“Volunteering for Change” - UNDP The Gambia

“Volunteering
for Change”
Special Edition UNV Gambia Newsletter December 2011
Celebrating International
Volunteer Day (IVD) 2011
and the Tenth Anniversary
of the International Year
of Volunteers (IYV+10)
in The Gambia
IYV+10/IVD celebrations- The Gambia
By: Mayuka Kurihara, UNV PO
June 14, 2011
The Gambia joined the rest of the
world to celebrate the 7 th World
Blood Donor Day (WBDD). The
celebration is meant to raise
awareness on the need for safe
blood and blood products, as well
as thank voluntary unpaid blood
donors for the life-saving gifts of
blood. As part of the celebration
and as a kick-off IYV+10 volunteer
activity event, Mrs. Aminatta
Sarr-Bojang, UNV Programme
Manager for Blood Transfusion
Services at Ministry of Health and
Social Welfare made a presentation
on blood donor recruitment at
the UN House at Cape Point. The
Presentation highlighted the Overview
of the National Blood Transfusion
Services (NBTS), the demand
for blood in The Gambia
and the challenges of the blood
programme in The Gambia.
NUNV Aminata briefed the participants on the
importance of donating blood.
Our partners:
July 19, 2011
Volunteer involving organizations,
Ministries and Academia met for
the first IYV+10 National Steering
Committee meeting at UN House.
Ms. Mayuka Kurihara, UNV Programme
Officer, launched the
Committee with a brief introduction
and background of IYV and
IYV+10 celebrations. She emphasized
the overall goal of marking
IYV+10 is focused on promoting
greater global recognition of the
contribution of volunteerism to
society. Mayuka also emphasized
that this IYV+10 should not be
one time or one year celebration
with a series of events that would
not bring impact on community
but be a great opportunity for all
volunteers to enhance their collaboration
beyond organization or
sector, to establish a sustainable
network for sharing information,
exchanging ideas in promoting
volunteerism and mobilizing people
and resources beyond 2011.
November 15, 17, 22 and 29,
2011
The IYV+10 National Steering
Committee Members conducted a
series of radio talk shows at Capital
FM (100.4) on volunteerism in The
Gambia, youth volunteerism and
women volunteerism, and IYV+10
and IVD related activities and celebrations.
The panelists were Mr.
Nuha Jatta from VSO, Mr. Ismalia
Gibba from Gambia Red Cross Society,
Mr. Ousainou Sarr from
President’s International Award,
Mrs. Mariama Jallow from Operation
No Back Way to Europe and
Ms. Mayuka Kurihara from UNV
Programme. After the shows, the
Committee Members received a
positive feedback and response from
listeners.
1

“Volunteering
for Change”
November 19, 2011
and volunteer involving organizations
in The Gambia. The talk
show was aired on December 1 st
as live and on 3 rd the show was
repeated.
IYV+10 National Steering Committee
organized zebra crossing painting
activity in collaboration with
Ministry of Works, Construction
and Infrastructure, National Roads
Authority and Gambia Police Force
to paint zebra crossings in 7 critical
places. Gamcel, a telecommunication
company, kindly sponsored 200
T shirts for the activity. Volunteers
from US Peace Corps, VSO, Operation
No Back Way to Europe, President’s
International Award, UNV
Programme and Glory Baptist
(school) joined and painted 5 zebra
crossings in front of schools and
hospital. The Ministry promised
that they would paint the rest in near
future. The activity was covered by
GRTS and aired on November 24 th
and 25 th 2011.
December 1 and 3, 2011
Mr. Pa Ansu Sanneh, a national UN
volunteer, and Ms. Mariama Jallow,
Operation No Back Way to Europe
who are both members of IYV+10
National Steering Committee appeared
on Fatu Show, the most
popular TV talk show in The Gambia,
as one of the guests to talk
about volunteerism, UNV Programme,
IYV+10 related activities
December 4, 2011
Volunteers from their various organizations
converged in Basse
town, Upper River Region, to
carry out a voluntary exercise in
the name of volunteerism for development
promotion by conducting
a road reconstruction exercise
on a one kilometer stretch that
connects the two ends of the town
where most of the social amenities
are located. Men and women, boys
and girls of different cadres gathered
and collected gravel from the
hills to fill the potholes that are
caused by the erosion and constant
usage of this road without maintenance.
The activity was done with goodwill
and dedication punctuated by
singing and dancing guided by the
scout band of the region itself.
This community volunteer activities
was funded by National Volunteer
Service Center (NVSC)
Project. The whole activity was
covered by GRTS and other media.
A famous women’s voluntary
organization called Nyakoi skills
group and the Kantora women’s
association composed songs of
volunteerism and children have
adopted the lyrics which left its
marks to this day.
December 5, 2011
Due to the shift of Ashura holiday,
the Launch of the State of
the World’s Volunteerism Report
that was originally scheduled to
be held on 5 th was moved to 7 th .
As 5 th is an annual IVD celebration,
Ms. Janice James, UNDP
officer in charge, gave the statement
for IVD to join the world to
celebrate the special day for all
the serving volunteers. The statement
was aired on GRTS on December
5 th . The press releases for
IVD and SWVR were published
on two major newspapers,
Foroyaa and The Point.
December 5, 2011
A march pass was conducted
along the very road which was
reconstructed with the scout band
leading the participants from the
heart of the town to the governor’s
residence where the governor
gave a speech in commemoration
to the IYV+10 and what the
spirit of volunteerism could produce.
He reiterated that volunteerism
was embedded in Gambian
culture and Gambian would need
to nstitutionalize it. With the advent
of the NVSC project, he
hoped that volunteerism shall be
rekindled in all its domains for
the development of the country.
From that day, the glory of volunteerism
has been the slogan of the
people in the Upper River Region
of the Gambia.
2 Gambia Field Unit Team

