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Momodou
Denmark
11681 Posts |
 Posted - 14 Nov 2007 : 18:34:44
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WODD DELEGATES RETURN FROM STUDY VISIT TO SWEDEN
A four member delegation of Women for Democracy and Development (WODD) recently returned from a 2 week working visit to Sweden.
The delegation comprised Ndeye Yassin Secka-Sallah, a board member, Fatou Faye, Board member and youth leader, Njundou Konteh, a study circle leader and Fatou Touray, the Vice Chair of WODD, who led the delegation.
For the benefit of the reader, WODD is a non-partisan, non-profit and rights-based organisation. It has formed partnership with S-Women of the Social Democratic Party of Sweden.
Upon arrival in Stockholm, the group was received by Rosalie Sanyang, whose organisation, ABF, started the partnership programme with the Peoples’ Centre which gave birth to this new partnership. In Stockholm, the group visited several projects among them the Olof Palme Centre, which is the main sponsor of WODD’s programmes. During their visit to the Olof Palme Center, the delegation met Agnetta Liljestam, the programme manager for the Olof Palme Africa programme. She explained how the centre started, how it works and the type of programmes they are interested in. Fatou Touray also explained in brief the formation of WODD, its aims and objectives and how it works with the local groups it forged partnership with in the Gambia. After the discussions, Agnetta expressed appreciation of the works that WODD is embarking on in the Gambia. She expressed hope that links could be forged for more collaboration between the two organisations.
The delegation also visited the Swedish Parliament, where they met Marie and Veronica, both parliamentarians. Marie explained in brief how the parliament works. She said as parliamentarians, they have a very difficult task to carry, because once you are elected by the people, you have to deliver to their expectation which is a tough challenge.
From Stockholm the delegation proceeded to Ostersund City which is the divisional headquarters of the Jamtland Region.
They were received upon arrival by Jessica Runberg and Bendigt Eriksson. During their stay in Ostersund, they visited many project sites run by the S-Women. They visited the City Council and had discussions with the Mayor, Mr. Jens Nilsson. Among the issues discussed with the Mayor was women empowerment. The Mayor who is part of the EU council, is also an internationalist and a democrat for that matter. He said he believes that if women are empowered then there will be a better world to live in. After their discussions Mr. Jens hoped that there would be collaboration between the two groups in terms of women empowerment.
The delegation also visited health centres, pre-schools, a visually impaired organisation and a newspaper.
During their visit to the newspaper they met a young journalist called Linda Hedenljing who led them to the premises of the paper. In explaining briefly about the newspaper, she said the paper is called Ostersund Posten; that it comes out daily and that it was founded in 1877. She explained that the paper is the largest newspaper in the region and it covers all the 8 communities within the Jamtland region. She said they have a staff of about 60, among them 25 reporters, 4 photographers, 4 television men and 15 layout designers. She said the paper produces 31,000 copies daily and the minimum pages it publishes could be 38. She said they have the conducive environment to work in compared to journalist working in other parts of the world, especially in Africa. She explained that they encounter minor problems like threats, but their editor-in-chief is always there to defend them and the police are always vigilant when such cases are reported to them and in most cases, the culprits are apprehended.
From Ostersund the delegation returned to Stockholm where we met with the S-women branch of Stockholm and held discussions with them to strategise and see how best we can start new study circles in the Gambia. “We also visited the ABF Offices in Stockholm where we met Remi, Rosalie and others. And we were shown how to use the net through the Folkbildning programme to network with other partners in different parts of Africa and exchange ideas through internet communication. We also visited a Hospital in Stockholm where we met Mary who works with the Labour Union. Mary explained in brief how the union works to empower its members and how it also works with employers.
The visit was a fruitful one and it is hoped that it will bring in new partners and developments for WODD.
Source: Foroyaa Newspaper Burning Issues
Issue No. 134/2007, 14 - 15 November, 2007
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