Introduction - UNDP The Gambia

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2.5.1 UNDP - Economic
Management and Capacity Building
Project
This programme was launched on 20 May
2003 and has three major goals:
• to facilitate improvements in long-term
planning so as to make public
investment more efficient and useful.
• to supplement the efforts of
development partners in the
enhancement of economic management
capacity building
• to develop business culture and
practices in private sector institutions
and companies.
In addition to providing training for personnel
involved in economic management in key
sectors, the project recruited eleven
consultants to conduct sectoral studies for the
preparation of the Medium-Term Plan
document, to prepare guidelines for the threeyear
rolling Public Investment Programme
and to review progress in the implementation
of the PRSP. To enhance institutional
capacity building, the project funded a study
on the establishment of a National Planning
Commission.
The National Planning Commission will act
as an integrating force to ensure that national
development plans are consistent with
national aspirations and in conformity with
the national vision. It will have the authority
to coordinate the national development
agenda, prioritise development programmes,
monitor programme implementation and
assess post-implementation impact.
While achievements have been impressive,
the project equally faced major challenges
and constraints, including the following:
• late sensitisation of policy makers,
namely: the High Level Economic
Committee and technical staff to facilitate
broad ownership of the programme
• National counterpart arrangements were
very unsatisfactory
• Administrative bottlenecks and protracted
bureaucracy within Government and the
UNDP delayed project activities
• lack of comprehensive training plans by
beneficiaries to facilitate prioritisation of
training requests.
2.5.2 World Bank - Capacity Building
for Economic Management Project
This project, which commenced in January
2002, is essentially designed to develop
capacity in key government agencies for
economic policy formulation and
execution. It specifically focuses on
improving the capacities of the revenuegenerating
departments and the Central
Statistics Department. Unfortunately, the
implementation of the different components
of the project has been extremely slow and
many of the performance indicators have not
been met. As a result, at the mid-term review
in 2005, the World Bank rated the project
“Unsatisfactory”.
Progress on the CSD’s strategy, revision of
the Statistics Act, the household survey and
the economic census are all substantially
behind schedule. Little progress has been
made on securing technical assistance for
developing macro-economic models to
improve revenue forecasting. A detailed plan
for integrating the two revenue-generating
departments - Income Tax and Customs and
Excise, including new organisation,
procedures and human resource policy – has
yet to be prepared.
The National Planning Commission will act
as an integrating force to ensure that national
development plans are consistent with
national aspirations and in conformity with
the national vision. It will have the authority
to coordinate the national development
agenda, prioritise development programmes,
monitor programme implementation and
assess post-implementation impact.
The Automated System of Customs Data
(ASYCUD) in the Department of Customs
and Excise is not yet fully operational, partly
as a result of lack of information technology
support, staff attrition and inadequate trained
human resources. The project seeks to build
the capacity of the judicial and financial
systems to facilitate private sector
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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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