A practical plan for jobs, training and entrepreneurship — built around the people most affected by youth unemployment.
Youth unemployment in the Gambia is not an accident of the economy. It is the predictable outcome of decades of policy choices — choices made without the people most affected ever being asked. Our jobs platform begins from a different premise: those most affected should help design the response.
Three concrete commitments
First, a national apprenticeship guarantee for school leavers under 25. A six-month placement, paid at a real wage, with employers screened for genuine training capacity. Funded jointly by a tax credit for participating employers and a small allocation from the existing youth ministry budget — no new tax line.
Second, a single-window business registration portal. Today, registering a small business in the Gambia takes weeks of moving between offices. We will collapse that to a single online form and a 72-hour turnaround. The technology to do this is not exotic — it is the political will that has been missing.
Third, a microcredit facility for first-time entrepreneurs that does not require land collateral. The current system locks out anyone who does not already own property — which is to say, almost everyone under thirty. We will work with the central bank on a guarantee scheme that opens credit to people, not just to assets.
Young Gambians don't need pity. They need a fair shot — and a government that gets out of the way when they're ready to take it.
How we will pay for it
The apprenticeship guarantee costs roughly D180 million in its first full year. Our costing — published in full alongside this brief — finds the money from three places: closing the discretionary-allocation loophole in the public procurement code, redirecting the existing under-utilised youth fund, and a modest reform of the duty-free regime at the port.
None of these are radical proposals. They are the kinds of small, technical fixes that previous administrations have promised and quietly abandoned. We will publish progress on each one quarterly, with the actual numbers, so you can hold us to it.
What we are asking of you
If you are a young Gambian reading this: we want to hear from you. The platform is a starting point, not a finished document. The town hall tour begins this month and we will be in every region before the rains. Bring the questions you want answered.