The Blog

Welcome to our blog

Hey YEP community! Here's our platform to get you up to speed on our progress. Pop by regularly as we update our blog on the ongoings of the project.

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Innovative protection: from cotton facemask to 3D-printed face shields

“It’s almost midnight and I found time to have dinner just now. What I do, my craft is my passion. Providing creative solutions gives me so much joy”. Ndey Fatou Njie’s enthusiasm is still fresh after a long day. She has joined hands with a group of young fashion entrepreneurs and women groups in rural Gambia who are working hard to give back to their communities by turning towards producing facemasks.

Three training centers supported by YEP where youth acquire tailoring skills are now coming handy to help meet the urgent demand for protective facemasks. This support to entrepreneurs and ins...

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Young Gambians are using radio shows to help communities stay safe during the coronavirus and cope with the socioeconomic crisis.

“A good business is run by an entrepreneur in the right state of mind and good health, you want to be that entrepreneur - stay safe, stay home and protect yourself and your love ones."

This is the main message that goes out every evening on a live radio talk show and reaches youth across North, Central, Upper and Lower Bank Regions. The Gambia Youth Chamber of Commerce (GYCC) produces the radio show. The Chamber is an umbrella body and voice of young entrepreneurs in The Gambia - a trade support organisation that empowers young entrepreneurs and help improve their earnings.

Since the creation ...

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EU, ITC, GCCI and the Kanifing Municipal Council launch new Challenge Fund for young entrepreneurs to tackle socio-economic challenges caused by COVID-19

by ITC News

(Banjul) – Young Gambian entrepreneurs now have a chance of winning grants up to GMD 500,000 to implement innovative solutions to address socioeconomic challenges to Kanifing Municipal Council (KMC) caused by COVID-19.

KMC in partnership with the European Union funded Youth Empowerment Project (YEP) and the Gambia Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI) launched the KMC Mayor GMD1 Million Challenge to support young innovative entrepreneurs with smart and effective solutions to help address the challenges caused by COVID-19.

The Challenge Fund is specifically designed to tackle thre...

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Poetry to help save lives during COVID-19

Creativity and leadership: Young Gambians are using traditional forms of communications to help everyone stay safe.

by ITC News

Let’s not assume That we are not going to be infected Let’s prepare as though We will be affected Call 1025 And you can save lives.

Through their poem, Jainaba and Awa are making an effort to change the way youth look at the threats from COVID-19 as they embrace the realities in The Gambia.

They are among the 83 applicants who have submitted their entries in the poetry challenge initiated by the European Union funded Youth Empowerment Project (YEP) in collaboration wi...

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Young Gambians and Guineans gain skills, get fit with ITC, UEFA

Kick for Trade initiative with the UEFA Foundation for Children uses football skills to teach life skills to young people starting out in life

Young people in The Gambia who are learning life skills by learning football skills feature in a short video released by the International Trade Centre to mark the International Day of Sport for Development and Peace on 6 April 2020.

The youngsters are participants in Kick for Trade, a project backed by the UEFA Foundation for Children, which aims to boost the employability and entrepreneurship skills of young people in West Africa.

‘In July 2019, UEFA...

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Youth tour guides in the Gambia emerge as first responders to COVID-19 awareness and prevention

With support from Youth Empowerment Project, young leaders in the Gambia are playing their role in ensuring safety and good health.

The effects of global coronavirus pandemic are visible in the Gambia as elsewhere. The budding tourism industry in the country has taken a hit with travel bans, flight suspensions, quarantines, lockdowns and social distancing measures in place. The tourist season in the country that usually lasts until early May is over in advance this year. This has added to the loss already suffered from last year’s collapse of renowned tour operator Thomas Cook that used to acc...

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SkYE 2.0 Launched In The Gambia

The International Trade Centre (ITC) launched the second round of the Skills for Youth Employment (SkYE) Fund to increase technical and vocational skills training opportunities for 1,600 Gambian youth and women. The second edition of the Fund was launched on 20th June 2019 and is open for applications from interested training institutions, private sector companies and industry associations to provide training for youth, employment and finance to support their growth.

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YEP hosts packaging conference

The Youth Empowerment Project (YEP) in partnership with The Gambia Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI) organized a two-day packaging conference as part of side events of the annual Trade Fair Gambia international held at the independence stadium in Bakau. The conference explored packaging as a tool to boost company sales, sustainable jobs for youth, traceability & barcoding and how local products can be sold in local supermarkets.

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The Kankurang lives on

The second edition of the Janjanbureh Kankurang Festival took place from the 18th – 20th of January 2019 in a three-day exciting event. The festival which was revived in 2018 with support from YEP and its partners is geared towards the promotion and preservation of culture as well as creating employment opportunities for its inhabitants particularly young people through community based tourism.

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