By: Mariama Njie
Executive Director of the National Youth Council (NYC) has called on Gambian youth to be aware and make use of a free call center established by the council to provide information to young people.
Speaking in an interview, Alagie Jarju said from their partnership with Youth Empowerment Project under the International Trade Centre has received support from the peace building fund and part of the activities to be implemented under that fund is to establish a call free line for youth in The Gambia.
He pointed out that the call free line is a 3-years project that was launched last year with the aim of providing information to young people on time.
“The free call line is here for all the youth, they can use either Gamcel or Qcell line to call 1216 to ask questions and opportunities available for them because there are lots of opportunities for young people in this country be it from government or other institutions,” he added.
Mr Jarju said despite the availability of the call free line, many don’t know that it exists, “having access to get the right information also becomes a challenge that’s why we consider the idea of having this toll-free line that anywhere, they can reach out to us and ask information as to what kind of opportunities exist in the Gambia and how they can access those opportunities as well.”
Since the establishment of the toll-free line few youth have reached out to them and information were provided to them, he said.
“We have also started some advocacy by working with a comedian and after the video it will be shared online, radio and TV so that young people will know the existence of the toll-free line,” he noted.
Meanwhile, he said they are doing a social media campaign on media platforms in making sure young people know about the existence of the opportunity.
Emphasizing on the importance of the toll-free line, he said it will expose the youth to lot of opportunities that might be available for them.
