The Malick Jallow Foundation for Children (MJFC) joins the commemoration of the Africa Youth Day marked on the 1st day of November.
We join the call for young people to continue striving in their quest to contribute fundamentally towards nation-building. We implore the youth to continue building their capacities and investing in personal and professional development to enable them better placed in confronting and overcoming the increasing socio-economic challenges facing them.
We equally implore the youth to be realistic in their expectations and to seize the available opportunities for work within The Gambia bearing in mind our socio-economic context and the status of The Gambia as a developing country. In that vein, we welcome the progressive endeavour of the government to create opportunities for the youth and we urge them to fundamentally strengthen such initiatives to help curb the many challenges facing the youth especially on the issue of migration.
Finally, the MJFC also joins the rest of the country in mourning the recent loss of lives of scores of young Gambians who were reported to have embarked on the ‘backway’ journey to Europe. This is a tragic loss to the Gambia and we urge all stakeholders to accelerate efforts and policies in addressing the root causes of irregular migration.