Working For Zero Gender Based Violence: Gambian Gov’t-World Bank Funded GIRAV Project Intensifies Fight Against Gender-Based In The Gambia

The main objective of the outreach programme is to create awareness on GBV (including Sexual Abuse and Exploitation (SAE), Sexual Harassment (SH) and Violence Against Children (VAC) and Risk Assessment and Management in the project intervention sites.

It covered five agricultural regions namely; LRR, CRRS, URR, CRRN and NBR. Participants were key project stakeholders and partners including regional governors, district chiefs, village heads, representatives of communities where the project will embark on feeder roads rehabilitation and the construction of modern vegetable gardens and an Agro-Logistic Centres and members of the Regional Grievance Redress Committees set up by the project to address social safeguard and environmental issues in the project intervention sites.

GIRAV is a five-year Gambian Government-World Bank funded USD47.91million (World Bank: US$40m), Gambian Gov’t: US$4m) & Beneficiaries’ counterpart contribution: 3.91m) project. The Project Development Objective is to Promote the development of inclusive, resilient, and competitive agricultural value chains, focusing on smallholder farmers and agribusinesses in project target areas across the country.

Speaking during the opening ceremonies in all the five regions, Mr. Lamin M Camara, Environment Specialist, GIRAV project explained that the achievement of inclusive and sustained economic growth remains one of the principal objectives of the Government, thus our medium-term policy priorities like the second-generation Gambia National Agriculture Investment Programme, Food and Nutrition Security (GNAIP – FNS) and the National Development Plan have been formulated to achieve these lofty objectives. 

Mr. Camara noted that GBV is an urgent global issue that affects 1 in 3 women in their lifetime. He said: “GBV devastates the life and well-being of its survivors and imposes high social and economic costs that undermine development and exacerbate poverty. The World Bank is committed to fighting gender-based violence in all its forms and has zero tolerance for its occurrence in Bank-financed projects.

“The Bank is now the first multilateral development bank to disqualify contractors for failing to comply with GBV-related obligations. These contractors will not receive Bank-financed contracts anywhere in the world for two years. After this period, the contractors will have to demonstrate their capacity to meet the Bank’s requirements for preventing GBV before receiving a new Bank-financed contract. The GIRAV project is committed to sensitize its stakeholders including the beneficiaries’ communities more especially the women and young girls who in most case vulnerable to GBV during project implementations. The project has developed an Environmental and Social Management Framework (ESF) which is aligned to the objectives of the Bank’s Good Practice Note”.

The GIRAV project will invest more than 500 million dalasis in the rehabilitation and construction of feeder roads totally 200 km across the country. It will also invest more than 200 million construct two modern Agro-Logistics Centres at Maka Farafenni in NBR and Wassu in CRRN. Furthermore, the project will also invest millions of dalasis to establish 40 modern gardens dubbed Agribusiness firms (20 women-led and 20 youth-led).

Mr. Fafanding Katiri Kinteh, Social Development Specialist, GIRAV project explained that all “these massive infrastructural/civil works” across the country will require the deployment of workers in the project’s targeted communities.

He said: “This influx of workers may heighten the tendency and exposure to increased risks of GBV in the forms of Sexual Exploitation and Abuse incidents by project workers. Dispute or grievances which may emanate from these abuses can have potential delay in the implementation of project activities, thus affecting project sustainability. Therefore, the effective participation of local authorities and project beneficiaries and other partners is very key for the attainment of zero Gender-Based Violence and its related menaces across the project intervention sites”.

Mr. Siaka Marong, Principal Gender Officer at the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Welfare who also served as a resource person during the campaign reminded participants that the government has committed to zero GBV citing the numerous laws enacted and the policies, strategies and regulations developed and adopted in a bid to held ensure a GBV free Gambia. He however lamented about the endemic pandemic of GBV in our society.

Another Resource Person, Mr. Fallu Sowe, National Coordinator, Network Against Gender Violence called for concerted actions from all and sundry to address the menace of GBV in the country. He appealed to district chiefs to help mitigate the impacts of GBV on victims.

Presiding over the opening ceremony in their respective regions on behalf of the Governors, Mr. Bakary Darboe, Deputy Governor, LRR, Mr. Sainey Mbye, Deputy Governor CRR, Mr. Dembo Samateh, Deputy Governor NBR and Mr. Pateh Baldeh,  Assistant records Officer at the Office of the Governor, URR commended the management of the GIRAV project and the CPCU of the Ministry of Agriculture for the initiative. They challenged participants to take the campaign very seriously and disseminate the messages/information gathered with their respective communities. They assured of their offices support to the initiative.

The climax of the day-long meeting in each of the five regions was the signing of individual Codes of Conduct by Regional Grievance Redress Committee members to commit to the zero GBV policy of the World Bank and the Gambian Government.