The European Union’s office in The Gambia has said that the Tekki Fii project, led by IMVF (Instituto Marquês de Valle Flôr), is actively supporting the national response to COVID-19 in the Gambia.
IMVF (Instituto Marquês de Valle Flôr) is a Foundation for development and cooperation. It is a private entity, from the non-lucrative sector, acknowledged as an institution of public utility.
Its projects are managed by its technical team, with headquarters in Lisbon, Portugal, and monitored by regular field missions in order to provide a more in depth follow up and closer work with local teams. Its project implementation is done in partnership with local NGOs, governmental institutions, among others, that allocate their field expertise on behalf of the projects, thus ensuring their success.
A statement made available on Tuesday said as schools re-open to students of 9th and 12th grades, the project will be made up of sanitary supplies and first aid kits to the Minister of Basic and Secondary Education.
The statement revealed that 25 schools in Lower River Region, North Bank Region, Central River Region and Upper River Region will benefit from this support.
“The project has supported the Regional Youth Committees of CRR, NBR, LRR and URR to be on the frontline of COVID-19 prevention.
Sanitary materials were distributed along with awareness raising to more than 100 communities. Five community radios, which have received new equipment, hosted awareness raising programmes that reached thousands of people in the rural areas of the country,” the statement said.
According to the statement at the community level, twenty-five vegetable gardens have received sanitary supplies.
The statement added that the project is aiming at intervening in 30 community gardens that will benefit from market-oriented planning to improve and increase production capacity and productivity.
The statement further revealed that farmer field Schools are being organised in 30 gardens, from which 11 will start in the rainy season.
“In this season, 1,000 farmers shall benefit from access to quality agriculture inputs, mitigating the losses of the previous harvest season and encouraging farmers to quickly return to the fields.
Moreover, since the pandemic outbreak, 18 young agro-entrepreneurs have received or are about to receive a Tekki Fii grants and 10 youths selected for the Rural Youth Awards will soon receive in-kind support for their agribusiness activities,” the statement said.
“Gambians can count on the European Union’s continued support in response to the challenges of COVID-19. We all have to adapt to this new reality, including the educational sector. Today’s donation will allow more than 16,000 students to resume their studies safely,” says the European Union Ambassador to the Gambia, Attila Lajos.
The project is part of the larger flagship Tekki Fii programme designed to provide better opportunities for youth in the Gambia. All projects of the Tekki Fii programme are funded by the EU Emergency Trust Fund for Africa.-
