The Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs (MOFEA) in collaboration with the African Capacity Building Foundation (ACBF), recently launched The Gambia capacity needs assessment and capacity development needs strategy report for the implementation of the 2018-2021 National Development Plan (NDP).
The report was developed from the assessment conducted on the Gambia civil service by ACBF, assessing the needs of the civil and public service. It aims to identify critical requirements of the civil service and to support the implementation of the NDP. It was held at Kairaba Beach Hotel in Senegambia.
Emmanuel Nnadozie, Executive Secretary of ACBF explained that during his courtesy call in June, President Adama Barrow made a request to the ACBF to support in rebuilding the public and civil service of The Gambia.
He said proper implementation of the report will lead to tremendous development, noting that capacity development is a central element of a country’s development as it helps in understanding what the government wants to solve. “Capacity building is not just about training on human expertise, but about pregnant institutional capacity issues and systems including processes and systems.”
Mr. Nnadozie said the report is important because it is anchored to the key pillars of the NDP. “Also, the conduct of the capacity needs assessment and development of the capacity development strategy were nationally driven and owed to the preparation of the capacity development strategy which were conducted through fully participatory process that included focus group discussions and interviews with key stakeholders.”
Finance Minister Mamburay Njie said the assessment was conducted two years ago and covered forty-four ministries, departments and agencies who reviewed capacity lapses in human, institutional and organisational levels.
He said factors such as lack of performance management system, inadequate programming capacity and generally low pay and pension scales have led to low productivity and as such, the government seeks to challenge these factors with robust and dynamic strategy to meet the changing environment of work in the civil and public sector.
He assured of his ministry’s close working relationship with the PMO to ensure that the report is implemented to the realisation of the National Development Plan.
Lamin Jawara, Permanent Secretary of Personnel Management Office (PMO) said the report will address a major challenge that PMO is currently facing in coordinating training in the civil service, to ensure that training is based on capacity need requirements of MDAs for improved services.
He said the study has also recommended that for the country to optimally benefit from scholarships being offered by friendly countries, they should be linked to capacity requirements of sectors.
“In this regard, PMO and the Ministry of Higher Education are expected to effectively coordinate to match scholarship awards to capacity requirements required to deliver on the NDP priorities.”