Future In Our Hands

Future In Our Hands, (FIOH) has officially opened a new school kitchen at the Campama Lower Basic School in Banjul on the 16th May 2012. The kitchen cost over D200, 000 to construct.  The opening was conducted by representatives from the Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education (MBoSE), The Association of Non-Governmental Organisations (TANGO) the School Management and the school headmistress and pupils.  The new kitchen will mean that the school’s nine hundred students will now be able to avail of the World Food Programme (WFP) school feeding programme. 

The school’s former kitchen did not satisfy the requisite health and safety requirements to make it eligible for the WFP scheme which meant that the students could not enjoy the benefits of receiving regular meals at school.  

Speaking at this morning’s opening, school Head teacher, Mrs Ndey Jetta said; “We are delighted and grateful to FIOH for building this new kitchen. It is going to greatly help us in our nutritional values. A healthy nation builds the body of the children and so FIOH have done a wonderful job for our school which will be part of our everlasting history.  The WFP denied us a feeding programme because our old kitchen did not have a chimney which made it unsafe for people to work in, so this is why we were not able to receive the food. However, now we are appealing to the WFP to come to our aid.” 

Also speaking at the opening FIOH, Country Director Kristina Lundahl said; “It was a very special day four months ago when we at FIOH were told that the students in Campama Lower Basic School were not able to receive food because of the condition of their kitchen”.

So in order to tackle this serious issue, we put our heads together and decided that we could do something about it, the result of which is this brand new state of the art kitchen.  From today, the kitchen will be the property of Campama Lower Basic School and you will have to take good care of it. However, I am sure that this kitchen will be properly looked after and it will help benefit all. I am confident that this new facility can make a real difference to the daily lives of the students and will contribute to them in reaching their full potential.”  

Future in Our Hands (FIOH) is Swedish-Gambian non-governmental organisation (NGO), that has been working with rights-based rural development through education and capacity building in The Gambia for more than 30 years. The aim of the organisation is to bring education closer to the rural people and strengthen their capacity to fight poverty.

As FIOH Advocacy activities gather momentum in the communities, 4 communities were motivated to build Community Advocacy Centres. Changai Wollof, Bayaba and Sare Abdou all in CRR, and Sare Njobbo in URR, provided all the building materials and relied on community labour and skills to build the structures. Through our collaboration, FIOH Community Development Unit (CDU) provided a 100 watt solar panel and accessories, Inverter, TV, Video Players and various documentary cassettes on development related themes.

The centres are used to Educate and Sensitize community members on thematic areas like Gender, Civic and Basic Human Rights, Nutrition, HIV/AIDS, Youth and Development etc, as well as provide entertainment for community members. The centres are also providing crucial mobile charging services to the wider community. The funds generated from this service will be used to help sustain the project.

In a related development, the Changai Village Development Community (VDC) bought a Satellite Receiver in order to boost the operations of their centre. When installed, this will go a long way to inform and expose the community to the wider world of International Politics, Science and Technology, Environment, thereby improving their world view.FIOH had already supported 12 community schools with a similar project, 90% of which are self sustained.

The National Council for Civic Education (NCCE) has conducted workshops on Civic Education, in FIOH community development projects and feeder villages.

Civic education in a democracy implies education for democratic citizenship, which promotes democratic self-government.  In practice, it facilitates the active involvement of citizens in their own governance by enabling communities to take informed decisions and also promote seasoned commitment to the rule of law and fair play. This in turn facilitates the understanding and acceptance of rights and responsibilities.

Human rights – Rights to basic services In March 2012, the National Council for Civic Education visited 16 communities where workshops were facilitated. The objective of the workshops was to conduct community sensitization on the Basic Human Rights enshrined in the United Nations Universal Declaration on Human Rights such as the Rights to Basic services e.g. shelter, water, health facilities, education, clean environment, civic rights and responsibilities in relation to elections and community development, democracy and good governance and the rights of the minority (the disable). 

The method is based on the premise that grassroots participation is fundamental for the development of civic knowledge, skills and values. It therefore, makes it necessary for activities to be undertaken at community level. The use of outreach face-to–face community sensitization campaign has been found to be very effective in the sense that it offers the unique opportunity of interaction between the campaigners and their audience which promotes dialogue and better information dissemination and comprehension.

Radio talk shows

Another delivery method utilized was the use of the community radios where four hours radio talk shows were conducted on the same theme i.e. Human Rights and voter education. The talk shows were conducted at Paradise FM in Basse and Soma Community Radio and two hours air time was held at each.

