By Alhassan Darboe:
Three Gambian youngsters comprising of Isatou Jallow (Founder and Project Lead), Haddijatou Touray (Program Coordinator ) and Sally Dibba (Finance Director ) recently won the prestigious Resolution Fellowship which comes with a D376,000 ($7,500 ) seed funding and a lifelong mentorship for their NEW venture HERFuture; officially launching in October 2019.
According to the youngsters, HERFuture is “a leadership incubator that trains and nurtures the next generation of female leaders in the Gambia. The venture aims to provide leadership opportunities to underprivileged girls in Serrekunda, Gambia. They will offer mentorship, capacity training, and internships to girls aged 15-19 years who lack access to opportunities”.
The Resolution Project is a US-based NGO that develops socially responsible young leaders and empowers them to make a positive impact today with a vision to create a generation of leaders with a lifelong commitment to social responsibility.
In 2016, six teams won the challenge, followed by 10 winning teams in 2017 and 15 teams in 2018. This year (2019, 15 teams have emerged winners of the 2019 Mastercard Foundation Social Venture challenge. The teams are from Cameron, Ghana, Zimbabwe, Uganda, Senegal, Kenya, Lebanon, Kenya, Malawi, and our Beloved Gambia.
Asked how she feels about her team representing The Gambia and winning on the continental stage, Isatou Jallow the Gambian team lead said: “I feel fulfilled knowing that in my little way I’m contributing towards creating a more inclusive society by empowering young girls to be catalyst of change in their communities. I look forward to seeing an equally distributed workforce in offices of leadership among women and men in The Gambia. I take pride in the fact that the misconceptions I erased, the lives I touched and the women I empowered will be my definition of how successful a leader I will become”.