Ziguinchor, July 1 (APS) – A forum focused on the theme “Breaking barriers to meaningful participation and inclusion of young girls for empowerment through sport and play” opened Monday in Ziguinchor ( south), at the initiative of the NGO “Right To Play Senegal”, noted the APS.
This forum for “young leaders” is organized in collaboration with the Ziguinchor adolescent center.
It is part of the implementation of the Strengthening girls’ capacities through sport and games (RECAF-Jeu) project. This five-year program (2021-2026) is funded by Global Affairs Canada, to the tune of 3 billion 900 million CFA francs, in order to support the empowerment of adolescent girls and young women.
“It will be a question of seeing how to create a framework for consultation, exchanges of experience between boys and girls to promote their empowerment,” explained the regional youth inspector of Ziguinchor, Babacar Sall, who came to chair the opening ceremony of the forum.
“This advocacy forum will allow young girls and boys to exchange ideas with each other to see how to support them in the planning, formulation and implementation of activities at the local and regional level,” added the regional sports inspector of Ziguinchor.
Sadibou Sambou, coordinator of the Recaf-Jeu project at the NGO Right to play, explained that this forum will help young people to be able to advocate.
“Today, there are barriers to women’s empowerment. Young girls are left stranded in the process of empowerment. To compensate for this, we set up the Recaf-Jeu project to train young people to enable them to develop and develop their behaviors,” continued Mr. Sambou.
The coordinator of the Ziguinchor adolescent center, Yandé Diakhaté Gaye, specifies that “the objective of this forum is to allow young people to participate in decision-making bodies through the authorities”.
“We want young people to know how to get local authorities to hear them and solve their problems,” he said.
MNF/ASG/BK