On December 7, 2011.
The Launch of the State of the
World’s Volunteerism Report
(SWVR) was held at Ocean Bay
Hotel. The launch started with an
opening statement by Ms. Janice
James, UNDP Officer in Charge.
Mr. Ansumana Darboe, Director
of University Relations from University
of The Gambia and Mrs.
Haddijatou Njie, the Contry Director
for Voluntary Service Overseas
gave a statement on behalf of
Academia and Volunteer Involving
Organizations (VIOs) in The
Gambia respectively. Ms. Isatou
Faal, Deputy Permanent Secretary
of Ministry of Finance and Economic
Affairs officially launched
the report. Fourty (40) Ministries,
VIOs, the IYV+10 National Steering
Committee Members, Media
and UN agencies were invited.
Approximately 70 people attended
the launch. GRTS (national TV)
and Foroyaa and Today
(newspaper companies) covered
the event. After the launch, Light-
Up Our World a IYV+10 video by
UNV was presented. The Launch
was aired on GRTS on 11 th .
On December 14, 2011.
The training targeted at staff at
Volunteer Involving Organizations
(VIOs) was planned with the
help by Mr. Robert Slinn, VSO
volunteer and conducted at Ocean
Bay Hotel. The training started
with an opening remark by Ms.
Mayuka Kurihara, UNV Programme
Officer. She emphasized
that they were all there on that day
to simply to learn more about how
to communicate efficiently among
VIOs and strengthen the VIO network
that was established through
the IYV+10/IVD related volunteer
activities in order to work as
strong partners after 2011. The
whole training was hosted by Mr.
Slinn and assisted by Mrs.
Aminatta Sarr-Bojang as an assistant.
Fifteen VIOs were invited
and more than 30 people from
UNV, UNDP, NGOs and Ministries
participated. The training was
divided in two parts: skill sharing
workshop and discussions on Vol-
Net The Gambia and National
Volunteer Service Center Project.
Those discussions were facilitated
by Mr. Nuha Jatta, Education Programme
Manager from VSO and
Mr. Mamanding Ndow and Mr.
Abdou Touray from UNDP. For
the discussion on VolNet, Mr.
Jatta divided the participants into
“Volunteering
for Change”
groups to have discussion on two
different scenarios: VolNet with
funding and without funding. The
participants were asked to come
up with ideas how to maintain the
network in both cases. For NVSC
project, the ideas and suggestions
for the project were shared. At
the end of training, the majority of
the participants commented that
the training was helpful and beneficial
and expressed an interest in
participating in a series of similar
trainings in near future organized
and funded by UNV Programme.
Thank you for all your support
to make IYV+10/IVD celebrations
happen.
UNV Gambia Newsletter
Organization’s address:
UN House, 5 Kofi Annan Street
Cape Point, Bakau, The Gambia
Tel: 976 (11) 327585
Fax: 976 (11) 326221
http://www.gm.undp.org
Dear readers,
We welcome your feedback!
Please share and e-mail your ideas
and comments with us at:
mayuka.kurihara@undp.org
The Editorial Team:
Mayuka Kurihara
Edgardo C. Villena
Contributors:
Pa Ansu, Mayuka, Robert
Slinn
3 Gambia Field Unit Team