Njok Malik Jeng (UK)

The project, titled “Building on the Momentum: Visitor Enhancement, Community Engagement and Sustainable Youth Empowerment at Fort Bullen, Barra Point, Lower Niumi,” is an initiative of the National Centre for Arts and Culture (NCAC), supported by the MSDG through a D300,000 grant. It responds to the pressing needs of Fort Bullen, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Barra, The Gambia, aiming to reinvigorate its historical exhibition and establish a Visitor Information Centre.

Fort Bullen holds immense potential for tourism development and can serve as a catalyst for employment opportunities for local youths as tour guides, souvenir sellers, and festival organizers, utilizing the expansive space within the Fort. The project builds upon a 2022 MSDG-funded Framework Agreement with NCAC, under which dozens of youths in Barra, Lower Niumi District, were trained, certified, and organized into a corps of community tour guides. That earlier phase also improved NCAC’s community relations with Barra and enabled the Centre to leverage D3 million in additional funding from other sources.

The project also included a sustained follow-up training activity held at Fort Bullen, Barra, from June to August 2026, on the topic “Sustainable Environment, Cleanliness and Community Wellbeing and Heritage: Fort Bullen Barra.” The training was delivered by Mamat Sallah, Fatoumatta Touray, and Maty Jobe to 19 trainees (11 male, 8 female), with 15 participants under age 21 and 4 below age 36.

The project successfully delivered a sustained follow-up training from June to August 2026 at Fort Bullen. Funds were used to purchase a tricycle for rubbish collection, 3 wheelbarrows, 2 rakes, a desktop computer for heritage trail design, and office furniture (1 table, 3 chairs) for the Information Office. The Manager’s Office was transformed into a modern Tour Guides Information Centre, and a heritage trail linking Fort Bullen to Berending Crocodile Pool was designed.

 A community-led waste management framework was established, including anti-littering bylaws, street-level garbage collection points, revenue collectors, regular cleaning sessions by tour guides, a sanctions committee, waste separation with signage and FM radio sensitization, and vehicles for routine collection. The impact includes youth empowerment and employment in heritage tourism and waste management, enhanced visitor experience, cleaner surroundings, stronger community relations, capacity building, resource mobilization (leveraging D3 million in additional funding), a replicable model for other heritage sites, and lasting cultural and educational value.