Adama Bah, Chairman for the Board of Directors of Institute of Travel and Tourism of The Gambia (ITTOG) said the project aims to train Gambian women with the right skills as entrepreneurs to facilitate the creation of small businesses managed by them.
He added that the project will also mentor thewomen who have also received training in the production of local gastronomic products for the respective tourism markets. The projectalso empowers women as entrepreneursin the exercise of managerial functions to reduce the existing gender gaps in quality in the area, he also said.
“We hope the project will develop to a women cooperative where they can manage themselves as part of what we called the access business center programme,” Mr. Bah further said.
“We want to cooperate and work with as much partners as possible because we have found out that in The Gambia, projects with the same aim and ambition do not talk to each other,” he stated, saying they are looking at all those working on gender to start a strategy and work with them on possible ways.
“Tourism is like fire. It can cook our food but also burn our houses. We need to take total responsibility to make our country better to live and a place to visit,” he stated.
Victoria Garcid, the Project Director for Association Ethnic in Barcelona, Spain said they have worked and lived in The Gambia for several years.
Fatou Kinteh, the Minister of Women, Children and Social Welfare said her ministry seeks to mainstream gender in all sectorial policies and programs to effectively increase women’s participation in project implementation, community representation and decision-making bodies throughout the country.
Such prolific initiatives in The Gambia are already serving as a platform for other countries to emulate, she added.
