The gap even got worsened during the Covid-19 pandemic, where some vulnerable households were embroiled in difficult situations.
This has forced many vulnerable households to live at the mercy of Allah, government and other humanitarian donors.
It is in the news that the community of Sarre Ngaba in Wuli West District have embraced backyard gardening after benefiting from a cash transfer being jointly rolled out by the World Bank and The Gambia government.
Under this backyard garden, the said community is able to cultivate and harvest enough food for their family consumption.
This in turn helps them live healthier lives in view of the fact that there are consuming fresh foods.
The programme dubbed -Nafa is a component of The Gambia Social Safety Net Project, a US$ 31 million project, designed to promote continuity and harmonisation with other programs, by expanding an existing package of cash transfers with SBCC managed by NaNA to new districts and regions.
This project, which is jointly implemented by the National Nutrition Agency (NaNA) and Department of Social Welfare and Department of Community Development, is currently being implemented in West Coast, Central River, North Bank and Upper River Regions, targeting 15,606 extremely poor households.
It is a fact that economic growth alone is not enough to close income gaps. And social assistance programmes have been usually designed to help people cope with their difficulties and sudden crises.
Social assistance should thus be designed as an investment in poverty reduction and the creation of growth through the economic participation of vulnerable groups.
Therefore, it is important people understand that social assistance is seen not only as dealing with residual problems of human welfare, but also as a means of achieving equality of opportunity.
We all know that the global covid-19 pandemic has paralysed global economies talk less of small and medium sized businesses.
Some smaller businesses, who depend on daily sales have been affected due to Covid-19 restrictions to limit further spread of the virus.
We therefore thank World Bank and The Gambia government for jointly sponsoring the programme. This programme couldn’t have come at a better time, when vulnerable communities are facing the reality of life. There is nothing more rewarding than sharing and caring with the vulnerable during times of need.
To the beneficiaries always see this assistance as a means of reducing poverty and to enable them develop their capabilities in increasing social and economic participation and equality of opportunity.