UNDP Poverty Report 2000

A Campaign to Make Poverty Reduction Sustainable

One of the poorest countries in the world and even poorer in recent years, the Gambia launched its long-delayed National Poverty Alleviation Programme when it returned to civilian rule in 1997. According to official estimates, more than half the population is poor and 37% extremely poor. Its poverty programme is impressive but depends on donors for 90% of its financing.

Recognizing the challenge, the government charted a two-part strategy: implementing macro-economic and sectoral policies to promote growth with equity and encouraging people-centred development through community-based programmes. The National Poverty Alleviation Programme focuses on four areas: enhancing people's productive capacity, improving their access to quality social services, building capacity at the community level and promoting participatory communication processes.

The Strategy of Poverty Alleviation Coordinating Office, which reports to the Ministry of Finance, is the central clearinghouse for all poverty-related policies and interventions. The office is to assess the programme each year, propose new projects to fill gaps and seek donor funding for them. Each quarter it conducts field visits to meet with beneficiaries and puts the information that it gathers into a database.

The Social Development Fund

Because of rising inequality, the coordinating office is urging economic and social departments to be more pro-poor in planning and resource allocation. One mechanism for targeting is the Social Development Fund, initiated in early 1998 to implement projects and build local capacity. UNDP helped design and establish the fund, and the African Development Bank and other donors have provided the capital for loans and grants.

The fund provides grants for community-based schemes to organizations that are legally registered for such purposes and willing to cover 10% of the costs of the project, either in cash or in kind. One of the fund's tasks is to help register those organizations. The fund also helps build the capacity of civil society organizations that provide credit. There are many village-level savings and credit organizations throughout the country, but only six have met the requirements outlined by the central bank.

Thanks to its autonomy, the fund can process requests for grants quickly. A community hears whether its project has been approved within three weeks of submitting a proposal, and - if the project does not involve significant training and capacity building - funds are soon disbursed to beneficiaries. The fund recognizes, however, that the community members putting forward proposals are likely to be richer and better organized and so its grants are not being well targeted to the poor.

Correcting Problems

The programme faces a significant problem of sustainability. The coordinating office is financed entirely with external funds, and because it provides mostly grants, the fund is not self-sustaining. When donor financing ends in 2002, the fund's grant component is likely to be phased out.

In addition, the government has problems in coordinating the donors, which often invest in projects without consulting communities about their needs. In one village two donor groups built separate wells within a short period. The villagers not only referred to the wells as "donor X's well" and "donor Y's well", they also refused to maintain them because they didn't see them as their responsibility. Such experiences are common. That is why UNDP and other agencies now emphasize a participatory approach to development.