Introduction - UNDP The Gambia

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by the Department are similar to those
prevalent in many other public agencies and
departments, namely staff attrition,
inadequate human resources, poor
coordination of activities and poor conditions
of service. Private sector, donor agencies and
international institutions recently recruited
several trained economists from that
Department. The Department has a number of
unfilled positions as a result of difficulties of
recruiting qualified and experienced
personnel. This constraint aggravates the
problems of inadequate institutional capacity.
Strategy for Poverty Alleviation
Coordination Office (SPACO): The
Strategy for Poverty Alleviation Coordination
Office, a unit under DOSFEA, is primarily
responsible for coordinating the
implementation of the PRSP. The current
government development strategy views the
PRSP as the primary vehicle for attaining the
MDGs. Its functions include:
• steering the re-alignment of sector
policies and programmes
• advising and assisting in building
capacities at central government,
divisional and grass-roots levels for propoor
planning
• monitoring the implementation of the
SPA II
• facilitating the increased use of
participatory methods
• mobilising resources for poverty
alleviation
• commissioning research and researchrelated
activities into poverty issues.
Since its establishment, SPACO has had four
different coordinators who have worked with
three directors of planning at DOSE, while
heads of departmental focal points have
consistently left for greener pastures with
NGO, private sector companies or
international organisations. This attrition has
disrupted continuity and diminished
institutional memory. It has also jeopardised
the preparation of sectoral public expenditure
reviews. In addition to these weaknesses,
SPACO also shares the pervasive problems
of:
• weak institutional capacity
• poor working conditions
• rigid and cumbersome bureaucratic
systems and practices.
The Central Statistics Department (CSD):
The official statistics system in The Gambia
has declined to a stage where it no longer
provides an effective service to Government
and other users of statistics. The principal
causes of the problem have been the
reduction of government funding to low
levels and the difficulties of the CSD to
attract and retain qualified personnel.
As a result of these limitations, reliable data
for the formulation of sound socio-economic
policies are acutely inadequate; thus poverty
diagnostics and impact monitoring of the
PRSP cannot be effectively conducted. The
data collection procedures used for the
preparation of national accounts, employment
analyses, household expenditure and social
statistics are cumbersome. The quality and
credibility of the data leaves a lot to be
desired.
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Building Capacity for the Attainment of the Millennium Development Goals in The Gambia National Human Development Report 2005
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