Development - "From Rhetoric to Actions"
Friday 1st December 2006

Last week the highly appraised festival on ‘women and sports’ ended at the Kairaba Beach Hotel. In presenting their Festival Petition to Her Excellency the Vice President and SOS for women’s affairs, Dr. Aja Isatou Njie-Saidy, the first female International Olympic Committee member in sub-Saharan Africa Ms Beatrice Allen, stated: “We hereby present a petition directed to the Government of the Republic of The Gambia and all stakeholders as part of a One -Week festival on Women and Sports held from the 16th to 25th November 2006, aimed at creating national awareness of the rights of women to have access to sports, to be included in sporting institutions and structures, and to foster socio-economic development.

We hereby recommend the integration of sports and physical activity into national policies and programmes across a range of sectors, including health, education, the environment, and socio-economic development.

The Women’s Solidarity March organized by the ‘women in sports’ committee of the Gambia National Olympic Committee, has recommended the following:-

1. The Government of The Republic of The Gambia should take a leadership role in fostering dialogue between the world of sports and development at national and international level in order to facilitate the development of innovative partnerships that would sustain sports development. The sports sector should strengthen programmes for physical activity and promote “sports for all” as a fundamental human right for all individuals regardless of sex.

2. The Private Sector as viable partners in sports and development, should invest in sports for mutual benefit of all, generate in-kind and financial support for women’s sports for development, and provide access to facilities by the communities for safe participation in physical activity.

3. The Health sector should engage all stakeholders and promote the incorporation of physical activity into the lives of all Gambians; and to organize physical activity programmes in health services.

4. The Education and cultural sectors should strengthen national policies related to physical education, physical activity and ‘Sports for all’ in schools; to provide sufficient playgrounds and sports facilities on school premises; and to provide quality physical education specialists to teach in schools.

5. The Sports Associations should encourage women to take up positions in sporting structures, to create opportunities for physical activities that are enjoyable, that promote adolescents and young adults’ confidence in their ability to be physically active, and involve friends, peers and parents.

6. The Media should help promote women in sports by disseminating information and appealing messages on the benefits of physical activity to women; ensure fair and consistent reporting, focusing on gender diversity in sports; and to develop regular programmes and campaigns to promote women in sports and their involvement in sporting activities.

7. The Family: all parents are urged to encourage and support women and girls sports and to allow their daughters to participate in sports at all levels, and to be given adequate time for physical activity.

8. The Gambian Public is hereby urged to promote female interest in sports; to ensure that National Associations include women in executive positions and in the decision-making process; and to promote the inclusion of physical activity in cultural and leisure programmes and events.

We hope that the persistent inequalities encountered by women in sports will be urgently addressed by all concerned, because it is a necessity to establish equity in opportunities for both women and men.”