Today, Isatou is the founder of Women’s Initiative Gambia and Reforest The Future Gambia, and a passionate advocate for environmental protection, women’s empowerment and international collaboration.

We had the opportunity to sit down with her and take a fast-forward journey through her life — from growing up in the village of Njau, to an unexpected encounter that changed the direction of her life, and eventually to becoming an internationally recognised environmental activist.

Turning waste into opportunity

Women’s Initiative Gambia (WIG) was founded in 1997 and focuses on women’s empowerment, environmental protection, sustainable livelihoods and community development.

What began as an effort to address unmanaged waste, particularly plastic waste, developed into something much bigger. Isatou and the women she worked with began turning environmental problems into economic opportunities by collecting and transforming discarded materials into useful products.

In Njau, women from the community continue to work with plastic recycling, while another fascinating part of the initiative can be found in Jambour.

Here, Isatou and her team produce fuel briquettes made from natural waste materials such as coconut and peanut shells. Instead of allowing this waste to go unused, it is transformed into an alternative cooking fuel that can replace traditional charcoal. The briquettes burn for a long time and are already distributed to different locations around the Kombo area.

It is a simple idea with several benefits: reducing waste, creating livelihoods and providing an alternative source of cooking fuel.

Reforest The Future

Isatou's environmental mission did not stop with recycling.

In 2019, she founded Reforest The Future Gambia, a women-led initiative working to address deforestation, land degradation and food insecurity through tree planting, agroforestry and environmental education.

Based in Njau, the initiative operates tree nurseries capable of producing thousands of indigenous and edible trees each year. It works with schools, farmers and communities to encourage reforestation and more sustainable approaches to land use.

Njau is also one of the communities where we collaborate through the 500K Trees in 5 Years project. The team continues to develop its tree nursery and organise tree-planting activities, making environmental protection something the community can actively participate in.

But how did all of this begin?

An unexpected encounter in Njau

Isatou comes from the village of Njau. Her father came from Mali and settled in The Gambia, and Isatou remembers growing up with the feeling that her family had to work harder to establish its place within the community.

That experience helped shape her determination.

Then, one seemingly ordinary encounter opened an unexpected door.

As a young woman, Isatou met a Peace Corps volunteer who needed help reaching her destination. Isatou assisted her, and the two started talking along the way.

At the time, meeting international visitors in a small village like Njau was far less common than it is today. Yet something about Isatou's openness and willingness to help stayed with the volunteer.

Later, she sought Isatou out again.

She wanted Isatou to teach her Wolof, one of the languages spoken in The Gambia.

And so it began.

The payment was modest, but for Isatou, the experience offered something potentially even more valuable: a connection, an exchange of knowledge and an opportunity to learn.

That first opportunity eventually helped open another door to paid work with the U.S. Peace Corps in The Gambia. Further opportunities followed, including work with the Swedish organisation Future in Our Hands and consultancy work with development organisations.

Each experience gave her new knowledge, contacts and confidence until she was ready to build something of her own.

Why volunteering matters

Perhaps this is why Isatou speaks so passionately about volunteering today.

For her, volunteering is not simply about someone arriving to "help" a community. At its best, it is an exchange.

International connections can create opportunities to learn from one another, exchange knowledge and discover different ways of doing things. At the same time, Isatou believes these encounters should help local people develop greater pride in their own knowledge, culture and way of life.

Over the years, she has trained and worked with many young people, sharing her views on long-term investment, responsibility towards nature and the environment, and meaningful interaction with international visitors.

What she wants is not dependency, but opportunity.

She wants people to have pride in what they already have while being able to connect with people from different parts of the world. These connections can bring knowledge, ideas and opportunities, but they can also create greater appreciation for one's own community and culture.

Perhaps one of the most encouraging things to see in Njau today is that young people from the community are themselves volunteering in the projects.

The cycle continues.

From Njau to an international audience

What started as a response to plastic waste in a Gambian village eventually attracted international attention.

Isatou's story became the subject of the children's book One Plastic Bag: Isatou Ceesay and the Recycling Women of the Gambia, written by Miranda Paul and illustrated by Elizabeth Zunon.

Credits: oneplasticbag.com

Published in 2015, the book tells the story of how Isatou and the women of Njau confronted the growing problem of plastic waste and transformed it into an opportunity for environmental action and women's economic empowerment.

Today, Isatou continues the same mission: protecting the environment, empowering women and young people, and creating opportunities that can have an impact long after a project ends.

Her own journey is perhaps one of the best examples of that philosophy.

One encounter created an opportunity. That opportunity led to another. Knowledge, connections and experience accumulated over the years until Isatou was able to create opportunities for thousands of others.

Isatou Ceesay is an inspiration, and we are honoured to collaborate with her and her team. We congratulate her on everything achieved so far and look forward to many more years of impact, growth and collaboration.

Be part of the story

If you would like to support Isatou's efforts, you can visit one of the project sites during your exploration of The Gambia, get in touch with the organisations or participate in one of their activities.

Njau, in particular, offers opportunities to experience the projects first-hand and to volunteer alongside members of the community.

And maybe that is one of the most fitting ways to experience Isatou's work. After all, her own journey started with an encounter between two people from different parts of the world, a willingness to help, and an opportunity to learn from each other.