By: Nyima Sillah
Hannah Foster, Chairperson of CSOs Coalition on Election said the Election Violence Monitoring, Analysis and Mitigation (EMAM) project has contributed towards the reduction of Election violence in The Gambia.
Chairperson made this remark on Wednesday during the national capitalization workshop of the EMAM project in The Gambia held in Senegambia.
She said the project contributes towards the reduction of electoral violence and the situation room was able to engage with other partners like the IEC and it was also a system that needed to be nurtured.
“Thus, the EMAM project is finished or we are in the last days but I believe that one of the main recommendations should be to ensure that in future the project should accompany the electoral circle,” she added.
At this point, she noted, it is halfway through because it is only the presidential elections (while) the National Assembly elections and local elections are the next.
“With the capacity that the EMAM project has been able to build and also the collaboration that has started, we believe that in future putting together such projects, the electoral circle of the country needs to be taken into consideration,” she added.
According to her, the CSOs coalition has been involved in energising and collaborating in implementation of the EMAM project, five CSO coalition members have been part of the expert club and have been receiving sub grants to come up with responses through issues that needed to be addressed under the EMAM project.
More so, she said, it is prudent to review progress and to make recommendations for future interventions, noting that lots of knowledge has been gained in the implementation of this project and therefore expressed gratitude to all the partners that contributed towards the success of the project.
“I want to assure all partners that the CSOs coalition on election stands is ready to collaborate in the endeavour to keep the peace especially as we move toward the maintenance of good governance and peaceful elections in The Gambia for the National Assembly elections and the Local Council Elections,” she assured them.
