PCC Contact:
 | Mr Saikou JK Trawally PCC and Director of Population Affairs Secretariat of the National Population Commission Office of the President, State House, Banjul, Gambia Tel: (220) 420 1976, 422 4143, 422 7022, 422 4146 Fax: (220) 422 4143 Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ; This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it |  |
A Consolidated Assessment Report on the Implementation of the Population Programme for January 2007- September 2008
1. Introduction
The programme reflects the national priorities outlined in Vision 2020, the PRSP, and Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), CEDAW and the African Charter on Human Rights. It also takes into cognisance the UNFPA Multi-Year Funding Framework (MYFF), the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) agenda and the African Union Road Map (2004) on the accelerated reduction of maternal, newborn and child mortality and morbidity. The programme is designed to contribute to the UNDAF outcomes and MDGs in the priority areas of Poverty Reduction and Social Protection, Basic Social Services and Governance.
The overall goal of the programme is to contribute to the improvement of the quality of life and standard of living of the people of The Gambia and focuses on:
- Maternal health.
- Reproductive health information and services, with a focus on young people and HIV prevention.
- The collection and utilization of gender-disaggregated data for development, planning and poverty reduction.
The programme intends to support policy dialogue and advocacy on population, gender, and reproductive health and adopt a rights-based approach to programming at national and decentralized levels.
During the period under review, UNFPA assisted in advancing the implementation of the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD). As agreed in the CPAP, the assistance focused on three programme priority areas: reproductive health, including sexual health and family planning; population and development; and gender. Key themes or priority areas that featured in the implementation of the current country programme in 2007 included: addressing the reproductive health needs of young people; promoting reproductive rights; strengthening national capacity; increasing the range of and access to quality reproductive health services; and encouraging partnerships with nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and other groups in civil society. Women’s empowerment, gender issues and advocacy remained cross-cutting dimensions of all of the programme intervention areas. In addition, partnerships with regional organizations, as well as international and national NGOs have been strengthened. Examples of such activities are contained in all parts of this annual report.
2. STATUS OF IMPLEMENTATION
2.1 Population and development
In focusing on the population and development component, the programme seeks to ensure a balance between socio-economic development and population dynamics by providing appropriate information and analysis; influencing policy, planning and programmes and, monitoring and evaluation; and building national capacity in population programming to facilitate the integration of population, reproductive health and gender concerns into policies and programmes.
The programme reflects the population and development goals of the ICPD, by following a people-centred approach to sustained economic growth and sustainable development. Reliable, regular and timely data on population and development are essential for effective policy formulation and programme implementation. The programme seeks to help develop and strengthen national capacity for generating and analysing relevant information necessary to develop policies and programmes. To this end, the programme funded the conduct of a training on the DEVINFO with a view to setting up pf a national database that aims at providing reliable data for effective planning and decision making,. This endeavour will result in the creation of a resource-flow database that will be a valuable tool for monitoring key aspects of the implementation of the ICPD Programme of Action, the MDGs and PRSP. As a follow-up to the training, a DevInfo Technical Working Group (TWG) has been constituted to work towards the development and customisation of the database.
In addition to efforts made in the creation of a more efficient database for various development endeavours, data produced by key stakeholders countrywide have been collected to help in the provision of a reliable population databank. With the assistance of the UNVs, the NPCS has started in earnests the compilation of the already collected data. In this regard, it is intended that the validation, distribution and dissemination of the data would be done in the course of 2008.
The programme intended to support the conduct of DHS and the dissemination of its results and also the dissemination of the 2003 census results. However, during the course of 2007 - 2008 implementation of the programme, both the conduct of DHS and dissemination of the 2003 census results could not take place due to lack of funding and the inability to finalise the reports.
In pursuance of the programme objective of reinforcing the provision of relevant quality POP/FLE in Formal and Non-Formal Education, the programme supported the training of Skills Centre Instructors and Madarassa teachers from Regions 1 & 2 on POP/FLE and related issues and also the use of instructional materials. In addition, the teaching of the subject has been reinforced and made compulsory at the Gambia College in order to solve the POP/FLE teacher shortages in schools. During the course of 2007 programme implementation, the evaluation report for the teaching of POP/FLE in schools was validated and the final report is being printed.
In response to the need for the update of POP/FLE instructional materials, the programme supported the review of materials that were developed as far back as 1996 in order for it to commensurate with the current socio-economic condition of the country. It is intended that the updated version would be reproduced and distributed countrywide.
As the awareness on life skills education is reportedly low in some pockets of the country, Parent Teacher Associations and other community members from the regions were privileged to be sensitized on the importance of Life Skills Education as it is in line with the project aim of strengthening life skills for youth.
