Compatriots!
We are hereby thanking all those who contributed in making the Stockholm Diaspora Dialogue a successful meeting! To all those who answered our call and travelled from afar to grace the occasion, in sharing your experiences, wisdom and vision for our Mother-Land; the Gambia! We thank the On-line Media: Gainako, Maafanta, Hello Gambia, Bantaba in Cyber Space, Freedom newspaper, The Gambia Echo and Kibaaro for helping spread our invitation to the public and for granting us interview airtime to put across our message. Thank you to all those who participated by contributing in progressive ideas, cash and kind. To the community of Gambians in Sweden and most especially, those in Stockholm who responded so positively in embracing the programme and making it your own, we thank you! To our People back home and around the world who prayed for us and who were with us in spirit, thank you!
The Organizing Committee, Stockholm Diaspora Dialogue
DAY ONE
SECTION ONE: BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Following the tradition of organised conferences by Diaspora Gambians in looking into our common problems and finding solutions, the Gambians in Sweden organized a qualitative dialogue from June 29th -30th 2012. The Theme: Planning our Journey and Shaping our Destiny. Gambians from all works of
life and different countries gathered in Stockholm to contribute to this dialogue meeting. The objectives of which were:
Sharing experiences among the Gambians in the Diaspora and those back home
Building alliances and cooperation on the way forward
Looking at the short and long term strategies
Creating a dedicated and committed working group
To pave the way for a Diaspora blueprint on the way forward
Follow up meeting on an EU-Gambian Diaspora meeting
It was a historic event and a high standard of discipline and an exemplary code of conduct were exhibited from all the attendees. In developing the Code of Conduct for the dialogue attendees were expected to adhere to:
Mutual Respect
Focus on the conference
Teamwork
Non-partisan
Clarity and openness
Delivery-oriented
There was no partisan grouping or partisan ideology behind the call for this meeting. The only common
uniting force and idea behind its creation is the shared love for country and answering the call of duty to
nation. It was made clear that there will be a dialogue, but no lectures! People were welcomed to the “Land Of The Midnight Sun”, but most importantly, readiness to plan with Gambians -the concrete execution of liberating our country from tyranny! The Dialogue Committee is a group of Gambians living in Scandinavian, who took it upon themselves to organize a dialogue meeting to process, organize and to find solutions to the present situation in the Gambia. The committee was composed of the following individuals:
Koro Sallah
Jainaba Bah
Ebrima Kamara
Landing Alkalo Sanyang
Ndey Jobarteh