By Modou Kanteh
In order to improve and address the data gaps in water and sanitation sector in The Gambia, the Department of Water Resources on Thursday, 18th May 2023, convened a day-long stakeholder meeting at the Ministry of Fisheries and Water Resources in Banjul.
In 2008, the Heads of State and Government of the African Union Assembly in Sharm El-Sheikh mandated the African Ministers Council on Water (AMCOW), to report on the progress of implementation of its commitment to water and sanitation.
Consequently, the Council in 2016 developed the Africa Water and Sanitation Sector Monitoring and reporting system (WASSMO), which is a web-based system for monitoring and reporting progress in the water and sanitation sector.
The system is designed to assist AMCOW to track the progress towards the attainment of Sharm El Sheikh, AfricaSan and Ngor Commitments, as well as the African Water Vision 2025 and the Sustainable Development Goal 6 targets by 2030.
Deputising for the Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Fisheries and Water Resources, the Deputy Permanent Secretary Madam Fanta BS Manneh said her ministry is honoured to coordinate the establishment of the National Coordination Platform (NCP) for effective stakeholder collaboration to strengthen data sharing in the water and sanitation sector. She pointed out that accurate, reliable, and up-to-date data is critical in implementing policies and programmes that promote socio-economic development in Africa.
According to the Deputy Permanent Secretary, the data exercise is expected to complete Africa’s baseline data for water and sanitation, through gathering previous and current outstanding data sets on water and sanitation sector progress from the years 2016 to 2022.
“Your usual cooperation will yield a better input for enabling evidence-based decision-making and planning for our country and Africa as a whole,” the DPS BS Manneh said.
The Director of the Department of Water Resources,Mr. Lamin Mai Touray said over the years, the Department has partnered with key stakeholders to collect various data at international, regional and national level, to support the tracking of the various developmental targets. The director applauded the African Minister’s Council on Water for the initiative.
He expressed appreciation for the overwhelming participation of the stakeholders and encouraged them to be more committed to this initiative for the benefit of all.
