 
Contact Address:
ASSERT
Banjul area Head Office
AU Highway
Brufut
P.O. Box 4587 Bakau
The Gambia
West Africa
Tel no: +220 7749277
Email: admin@assertgambia.com
Directions:
(by Ida Chams cooking school)
Opening Hours:
Monday - Friday 9am - 5pm
Saturday - 10 am - 1-30pm
Sunday - closed
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Information:
ASSERT stands for the Association of Small Scale Enterprises
in Responsible Tourism
is a tourism business advisory service. The organisation offers
a wealth of knowledge from their board and existing membership
as well as providing various training courses. ASSERT offers
micro-financing
packages and preferential loan rates to its memebers.
The association is supported by the Gambia
Tourism Board as well as other stakeholders. It has also
received support from the British
High Commission.
Their Role:
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Provide support to members with product
development, quality control, marketing, access to finance
and training. |
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Contribute to sustainable development of the Gambian
Tourism Industry by utilising the practice and principles
of Fair Trade in Tourism. |
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Contribute to improving the tourism industry in The
Gambia and partisicipate in the country's development. |
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The defence of small-scale business interests in the
tourist industry |
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Develop partnerships with other institutions, government
and external organisations where suitable |
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Highlight suitable quality standards for members |
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Work collaboratively, encourage networking and joint
activities amongst members |
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The continuance of good relations between ASSERT and
comparable organisations in other countries. |
ASSERT are also the founders of the Gambias Good Market in
partnership with the Youth Empowerment Project (YEP) to provide
a market platform for 'Made in the Gambia' products produced
by youths varying from arts and craft, natural health and
beauty,
fashion and accessories, and more.
Furthermore, the association organises the Sunday Market in
partnership with the Senegambia Beach Hotel to provide market
access for craft market sales people and also as a counter
balance to the all-inclusive hotels.
In its drive to advocate for responsible tourism, ASSERT,
among other things, partners with Travel Without Plastic (TWP)
in organising workshops for members to discuss the hazards
of plastic and alternatives to plastic usage.
Their History:
In 1999 Gambia Tourism Concern partnered with The British
High Commission and ran a tourism workshop. This brought together
various organisations and associations engaged in the sector.
These institutions suffered from a suffered from a lack of
organisation and were at the margin of the tourism sector.
Several were in competition and often conflicted with each
another. The workshop recognised the necessity for small organisations
to work together to enhance the economic benefits for the
people working in them.
 The
Association of Small Scale Enterprises in Tourism (ASSET)
was established in April 2000 by Adama Bah and Sheik Tijan
Nyang with the aim of bringing together, advocating for, and
promoting many small enterprises that were operating in the
tourism industry.
These businesses included juice pressers and fruit sellers,
craft market vendors, official tourist guides, tourist taxi
drivers, as well as some guest houses, small hotels and ground
tour operators etc.
Within five years over eighty organisations joined its membership,
had hosted an international conference on Fair Trade in Tourism
and had been recognised by the then Gambia Tourism Authority
(GTA) as an important vehicle for the more marginalised.
It had become a leading organisation in the Gambian Responsible
Tourism Partnership programme that was being steered by the
GTA. That programme brought together the key stakeholders
in the tourism industry (tour operators, hoteliers, government,
small scale businesses and ground handlers to ensure that
the adverse effects of tourism were reduced and that maximum
benefits were received by local people and their communities.
In 2005 ASSET was awarded with the Best for Poverty Reduction
at the First Choice Responsible Tourism Awards held at the
World Travel Market in London, England. The event was sponsored
by First Choice Holidays PLC in partnership with responsibletravel.com,
Geographical Magazine, The Times newspaper and the World Travel
Market.
In June 2018, ASSET rebranded itself to better reflect their
commitment to Responsible Tourism and ASSET was re-named ASSERT.
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