The Gambia

Basic Information

• Assisting: 800 girls at the Upper basic level (junior secondary school)
• Target area of assistance: Education Region 2 in the Western division of The Gambia
• Partners: Federation of African Women Educationalists - Gambia (FAWEGAM)
• School year calendar: September - July

Program Overview

Selection Process

Scholars were selected through a transparent process. Schools were identified upon consultation with the Regional Education Office in the Western division and scholarships are equally divided into 50 scholarships for each school. Seventy applications were sent to each primary school which feed into the target upper basic school. Initially, though there was no active participation of other community members locally. The initial application and first selection were done by the primary school principals and community stakeholders agree that selected scholars met the specified criteria. Applications were then reviewed by a central selection committee made up of government officials, NGO representatives, and a Peace Corps representative. In Year 3, additional scholars were selected using a more participatory approach to ensure more community representation during the selection process. The scholarships are comprised of books, notebooks, school fees, bed nets, uniforms, shoes, badges and bags.

Mentors

Local partner FAWEGAM continues to actively recruit mentors to provide support to the AGSP scholars. Currently, most of these mentors are teachers who provide extra tutoring for the girls and assist them in their school work. FAWEGAM works in collaboration with the EFA Network to organize academic mentoring for scholarship recipients.

Mentoring activities in the Gambia help to build the scholars' self-esteem and confidence, cater to their health and development needs, improve their academic performance and provide them with important life skills.

Program Update

HIV/AIDS activities are implemented through a local NGO partner, BAFROW who implemented a knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP) survey to provide baseline data and implement activities such as sensitization on VCT and reproductive health issues through health education in schools, free physical exams for girls with doctors and community health workers on hand, a competition and film show on HIV and AIDS, and exchange visits between schools.

In Year 1, the AGSP in The Gambia focused on putting in place the necessary structures for an effective scholarship program, beginning in September 2005. The AGSP activities in Year 1 were implemented as planned.

In Year 2, the scholarships were disbursed and the mentoring activities were launched with a high level of enthusiasm and participation on the part of the girls and the communities. Our NGO partners were able to increase the targeted number of scholars this year from 500 to 700 girls.

Year 3 began in October with the targeted number of girls increasing to 800. Scholarships were disbursed and mentoring activities were implemented. To date, visits have been conducted to the region by World Education and IETC (World Education's subcontractor) representatives.