The Team

OUR TEAM

Director/Editor-in-Chief

Demba Kandeh is a lecturer in journalism and digital media at the School of Journalism & Digital Media, University of The Gambia as well as at the Gambia Press Union School of Journalism. A former editor at Today newspaper, Demba has about ten (10) years’ experience in journalism and media. He is interested in the intersection of human rights and digital media and has written extensively on internet freedom, social media, politics, and human rights among others. Demba is a Freedom House researcher on the Freedom on the Internet in The Gambia and a regular contributor to the annual Global Information Society Watch (GISWatch) report published by the Association for Progressive Communication (APC). Demba is part of a network of young African scholars researching Internet Policy in Africa under a special program of the Internet Policy Observatory of the Annenberg School of Communication, University of Pennsylvania.

Deputy Director

Isatou Bittaye is a feminist and human rights advocate with a decade of experience in communications and community empowerment. She is a trained journalist and has worked at the Foroyaa Newspaper for five years during which she ran the weekly ‘Panorama’ column. Isatou used to be a contributor to Maafanta News online and a co-columnist of the ‘Outreach’ column that profiled Gambian human rights defenders and promoted freedom of expression. She previously served as a Senior Program Officer at the National Council for Civic Education of The Gambia. She is a founding member and Communications Manager of The Girls’ Agenda (TGA). Isatou holds a Diploma in Journalism from the Gambia Press Union School of Journalism, BSc. in Political Science from the University of The Gambia and Master’s in International Studies from National Chengchi University in Taiwan. In 2009, she won the “Best Female Sports Writer of the Year” award, a recognition from the Sports Journalists Association of The Gambia. She now lives in the U.S.A.

Director of Programmes

Lamin Jahateh is a Gambian freelance journalist and a stringer for Reuters News Agency. He was an editor with The Point newspaper, which won national awards in 2017 under his editorship – Best Print Media, and Best Media House – in recognition of its contribution in sensitising and changing perceptions on FGM. Jahateh is a 2017 finalist in the Women Reporting category of The Gambia Press Union’s national journalism awards. He has written several feature stories for Al Jazeera English website. He used to be a correspondent of the Dakar-based Africa Press Agency. A former secretary general of the Young Journalists Association of The Gambia, in 2015, Jahateh was elected treasurer of The Gambia Press Union. He has nine years of experience in journalism, and holds an advanced diploma in journalism from the Gambia Press Union School of Journalism – where he serves as a teaching assistant, and a guest trainer on Industry and Financial Reporting. Jahateh is a final year student at the School of Journalism and Digital Media, University of The Gambia – where he is to earn a bachelor’s degree in journalism.

Finance and Administration

Haddija Jawara is currently working as a programme officer at the Gambia Press Union. She is a graduate of the GPU School of Journalism and a valedictorian. Because of her hard work and dedication to her studies as well as her impressive result of distinction from the course, she was appointed to work as a trainer at the School of Journalism. She is currently studying Law at the University of The Gambia. Haddija has substantial experience in media and event coordination. She served as treasurer of the Gambia Press Union board (the youngest journalist to be elected to the board at the time). She is also the National Coordinator of the Global Youth Innovation Network (GYIN) Gambia Chapter, and an AfriSIG fellow.

Advocacy and Communication/News Editor

Modou S. Joof is a multiple award-winning journalist and blogger and has worked as a journalist and a press freedom activist since 2008. He is a correspondent for Voice of America, a contributor to Africa in Fact (a good governance journal), and former managing editor of The Voice newspaper. He is one of two FPI members who broke news of a total crop failure in The Gambia in November 2011. Joof is currently a trainer at the GPU School of Journalism, and has been a lead trainer of community radio journalists on agriculture reporting with the Network of Agricultural Communicators and the Danish Food and Agricultural Journalists. He is a former president of the Young Journalists Association of The Gambia. He holds an Advance Diploma in Journalism from the GPU School of Journalism, certificates in Internet Security from Article 19 West Africa (Dakar) and Clemson University (South Carolina), and Conflict Sensitive Reporting from the International Institute of Journalism (Berlin), and on Multilateral Diplomacy from DiploFoundation (Geneva). He is also a third year political science student at the University of The Gambia.

Web Master/Communications Assistant

Abdoulie Nget is a journalist and a blogger. A former sports editor of The Daily News, he also served as its layout editor. After the closure of The Daily News in August 2012, he became a fulltime blogger as the publisher of Ngetcell. He has worked at three other newspapers: The Daily Standard, Today, and The Standard. At The Standard, Nget worked both as a reporter and a layout editor. He used to be a correspondent for the Dakar-based Africa Press Agency, and for the Abuja-based Cherry Africa magazine. Currently, he is contributor to various newspapers in The Gambia, and writes news stories in Deutsch for See Post, a local newspaper in Germany. He is a former vice president, and assistant treasurer of the Sports Journalists Association of The Gambia, and an assistant secretary general of the GPU. He holds a certificate in journalism from Insight Training Centre. Nget is one of two FPI members who broke news of a total crop failure in The Gambia in 2011 – the results of which – a severe food crisis affecting more than half a million people. He speaks English, Deutsch, Wolof, Mandinka, and understands Fula and French. He now lives in Germany.

Head of Women’s Affairs/Finance and Administrative Assistant

Binta A. Bah is a Gambian journalist and blogger. She is the publisher of Women’s Bantaba, a blog focusing on women’s rights, press freedom and freedom of expression. She holds a diploma in journalism from Insight Training Centre. She used to be a senior judicial correspondent of The Daily News  where she was also anchor of the ‘Mussolula Bantabaa’ column. In 2011, she received The Daily News Journalist of The Year award. Binta was also a judicial correspondent and an associate editor at The Standard newspaper. A strong advocate for women’s rights, her text messaging signature is “He is Precious” a reference to the crucial role men could play in the promotion and protection of women’s rights.