A three-day training on gender mainstreaming organised by Ecowas Gender Development Centre started last Thursday at the Nana Office in Bakau.

The three-day workshop funded by Ecowas development centre, is aimed at building the capacity of the participants to understand the concept of gender and related issues and also to assist them to achieve gender equality in The Gambia, through a gender mainstreaming and empowerment initiative.

Speaking at the opening ceremony on Thursday Fatou Jasseh Kuyateh Permanent Secretary at the Office of the Vice President said, “women’s existence in socio-political terms depends on their visibility, since most cultures tend to leave women invisible.”
She added that the workshop’s main aim and objective, is to build the capacities of participants to understand the concept of gender and gender related issues and also the achievement of gender equality in the country, through gender mainstreaming and empowerment initiatives.

“Gender mainstreaming is the process of assessing the implications for women and men of any planned action, including delegations, polices and programmes in all areas.”
For her part, Aminata Dibba, acting Director of ECOWAS Gender Development Centre (EGDC) said that the development challenges confronting the sub-region are enormous and indeed daunting.

According to her, the growing level of poverty in the region has over the years been translated into the feminization of poverty, a phenomenon defined by the adverse way in which the working of the socio-economic system are increasingly impacting on the economic status of women, ‘thus perpetuating poverty as more or less permanent feature of their daily lives’.
The workshop was chaired by Adelaid Sosseh, a consultant, and attended by stakeholders.