The forum which was attended by government officials and development partners, was held at the Ministry of the Interior in Kotu, where Permanent Secretary Assan Tangara praised the idea of establishing an infrastructure for peace [14P] for The Gambia, a platform that would be an essential model for developing local capacity to preventing violent and destructive conflicts and mitigate and strike compromise between conflicting parties.
He said plans put for the establishment of the infrastructure came from the realisation that there is lack of institutional framework and coordinated approach towards maintaining and sustaining peace in The Gambia.
According to PS Tanagra, it is obvious that infrastructure for peace is central to any meaningful development, saying as such, peace building as a mitigation and prevention strategy will enable a country to implement her development programmes and activities since a nation without peace can never develop.
He thanked the project team, including his ministry, UNDP, Office of the President and WANEP for supporting the Round Table discussion. “This foresight virtual meeting is as a result of COVID19 pandemic.”
Salami Njai, national coordinator of WANEP - The Gambia, said almost four years since Gambia’s new government came to power; series of reforms have taken place.
Ndumbeh Saho, director of coordination of the Department of Strategic, policy and delivery at the Office of the President, said the forum was essential in realising the National Development Plan in reforming key democratic institutions and re-establishing the rights and freedoms of Gambian citizens to ensure peace and stability.
According to her, concept of the national infrastructure for peace is an important emerging model and strategic framework for developing state capacity to prevent conflict, saying the model helps countries to protect civilians and effectively respond to challenges of development and internal conflicts.
