By Fatou Sanneh
A delegation from European Union together with technical committee members of Job, Skills and Finance (JSF) recently concluded a 2-day visit to JSF Program for Women and Youth in The Gambia project sites in LRR, CRR, and NBR.
As the funding agency, the visit is meant to give the EU team the opportunity to assess the status of subprojects’ implementation and challenges faced by the beneficiary Ward Development Committees.
The JSF for Women and Youth in The Gambia project is funded by European Union and implemented by UNCDF in partnership with Ministry of Land, Regional Government and Religious Affairs through Community Development.
A Representative of EU, Lumana Kumasi expressed satisfaction about the progress of the implementation of the JSF program by the Ward Development Committee and how the program is impacting the lives of youth and women in rural Gambia.
The four-year project which started in 2018 is meant to promote job creation through green and climate resilient local economies, increase employability of youth, women and local communities by providing skills and trainings and to improve access to inclusive finance for women and youth by providing access to financial services.
The project implementation includes vegetable gardening, integrated horticulture farming, construction of boreholes and culverts. Part of the project is to foster and promote the idea of decentralization process in rural Gambia.
The beneficiaries expressed delight over the implementation of the project as it did not only provide them with what they need, but also create job opportunities through “cash for work” initiative, hence improving their financial statues.
Inadequate fund allocation for the implementation of the projects, low turnout of youth especially young men for the “cash for work” during the implementation of the projects were among the challenges raised during the visit.
