By Mariam Williams
The Gambia’s Minister of Tourism and Culture, Mr. Hamat N.K. Bah, has said that the creative industry is critical in the country’s economy. He referred to it as a “top priority area” for the government of President Adama Barrow, reasoning that because it’s the youths who are active in the creative sectors.
Minister Bah was delivering a statement during the launching of the Gambia’s Creative Industries Roadmap, on Tuesday,3 December, held at Suites Hotel in Kololi.
Bah pointed out that the Youth and Trade Roadmap for the country’s creative industries sets out a plan to support innovation and improve on the productive capacity of SMSs, strengthen institutional support,increase economic value and market access to foster economic growth, employment creation, entrepreneurial ventures and skills development.
The roadmap also outlines the plan of action to activate economic opportunities related to skills development, entrepreneurship, market-led value chain development and sector co-operation, as Bah reported. He said the launching marked the end of a series of country-wide consultations that started in June 2019 and brought together public and private organisations, entrepreneurship, Technical and Vocational Education and Training [TVET] institutions and youth associations to identify youth employment opportunities.
The Youth and Trade Roadmap for creative industries directly supports the Gambia’s development plan, said the minister, adding it includes a detailed strategy along with a five-year plan of action with a set of concrete and realistic activities to increase youth self-employment and entrepreneurship in the creative industries.
Minister Bah said a stepping stone is to strengthen the training and vocational training capacities to equip the young artists with a creative and entrepreneurial mindset together with solid technical skills. Another key priority identified by the stakeholders is protecting intellectual property rights aimed at increasing the income of the creative actors and protect their creations.
European Union (EU) Ambassador to The Gambia, H.E. Attila Lajos informed the gathering that, through this roadmap, the EU is enhancing it’s support to creative industries in the Gambia in accordance with the country’s National Development Plan (NDP) to support socio-economic growth.
The EU senior diplomat said the roadmap is the easiest steps serving as a compass to shape the development of creative industries in the country, “in order to explore the potentials of youths who are interested in the creative and cultural fields, to improve them with employments opportunities and support entrepreneurship to boost creativity”.
Deputy Executive Director of International Trade Center (ITC), Ms. Dorothy Ng’ambi Tembo, is positive that the initiative would directly support the Gambia’s NDP to empower youth, focus on supporting innovation, market-led value chain development, reinforcing technical skills, improving intellectual property protection and developing creative mind-sets among young artists.
“Today is an important milestone as we launch a new roadmap for a sector with high potential for youth employment,” she held.
As averred by the Zambian-born Deputy Executive Director of ITC, this new roadmap of the Gambia’s Creative Industries completes the other sector strategies for tourism, CT {Information and Communications Technology}, and nuts and agro processing, already developed under the Youth and Trade Roadmap.
Mr. Hassum Ceesay, a historian and Director General of the National Centre for Arts and Culture, remarked, “This roadmap is like an addition to compliment the effort of the government of The Gambia.”