At Paradise FM in Basse, the programme was conducted by Kebba O. Jobe and Ansumana Yabou in Wollof and Mandinka respectively and supported by a staff of the radio who spoke in the Sarahule language.

At Soma community radio, Junkung K. Saidy of NCCE conducted the talk show in Mandinka. The radio programme enabled the other communities where the campaign team could not reach on their face to face meeting to get the civic knowledge on human rights. The audience both within and outside FIOH target communities were given the opportunity to call and ask questions and make contributions in the programme.

Posters

The first ten (10) articles of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights were translated into Wollof and Mandinka and developed into posters and distributed to the participants at the meetings.

The outcome

The participants were enthusiastic about the activity and in their own words such meetings should be held regularly as it enable them to gain knowledge that was never given to them.

They suggested that such activity be extended to the schools because educating the children and teachers at the school means that the whole community is educated because they are from homes.

There has been a very high enthusiasm throughout the exercise and participants manifested their thirst for civic knowledge and skills, therefore it is worth stating that if people know their civic rights, duties and responsibilities there can be sustainable peace and development, hence the need for more funding to embark on regular civic education programmes.

Twentyfive women from Tabanai in the Central River Region were given extensive training in sewing a tailoring last month. During a ten day course the participants learnt the basic principles of tailoring and were instructed on how to utilise their new abilities to generate income for themselves and their families.

Training facilitator, Rose Mendy said;  “I was extremely impressed by the progress made by the participants. They really learnt a lot during the course. Most of the students had no prior experi-ence of this area and weren’t even aware of how to turn on a sewing machine. By the end of the course however, they were able to sow and mend uniforms. Not only can these women now put their new skills to use in the home but they can also earn money for their communities and families. For many, this is the first time that they have been involved in any other activities outside their domestic duties.”

FIOH hopes to carry out follow-up training sessions to further develop the woman’s tailoring skills and improve their income generating potential.

Preparations being made to replenish community cereal banks 

Future in Our Hands (FIOH) is making plans to try and alleviate some of the worst effects of the looming food shortage facing the Gambia.

The organisation is proposing to give assistance to sixteen villages in the Lower, Central and Upper River regions which will likely be affected by food shortages owing to the last year’s poor rains and exacerbated by high world food prices.FIOH has previously established a series of cereal banks in these communities and has provided training on effective storage, seed selection and proper stock management. This initiative has already helped these villages to ensure that they have access to a consistent supply of food during the so called “hungry period” between harvests. However, the pending food shortages mean that the cereal banks are unlikely to be able to cope with the unprecedented demand so extra stock will be needed.

Bubacarra Camara, Senior Programme officer at FIOH said; “We intend to improve the current capacity of the cereal banks in our sixteen recipient village communities. Estimates indicate that there has been a 70% reduction in crop yield this year which will create a huge demand for extra food aid.   We are currently assessing the needs of each community with a view to providing assistance which will enable them to “top up” their cereal banks meaning that there will be a consistent supply of food especially for the most vulnerable households during any shortage. 

We will also continue to roll out with our cereal bank training which educates villages how to efficiently stockpile food which will help people become more resilient to weather related crises such as droughts.”

It is estimated that up to one million people in the Gambia may require food assistance due to the current food shortage.Future in Our Hands (FIOH) is Swedish-Gambian non-governmental organisation (NGO), that has been working with rights-based rural development through education and capacity building in The Gambia for more than 30 years. The aim of the organisation is to bring education closer to the rural people and strengthen their capacity to fight poverty.

Six VDPs benefited from FIOH hand pump maintenance training pilot conducted in Misera and Sare Jawbeh, in LRR and URR respectively.

Fifteen participants from Njolfen, Niawurlung and Misera in LRR and thirteen participants from Tabajang, Kiss and Sare Jawbeh benefited and graduated from the pilot training conducted by FIOH on the 6^th to 10^th and from the 15^th to 19^th February,  2012 respectively.

The objective of the training is to capacities the community members within the FIOH VDPs in order to be able to repair their own pumps any time they have problems without depending on foreign aid or hiring experts. This is another giant step that FIOH is taking towards alleviating poverty.

The training which could not come at any better time than have already stared bearing fruit, allowed the participant to manifest their skills they learned from the training by repairing three damaged hand pumps in Misera and Sare Musa during the training.

However, this pilot training is serving as a testing ground for FIOH to be able to identify another best approach as part of their poverty alleviation and sustainable development programme for VDPs through equipping them with skills so as to make them self-reliance in their daily life activities.

