By Kumba Leigh
The Gambia Government with funding from the World Bank is developing a social registry dubbed Gambia Social Registry (GamSR) as part of government’s drive to strengthen social protection system in The Gambia.
The Department of Information Services (DoIS) in collaboration with stakeholders from relevant government institutions have embarked a 2-month Public Information Campaign (PIC) in the West Coast Region to sensitise communities in the region about the importance of the GamSR and to encourage them to register their households with the Gambia Bureau of Statistics.
The social registry serves as a single entry point for various social protection programmes, and is hosted by the National Social Protection Secretariat, under the Office of the Vice President.
The first leg of the campaign and household registration was successfully held in other regions in the provinces.
Shedding more light on the campaign and the project, as the PIC teams are being deployed to the fields, Isatou Davis Ann, Director of Department of Information Services, affirmed that the Public Information Campaign is meant to sensitise the public to close communication gaps and address potential doubts, as well as negative perceptions about the Social Registry. “It was for this reason that a strategic public information campaign to promote GamSR was designed,” she added.
The strategy, she went on, outlines a conceptual framework that provides direction and guides actions in areas that can be influenced by communication at various levels. “The PIC was successfully rolled out in thirty-six (36) districts where data collection was done, to inform, persuade and motivate the public’’.
Sharing her views and impressions the GamSR during the sensitization campaign in Kombo East, Binta Badjie, representative of the Kabamb Women Leaders, Kombo East, believes the PIC would help foster better understanding and awareness on the SR.
However, BubaTamba of Sotokoi extolling the officials for the great initiative, expressed concern about the personal data being collected.
“Of recent, we have seen lots of writings ongoing in the country and some of us in my community are confused as to what some of them could be,” he queried. He however admitted that this might be different from the previous one, whereby they had no prior public information campaign about the impending data collection.
Others who shared their views about the initiative were Demba Jallow, council of elders of Omorto, Komba East; Alkali Sanyang, Alkalo of Niigi, who encouraged people of his community to have every member of their households registered and to provide accurate information;
The main objectives of PIC for the GamSR is to ensure high level awareness of the Social Registry among the identified or targeted population; and engage community leaders, including Regional Governors, District Chiefs, Ward Development Committee (WDC) and Village Development Committee (VDCs), to ensure smooth data collection by GBoS.
