Njaboute Foundation Founded in Sweden

The Swedish branch of the Njaboute Foundation was launched in March of 2021.

The founding members of the Njaboute Foundation Swedish Branch

The foundation was established by five Swedish residents with the mission of improving the lives of women and girls in the Gambia. The founding foundation strategies, membership, board rules and other key information were finalized in this meeting. The output was the Njaboute Foundation founding document and an application to the Swedish government for official recognition as a charity operating in Sweden.

Our Mission: Help the Njaboute Foundation in the Gambia improve the lives of women and girls through community lead seminars/meetings discussing reproductive health issues, prevention, and control of communicable diseases as well as ending gender-based violence (GBV) in order to combat maternal and child morbidity and mortality.

Roles for our board members were also assigned. Each board member would focus on a specific aspect of the charity. Th primary concern of the board, is to get the charity ready to accept donations and begin planning events in the Gambia when funds become available. Initial plans were made for opening a Swedish bank account.

Our Board Members

Three primary roles were decided for the charity: the Chairperson, Treasurer and Secretary. The charity will always operate with these three roles, with Abdoulie Baldeh functioning as the charity's Chairperson. Abdoulie was chosen for this role, as he is one of the founding members of the Gambian branch and the"spark" behind creating the Swedish branch. Abdoulie regularly travels to the Gambia to drive events and has a good understanding of the challenges when operating in the Gambia and the methods that can be used to generate change.

For these reasons, as well as his tenacious spirit and passion for driving change, he is ideal for the role!

Accountability and Holding Events

Our IT infrastructure (including the Foundation website) has been setup by Christopher Hyde, with a focus on accountability, tracking progress made and how funds are being spent.

"The process is simple to understand, minimizing complexity using simple forms which require only minimal internet access." said Christopher Hyde, the Foundation Treasurer. "At the same time, the process also allows us in Sweden to accurately track quotes/expenses and provide approval to release funds if our criteria is met. Nothing is more important to Abdoulie or myself, than financial accountability."

Co-ordination between the Swedish and Gambian teams is facilitated through online forms for events or equipment. The cost for an event is calculated by the Swedish team and approved if the event is deemed likely to succeed in its goal. Funds will then be released to the Gambian account, with the results of the event or equipment being tracked and published onto our website.

The process of requesting funds for an Event

Next Steps

Our primary concern is to now open a Swedish bank account to begin to accept donations and start generating events. We accept that this may be a difficult time consuming process but we hope that by the end of this year, we will be ready to begin organizing events.

Together, we hope to create a better future for women and girls in the Gambia!

Christopher Hyde

Foundation Treasurer

Njaboute Foundation