The Gambia Scout Association revamps Youth Programme with innovative, youth-centred reforms
The Gambia Scout Association (TGSA) has unveiled a revamped National Youth Programme, marking a major milestone in its commitment to empowering young people and aligning Scouting with global development priorities. The updated programme is innovative, transformative, and firmly rooted in youth participation, integrating Scouts for SDGs initiatives alongside age-tailored learning content.
The revised Youth Programme positions TGSA to deliver more effective, relevant, and impactful youth programmes that respond to the evolving needs of young people while contributing meaningfully to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Speaking on the development, Kuyateh Momodou, facilitator of the revamp process and Chair of the Youth Advisors to the Africa Scout Committee, described the reform as a welcome and game-changing moment for Scouting in The Gambia.
A core focus of the new Youth Programme is the alignment of the educational framework with the SDGs. It incorporates flagship Scouts for SDGs initiatives such as Plastic Tide Turners, Food for Life, Nutrition Challenge, and Dialogue for Peace, positioning Scouting as a practical and action-oriented platform for sustainable development.
With this updated programme, we are now more confident that we are nurturing champions of sustainable development. The previous Youth Programme had not been reviewed for over ten years, making this revamp both timely and essential to ensure our programmes remain relevant, inclusive, and responsive to the needs of today’s young people.
Kuyateh Momodou
Facilitator and Chair of the Youth Advisors to the Africa Scout Committee
The revamped programme is the result of extensive grassroots consultations involving young people, adult leaders, and key stakeholders across the country. These engagements ensured that the voices of young people were central to shaping a programme that reflects their realities, aspirations, and role in national and global development. The updated Youth Programme reinforces the World Scouting vision of a world shaped by youth, through innovative programming that advances sustainable development and peace.
Under the new framework, young people will now participate in age-appropriate, tailor-made activities, a significant departure from the previous programme, which lacked structured age segmentation. This approach ensures that learning experiences are developmentally relevant, engaging, and impactful at every stage of a young person’s growth.
The Youth Programme revamp was carried out under the Global Youth Mobilisation 2.0 Project, currently being implemented by TGSA. The project aims to empower Scouts as agents of change by strengthening their capacity to deliver SDG-focused community actions through targeted training, inclusive engagement, and the integration of SDG initiatives into the National Scout Organization’s Youth Programme, fostering leadership, sustainability, and grassroots impact.
With the revised Youth Programme now in place, the next phase will focus on training adult leaders to ensure effective delivery and successful implementation nationwide. These trainings will equip leaders with the skills, knowledge, and tools required to guide young people using the new youth-centred, SDG-aligned framework.