By: Sandally Sawo
The Executive Director of the National Disaster Management Agency (NDMA), Sanna Dahaba, said The Gambia recognizes the importance of pairing economic growth with reducing vulnerability to poverty.
“As enshrined in the National Disaster Management Act 2008 and as encapsulated in the new National Development Plan (NDP) otherwise YIRIWA, the government through the AFDB, begun the management of disasters well and protecting gains achieved in the agriculture sector through protecting farmers from severe weather-related shocks,” said the head of the State disaster management agency at the closing ceremony of a one-day disaster risk financing strategy workshop on Thursday.
According to Mr. Dahaba, the Gambia government in 2018 applied its ADL allocation from the African Development Bank to finance the Africa Disaster Risk Financing (ADRiFi) project. The project, he explained, seeks to strengthen the resilience of rural households to climate-related shocks by enhancing the capacity of the government to respond faster and quicker to drought shocks.
“Having a ready financing option and contingency plans are integral elements of Disaster Risk Reduction, which lends credence to take out premium on an annual basis since disasters are unpredictable. These were aspects that the ADRiFisupported us to achieve over the years,” said the NDMA boss.
“We are grateful for the support which gave the Government the breathing space as the annual premium payment that the Government could not entirely pay was co-financed at 50% by the project throughout.
“Let me also use this moment to thank the Government Replica Partner; WFP for the enormous support in complementing the Government’s efforts,” acknowledged Mr Dahaba.
According to him, the ADRiFi project has achieved a 96.2% implementation rate.
“We are nearing the end of the project given the extension date with few activities to complete. I can certainly state that we have so far achieved a 96.2% implementation rate. A welcome development is that ADRiFi provided the opportunity for the development of DRF (Disaster Risk Financing) strategy for The Gambia,” the NDMA boss highlighted.
He acknowledged that the choosing of The Gambia by the AFDB to host its partner meeting was not only timely but worthy given the aspects of the programs covered during the past five years such as the payout from the African Risk Capacity.
“On behalf of the Disaster Governing Council and on my own, I wish to use this opportunity to once again thank AfDB and donors as well as the African Risk Capacity group for enabling The Gambia to participate in the weather base index.
“I cannot fail to mention the tireless efforts of the African Development Bank, African Risk Capacity, the Centre for Disaster Protection and the team from NDMA and the Finance Ministry for facilitating aspects of the program. Your dedication and expertise have been invaluable, and I have no doubt that our discussions today will lead to more concrete actions for continued engagement,” said Dahaba.
“I cannot conclude without thanking the Country Engagement Manager of ARC and the Task Manager for The Gambia at the AfDB. They have been very supportive, especially to the in-country program implementation through the project manager,” he concluded.
See our subsequent publications for more on yesterday’s meeting.