According to her, this came through the request from the government of The Gambia.
Speaking in an interview at Brikama Ba, Central River Region (CRR), Christabel said the proposed project will take social protection to the next level. She said they are looking at the synergies in social protection and education.
As she visited the ongoing implementation of the Social Safety Net Project (SSNP), she expressed satisfaction while commending the implementing team for mobilising women. She explained that if women are given cash, the likelihood that their families will benefit is very high.
“The project does a lot of safeguards around the data collection to make sure that the money goes to the right people. When the woman takes the money, we need to do something extra for them to understand that the money is for them. NaNA and the National Social Protection Secretarial (NSPS) are doing a phenomenal job,” she said.
She continued that the team has worked very well on the SBCC and that she has seen improvement. Madam Christabel further reiterated that every part of the SBCC is teaching beneficiaries what to use the money for by making investments, savings and farming. By the time the project gets to three years, she said, the beneficiaries would already be investing in a business that could generate their income.
Dr. Amat Bah, NaNA executive director and the SSNP project coordinator also explained that the project is designed to get the poorest out of poverty by giving cash and educating them to be able to have the resilience to continue. He noted that the strength of the project is sustainability.
“Cash is given but they are given an education which includes nutrition, adolescent health, child care, agriculture, water sanitation etc. After receiving the money for three years, they should be able to do something to maintain them out of poverty. We have implemented other World Bank projects and have been very successful. We also want to make sure that this project is successful.”
He urged the government to take social protection seriously, saying that other countries are investing in social protection and social safety net by putting in some resources to help the poor out of poverty.
“I think our government can do that. In this project, the government contributed one million dollars but we want to see a situation where the government will actually invest in social protection.”
