From the 6^th to the 16^th October, 2021, 200 youth were trained on Guidance and Counselling on copying cyber bullying and hate speech through the service and expertise of certified Counselors. In order to strategically and sufficiently train each  badge of trainees from each  region,  the trainers and facilitators were set into two teams to train from the 6th to  the 12h October and from the 7th to  the 16th October for Rural  Gambia and for Greater Banjul Area respectively.

This 16-day activity drew participants from different communities, conducting the training in two (2) days in each region: WEST-COAST REGION, KANIFING MUNICIPALITY, BANJUL, NORTH BANK REGION, CENTRAL RIVER RIGION, UPPER RIVER REGION and LOWER RIVER REGION.

To  ensure consistency and uniformity in the knowledge that is shared,  similar methodologies and approaches were taken to  guide and counsel the trainees, ranging from PowerPoint presentations,  groups works, short surveys,  question and answer sessions,  etc. This created the opportunity to expose the trainees to in depth valuable information regarding the various themes, as well as the techniques and all other ingredients guiding coping cyber bullying and hate speech.

The trainings kicked off through registration and introduction where the facilitators gleefully welcome the participants, explain the background of the training and give substantial information regarding what will be discussed and what are the desired results that the project seeks to achieve. This spreads the carpet for the participants to talk about themselves to ensure familiarity and ease interaction among participant, and as well between the participants and the facilitators.

To gather participants’ Understanding of the topics, the trainers shared a questionnaire to all 25 participants in each region. The results of the questionnaire showed that all 25 participants in each region have been bullied at least once, at their homes, schools or at public gatherings. Another result of the same questionnaire showed that, 95% of the participants in West-Coast have once bullied someone either in the forms of jokes or castigation. According to participants, bullying takes place everywhere but most especially at homes, schools and work places. Around hate speech, it is understood that most of the participants did not know what speech to categorize under hate speech.