UNICEF Banjul office, last Saturday, held its Mid-Term Review Consultative Forum for Children, at the Friendship Hostel, Bakau.

The forum brought together children representatives from all over the country, including special needs children, children out of school, all from various UNICEF intervention areas in the country. The forum was aimed at examining how the experiences of the country programme, at its mid-point, can be used by national partners to improve on policies and programmes for the rights of children and women.

Speaking at the occasion, Min Whee Kang, UNICEF country resident representative to The Gambia, reaffirmed her office's stance in the promotion and protection of the wellbeing of children at all time. She gave a brief history on UNICEF and its work in war zones and the humanitarian support her agency provides the world over.

The UNICEF boss said that the forum is aimed at assessing the opinion and voices of children in the UNICEF-Gambia government's five-year Country Programme of Cooperation 2007 - 2011. Kang maintained that the importance of the consultative meeting with children on UNICEF MTR could not have come at a better time; that since children are key priorities in all UNICEF programmes, having there voices heard and having them incorporated in the final report will go a long way to access the progress made so far in the country programme of cooperation.

She finally said that UNICEF will hold a sectoral review forum in September this year, when various partners will be invited and issues raised at the children forum will be part of the issues to be discussed at the review.