The Gambia: Community selection for the FSCA project

Countries

Amie Jallow Jatta

National Project Manager

FSCA The Gambia

In the bid to enhance the food security status of the country, the Gambian Government, in collaboration with the Italian Government, is implementing the Food Security through Commercialization of Agriculture (FSCA) in the North Bank Region and the Central River Region north.

The two regions are key in view of the fact that they have a basic level of agricultural production which creates a high potential to contribute to national food supplies through commercialization in The Gambia.

The FSCA is a three year project within the framework of the activities implemented through the Italian Special Contribution to the Global Trust Fund for Food Security and Food Safety.

The project targets farmer beneficiaries in forty communities and was launched this year in March at national level and May at the regional level.

The objective of the launchings were to critically review the overall project frame work and work plan and to make suggestions as to the way forward for implementation.
The launchings attracted a great number of people at all levels from ministers, permanent secretaries to regional governors, district chiefs, farmer beneficiaries and stakeholders. At the national level the occasion was graced by the Minister of Agriculture and the Minister for Trade and Industry.

The launchings were considered successful in the sense that all the participants showed interest and participated actively from the beginning to the end of all sessions. A major outcome of the launchings was the undertaking by the local authorities to be part of the selection teams to make the process more participatory. A common strategy was developed for the selection of the forty communities to make it highly participatory and transparent. The process utilized the bottom up approach starting from the district level where five communities were selected based on their interest willingness and ability to carry out project interventions.

The selected communities were further scrutinized at a validation workshop based on the selection criteria developed by stakeholders at a national planning workshop.
Selection criteria included general requirements such as gender balance, satisfactory ethnic representation, strong partnerships with development agencies and a history of excellent performances.
Beside these requirements, more technical criteria were to be met: strong leadership attributes, farming as a dominant preoccupation in the community, established structures and availability of bank accounts or other forms of savings.

In view of the foregoing processes, it is important to underline that the whole process was very transparent and all parties were satisfied. In particular, beneficiaries are already assuming ownership of the project from the beginning without blaming anyone about selecting the wrong community. A very good first step towards a strong commitment to ensure sustainability to the project.