Each institution received one vehicle as a gesture that seeks to strengthen coordination and monitoring of various projects WFP is partnering with them.
At a brief handing-over ceremony, Miranda Sende, country director of World Food Programme, spoke highly of the project they have implemented with these partners, saying she was able to witness some of the projects they have implemented together with NDMA in the past month.
To that, she expressed delight with level of collaboration, saying they look forward to supporting and realising more gains in the future.
“We are really committed to working hand in hand to support the population of The Gambia,” she promised.
In a related development, the world agency also made similar presentation of a vehicle to the MoBSE as part of their contribution towards strengthening coordination process of their partners in the country.
For his part, Ousman Ceesay, deputy permanent secretary at the Office of the Vice President, thanked WFP for being “genuine” development partners, further expressing delight and commendation on behalf of the Office of the Vice President.
DPS Ceesay disclosed that the gesture had shown that the organisation had been very supportive not only in assistance, but also in supporting their ongoing operations.
He said the work of these two agencies is mostly in the fields and their activities such as data collection is carried out nationwide by working with regional coordinators.
The data, he added, help them make a decision in terms of what kind of intervention to undertake as a government.
“For Social Protection being the custodian of the first-ever Social Registry in the country, that is very laudable,” he indicated, saying the gesture would enable them to continue their operation in updating their social registry for greater usage by all development partners.
DPS Ceesay also encouraged the two partners to put up a robust maintenance system that would ensure the vehicles serve their purpose.
Reacting to the gesture, Momodou Dibba, National Coordinator for National Social Protection Secretariat, thanked WFP for the generous supporting, saying NSPS is a newly established institution created in 2019.
“WFP was our first partners to come to our assistance,” he stated, saying: “So today what we are witnessing is a continuation of the support from WFP for building the coordinator structures of social protection in the country, for which we are always grateful.”
Dibba emphasised the importance of mobility in coordinating social assistance in the country, adding that the vehicle would help them greatly in reaching out to all their relevant stakeholders and in performing their coordination efforts properly.
Lamin Mass, director of administration at the National Disaster Management Agency (NDMA), described WFP as their long-time partner and that the presentation was not the first by the UN agency to his institution.
He recalled that in 2020, WFP donated two vehicles to NDMA, something that symbolises how close their collaboration has grown.
“This time around they’ve provided us with another vehicle,” he said. “Vehicles are very necessary in our data collection efforts.”
Mass also spoke about their decentralised structure in various regions across the country, saying in all the regions, they have regional coordinators who are responsible for the day-to-day administration of all activities in terms of disaster management.
“So, it is imperative that they have a vehicle in order to move around in the region to collect data,” he emphasised. “So, the provision of this vehicle in no small measure will contribute a lot to strengthening that position for us to be able to collect data in the region in terms of response.”
