Fabakary Fadera, finance controller at Saama Kairo, said as a child and development protection agency, Saama Kairo is inspired and driven by the potential that is inherent in all children; the potential not only to survive, but to thrive to become leaders who bring positive change to those around them.
The Federation, he added, exists to help needy children have the capacity to improve their lives giving them the opportunity to bring lasting and positive change in their communities.
Also, he indicated that the federation operates a three (3) life stages programming model, with each having a specific program area targeting children and young adolescents.
“These life stages are: Responsive Care Giving and Child Nurturing, Safe and Positive Environment for Learning and Development and Youth Work Readiness and Participation respectively.”
According to him, the programs being implemented include Health, Education, Nutrition, Early Childhood Care and Development, Child rights and protection Micro Enterprise, Life and Livelihood skill development and emergency support.
“Moreover, Saama Kairo and Childfund, The Gambia’s goal is for young people to acquire life and livelihood skills, involved and committed to making last changes in their families and communities. In a bid to demonstrate our commitment to what we say we stand for, the federation supported the training of 45 youth on entrepreneurship, 20 participants on leadership and 8 on counseling who all successfully completed the program with a total investment of D806, 545.00 with funding provided by ChildFund, The Gambia.” he added.
Further on some of the programmes, he said the entrepreneurship program targeted youths out of school and with no skills to earn income and participate in social development.
“Our leadership and good governance training targets youth at leadership position designed to enhance their participation in decision making at community and national level.”
These aforementioned programs, he added, are geared towards empowering the participants in these programs to become self-reliant and help to reduce multitude of social and economic problems the youth face.
Fedara thus implored on participants to be focused on what they were trained for and deliver as expected.
Nfamara Dabo, programme and sponsorship director at ChildFund, The Gambia, said according to the TVET roadmap 2020-2024, about 50% of youths in the country are unemployed.
However, Dabo said ChildFund also conducted a monitoring system to identify and understand the issues affecting young people and after the process, the organisation documented that only 20.9% of these youths acquired TVET skills.
“In trying to improve and bring change to the above-mentioned deficiency, ChildFund decided to look for ways to help the youths of the country realize their potential and become what they want to be in the future.”
The target, he added, is to help young people acquire life and livelihood skills, but they are also involved and committed to making changes in their respective communities.
“To make this work, ChildFund have already put out plans and have targeted over three thousand (3000) youths to acquire skills which will help them in their lives.”
Furthermore, he believes that acquiring that number is not an individual organisation’s job, but something that requires collaborative work.
“ChildFund works with local organisations to identify and train young people on areas that would develop their lives in the future.”
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