PEGEP partnership conference soon

Officials at the President Empowerment of Girls’ Education Project are on preparations to organise their first partnership conference slated for next month.

The initiative seeks to bring together partners from all sectors including public and private institutions, non-governmental organisations, the diplomatic community, civil society organisations, individuals and prominent business personalities, amongst others. The idea is to forge strong partnership between the project and the aforementioned partners with a view to come with strategic funding methods to ease the burden of the project on the president, who has been single handedly sponsoring the project since its inception, seven years ago.

The proposed partnership conference is scheduled to coincide with the first graduation of PEGEP-sponsored students, notably those who graduated at the tertiary level. Speaking in an exclusive interview with the Daily Observer, on Wednesday, Honourable Sheriff Abba Sanyang, the National Assembly member for Foni Kansala, who is the man at the helm of affairs of the project, said the upcoming conference will create a platform for PEGEP to exhibit their programmes and components to the invited partners in a bid to enable them to come on board and play a part in the implementation of the projects in terms of sponsoring its programmes. Among such programmes are the mother clubs, educational conferences and festivals, reinforcement of effective quiz and debate programmes in schools.

"The project has since its inception been focusing mainly on settling tuition fees of students, but there are other very vital components in which stakeholders can play an active role," he said, maintaining that the partnership between the project and the general public will go a long way in further promoting quality education in the country. He reiterated the fact that if the proposed conference is fruitful, the philanthropic projects will be in a stronger position to develop new programmes geared towards advancing the course of education in the country.

To this end, The PEGEP project manager stressed that the Gambian leader, who has been the only donor of the project cannot do it all alone. He said that the project is for Gambians, and that as such, the participation of the general public in making it more vibrant is vital. "The president has already set the pace by initiating the project and providing the resources needed for its operations. But we are of the view that the general public needs to come on board and complement his crusade in education. Just imagine, the president pays around 35 million dalasis every year for girls’ education at all stages of learning, both in The Gambia and abroad," he stated.

Commenting on the proposed graduation, Honourable Sanyang said that it will bring together all the people sponsored through the project with a view to exhibiting their achievements to the Gambian leader, who sponsored them. "This move will let the people realise the fact that the Gambian leader has spent so much resources in upgrading the human resources of the country,’’ he said, and added that such an event is worthy in that it serves as an encouragement to the school going children.

The President’s Empowerment of Girls’ Education Project, was conceptualised in 2002 by the Gambian leader, Professor Alhaji Dr Yahya Jammeh, to champion the course of girls’ education in the country.