NEWS

8 TH ASSET ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

The Association of Small Scale Enterprises in Tourism (ASSET) held its eight Annual General Meeting on Wednesday 1t th February 2010 at the Kololi Village Gallery.

In her presentation, the outgoing Chair of ASSET, Mrs. Ida Cham Njai highlighted some of the achievements and challenges during her term in office and they are as follows

ACHIEVEMENTS

• Two months one and one training on IT and internet skills to ASSET members by a Volunteer from People & Places, a charitable organisation in the United Kingdom who has had a long term partnership with the Association through their local link Faces and Places.
• In collaboration with the International Centre for Responsible Tourism West Africa (ICRT WA), the Leeds Metropolitan and Brighton Universities in The UK ran two courses in Responsible Tourism and Local Economic Development. During these two courses 20 Gambians were awarded scholarships to join the students from UK in the week's long modules where locals and foreign students looked at the tourism challenges and made recommendations for the way forward.
• One month in the field training on horticulture and agriculture good practices with three local communities by a Volunteer from PUM, a development organisation from Netherlands.
• Mboka 2009 Fair which was held in Dakar Senegal gave ASSET members the opportunity to network and exchange Responsible Tourism practices with international participants as well as showcasing the Gambian tourism products and services
• Launch of the YOKUTEH account with Bank PHB. This is simplified bank account opening procedure that gives advice and assistance to small businesses that are interested in small loans
• Signing of an agreement with Banesto Foundation (Spain) to start a training programme in 2010 on Gender Understanding, Housekeeping, Bookkeeping and Customer care & Services for ASSET Members
• Signing of an agreement with Banesto Foundation (Spain ) to start micro finance scheme for women entrepreneurs in tourism in The Gambia
• The conceptualisation and development of new community tourism excursions and activities that allow locals to have additional income from tourism
• Other achievements include the wining of the 2009 Guardian & Observer (UK) Ethical Resort Award by Sandale Eco Retreat, the planting of 3500 trees at Abuko and the Completion of the first phase of the GEF funded project which consist of creating community forests in three localities in the North Bank Region by the ASSET Climate Care Committee

CHALLENGES

The outgoing Chair also touched on the challenges facing the Association and there as follows

• The quality and standard Codes still not followed by some members
• Lack of commitment from the Executive & the general membership to attend meetings and serve in committees
• The financial sustainability of Cultural Encounters Information Centre
• The tight budgetary projections for the sustainability of ASSET

WAY FORWARD

After presenting the achievements and the challenges facing the Association, Mrs. Cham Njai made some recommendations on the way forward and they are

•  Endeavour to achieve the 2008 – 2011 ASSET strategic plan

•  The continuous support for members to upgrade standards through product development initiatives and micro finance schemes

•  Joint vision with stakeholders on Sustainable/Responsible tourism development

•  Joint Marketing and Product development with other tourism stakeholders

•  Explore other opportunities to raise funds for the Association

•  Reach out to communities up country

•  Consolidate partnership with all existing partners

INSTITUTIONALISATION OF ASSET

At this year's AGM, the members unanimously voted for the amendment of the ASSET Constitution which transfers the management and administration of the affairs of the Association from the former ASSET Executive to the ASSET office that is now head by a General Manager. Therefore all correspondences should be addressed to the ASSET General Manager.

The Constitutional amendment saw the transformation of the former Executive to a new Board of Directors that will be overseeing and monitoring the implementation of policies and programmes of the Association on behalf of the members.

The new Board charged with overseeing and monitoring the affairs of the Association for another two years was elected and they are namely

Ms. Nyanya Jagne _______________ Chair

Mr. Sheikh Tejan Nyang __________ Vice Chair

Mrs. Olivia Gillen ________________Treasurer

Four other Ex Officio Members were also elected to support the Board Executive in their task and they are: Mr. Modou Lamin Kinteh, Mrs. Mariama Adu-Lette Sy , Mrs. Geri Mitchell and Mr. Adama Bah.

AWARDS

ASSET won the Best for Poverty Reduction award during the First Choice Responsible Tourism Awards 2005 held at the World Travel Market in London.

The event was sponsored by First Choice Holidays PLC in association with responsibletravel.com, The Times, World Travel Market and Geographical Magazine.