The Kombo East Youth and Children Development Association (KEYCDA) has established a credit union called Kombo East Youth and Children Development Association Cooperative Credit Union (KEYCDACCU).

The credit union came into being at a recently concluded financial management training for forty young entrepreneurs on the Junior Achievement (JA) International, held at Kuloro in Kombo East. The training was sponsored by the Christian Children’s Fund CCF Gambia, through Kaira Nyining Federation, KEYCDA’s main partners. The coordinator of KEYCDA, Amadou Jallow, said the establishment of the credit union will create room for young people as well as the people of Kombo East, to know the value of saving money. He said that the idea to establish the credit union was conceived by members of the association.

Jallow further explained that the credit union currently has an officer on voluntary service as  a book keeper. According to him, development starts from the mind, thus “minds must be enhanced and capacitated for development”. He then urged young people of Kombo East to close ranks in the interest of development. He also called on the youth of other districts to redouble their efforts and be committed to the empowerment of young people, which he said, would play significant role in the reduction of unemployment among youths.

For Lamin Darboe, youth and child officer of Kaira Nyining Federation, the establishment of the credit union was from the resolutions of the 2007 KEYCDA annual empowerment forum. According to him, the importance of the credit union cannot be over-emphasised, observing the fact that youths need to develop their own careers and professions. “The monies that they are going to save can be used in future to pursue professional courses at tertiary institutions without relying on others,” he explained. He also informed the youth that in order to make their district developed, they must always safe-guard the integrity of the district.

Ebrima Sanneh, manager of Kaira Nyining Federation urged KEYCDA members to work extra hard in the attainment of their set target goals. He expressed his office’s resolve to always answer to the requests made by the young people of the district.