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Gambia
In Numbers
- 144,964 people assisted in April and May 2024
- US$ 9,783,381 cash-based transfers made US$ 8.
- 4 million six-month (June-November 2024) net funding requirements
Operational Updates
- The World Food Programme (WFP) continues to support 420 schools across four regions, benefiting a total of 144,951 children, comprising 67,886 boys and 77,085 girls. During this period, over 900 smallholder farmers participated in supplying produce to the schools, organized into twelve cooperatives, each led by a recognized aggregator, including four women, enhancing inclusivity. The market linkage between the Home-Grown School Feeding (HGSF) program and smallholder farmers strengthened during this term. All commodities, except vegetable oil, were procured from smallholder farmers.
- WFP rolled out the pilot of a WFP online data monitoring tool called “School Connect” to enhance the monitoring of the School Feeding Programme in The Gambia. School Connect is an online tool designed to track progress towards achieving targets related to school indicators at both output and outcome level. These indicators include but are not limited to enrolment, attendance, absenteeism, dropouts, quantity purchased by schools from smallholder farmers, etc. This tool will support in enhancing reporting by replacing paper-based reporting systems to minimize errors and ensure timely submission of accurate reports as well as data aggregation. The pilot has been launched in 50 schools across the North Bank, Central River North, Central River South, and Upper River Regions. Another 65 schools will be covered by the School Connect tool before the end of the year, encompassing 27 percent of WFP’s school meal coverage.
- In May 2024, The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) hosted a regional technical conference on Home Grown School Feeding (HGSF). The aim of the conference was to discuss ways to generate and provide sustained funding, and technology needed to support HGSF initiatives. Co-hosted by WFP with support from the International Financial Institutions and the School Meals Coalition, the conference brought together high-level experts, ECOWAS commissioners, and representatives from the education, agriculture, and finance sectors of each country. The Gambia participated with representation from the Ministries of Basic and Secondary Education, Finance and Agriculture. During the conference, The Gambia’s commitments to the global school meals coalition were shared.
- WFP in collaboration with the Government and other stakeholders will conduct the Fill the Nutrient Gap Analysis (FNG) in the last quarter of this year. The FNG seeks to assess the extent to which people can make the choice to eat nutritious foods and to understand the choices they make. By combining an analytical framework and a stakeholder process, the FNG aims to strengthen analysis, build consensus and improve decision-making to bring a healthy diet within people’s reach. The FNG highlights nutrient gaps and identifies barriers to adequate nutrient intake in a specific context for specific target groups. The results of the analysis will greatly support national policy and programming planning cycles as well as WFP’s targeted interventions in the country.
- WFP in partnership with the Department of Cooperative Development sensitized 77 Global Agriculture and Food Security Project (GAFSP) project farmers for field crops and poultry on cooperative education. The objective of the sensitization was to raise awareness on the benefits of farmers being organized which include mutual benefits, internal financing, aggregation, government support, economic empowerment, saving, price determination etc. Currently, 23 farmer groups are currently undergoing the cooperative registration process. WFP also trained 32 GAFSP farmers on postharvest management on crops and poultry. The training aimed at strengthening farmers knowledge on post-harvest management for cereals (rice, maize, millet), beans, peanut, poultry, and fruits and vegetables to enhance food management, minimize food losses thereby further enhancing their income and overall food and nutrition security.
- A social behaviour change communication (SBCC) strategy was developed for an AF-funded project to raise awareness and motivate behavioural change in support of climate adaptation and resilience. The main objective was to review the WFP socio-ecological model/framework for a SBCC strategy and a theoretical behavioural pathway to contribute to the project’s results framework. The strategy design process involves 21 men and 13 women from partners and key stakeholders.
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