Gambian Youth Group Launches Practical Boot Camp to Tackle Unemployment and Migration

By Alieu Jallow

The Lower Badibou District Youth Committee has launched a three-day skills boot camp in Pallen Amdalie aimed at equipping young Gambians with practical entrepreneurial and leadership skills to combat high youth unemployment and irregular migration.

The initiative, themed “Empowering Youth, Transforming Communities: Driving Sustainable Livelihoods, Inclusive Governance and Climate Innovation,” seeks to address the gap between formal education and practical, employable skills. Organisers noted that while thousands of young people graduate each year with academic qualifications, many lack vocational or entrepreneurial training, driving unemployment, family dependency, drug abuse, and dangerous migration attempts.

Speaking to The Fatu Network, Lower Badibou District Youth Chairperson Jailabi Gaye said the boot camp was created to help young people generate their own employment rather than wait for limited formal job opportunities.

“We understand that the situation in the country is difficult. Many young people are unemployed and have no businesses because most of them have never had the opportunity to undergo practical skills training,” Gaye said. “Many continue to depend on their parents, making livelihoods even more difficult. By the end of this training, participants will have practical skills to start small businesses in their communities while inspiring and empowering others to do the same.”

Gaye highlighted that the committee intends to expand future youth empowerment programmes to include digital literacy and career guidance.

“Our goal is not only to organise a boot camp but to build a generation of skilled, innovative and self-reliant young people capable of contributing meaningfully to national development,” she added.

The boot camp includes hands-on vocational workshops, such as soap-making. Isatou Bah, a Community Development Assistant trainee posted in Saaba Ward and a student at the Rural Development Institute, highlighted the practical training as a step toward financial self-reliance.

“Soap making is something I intend to venture into. I will first start on a small scale, and if it proves successful, I will expand it,” Bah said. “It is an empowerment opportunity not only for me but for other young people because I hope to train others once I gain enough experience.”

Adama A. Bah, a member of the Lower Badibou Children and Youth Committee from Badibou Toroba, raised concerns regarding drug abuse and irregular migration among local youth, emphasizing the value of learning from experienced facilitators.

“For me, the soap-making session stood out because I see it as a business opportunity. It is something I had never learned before, but this boot camp has broadened my understanding of how practical skills can create sustainable livelihoods,” she said. “I am looking forward to learning even more skills over the remaining days.”

The event also featured a presentation by Kemo S. Kinteh, a Human Resources and Administration Manager at Future In Our Hands – The Gambia, who provided context on the complex economic factors driving youth migration.

“There are many push factors behind migration. Poverty is certainly one of them, but poverty is closely linked to dependency,” Kinteh explained.

“In development, we talk about the income and expenditure tree. Your income is the root while your expenditures are the branches. If my salary cannot meet my responsibilities and my dependents continue to increase, migration begins to appear as the only solution. It is not always because jobs do not exist, but because incomes are insufficient to meet people’s needs and the system does not adequately support them.”

Organisers hope the community-led boot camp will serve as a model for complementing formal education, fostering local innovation, and offering practical solutions to dependency and youth unemployment in The Gambia.