The competition marked the end of the evaluation of the project implemented few months ago. The project was funded by the French Embassy in The Gambia and Senegal and coordinated by Alliance Francaise de Banjul.
The interschool Funneh Board Game competition among schools was meant to evaluate the project’s impact and further promote peer-to-peer learning through the established MHHM & SGBV ambassador networks in schools.
Future Generation Senior Secondary School emerged winners in the Funneh Board Game Inter School Competition.
Gunjur Senior Secondary School took second position while Jabang Senior Secondary School finished third.
The ten Senior Secondary Schools that participated in the competition were Kombo Kerewan, Abuko, Unity Comprehensive, Yundum Barracks, Mingndow, Brufut, Tallinding, Jabang, Gunjur and Future Generation.
All schools that participated in the game received gifts and certificates upon completion of the competition.
In a related event, Girls’ Pride Gambia recently conducted Funneh Board Game sessions in Regions 1 and 2 as part of its Women Empowerment project #Play2Educate. The initiative aimed to educate school ambassadors and students on menstrual health and hygiene management (MHHM) and raise awareness about sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) within schools.
The project sought to improve menstrual health practices, reduce stigma, and combat period shaming while empowering students to become advocates for change.
The Funneh Board Game is a game-based learning platform designed to engage both male and female students, young and old, in discussing sensitive topics such as MHHM and gender-based violence.
The project has reached 880 students and 35 schoolteachers from 35 schools across regions 1 and 2. Of the total participants, 475 were girls, and 440 were boys.
Speaking at the event, Landing Sonko, Principal Education Officer at Regional Education Directorate One in Kanifing, expressed delight at being associated with the event.
“Girls’ Pride Gambia is a household name in The Gambia as far as girls and women empowerment is concerned,” stated Mr Sonko. He went on to express gratitude to them, noting that Girls’ Pride Gambia is complementing the efforts of the Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education by helping women and girls realise their full potential.
He said Girls’ Pride has supported hundreds of school girls across the country on menstrual hygiene management as well as sexual and gender-based violence.
He observed that the Funneh Board Games has helped a lot of school girls, boys and teachers understand issues around reproductive health, menstrual hygiene management as well as sexual and gender-based violence.
Limamu Hydara, judge for the competition, described the overall project as a success, adding that all the schools that participated put in all their best effort.
“I think the stakeholders should collaborate and ensure that this is incorporated into the school system so that every student and every teacher regardless of gender can be well equipped with necessary knowledge on MHHM,” he stated, adding that this will help the enhanced performance in school and reduced absenteeism.
“Period shaming and bullying of girls by boys for seeing period or staining their uniforms will all be history and also girls will be able to calculate their periods and be better prepared to take care of themselves whenever and wherever they start their periods,” Hydara said. “The boys will also be supportive of their siblings instead of belittling or harassing girls. The teachers, especially male teachers, will also understand MHHM and play key roles in raising awareness.
“GBV is usually seen as physical violence and where there is no physical scar or injury less attention is paid to the victim but this knowledge will make them understand that GBV is beyond physical.
“There is emotional and psychological violence and sometimes the impact of the emotional violence is even more difficult to manage. So this sensitization will help address these issues.”
Masanneh Camara, Focal Point for Region Two, commended Girls’ Pride Gambia for their work, noting that their intervention is really timely and key since Population and Family Life, which was previously part of the school curricular, has disappeared.
He underscored the need to extend the Games to all schools across the country. This is because in typical Gambian society, parents do not discuss issues of reproductive health, menstrual hygiene management as well as sexual and gender-based violence with their children, he said.
