On the 23rd October 2020, ADWAC, in the scope of the Tekki-Fii project – Building a Future: Make it in The Gambia – concluded the second batch of a 5-day training directed to school garden masters.
While the first training brought together garden masters and School Agriculture and Food Management Unit (SAFMU) focal points of Lower River Region (LRR) and North Bank Region (NBR), the second one was targeted to school garden masters and SAFMU focal points of Central River Region (CRR) and Upper River Region (CRR), and took place in Brikamaba of CRR.
The school garden heads were trained on the best practices of data collection, composting, pest control, vegetable production, harvesting, preservation, processing, and marketing. The training aimed at equipping them with enough knowledge on how to properly manage school gardens and transfer the knowledge gained to the students as part of the project’s aim to encourage youth engagement in agribusiness and to reinforce their role as active agents of development within their communities.
The Principal Education Officer of CRR, Lamin F. Sonko, who attended the closing on behalf of the Regional Education Director pleaded with the participants to make the best use of the knowledge gained to implement it in their various schools
“Now you all have a responsibility and owe your schools something, the knowledge you gathered from this training should be put into very good use by implementing it in your school gardens and transferring the knowledge to the students including your colleague teachers” he said.
The Executive Director of ADWAC, Mamsamba Joof, also expressed the importance of having such training for school garden masters
“Part of the project’s goals is to make agribusiness a better industry for the young people of The Gambia by introducing them to the numerous opportunities available in the sector and this should start from the grass-root level and this is why this training is very important to you but especially the students” he said.
Tekki Fii is working with 25 upper basic and senior secondary schools of NBR, LRR, CRR, and URR.
The Tekki Fii project is funded by the European Union and implemented by IMVF in partnership with ADWAC, Alianza por la Solidaridad and United Purpose, with the institutional support of The Portuguese Cooperation.
