The Westminster Foundation for Democracy (WFD) has engaged traditional and religious leaders and male allies in a dialogue to promote women's political participation ahead of The Gambia's 2027 National Assembly and local government elections.
The dialogue, held Tuesday, 27 October 2026, at the Sir Dawda Kairaba Jawara International Conference Centre, was organised under WFD's Women in Political Leadership (WPL) project, which seeks to increase women's representation during the 2026–2029 electoral cycle.
Speaking at the event, WFD Country Director Tabu Njie Sarr said the engagement brought together two influential groups to discuss how they could support women aspiring to contest.
"This is not a meeting of men talking about women without women," she said, noting it was intended to encourage participants to identify roles they could play within families, communities and places of worship.
Njie Sarr expressed concern over women's low representation in the National Assembly, where women occupy only five of 58 seats, about 8.6 per cent, far below the 30 per cent benchmark for meaningful representation.
She said the disparity highlights the need for collective efforts to remove barriers, adding that improving representation requires more than political commitments as community attitudes also matter.
Describing traditional and religious leaders as custodians of culture and influential voices, she encouraged them to challenge negative perceptions of women in leadership and help communities understand that women in public office contribute to national development.
She also called on male allies to actively support women candidates, stressing that women's participation should not be seen as a loss for men but as an opportunity to strengthen families and the country.
Njie Sarr urged participants to speak against harassment and intimidation that discourage women from politics, and called on political parties to select women for winnable constituencies and support them during campaigns.
She further emphasised peaceful, issue-based campaigning to create a more welcoming environment for women.
WFD opened its office in The Gambia in 2018. With support from the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), it is implementing the WPL project to promote greater representation of women in elected institutions.
