The Girls Agenda Youth Safe Space, A guiding light for Adolescent Girls

Mariama Sanyang, Communications Officer, the Girls Agenda

IT Lab used for research and training on Basic IT skills

Posters by Participants 

main hall

In a society where a simple conversation on sex and sexuality between a mother and daughter is considered taboo and very rare, Adolescent Girls find it difficult to understand and handle the changes that come with being a teenager in the Gambia.

The Girls Agenda, a women-led organization that works on the Human Rights of Women and Girls in the Gambia, has become a guiding light for adolescent girls and young women through their Youth Safe Space in Brikama, West Coast Region of the Gambia.

In an interview with this Medium on Friday 27th September 2024, held at the Youth Safe Space in Brikama, Mariama Sanyang, communications Officer at the Girls Agenda, said, “We have been organizing activities to engage adolescent girls and young people to enlighten them about the existence of the law and the harmful effects of FGM. We invite them to the safe space and engage them since we cannot reach out to everyone in the communities”.

She said they do not only limit their interventions to adolescent girls or young women but also extend their engagements to boys and young men in the communities and the Madrassa (Islamic Schools).

She said these are young men who are not opportune to know Harmful traditional practices, including FGM and Child Marriage, so they reach out to them, seek their knowledge on FGM and also take them through what FGM is and its harmful effects.

She added that during the summer holidays, they reach out to girls who are at risk of undergoing FGM and engage them on the topic. She said they showed them the harmful effects of FGM including the health complications attached to the practice.

“We trained girls on Sexual and Gender-Based Violence, Economic Empowerment, Entrepreneurship, FGM, Teenage Pregnancy and Child Marriage. We made them understand how FGM, Child Marriage and Teenage Pregnancy can affect their education and future negatively,” she said.

Ms. Sanyang said as young girls, they cannot be in a society where they are not empowered and have nothing to do. She said they also bring on board teenage mothers who are part of society and need guidance and help. These are young teenage mothers who are dependent on people so bringing them onboard and training them on skills will help them become self-reliant.

She said they are trained in food processing, pad production and other entrepreneurial skills they can use to make money and empower themselves.

“We do organize mother-to-daughter dialogue whereby we bring adolescent Girls and their mothers to talk to them about menstrual hygiene management. We trained them on how they can help their adolescent girls prepare for their menstrual cycle. We know that many parents or guardians don’t discuss these issues with their daughters until when they start menstruating, and the only advice they give to them is that they are now adults, which is crazy,” she said.

She said this is why they make sure that they include menstrual hygiene management in all their activities. She said they have a specific day, which is International Menstrual Hygiene Day, that they commemorate with parents and their daughters. She said the Safe Space is also open to teenagers who are having issues at home or school to seek counselling and guidance to solve their problems.

She added that the Youth Safe Space is also a research centre where they invite adolescent Youth to train them on how to do research and also expose them to basic IT skills. She said the safe space is open to young people in Brikama and surrounding areas.

“We also work with university students on the political lab hub where we target young women who are interested in politics and invite politicians to have a conversation with them and encourage them to take up leadership roles,” she said.

She said the challenge they faced in their advocacy was a lack of funding to reach out to more people in the communities. She said if they are to go to the communities, they need to sort out logistics and other resources that require money.

“When we gather young people and adolescent girls, we don’t just give them information; we also train them on life skills that they can use to make something out of their lives. We buy raw materials to conduct these trainings, which require money, so funding is one of the challenges we are faced with,” she said.

She said it is also challenging to change the perception of participants which cannot happen in a day because it is a gradual process. She said they keep engaging them until they get results.

 Author:Halimatou Ceesay