Imam Baba Leigh is a Gambian Muslim cleric known for publicly opposing the death penalty and abuses of power. After condemning the execution of nine prisoners in 2012, he was detained for more than five months. His case drew international campaigning and illustrates the role religious voices have played in Gambian struggles for civic freedom.
Alieu Ebrima Cham Joof connected the independence movement with the preservation of Gambian memory. A trade unionist, scout leader and broadcaster, he documented local history through writing, photographs and radio. His historical work covered Banjul’s streets and families, the scout movement and the struggle for independence, providing material for later researchers and museum exhibitions.
Gibril Deen is a Gambian-born organiser whose work in Hungary has used sport and community activity to challenge racism and support migrants. He founded the Mahatma Gandhi Human Rights Movement and organised the Afrikai Stars football club. His activities have included integration support, human-rights education and the promotion of African culture.
Solomon Tilewa Johnson became the first Gambian national to serve as Anglican Bishop of The Gambia. Consecrated in 1990, he later became Archbishop Primate of the Church of the Province of West Africa. His public life included educational, social and ecumenical work in The Gambia and across the wider Anglican community.
James Allen Yaw Odico was a Gambian Anglican priest and bishop who served the Diocese of The Gambia after a career that also included banking. He was dean of St Mary’s Cathedral in Banjul before becoming bishop in 2016. His ministry formed part of the country’s longstanding Christian community and its institutional life.
Fatou Janha Mboob helped organise Gambian oyster harvesters into the TRY Oyster Women’s Association in 2007. The association connected women’s livelihoods with mangrove conservation, literacy, finance and safer harvesting practices. Its work in the Tanbi wetlands received the UNDP Equator Prize in 2012, bringing international recognition to community-led coastal management.
Alieu Jaiteh is a Gambian disability advocate and founder of Start Now Gambia. His work supports blind people through training and challenges assumptions about what they can achieve. In 2019, he received the Holman Prize for Blind Ambition, with a project designed to extend practical rehabilitation training to blind people in rural Gambia.
Ndey Sireng Bakurin is a Gambian environmental-management and sustainable-development specialist. Her career has included leadership of the National Environment Agency and the Association of Non-Governmental Organisations, TANGO. She has also worked within the Global Water Partnership, bringing together environmental policy, water management, gender and civil-society capacity building.
Isatou Ceesay is a Gambian environmental advocate known for turning discarded plastic into useful products and income for women. Her work began with a small group in N’Jau in the late 1990s and developed through Women’s Initiative Gambia. She connects practical waste management with skills training, conservation and women’s economic independence.
Fatou Jeng is a Gambian climate advocate and the founder of Clean Earth Gambia, a youth-led environmental organisation. Her work brings together climate action, conservation and gender equality. She has participated in international climate-policy processes and was among young organisers selected to support the first United Nations Youth Climate Summit in 2019.