Job Brief, Job Framework and Person Specification

Job title: Manager

Report to: FIOH Board

Future In Our Hands (FIOH) is seeking for an experienced and knowledgeable person to fill in the position of manager at it’s head office in Kotu South KMC the Gambia.

Future In Our Hands (FIOH) is a Swedish/Gambian international NGO that has been working in the Gambia for the past 30 years. It’s main intervention area is to support government in it’s strive to attain access to education for all. However as the needs of the people continue to change with time, FIOH has gone into other priority areas such as improve the quality of education with training teachers, advocacy and working with community groups on their priority areas of development. The Organisation is in the process of transforming from an international NGO to a national one come January 2013 and the successful candidate is expected to head the national organisation.

Reporting: The manager shall report to the FIOH board with responsibilities for the heads of the different units.

Job Description FIOH manager

• Overall management of the organisations’ activities
• Overall financial responsibility
• Responsible for the implementation of policies and guidelines
• Overall responsibility for information and reporting
• Representation of FIOH at official events, Ministry and NGO contacts etc.
• Secretary to the FIOH board
• Involvement in the ongoing organisational transformation process
• Overall supervision of the activities of the different units

Person Specification

• Applicatnt must possess a diploma in management or other related fields with at least 5 years of experience in a management position
• Ability to lead a team
• Goal oriented
• Organiational skills
• Innovative and tactful
• Good listening skills
• Knowledge in policy development and implementation
• Good knowledge in budgeting and financial follow-up
• Experience in development work
• Knowledge and experience about rural Gambia
• Experience in NGO work
• Experience in organisational transformation
• Familiar with the project cycle (planning, monitoring, evaluation, reporting)
• Fluent in English, both speaking and in writing
• Ability to speak at least two main Gambian languages
• Networking abilities
• Fundraising knowledge
• Drivers license is an added advantage
• Experience in advocacy work is an added advantage

Applications including detailed CV, copies of certificates, two referees and other relevant documents should be sent to the address below in a sealed envelope labeled application for manager.

Country Director, Future In Our Hands, Kotu South PMB 352 Serrekunda

You can also apply online on email address: office@fioh.org

The deadline for submission for all applications is at close of the work day 5th April 2012. Female candidates are encuraged to apply.

Salary is negotiable based on qualification and experience. The selected candidate is expected to serve a six months probationary period. No late submissions will be accepted and only shortlisted applicants will be contacted.

For more information please contact the country director on 4460360.

Future In Our Hands (FIOH) works with a rights-based approach in which the gender perspective is thoroughgoing. All of FIOH interventions are implicated by the international agreements, Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), UN Declaration of Human Rights and conventions that protect women’s individual and social rights.

Women’s role in The Gambia is strongly entrenched in traditional and cultural structures. Most women in The Gambia have no power over their own lives and with no or small opportunities to participate and influence family decisions. Women’s rights are often violated, polygamy, early marriages, forced marriages, female genital mutilation, lower access to education for girls (women illiteracy rate reaches 67%), are all issues that impact women’s daily life.

FIOH advocacy and education on women’s rights and women skills training are some examples on FIOH gender related projects that are changing lives for women in the rural Gambia. In an recent evaluation one man in Pallol quotes “most men before do not clean the household, wash clothes, fetch water or do babysitting but now the majority of men fetch water, collect fuel wood,  take cereals for mill, do babysitting, bath the children and even take them to the clinic. Thanks to FIOH for the support render which made all these possible”.

Nutrition training has been conducted in Njolfen and Sare Sarjo with the aim to improve health levels and livelihood conditions in the communities. Theoretical sessions were followed by practical demonstrations on topics as child care, hygiene and use of local nutrition food sources. About 40 participants in each community took part in the training that included cooking of Moringa leafs and nutrition food for children younger than five. Knowledge and practical skills in nutrition, hygiene and child care are vital aspect for improving health and livelihood conditions.

The nutrition training has previously resulted in great positive impact on community health levels. Regional health workers has recognised the results and praised FIOH nutrition training.

Future In Our Hands (FIOH) has conducted Vegetable Preservation Training in Changai, Kisskiss, Nyawurlung, Sare Jawbeh communities located in Central River Region. During the training session 28 women participated with great interest and commitment. The aim of the training is to enhance the value of vegetables, increase skills for women and create income generating activities for women.

When vegetables are in season the prices are often low and in some cases fruits and vegetables are wasted. In order to make the most of the vegetables, preserve them and increase the value, training in vegetable preservation can really boost the economy.

The training outcome was very positive with increased awareness on vegetable production and preservation.  Linkages have been created among Jamali Skill Center and training group, where the VDP participants are invited to send their products for sale.