Gamcotrap Trains LGA Officials and Community Leaders in Kombo North

FOROYAA Newspaper (Serrekunda)

Mamadou Dem

16 May 2011

A three days training workshop for local government authorities and community leaders organised by The Gambia Committee on Traditional and Harmful Practices against Women and Girls (Gamcotrap) and funded by Save the Children and UN Women Trust Fund has kicked off on Saturday 14th May held at the Sukuta Health Centre in Kombo North.

Dr. Isatou Toray, the Executive Director of GAMCOTRAP, said her Organisation and Save the Children Sweden in partnership with UN Women Trust Fund are engaged on the second phase of the Project in order to accelerate the abandonment of harmful traditional practices with the aim of promoting the health and well being of women and girl children in the Kombo North of Western Region. She said the project was launched in 2010 and that it started in Kombo South. She acknowledged support given to the project by the office of the Governor and the district Chiefs in region. She added that this year the project is focusing in the Kombo North.

Dr. Touray further explained that they will be organizing a series of training workshops for the local authorities including community leaders. She said the purpose of the training is to reach out to the local government authorities and community leaders in the Kombo North district for them to be aware of the effects of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) and to advocate and promote in their public statements the rights of the girl child and women.

She noted that the target group of this training is the Sukuta Cluster and that the target groups within the region are the community based facilitators, Local Government Authorities, community leaders (men and women), security officers, young people, districts chiefs etc.

The GAMCOTRAP Executive Director said public declarations were made by circumcisers in the Upper River Region and Southern part of the Central River Region abandoning the practice of female genetal mutilation and that this is what they want to be emulated in the other regions. She said the dropping of the knives in the said regions came as a result of awareness regarding the negative impacts of genital mutilation and on reproductive health. She added that a culturally responsive approach is adopted when conducting this type of training.

Dr. Touray admitted that at first it was not easy to have many participants to enlighten on FGM but now people are responding as participants who are keen to be enlightened on the dangers of FGM.

Concluding, the GAMCOTRAP Executive Director expressed optimism that by 2020 if the necessary are in place they would have made many public declarations of abandonment of the knives by the women circumscisers.

Speaking earlier, Alhagie Momodou Cham, the Alkalo of Sukuta village, in his welcoming remarks, described the gathering as important and expressed his gratitude for the training. He urged the participants to come together and take the training with seriousness.

Alkalo Cham finally thanked the organizers of the training and urged participants to corporate with the training in order to enable them achieved their objectives in the training.

Mr. Ebrima Faal, the Ward Councilor of Sukuta Ward, told participants to use this opportunity and disseminate the information in their respective villages and groups.

He urged the participants to listen carefully as they were there to learn and share what hey have learned with others in their respective areas and communities.

The National Women Councilor for Kombo North, Kumba Barry, for her part described the training as important and thanked the organizers.

The deputy Governor of West Coast Region, Madam Fatou Sanyang, deputizing the governor, acknowledged the work that GAMCOTRAP is doing in the country, adding that they are raising awareness on the dangers of FGM.

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