Manifesto 2016 For A Better Gambia
This is the official portrait of Dr. Isatou Touray who is expected to formally announce her candidature on Friday, 2nd September, 2016 at the Kairaba Hotel. Below are details of the lives and times of the prospective presidential candidate as they appear on her short version of her biography.
As we have promised in the case of the candidature of Mama Kandeh, we will be studying the Manifesto of Dr. Isatou Touray as and when we receive the details, officially, of her Manifesto which we look forward to receiving soon.
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Dr. Isatou Touray
SHORT BIO
Dr.
Isatou Touray is an independent candidate for President of the Republic of The
Gambia. She was the Cofounder and Executive Director of the Gambia Committee on
Traditional Practices Affecting the Health of Women and Children (GAMCOTRAP), a
national and international leader in the fight against Female Genital Mutilation
(FGM).
Dr. Touray is also a founder of the Gender Unit of the Management
Development Institute and introduced a Diploma in Gender and Development
programme which she coordinated for over 15 years.
From 2009-2014 she served as
Secretary General and Board member of the Inter African Committee (IAC)- a Pan
African Network on the elimination of Harmful Traditional Practices with a
membership of over 28 African countries. Dr. Touray engaged in grassroots
activism to end FGM in The Gambia and Africa as a whole.
From 2006-2011, she served as the Chairperson of WANEP-Gambia, and
was honoured by WANEP-GAMBIA for her commitment and Invaluable service to the
network.
She has supported a lot of grassroots groups to organise and
contribute to national development of the Gambia which earned her great respect
and recognition across the country.
She has contributed a lot in the advocacy in advancing policy and
development issues in The Gambia, and internationally. Dr Touray is a leader in the field of women
and development and was instrumental in leading the grassroots movement to end
female genital mutilation in the country, and on the African sub-continent at
large.
Born in Banjul, The Gambia, Dr. Touray attended Crab Island High
School, after which she obtained a teacher’s training certificate at The Gambia
College in 1974. She then graduated with a B.A Honours Degree in Education and
English from the Usmanu Dan Fodio University, Sokoto, Nigeria and a Masters
Degree in Gender and Development with specialisation on Women and Development
at the Institute of Social Studies in The Hague, the Netherlands.
Dr. Isatou Touray holds a Doctorate Degree in Development Studies at
the Institute of Development Studies at the University of Sussex, United
Kingdom – England.
She is a Laureate of the Bellagio Institute in Italy, Rutgers
University Women’s Leadership Institute in the USA. She is a Feminist Activist
and a member of various feminist Networks including WLUML, MUSAWAH, and the One
Billion Rising Network. She has co-authored and published books on Women and
Gender issues in The Gambia and her engagement in women’s human rights spans
beyond Africa.
Dr. Isatou Touray has initiated and nurtured the concept of the
Cluster Approach in building grassroots capacity to realize and own their
development, thus leading to five public declarations by 1015 communities
giving support to 158 ex-circumcisers in The Gambia. This theory of change has resulted in winning
the campaign to end FGM.
She is role model for girls and women in The Gambia on how far girls
can be empowered to realize the full potential.
She is a unique identity with a mosaic of academic achievements and
grassroots feminist activism, rare amongst high achievers in academia. Her modesty has given confidence to many to
realize that knowledge is to create positive change beyond the self but for the
common good. Her leadership qualities
have kept the debate on FGM focused despite the resistance and difficult
context in which she lives.
Dr. Touray is happily married to Dr. Alhagie Malang Touray, a
physician and together they have four children and three grandchildren.
