Ideas

Gambia connected

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Origin

In 2018 my husband and I (Ingrid Otepka) traveled to The Gambia, West Africa. During the stay we visited two schools, the hospital in the capital, and several programs based on development cooperation, such as a garden project aimed at women, or the startup MyFarm, which is a charity accessible also to schools.
During a conversation with one of the headmasters, we learned that she did not know about the startup MyFarm, located about a half-hour drive from her school.
We therefore wondered, in The Gambia, a country of 2 million people, how well known all those social services in the educational field and humanitarian aid actually were.

On main street, which runs along the Gambia river, we encountered many development cooperation projects. The question remained if these projects were interconnected and coordinated.

In 2021 while browsing the web, we stumbled upon The Gambia Academy. It is a school, established 2015 by the British-born, Gambia based musician, teacher and activist Sona Jobarteh. Her mission is to reform the educational system, and Jobarteh’s main focus is to enable integral human development for young Africans.
We wanted to find out if The Gambia Academy would be connected with other schools in the country or with other existing development cooperation programs.

So, because of our many questions, observations and pieces of information, the project Gambia connected came to be.

Main idea & Target group

Idea of the project is to link already implemented educational and development cooperation services in The Gambia. By creating this network, collective ideas to promote a lasting development of the country can sprout naturally on all fronts. Target audiences are pupils, teachers, headmasters, as well as personnel who offer services in the field of development cooperation in The Gambia.

Implementation

Together with local organizations and by using low-threshold online platforms, we bring to the fore what’s already established. The next step is to bring these existing services to the attention of schools, and if interested, to connect them with one another. Subsequently we offer support in realizing further ideas, which can develop automatically through networking.

Funding

At the moment we are still looking for possible funding for this project.

We would love your support and to collaborate with you!
Just write us an email or give us a call

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+43 670 55 88 192