The Gambia National Olympic Committee (GNOC) will hold a week-long festival to be dubbed ‘Women’s Sports Festival’ as a mechanism to encourage and promote women’s participation in sports.

This historic festival is slated for November 17th to 25th, 2006 and would be observed in all regions around the country with the theme “Mainstreaming Women in Sports and Development from Rhetoric to Action”.

Confirming this to our reporter at a press briefing, Mr George Gomez, the Executive Secretary of the Gambia National Olympic Committee said the Women and Sports Commission of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has approved the hosting of the festival in The Gambia.

According to him, the ultimate aim is to bring into focus the importance of women’s participation in sports. “The objective is to mark a nation-wide awareness campaign on the rights of women in sports and to be included in the sporting structures. The festival will also launch a national platform that will initiate and promote a national dialogue, reactivate sports leadership development among women, in addition to encouraging women’s participation in sports.

As part of activities marking the festival, there will be a series of programmes and activities that will include a two-day training course for women journalists, a national forum on women and sports, female football matches, women solidarity march-past, Mass Sports Day for women, among others.

Mr Gomez sought the support of the general public, particularly women and sports journalists in order to make the event a historic one.