More personalities honoured

President Alhaji Dr Yahya Jammeh, was on Saturday, awarded the 2007 National Child Friendly Award at a colourful ceremony held at the Paradise Suites Hotel, Kololi.

The event - organised by the Young People in Media (YPM) The Gambia - also saw other personalities receive several awards. Marie Saine Firdaus, attorney general and SoS for Justice, Neneh Macdouall-Gaye, SoS for Communication and Information Technology, and the late Belinda Bidwell who had served as the speaker of the National Assembly, all received awards.

Madam Adelade Sosseh, a veteran educationalist and Ebrima Jaw Manneh, the deputy editor-in-chief of the Daily Observer, Jalamang Camara, former national coordinator of CPA, and Samsideen Fatty, were among those awarded for their "undefeatable and profound selfless commitment to youth development and child rights promotion and protection".

Child Protection Alliance (CPA), which has been at the forefront of advocacy and child rights promotion and protection was also honoured.

Delivering a statement on behalf of SoS Macdouall-Gaye, Lamin Camara, principal ICT officer at the Department of State for Communication and Information Technology, lauded the efforts of members of YPM The Gambia for advocating for child rights through their various media activities. Mr Camara urged the youngsters to stick to the ethical principles of media in a bid to make society more vibrant for young people to access to information.

Deputising for Fatou Camara-Saidy, the board chairperson of YPM The Gambia, Alex Dacosta, deputy board chairperson of YPM, recalled that the organisation came into existence in early 2006 to empower young people within the framework of participatory platform for children and young people in electronic, broadcast and print media.

"We also deemed it necessary to address inequalities among children and young people, promote and protect the rights and well-being of children in society,'' he said, adding that the organisation also tasked itself to advocate on child abuse, teenage and unwanted pregnancies, as well as raise awareness on the UN Convention on the Rights of Child (CRC).

In a detailed speech, Pa Ousman Manneh, communication analyst of Unicef The Gambia, who stood in for the Unicef Country Representative, told the gathering that YPM activities are in line with Unicef objectives, quoting Article 17 of the CRC, which states that "state parties shall encourage mass media to disseminate information and material of social and cultural benefit to the child".

Abdou Jatta, president of YPM, stressed the need for more efforts to be directed towards the promotion and protection of children's rights, and to enable them speak their minds and to freely seek, receive information that could contribute to their well-being.

Satang Nabaneh, secretary general of YPM, said a lot of achievements were registered by the organisation since its inception. Ms Nabaneh pointed to capacity building on media literacy and the participation of its members in international forums as some of the successes.

She disclosed that the organisation has successfully signed a memorandum of understanding with Radijojo, a world children's radio network based in Berlin, Germany, for future cooperation.

Bintou Sonko, vice president of YPM The Gambia, chaired the award ceremony, which was also punctuated with live performances by Rongo and Nancy Nantz.