The Gambia Football Federation (GFF) on Monday 21st February 2022 received a representative from FIFA as the two bodies intensify efforts ahead of the finalisation and implementation of the Fatim Jawara Women Athletes Empowerment Project.
Ms. Jawara, a former Gambia national team goalkeeper, drowned in the deadly waves of the Mediterranean, in the coast of Libya, on 27th October, 2016, after embarking on the perilous journey to Europe in search of greener pasture without the knowledge of her family. Her untimely death, coming at the peak of her career, generated a lot of international media attention at the time.
Thus, the GFF in collaboration with FIFA in commemoration of the fifth-year anniversary of her death in October, 2021, launched the project to honour her legacy. The two partners will use her image with the program aimed at sensitising women footballers to stay home and by teaching them with life skills that has the potential to develop into income generating opportunities for them in their home countries instead of embarking on such risky journeys.
In her recent visit to the Football House today as part of a three-day working visit to the country, Senegalese Fatou Bintou Ba, the FIFA consultant for the project, highlighted that her visit to The Gambia is fruitful and a step in the right direction to meet the respective stakeholders for the realisation of the project’s goals.
“The whole idea is to promote independence by empowering women. We want players to love their dreams, and not risk their lives but to be safe. The project will be implemented by charitable organisations in The Gambia upon meeting the requirements through GFF whereas FIFA would monitor to ensure the legacy and sustainability of the project is achieved,” she affirmed.
She acknowledged the importance that the Federation attaches to women’s football, noting that it’s one factor why the FIFA General Secretary Madam Fatma Samoura, took this social initiative, adding that Gambia’s success on this will lead to a replication of similar ones for other Member Associations.
While thanking Fatma Samoura and FIFA for choosing GFF, President Lamin Kaba Bajo assured of Football House’s continues support and collaboration with FIFA and the respective stakeholders/partners for a successful implementation of the project. “I have no doubt that the project will be successful considering the women leaders we have at our disposable. They are young, passionate and they lived it (football players),” he said.
Baboucarr Camara the Communications Director, who is the acting General Secretary, thanked FIFA for choosing the GFF as its partners for this project. He assured her of Football House’s commitment to the cause, noting that the leadership of Gambian football attaches significance importance and passion towards the development of the women’s game.
“I think you’d agree with me that The Gambia has registered tremendous strides in terms of women’s football development. We’ve seen with the performance of our various national teams and most importantly the senior national team, which in its first ever participation in the Women’s African Cup of Nations qualifiers it reached the final stage a couple of years ago,” Mr. Camara stressed.
“And this year too, despite the heavy loss to Cameroon, we’re again in the final stages. This is a testament of the leadership’s commitment towards women’s football and as a Secretariat, we’re assured that will continue. Thus, we can only say that the future of women football is bright and a lot can be achieved with the current team.”
For their parts, the President of the Women’s Football Association, Ms. Sainabou Cham, Senior Women’s Football Coordinator, Sainey Sissoho-M’Boge, and her assistant, Aisha Veronic Malack, all took turns to underscore the importance of the project. While expressing gratitude to the Federation and FIFA’s General Secretary for the opportunity to remember Fatim Jawara, they vowed work hard to retain her legacy.
