1. Med shot, Chief Fatou Danso picking chillies
2. Close up, Fatou's hands picking chillies
3. Med shot, woman greeting Fatou
4. Wide shot, woman greeting Fatou
5. Med shot, man greeting Fatou
6. SOUNDBITE (Wolof) Fatou Danso, Village Chief:
“I got a lot of respect as a result of my farming because it breaks the notion that leaders use their followers to live on. I live on my own sweat.”
7. Close up, woman picking okra
8. Close up, hand cutting okra, puts in bowl on head
9. Med shot, woman picking okra
10. Med shot, woman pounding okra
11. Med shot, woman cooking rice
12. Close up, rice cooking
13. Close up, Fatou looking at land
14. Wide shot, Fatou looking at land
15. SOUNDBITE (Wolof) Fatou Danso, Village Chief:
“Land acquisition was difficult for women because the village chief provides the land. My predecessors didn’t see giving land to women as important. If you are in possession of land, you should be mindful of others who need a small portion to earn a living.”
16. Wide shot, women working in vegetable garden
17. Med shot, women working in vegetable garden
18. Tilt up, woman with bucket
19. Med shot, women working in garden
20. Med shot, women weeding
21. Med shot, Fatou and woman hoeing
22. Tilt up, Fatomate hoeing
23. SOUNDBITE (Wolof) Fatomate Sanneh, Farmer:
“Before I got my own plot I was about to go deep into poverty but now I can use part of what I produce as food and part of it I sell and I use the proceeds for the family and to support my husband.”
24. Med shot, Fatou writing
25. Tilt down, woman giving Fatou money
26. Close up, writing in book
27. Med shot, Fatou and woman counting money
28. Med shot, woman weeding
29. Med shot, woman dropping weeds
30. Med shot, Fatou picking
31. Tilt up, bucket of water from well to woman
32. Med shot, woman pouring water on plants
33. Close up, woman pouring water
34. SOUNDBITE (English) Moses Abukari, IFAD Country Programme Manager – The Gambia:
“Investing in women we believe that it transforms households, it transforms the rural sector. I think this is what IFAD really wants to encourage, giving women the skills and supporting them to be able to take decisions, to empower women, to give them more access to land to be able to do things on their own.”
35. Pan right, vegetable garden scheme meeting
36. Med shot, Fatou speaking
37. Med shot, women listening
38. Med shot, Moses on camera
39. Wide shot, training session
40. Med shot, Fatou and other women listening in training
41. Close up, trainer
42. Med shot, Fatou and daughter packing vegetables for market
43. Close up, Fatou and daughter
44. Wide shot, daughter selling vegetables at market
45. Close up, customer gives money
46. Close up, daughter’s face
47. Wide shot, daughter selling at market
48. SOUNDBITE (Wolof) Fatou Danso, Village Chief:
“The income I get from the vegetables is how I support my family with food, clothing and education of my children. This gives a lot of improvement in my lifestyle as village chief.”
49. Close up, Fatou giving instructions
50. Med shot, Fatou and women putting chillies into bucket
51. Close up, pouring chillies into bucket
52. SOUNDBITE (Wolof) Fatomate Sanneh, Farmer:
“The kinds of benefits we get from the tenure of the village chief are tremendous. All we can say is we are so thankful for the village chief.”
53. Med shot, woman dishing food into bowl
54. Close up, dishing food into bowl
55. Med shot, woman serving food to Fatou and others
56. Close up, Fatou eating
57. Med shot, women eating

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Storyline

This is Fatou Danso. Today she is harvesting chillies which she will sell at the local market. But Fatou is not just a farmer.

She is also The Gambia’s first female village chief. And she’s completely changed how women are perceived here.

SOUNDBITE (Wolof) Fatou Danso, Village Chief:
“I got a lot of respect as a result of my farming because it breaks the notion that leaders use their followers to live on. I live on my own sweat.”

Being a chief who farms is not the only change that Fatou has brought to the village.

More than 2,000 people live here, but before she became chief, the land was only farmed by men.

But Fatou saw that it was women who took on most of the responsibility for feeding and supporting their families. When she became village chief, she also became the custodian of the land, and she decided to change things.

SOUNDBITE (Wolof) Fatou Danso, Village Chief:
“Land acquisition was difficult for women because the village chief provides the land. My predecessors didn’t see giving land to women as important. If you are in possession of land, you should be mindful of others who need a small portion to earn a living.”

So Fatou divided four hectares of land into small plots and she invited the women in her village to form a vegetable garden scheme. There are now 420 members who have each been given a section to farm.

While the men work upland farming peanuts, women like Fatomate Sanneh can now supplement their incomes with what they grow here.

SOUNDBITE (Wolof) Fatomate Sanneh, Farmer:
“Before I got my own plot I was about to go deep into poverty but now I can use part of what I produce as food and part of it I sell and I use the proceeds for the family and to support my husband.”

At weekly meetings, each group member contributes what they can to the group fund so that they have enough money to buy new seeds and maintain the land.

But when they started the scheme, they needed help to get it off the ground. So Fatou applied to a government project which assists women farmers. With funding from the UN agency IFAD, the group was provided with seeds, fertilizer and training.

SOUNDBITE (English) Moses Abukari, IFAD Country Programme Manager – The Gambia:
“Investing in women we believe that it transforms households, it transforms the rural sector. I think this is what IFAD really wants to encourage, giving women the skills and supporting them to be able to take decisions, to empower women, to give them more access to land to be able to do things on their own.”

Today Fatou is attending a training session on how to run a farm as a business.

Back in her village, Fatou applies what she learns at the trainings. Each day, her daughter sells their produce in the local market, and the family live comfortably on the earnings.

SOUNDBITE (Wolof) Fatou Danso, Village Chief:
“The income I get from the vegetables is how I support my family with food, clothing and education of my children. This gives a lot of improvement in my lifestyle as village chief.”

Fatou also passes on what she learns at the trainings to the rest of the group so that they all learn how to get the most value out of what they farm.

SOUNDBITE (Wolof) Fatomate Sanneh, Farmer:
“The kinds of benefits we get from the tenure of the village chief are tremendous. All we can say is we are so thankful for the village chief.”

At a time of failed harvests and food shortages throughout the region, this chief has ensured that her village will not go hungry.