Meet some of the women supported by No Woman Left Behind in The Gambia and learn how you can help
Here are some profiles of just a few of the women who have been supported by the No Woman left behind programme – at the end of the biogs you can learn about the support from the most recent volunteer Nicky and how you could help if you wish…
Yama Jobe
In 2022, Yama completed the twelve-month programme for Culinary Art (Cookery, Pastry & Food Processing) Level 1 at the Institute of Travel & Tourism of The Gambia (ITTOG). She also went to Senegal for an internship in food processing, expanding her skills further. Following this, in 2023, she completed a second nine-month course in Basic Business and IT Skills at ITTOG.
Yama lives in a remote village in northern Gambia (Njau) where she is a gardener, selling onions and other produce locally. She focusses on gardening all year round. Although there is a centre in her village with equipment for food processing, as she hasn’t contributed financially to the purchase of the equipment, she is not able to use it and cannot therefore expand her business to food production. Although, if she could use the equipment, she could share her skills with others locally.
She is keen to find new markets for her produce, but finds it difficult to sell her products due to the remote location. She is keen to expand into food processing, but without access to equipment and markets, she sees this as an insurmountable barrier. Unfortunately, she is too far away from the NWLB business incubation centre, to make use of the facilities and take advantage of the support available.
Sainabu Secka
Sainabou went to Senegal for an internship in food processing, expanding her skills further. Following this, in 2023, she completed a second nine-month course in Basic Business and IT Skills at ITTOG.
She has since started a small business which she runs from her home, selling personal hygiene products; soaps; deodorants; and toothpaste.
She enjoyed the courses that she completed and is now keen to expand her business. Building on her skills, she wants to develop her business further and expand into food processing, with the aim of producing French fries for the catering market, all of which are currently imported into The Gambia.
The expansion of the catering can be facilitated at the NWLB business incubation centre, which has the equipment and facilities she needs. In addition, she will need to develop a business plan and marketing skills and also needs support in packaging and labelling.
Much of the business marketing is via social media and development of skills in this area will help across a range of businesses.
Kaddijatou Jarju
In 2021, Kaddijatou started the twelve-month programme for Culinary Art (Cookery, Pastry & Food Processing) Level 1 at the Institute of Travel & Tourism of The Gambia (ITTOG). As part of the course, she completed a three-month internship in the kitchen at a restaurant in the Palma Rima area, completing the course in 2022.
Along with the many skills she learned in her catering course, her work ethic, commitment to the job and ability to learn new cuisines and skills demonstrated during her internship, earned her a full-time position as a cook at the restaurant. She has been working there for four years and during which time she has secured a number of promotions, increasing her earnings which help support her family of eight brothers and three sisters.
Kaddijatou is a quiet, serious young woman who is keen to develop her skills further, hoping to expand her knowledge of international cuisines and possibly completing further courses in hotel and catering management, possibly opening her own restaurant one day.
Fatoumatta Jabang
In 2022, Fatoumatta completed the twelve-month programme for Culinary Art (Cookery, Pastry & Food Processing) Level 1 at the Institute of Travel & Tourism of The Gambia (ITTOG), completing an internship at ITTOG. Following this, in 2023, she completed a second nine-month course in Basic Business and IT Skills at ITTOG.
Fatoumatta worked in the restaurant at NWLB developing her catering skills, before moving to the Bijilo clinic where she runs the food kiosk. She provides breakfast and drinks for clinic patients and visitors on a daily basis (except Sunday) between 7:00am and 1:00pm. She is also employed by the clinic to prepare lunches for staff, cooking local dishes on charcoal or a small gas stove. She pays rent for the kiosk, but also benefits from the use of a fridge/freezer supplied by NWLB. Fatoumatta would like to expand her kiosk to sell hygiene products as well as food, but is limited by the lack of available funding to start this project. She learned pastry skills as part of her course, but does not have an oven so is unable to continue this work. If she could bake, she would be able to sell more products in the kiosk but also wider afield, developing her income.
She feels she learned a lot from the courses she completed and has benefitted from changing from an employee to running her own business. If her business expanded, she would need to develop her bookkeeping skills further. The development of this skill is possible from the mentorship of NWLB.
Fatoumatta is married with two girls who live with her mother in her home village of Kartong. Her husband also works in the Navy. The girls are settled in school and doing well.
Fatou Hydara – President No Woman Left Behind
Born in Essau village in the North Bank region of The Gambia, Fatou completed her primary education at Essau Lower Basic School then went on to Berending Upper Basic School, 10km from her home. She showed her commitment to her education by walking the long distance on a daily basis.
Throughout her education she undertook extra-curricular activities, including awareness-raising groups including peer health education and the drama society.
After completing high school at Essau Senior Secondary School, Fatou was unable fulfil her dream of attending university due to financial limitations. However, she was keen to continue her education and completed a Diploma in Business Management; Human Resources; and Information Technology. She then travelled to Lebanon in the hope of obtaining a well-paid job, however this never materialised and she found herself forced to work as a housemaid for three years. Having no access to her passport, and limited communications and basic wages, she was trapped. Eventually, as a result of her determination and persistence, and with the assistance of National Agency Against Trafficking in Persons (NAATIP) she left Lebanon and returned to The Gambia.
Throughout her life she has pursued her education, taking a number of courses and certificates, most recently graduating top of her class in Amadeus Booking System.
In 2021, Fatou became involved in the No Woman Left Behind project as one of the initial catering students, completing a twelve-month programme for Culinary Art (Cookery, Pastry & Food Processing) Level 1 at the Institute of Travel & Tourism of The Gambia (ITTOG). Following this, in 2023, she completed a second nine-month course in Basic Business and IT Skills at ITTOG. She had previously attempted to run her own cosmetics and tailoring business, but struggled to succeed due to her lack of necessary skills. Completion of her course at ITTOG equipped her with a wider range of skills, and this has led to her involvement in the management of the NWLB project, becoming President in 2022 and appointment as the Volunteer Coordinator for People & Places in The Gambia.
Her aims are now to expand NWLB and support other women to succeed in their chosen business. She also still has her own ambition to run a successful business.
How can you help?
The volunteer programme for No Woman Left Behind is now focused on building the skills of individual women, through one to one mentoring and workshops. If you have hard or soft business skills and would like to explore working with these resilient and brave women please contact dianne@travel-peopleandplaces.co.uk