Organised through the Gambia Technical Working Group in partnership with the ROOTS Project, the training aims to strengthen participants’ technical skills in anticipating and responding to climate-related disasters.
Speaking at the opening ceremony, Mawdo Jallow, National Coordinator of the ARC and Project & Resource Mobilization Coordinator at NDMA, said the training focuses on the use of Africa Risk View (ARV), a powerful tool designed to predict and assess drought risks across Africa.
“This training brings together officials from both government and non-government institutions engaged in disaster risk management,” Jallow explained. “The goal is to help The Gambia pursue both macro and micro insurance options to strengthen its climate disaster risk financing mechanisms.”
He disclosed that The Gambia’s current participation in ARC primarily targets drought, but plans are underway to include flood modeling. “We’ve finalized arrangements with the Global SEAL through the Ministry of Finance to join the flood index. NDMA is already collecting and analyzing rainfall data to better understand flash floods and runoff patterns that often destroy homes and livelihoods,” he added.
The training forms part of the Africa Integrated Climate Risk Management Project, funded by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and implemented in seven African countries, including The Gambia, Senegal, Mali, and Mauritania. In The Gambia, it is executed through the ROOTS initiative in partnership with the World Food Programme (WFP) and the African Development Bank (AfDB).
Benyam Terese, Head of the Technical Division at ARC, commended The Gambia’s longstanding membership in the African Union’s specialised agency for disaster risk management. He said the training seeks to expand the use of ARC tools beyond technical experts to other institutions involved in early warning, seasonal monitoring, and micro-insurance design.
“This program will enable officials to apply the ARC model not only for national-level insurance but also to develop community-based solutions that protect smallholder farmers and vulnerable households,” he said.
Declaring the training open, Sanna Dahaba, Executive Director of NDMA and National Supervisor of the ARC initiative, highlighted The Gambia’s ongoing shift from disaster response to prevention and preparedness.
“In recent years, we’ve moved decisively from responding to disasters after they happen to focusing on prevention and risk reduction,” Dahaba stated. “The ability to anticipate and analyze possible disaster trends is essential for informed decision-making and effective action.”
He stressed that climate modeling and disaster insurance are critical for national resilience, ensuring that The Gambia can respond swiftly to crises without relying solely on external aid.
“Instead of waiting for disasters to happen and then seeking funding, our approach is to plan ahead. That’s the government’s agenda to anticipate and act,” he said.
Dahaba urged participants to take full ownership of the training outcomes by mastering the technical aspects of risk modeling to reduce dependence on external expertise and enhance national capacity for disaster management.
