The capacity training under IOM X The Gambia project and with funding from the German Federal government brought together about 30 participants from youth groups, civil society organisations, government and media within Brikama to collaborate in the development of a media content.
The capacity training which kick-started on Wednesday 30 October 2020 and ended on Friday 2 October, brought together participants to identify migration issues in their various communities with the aim of designing a campaign strategy and conceptualising for media content to be developed for awareness purposes.
The communication officer of IOM Gambia, Alasaz Miko said: “For three days, we have over 30 youth, civil society, government and media stakeholders from Brikama gathered for a workshop on Communication for Development (C4D).”
“The C4D approach is all about empowering communities to take the lead in identifying problems and communication-related solutions.”
“After this workshop, the participants will lead the design of a digital campaign in the West Coast Region aimed at preventing exploitation, such as trafficking and smuggling, and promoting viable alternatives to irregular migration,” he said.
“They will decide on the campaign’s audience, objectives and messages through a series of further workshops.”
Alieu K. Darboe, the national coordinator for Badinyaa One Family described the training as timely as young people still embark on irregular migration. He applauded the training and said the knowledge learnt will be honed and utilised in the efforts to curb irregular migration among their communities.
IOM X is IOM’s global campaign aimed at encouraging safe migration. It has produced 252 videos in 22 languages, which have been viewed more than 346 million times on television at community events and through the campaign’s 430,000-strong Facebook community.
IOM officials say they chose Brikama because it has the right profile for the campaign to be meaningful—having active youth and civil society representatives who will be eager to lead in designing the campaign, as well as community members receptive to the campaign’s messages.
They noted that the West Coast Region holds strategic importance in the field of migration. It hosts the highest number of returnees, shares a highly porous border with Casamance, and has a bustling youth population.
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