By: Ousman Saidykhan
Last Friday 25th November 2022, the National Nutrition Agency (NaNA) with its implementing partners gave cash support of six hundred and thirty-three thousand dalasis (D633,000) to vulnerable households in a project meant to alleviate poverty in the Gambia.
The US$31 million project was largely funded by the World Bank who gave US$30 million while the remaining US$1 million was support from the Gambian government. 211 households are benefiting from this project for the third time.
“Selections were based on the answers provided by the people within the community,” Mbombeh Ceesay, a representative from the Department of Community Development at Bajana said.
One of the beneficiaries from Luluchorr, Musukebba Badjie said, “We are taught on how to provide proper home teaching for our children and engage our family heads on issues. This is my third time receiving the cash and I have been saving some cash for my business.”
The beneficiaries include 117 from Bullock; 39 from Bajana and 55 from Sutu Sunjung. The exercise is carried out in one point, Kappa, where all three communities meet to receive their monies.
Each beneficiary gets D3,000 in every two months.
“I bought many chickens for business purposes because I realized that spending all my money is not the solution because the project will fade one day,” a beneficiary from Bullock, Ida Darboe said.
Another beneficiary from Bullock, Ansumana Badjie said, “we were advised on how to utilize the cash and I will adhere to that advice. I will not use the entire money for feeding but rather give some to my women to venture into business.”
The Director of Social and Behavioural Change Communication (SBCC) at the National Nutrition Agency (NaNA), Abdou Aziz Ceesay described the project as “a very important” project that has been successfully implemented in Foni Bintang, Nianija, and Wulli West.
“The most important thing is to build the resilience of the extremely poor households because we just don’t want to give them money and turn our backs. We want to build their resilience so that after the project, they can have other sources of income and improve the health and nutrition of their families. At the beginning of the programme, we in-built the Social and Behavioural Change Communication (SBCC) in order to train the beneficiaries on entrepreneurship, financial literacy, and how to take care of their households,” said Mr Ceesay.
The SBCC Director said the selection for those qualified to benefit from the project as the most vulnerable households was done by the government through The Gambia Bureau of Statistics (GBoS) which collected data from districts benefiting from the project.
This a an 18-month project and beneficiaries will receive the cash every two months. Last Friday was when they received the money for the third time.
