Introduction - UNDP The Gambia

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they identify with resonate with the realities
affecting many men and women in the
communities.
Kafoolu and Kuroolu: Kafoolu (singular
kafoo) is a general term for a social of people
who have common interests, network
objectives or professions in the community. It
can be a single or mixed sex grouping. The
term derived from the word kafuu (meaning
to come together or to unite); it also connotes
strength. Put in a metonymic form, people
usually say “Kafoo lemu semboti’’ meaning
‘‘In unity lies strength.’’
In most Gambian communities and in a
variety of ways these both provide a dynamic
network of kinship and social organisation in
which gender, generation and descent
intersect to shape patterns of development in
the traditional/rural communities. These
systems have been the source of cheap or free
labour to achieve development targets.
response to an emergency situation, while
others remain as a more enduring part of the
community’s social set-up, such as the saate
kafoo and kabila kafoolu.
There are also kafoolu based on gender.
Women’s kafoolu perhaps deriving names
from the area of landscape, eg Badala kafoo,
Nyodema kafoo (self-support), Kangbeng
kafoo (consensus); Dabanani kafoo and
sKanyeleng kafoo. The kafoolu provide social
mechanisms through which the community or
certain social groups derive strength and
support, and which assist to mobilise labour
and resources at both the kabilo and
individual levels. Thus people draw from
each social network to provide social and
economic support, for instance, in farm work
or festive occasions as well as during difficult
times, within a sustainable and reciprocal
relationship. These kafoolu are managed by
the traditional structure, which is responsible
for executing development plans.
The kafoo dynamic is fluid and one can
belong to as many kafoolu as possible. For
example, some kafoolu are known for
providing services such as labour and
community support, such as the saate kafoo,
which mobilises every member of the
community for collective endeavours such as
the clearing of footpaths in the village, or
protecting the forest from bush fires through
collective labour, irrespective of one’s
religious inclination, age, economic or
political affiliation.
Historically, the saate kafoo was a basis for
the organisation of unpaid labour to manage
environmental resources in the colonial
period. Other kafoolu come together to
provide support to members of their kabilo
(kabila kafoo). There are also kafoolu based
on personalities and named after them, such
as the Karamo Daffeh and Nyonko Daffeh
kafoo. Others are based on ethnicity such as
the mixed Jola kafoo. Kafoolu are sometimes
based on tasks to be achieved for a common
interest.
Some kafoolu are temporary in nature, for
example, based on food for work or in
Today, the term kafoo is also applied to
groupings responding to international
initiatives, introduced through development
projects by Government and NGOs. Such
groups are part of development initiatives.
Achieving the targets of the MDGs and PRSP
can be met by working with these structures.
They are readily available and permanent,
culturally relevant and the issues affect them
directly.
Being part of the planning to the
implementation process ensures sustainability
as well as creates opportunities for both the
state and those for whom development is
meant for to share experiences and learn from
each other. Some international development
discourses are channelled through these
structures to realise development objectives
as described below.
The National Environment Agency (NEA)
has several groups in the communities which
act as links between the community and the
agency to promote discourses around
environmental protection and conservation
and to implement the Local Environmental
Action Plan (LEAP) derived from the
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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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