Our Strategies
Implementing approaches to attain positive transformation
Addressing the challenges faced by young women and girls in The Gambia requires a multi-prong approach. This is why our efforts to contribute towards their collective advancement and creating a world where they can thrive and self-actualise, are designed and implemented through the following strategies and bound by the spirit of strategic partnerships and networking as a cross-cutting approach.
Advocacy
Reinforcing our commitment
With The Gambia being a signatory to various international and regional frameworks protecting the rights of women and recognising that the country has enacted several domestic laws and formulated policies which further provide for the promotion, protection and fulfilment of these rights, TYW has since inception employed advocacy as a strategy to achieve its vision. We continue to be significantly involved in the advocacy for the prohibition of all forms of Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (SGBV) and harmful cultural practices including Female Genital Mutilation and Child Marriage in The Gambia. Our advocacy also includes calling for increased representation of women and girls in leadership, decision making and development processes. The organisation has been actively involved in advocacy at national level engaging law and policy makers, law enforcement authorities, the media and service providers, on the need to ensure adequate legal and policy protections for women and girls and to approach development efforts from a human-rights lens. At the local level, we continue to engage community, traditional and religious leaders, women’s groups and youth leaders on advancing gender equality, inclusion and active participation of women and girls in decision making processes. We also continue to participate in various regional and international processes to call on governments and development actors to invest in women, girls and young people. Our advocacy at all levels is inspired by the ideals of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) and the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa (Maputo Protocol). We strongly believe in the possibility of an equal world for all!
Evidence Generation
Promoting research-informed programming
It is evident that programming to advance the rights of women and girls requires data-informed action. This is vital in ensuring that programmes and initiatives are not planned and implemented based on assumptions but on need demonstrated by comprehensive empirical evidence and data. To support our programming, TYW significantly relies on data reported by the periodic Demographic and Health Survey (DHS), the Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS), as well as country profiles produced by various development actors on the status of women’s rights, gender equality and sexual and reproductive health and rights in The Gambia. In addition to ensuring that data and evidence are continuously at the heart of our work, TYW also implements data generation and analysis efforts on its priority areas. Over the years, the organisation has led data collection and analysis initiatives to gauge public perceptions and common myths and misconceptions around FGM and Child Marriage. It has also conducted a survey on Menstrual Health and Hygiene Management among adolescent girls in some parts of the country. Through the Sexual and Reproductive Rights Network convened by the organisation, TYW has also led a baseline survey on abortion prevalence in The Gambia.
Capacity Development
Developing skills to facilitate change
Empowering communities and individuals to recognise and demand their rights requires that their capacities be built to engage duty bearers, their community members and leaders and inspire a collective desire for positive change. TYW has since inception invested in capacity development for women, adolescent girls, and young people including young men. These capacity development initiatives are aimed at fostering shared learning and unlearning, and equipping the organisation’s target audiences and stakeholders with an understanding of women and girls’ rights, and the responsibility of the state to fulfil its international obligations as per the regional and international human rights frameworks it is a party to. In ensuring that we actively centre women and girls in our advocacy and lobbying efforts, the organisation continues to curate spaces and platforms to enable them demand their own rights and hold duty bearers to account.This includes the organisation significantly contributing to the development of the advocacy capacities of young people across the country, through our training of advocates on Gender-Based Violence and Harmful Practices. Similarly, through our mentorship and women’s inclusion and participation in decision-making initiatives, we ensure that our beneficiaries’ leadership capacities are developed and that they are equipped with an array of skills that will nurture their interests in advocacy and community organising.
Public Engagement & Awareness
Advancing our agenda
At TYW, we believe that fostering public engagement and raising awareness are vital steps towards advancing the rights of women and girls and driving positive social transformation. Through a dynamic approach that combines traditional and new media platforms as well as grassroots organising, we continue to amplify our advocacy to address the concerns and needs of women and girls, call for investments in their sexual health and rights and their inclusion in development and decision-making processes. TYW has been renowned for leveraging creative tools and media platforms to advance the women’s rights and gender equality agenda. This includes using social media to keep the public informed and steer interests and conversation around these rights. The organisation throughs it “ArtVocacy” initiatives also uses music and other forms of creative arts to amplify its messages. Recognising the role of the media in enhancing public awareness, TYW also uses various mass media channels to engage and educate the public. This includes radio and television talk shows on various issues affecting women. Aware that issues around women’s rights require the recognition of socio-cultural dynamics in communities, TYW engages community gatekeepers across The Gambia to understand community perceptions around women’s empowerment. The organisation leverages these engagements to enhance community awareness around the significance of women’s rights and gender equality and the positive socio-economic gains communities and the country stand to gain when women and girls are empowered, their rights protected and their voices heard.
Adolescent
Girls' Mentorship
Centering girls’ needs and realities
When girls win, the world wins! As part of our mandate to positively transform the lives of girls and young women in The Gambia through mentorship, the organisation has since 2013 launched a Girls’ Mentorship programme dubbed #TYW4Girls. The Programme is a curriculum based, group, mentorship programme for adolescent girls. The in-school and out-out-school based programme is designed to empower adolescent girls through mentorship, building their self-confidence and challenging them to discover and fulfill their potential. Drawing inspiration from the International Technical Guidance on Sexuality Education, the mentorship programme equips the girls with life skills and an understanding of their sexual and reproductive health and rights with the desire to teach them about their bodies, encourage dialogue, and nurture the spirit of sisterhood. The programme utilises skills training, peer mentoring, role-playing and the use of games for team-building. The girls make use of this safe space we have created together to discuss often-difficult topics and find solutions to the challenges they face. Every cohort of the programme provides a unique experience that strengthens our belief in the need to have these spaces for girls, absent risk of judgement or shame. The issues raised during each session are crucial to building the knowledge and understanding of our girls on a range of social issues that affect them directly and indirectly. The experiences shared by the girls serve as a reminder of how much work we have to do, but also a reaffirmation of how much transformation can happen in the world, when we give girls the opportunities they need to grow and excel! Our girls hold such great promise, and the world will be even better with their contributions and talents. The beautiful spaces we continue to create through this programme and the inspiring work happening within them are made possible with the support of our amazing team of mentors and volunteers. We've got girl power!