The ‘Nafa’ Program component of The Gambia Social Safety Net Project (SSNP) (a US$ 31 million project) is jointly funded by the World Bank and the Government of The Gambia.The ‘Nafa’ Program is designed to promote continuity and harmonisation with other programs, by expanding an existing package of cash transfers with Social and Behavioural Change Communication (SBCC) managed by NaNA and partners.
The National Nutrition Agency (NaNA), Directorate of Social Welfare and Department of Community Development are the implementing partners of the ‘Nafa’ Program.The Gambia SSNP is implemented in West Coast (WCR), Central River (CRR), North Bank (NBR), Lover River (LRR) and Upper River Regions (URR) targeting 15,606 extremely poor households. This equates to approximately 40 percent of the extremely poor households in The Gambia.For a start, it was piloted in Foni Bintang, Nainija and Wuli West Districts.
The Project Development Objective (PDO) is to improve the coordination of social assistance activities, provide temporary social assistance support to rural households in the wake of COVID-19, and increase inclusion of the extreme poor in the ‘Nafa’ Program.
The beneficiary selection was done using a Proxy-Means Test (PMT) which was followed by a community validation exercise in the poorest 20 districts of The Gambia. The regular revenue provided to extreme poor households is aimed at increasing both short-term consumption of essential goods, and enabling longer-term investments in human and productive capital.
Tailored SBCC provides information to beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries to encourage investments that can bolster human capital especially maternal and child health and nutrition, adolescence education and family planning; parenting and prevention of gender-based violence; and productive capital especially savings, entrepreneurship and agriculture to break the inter-generational cycle of poverty. In the three piloted districts, a total of Two Thousand, Seven Hundred and Seventy (2,770) beneficiary households each received D3000 every two months during the seven rounds of payment.
She explained that when she received her first three payments she ate all the money but after that she decided to open a corner shop knowing that the project will not last forever.
She added that after receiving another payment she decided to also buy a ram she intends to rear and later sell.
“In the near future, I plan to resell the ram and add my corner shop profit to it and buy a bull to rear,” she stated, noting that the initiative is to ensure she is able to sustain herself and her family when the project phases out.
“I am also able to buy clothing, shoes, food items and other basic needs for my family’s use,” she added, saying life was hard for her before the project, but things have improved now.
She noted that the SBCC trainings have taught her how to treat her children when they are sick, how to prepare a balanced diet, entrepreneurship and financial literacy, sanitation and hygiene, among others.
She expressed her readiness to maintain her business and rearing small ruminant to ensure she sustains herself when the project phases out.
She thanked the World Bank and The Gambia Government for funding the project. She also thanked implementing partners.
Samba Bah, Governor of Upper River Region expressed satisfaction with the way the Cash Transfer is carried out by implementing partners, saying that was because an assessment was done to identify extremely poor households.
He observed that the Cash Transfer has positively impacted the lives and livelihoods of beneficiaries.
He pointed out that beneficiaries do not only stop at receiving the money but are putting it to good use with some of them investing in businesses and other ventures.
Governor Bah noted that the project has transformed the lives of many in his region and other parts of the country and therefore appealed to the World Bank and The Gambia Government to expand the project to other districts across the country and increase its duration and scope so that the poverty alleviation the country is yearning for is achieved.
Abdou Aziz Ceesay, Director of Social and Behavioral Change Communication at the National Nutrition Agency said as a nutrition agency responsible for all nutrition and nutrition-related activities in the country, the success registered by the project is a dream come true for them.
He highlighted that, ‘if you uplift the extremely poor from poverty, it improves under-nutrition,’ adding that lifting households from poverty and building their resilience improve their health and nutritional status as well.
Mr. Ceesay pointed out that if the trend of success registered by beneficiaries continues “we will drastically reduce malnutrition and contribute to socio-economic development of the country.”
He said, the reason why the cash transfer is accompanied with Social and Behavioral Change Communication is to ensure beneficiaries invest part of the money they receive to ensure they are able to sustain themselves at the end of the project.
He called on other beneficiaries to emulate those that are already successful or have started micro-finance businesses.
“If some beneficiaries can do it, I believe any other beneficiary from any district can do the same thing or even better,” Director Ceesay expounded that the monies being given are not the ends and means of everything and therefore attending SBCC sessions is the most important activity to build beneficiary’s capacities to be able to use their resources in things that would increase their resource base. This he said will uplift them from poverty or even move from where they are to another level when the project phases out.
Director Ceesay said, his Project Coordinator and team, have started discussions with the World Bank and The Gambia Government about the possibility to increase the coverage, resource envelope, duration and scope of the project.
According to him, in The Gambia almost everybody is poor, it is just that our levels of poverty differ.
He therefore appealed to funders to extend the project to other districts across the country and increase its duration to possibly 36 months.
He also appealed to the UN System, European Union and other donor agencies to support The Gambia Government in trying to increase the number of beneficiaries supported by the Cash Transfer.
He said the intervention will have a direct impact on households in the country and thereby improve the health and nutrition of the population.
“No Social Safety Net or Social Assistance activity will last forever and I therefore appeal to beneficiaries to use the opportunity to increase their revenue base and get into other micro-finance activities to support their households so that when the project phases out they can turn around and get money from other avenues to support their households,” he concluded.
