT initiative deserves credit for investing in this. But donor funding must not be a crutch. Kudos to the education Ministry for including civic education in the country’s school curriculum and funding NCCE to properly create awareness on civic consciousness and rights.
To the students and youth network, this is your invitation and your responsibility. Don’t just attend and collect certificate. Go back to your schools and communities. Debunk fake news. Encourage voter registration and always protect women and persons with disabilities in the political space. Remember that you’re not leaders of tomorrow. You’re stakeholders today.
The decision made in 2026 will shape the jobs, the economy and the freedoms you inherit.
Nations don’t collapse because of bad leaders alone. They collapse because good citizens stay silent. By investing in youth civic engagement now, NCCE is investing in the firewall against that silence. Let this civic engagement not end as another workshop. Let it be the start of a movement of informed, responsible and active citizens.