Introduction - UNDP The Gambia

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The social hierarchy within these structures
could be an impeding factor among the
various castes in the communities. Among the
Serahule, the caste system is very strong, and
lack of understanding of this fact could affect
any development initiative that require social
mobilisation.
The politicisation of the traditional structures
could affect the level of engagement of all the
critical parties in the community. There are
instances where individuals are removed from
the structure because of their partisan political
affiliation. This could affect the effectiveness
of the structure.
Lack of a clear sense of direction can derail
the development target, hence the need to
enhance the capacity of these structures to
respond to the new roles and responsibilities
they will be required to assume.
5.3.1 Policy Context
The Gambia is committed to the policy of
decentralisation and it has undertaken several
steps to put its policy in line with this process.
However, formal commitment to
decentralisation is yet to be translated into
substantive commitment.
Currently, all the measures needed to
empower the communities are nonexistent.
The infrastructure, resources and
traditional structures needed to achieve
commitment to the decentralisation process
are lacking. Incentives to motivate people to
remain in the rural areas have to be in place.
For sustainable development to take place,
the rural communities must play a crucial role
in the process.
The current centralised approach of the
government will not adequately address the
problems. Capacity will always be elusive if
it does not commit itself to empower the nonstate
actors to be effectively part of the
development process. Therefore, this
approach may not achieve the fulfilment of
the targets it has set for itself.
5.3.2 Institutional Frameworks
The Gambia is divided into seven
administrative divisions, which are well
established. These administrative divisions
have historically been the frame of reference
for colonial development. They are well
defined with local government structures.
However, these institutions are poorly
resourced, and their budgets are very
low. Rates collected do not address all the
issues of the communities and where such
rates are available they are sometimes
insufficient to cover the expenditures of such
divisions.
The government needs to provide sufficient
budget allocation to build capacity at this
level. Also the existence of Divisional
Development Committees vis-à-vis the
multidisciplinary facilitation teams can be
effective in providing technical support in the
rural communities. These structures need to
be strengthened to respond to the demands.
They can be channels to develop the skills of
the rural people.
5.3.3 Gender and Local Structures
While the local structures have been the point
of reference for many development agents,
they have not been able to address all the
development concerns of the people. The
existing structures in The Gambia have
always been known to be patrimonial and
gender blind. In all the existing structures,
women and men have unequal power
relations in terms of decision-making, which,
as a result, affects the outcomes of projects on
the different genders.
Involving these structures in the context of
the country’s current development initiatives
would require making use of gender analysis
and analytical frameworks that would address
the gender imbalances that are entrenched and
taken for granted at all levels. Taking account
of gender equality in the process is crucial to
the attainment of sustainable development.
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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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