The forum, which began on 18th March 2022, seeks to build the capacity of Gambian returnees in entrepreneurship programmes, thereby creating employment opportunities for the country’s youthful population.
It also seeks to arm them with gainful skills to be able to partake in the socio-economic development in The Gambia.
At the opening ceremony, Saikou K. Sanyang, permanent secretary at the Ministry of Youth and Sports (MoYS), said one of the key challenges facing youths in the country is ‘unemployment’, adding that government of The Gambia and development agencies are concerned about youth employability to reduce irregular migration.
This, he added, has prompted development strategies to mitigate these challenges by ensuring that youth, who face the challenges of unemployment and irregular migration, are provided with training and capacity building skills in entrepreneurship management to enable them to start and manage their own businesses.
PS Sanyang informed that the Ministry acknowledged the remarkable contributions from key development partners in managing irregular migration challenges and youth entrepreneurship development.
He thanked European Union through the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) for partnering with NEDI to train 400 migrant returnees targeting 40 participants in batches.
Abass Bah, General Manager at NEDI, said their programmes would significantly support the success of the migrant returnees by reintegrating them into society.
Bah informed that during the course of the training, facilitators invited key partners to make presentation and discuss how they can access opportunity and transform the training skills into enterprises through their support.
“We will do monitoring and evaluation to know the impact and challenges faced by these beneficiaries, during the implementation of their enterprises”.
Bala Musa Konateh, project Assistant IOM, explained that the joint initiatives is aimed at contributing and strengthening migration governance and the sustainable reintegration of returning migrants in The Gambia.
“IOM Gambia signed an agreement with NEDI to support the country to improve the reintegration of returning migrants and to strengthen national structures and capabilities in terms of managing it.”
Pa Malick Ceesay, deputy director of National Youth Council, said his council with other institution under MoYS, are always committed to supporting young people especially those interested in starting and running their own business enterprises by providing coaching and mentorship trainings.
