The Gambia

The MDGs are relevant to The Gambia’s development context as they set clear targets for reducing poverty, hunger, illiteracy, disease, discrimination against women and environmental degradation as well as requisite global partnerships in support of such efforts. In effect, the objectives and pillars of the country’s second Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP II) are very much correlated with the MDGs.

The challenges faced by The Gambia in meeting a number of MDGs reflect the absence of an integrated planning framework that can effectively monitor national and local progress towards the MDGs. The lack of such a framework is compounded by inadequate institutional capacity and serious resource constraints. Overall, The Gambia faces serious challenges in its efforts to reliably track the MDGs. There has also been a growing realization by senior government policymakers and other stakeholders that if The Gambia is to attain the MDGs, the capacity of administrative, financial and planning structures at the local level will have to be considerably enhanced. Effective and efficient delivery of these services is essential if the MDGs are to have a realistic chance of being attained by 2015.

The Government of The Gambia, at the highest levels, has committed itself to integrating the MDGs into its planning processes. In January 2006, the government decided to integrate the draft second PRSP (PRSP II) and the draft Medium Term Plan (MTP) into one unified planning framework for the country. In order to strengthen implementation of the Poverty Reduction Strategy, which is identified as the primary vehicle for attaining the MDGs. The government established a National Planning Commission (NPC) for coordinating the national Poverty Reduction Strategy (PRS) via the implementation of the PRSP, the NPC is the primary government agency charged with tracking MDG targets.

Some of the main findings of the MDG Reports are that MDG targets for poverty, gender equality, and HIV/AIDS were unlikely to be met if existing trends did not change. On the other hand, maternal health, hunger, and access to basic amenities such as safe drinking water were relatively more likely to be met by 2015.

Improvements to maternal health and child nutrition (MDGs 4 and 5), strengthening secondary education and eliminating gender disparities in school (MDG 3), general poverty reduction (MDG 1) and environmental preservation (MDG 7) and HIV/AIDS (MDG 6) are therefore among the areas emphasized in the country’s poverty reduction strategy. These are therefore the areas where The Gambia needs to catch up so as to achieve the aspirations of Vision 2020 in general and the PRSP II and MDG goals and targets in particular.