The module on the lecture on Financial literacy is being carried out by project partners through the Social and Behavioural Change Communication (SBCC).
For the first time, beneficiaries of this Nafa expansion project from various parts of the country, including beneficiaries from the North Bank Region-East, will each receive their first payment of GMD3,000 through WAVE.
The January disbursement program, which is being conducted for the first time, through Financial Technology (FinTec) is being carried out through a cash less payment procedure.
Implemented by the National Nutrition Agency (NaNA), the Department of Community Development (DCD) and the Directorate of Social Welfare (DSW), the Nafa project is jointly funded by the World Bank and the Gambia Government (GoG).
It is poised to provide a foundation for sustainable livelihoods to the poor and vulnerable. The project has five components with various stakeholders from different institutions.
The program is a sub-component of the RISE project, which is being implemented in the 20 poorest districts in The Gambia. However, three of those districts have already graduated.
The program has now expanded to an additional sixteen rural districts across the country with over 15,000 beneficiary households who are already receiving their bi-monthly cash transfer and SBCC sessions.
In an interview with reporters during a recent disbursement exercise held at Kerr Pateh village, North Bank Region-East, Ebou Bobb, an accountant at the National Nutrition Agency (NaNA), gave an insight into the new cash less service, revealing that in the new expansion, beneficiaries had to first register their numbers with Wave Money, a mobile money service during cash disbursement day, where their payment would be effectively sent via Wave Money.
This procedure, Bobb added, is seen to be much safer and makes life even easier for them.
At Essau Community in the North Bank Region, Jari Jallow, a mother of seven children and a first-time beneficiary, described the initiative as a great path in women empowerment.
Mrs Jallow noted that she would be using the funds to feed her family, further applauding the project funders and implementing partners for a safe and continued success.
This cash support, she added, is greatly empowering rural women and that it came at a critical moment as a parent.
She spoke of desire to venture into animal husbandry as lectured through the SBCC sessions.
Elsewhere, other beneficiaries in communities such as Jinak village, Nawleru, both in the North Bank Region and other communities, lauded the project and its expansion to include other areas.
