{"id":94153,"date":"2026-02-15T07:22:50","date_gmt":"2026-02-15T07:22:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/uncategorized\/essa-mbye-faal-pledges-empowerment-for-women-and-youth"},"modified":"2026-02-15T07:52:29","modified_gmt":"2026-02-15T07:52:29","slug":"essa-mbye-faal-pledges-empowerment-for-women-and-youth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/essa-mbye-faal-pledges-empowerment-for-women-and-youth","title":{"rendered":"Essa Mbye Faal Pledges Empowerment for Women and Youth"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span class=\"ap-article-header-tag\"> <strong>Africa-Press &#8211; Gambia. <\/strong> <\/span><b>APP-Sobeyaa leader Essa Mbye Faal has promised to establish a women and youth empowerment bank if elected president in the Dec. 5 vote, framing the proposal as a cornerstone of his campaign to expand access to finance and reduce economic hardship.<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Speaking to residents of Brikama in a video posted on his official social media platforms, Mr. Faal said the proposed bank would allow citizens to deposit their osusu\u2014a traditional rotating savings system widely used for small-scale capital accumulation\u2014regardless of political affiliation, religion, or ethnic background.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe want to open a women and youth empowerment bank,\u201d Mr. Faal said. \u201cFor you to put in your osusu regardless of where you are from, your religion, or your party, the bank will help you. That is what developing a country is.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Mr. Faal criticized the administration of President Adama Barrow, alleging that 50 million dalasis had been distributed to women aligned with the ruling party without transparency about the source of the funds. He described the move as discriminatory and said it violated national laws that prohibit favoritism based on party, tribe, or religion.<\/p>\n<p>Under an APP-Sobeyaa government, Mr. Faal said, discrimination would end, and economic conditions would improve.<\/p>\n<p>Addressing young people at the gathering, he promised investments in sports infrastructure, including the construction of standard football fields, and vowed to strengthen the rule of law.<\/p>\n<p>He also questioned the government\u2019s record on job creation, saying a pledge to generate 1,500 jobs had not been fulfilled. Mr. Faal pointed to the presence of foreign workers in sectors such as construction, baking, and retail, asking what employment opportunities were being created for Gambians.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe want to bring jobs for you,\u201d he said. \u201cBut before that, we will teach you skills.\u201d He added that his party would commit $50 million annually to youth development.<\/p>\n<p>Mr. Faal urged eligible voters to register and participate in the election, telling young people that failing to cast a ballot would mean surrendering their voice in shaping the country\u2019s future.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ap-article-footer-note\">Find more news and analyses on <span class=\"ap-highlight-country\">Gambia<\/span> on the <span class=\"ap-highlight-brand\">Africa Press<\/span> website<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Africa-Press &#8211; Gambia. APP-Sobeyaa leader Essa Mbye Faal has promised to establish a women and youth empowerment bank if elected president in the Dec. 5 vote, framing the proposal as a cornerstone of his campaign to expand access to finance and reduce economic hardship. Speaking to residents of Brikama in a video posted on his [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":94152,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,12],"tags":[260],"class_list":["post-94153","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-policy","tag-gambia"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Essa Mbye Faal Pledges Empowerment for Women and Youth - Gambia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"-article-header-tag&quot;&gt; Africa-Press - Gambia. APP-Sobeyaa leader Essa Mbye ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/essa-mbye-faal-pledges-empowerment-for-women-and-youth\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Essa Mbye Faal Pledges Empowerment for Women and Youth\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"-article-header-tag&quot;&gt; Africa-Press - Gambia. 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