The programme has supported some South-to-South initiatives in the form of facilitating the participation of NPCS in the PPD Board Meetings as well as the International Conference on Access to R/H 19th – 23rd November, 2007 in Rabat, Morocco.. Bilateral meetings with other PPD member countries including Egypt, China (Mainland), Bangladesh, India etc WERE held. Consequently, the Gambia has received two fellowships for a general diploma in on Demography tenable at Cairo Demographic Centre and two short courses on Safe Motherhood & New born Care tenable in Bangladesh. In addition, two candidates have been nominated for the MA programme in Public Health administration, tenable in Morocco.
In trying to building or enhance institutional capacities in the area of population and development, the programme intends to establish a diploma programme in the University of Gambia. As part of the preparatory activities towards the establishment of the programme concentration was focused on the Inauguration of a Task Force that looks into ways to set the stage for the development of a course curriculum. Subsequently, the University in collaboration with Gambia Bureau of Statistics conducted a 3 member study tour to Dakar to discuss proposed curriculum, do comparism as well as collaboration opportunities with the Statistics department of Sheikh Anta Jobe University.
2.2 Gender
“The programme component is based on the CPD outcome, which takes into account the UNFPA 2004-2007 MYFF and responds to national priorities to mainstream gender equality governance as well as MDG 3 to promote gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls. The programme is designed using a culturally sensitive rights-based approach.
Although gender concerns are a cross-cutting dimension of the programme, it has remained as a stand alone pillar or component. To this end, during 2007, the programme emphasized women's issues in all intervention areas, promoting reproductive and sexual health and rights within a human rights framework, adolescent reproductive health, and women's empowerment and gender equity and equality, as well as strengthening the gender perspective in policies and programmes. The programme also continued its collaboration with various NGOs, such as FAWEGAM and BAFROW to strengthen the network of national NGOs to advocate for, and monitor, governmental progress in implementing the agreements and decisions reached at the ICPD and the Fourth World Conference on Women (FWCW). Support was provided to enable representatives of national NGOs to implement their own activities in the area of gender. Enhancing the involvement of men and male adolescents in reproductive health and family life issues is an important component of the programme’s gender, population and development strategy.
2.3 Reproductive health.
The year 2007 witnessed further advances in adapting the maternal and child health (MCH) and family planning (FP) approach to a reproductive health approach, including family planning and sexual health. Throughout the region, the programme provided support to government efforts to develop a clearer vision of comprehensive reproductive health services and programming. However, despite achievements in this area, two key constraints in the region remain: limited coverage in terms of access to and availability of a range of reproductive health services; and an insufficient number of trained personnel to deliver such services.
Addressing adolescent reproductive health needs has been an important dimension of programme support. Thus, the programme has provided support for, HIV/AIDS prevention and reproductive health and counselling services focusing on meeting the needs of youth. These activities seek to enable young people to make responsible decisions about their sexual behaviour.
In addition, the programme provided support to network of Traditional Communicators (TCs) youths and NGOs, in the country to undertake a variety of advocacy activities, in 2007, aiming at, among other things, eradicating harmful traditional practices, including female genital cutting (FGM), early marriage; promoting reproductive health and reproductive rights; and promoting adolescent reproductive health. For example, the programme has provided support to TCs to conduct community sensitizations and the network of journalist to publish newsletter and other medial materials to seek the support and lessen the opposition of religious and traditional leaders, males to reproductive health programmes. The programme also funded series of youth media campaigns on sexual and reproductive health issues. These programmes drew audience from a wide range of people from all walks of life.
Advocacy/IEC BCC
Advocacy is essential in galvanizing broad-based political commitment and mobilizing financial support for population and reproductive health activities. It is also indispensable in placing population concerns on development agendas. Since the ICPD, the focus of the programme in advocacy has been on the priorities that are central to the ICPD Programme of Action. These include, among others, influencing the formation of attitudes and behaviours and establishing policies and programmes that promote choice, access to reproductive health services, gender equity, and environmental stewardship and related patterns of consumption. Advocacy/IEC is key to mobilizing resources for promoting and achieving the goals of the ICPD Programme of Action.
During 2007, the programme has supported Advocacy/IEC activities to enhance visibility and improve public perceptions of ICPD priorities. Advocacy efforts related to reproductive health and rights have aimed at promoting greater male involvement in reproductive health programmes and greater attention to the reproductive health needs of adolescents. They have also sought to influence changes in existing laws and regulations that perpetuate inequalities and inequities, especially those that are gender-based. Advocacy/IEC related to population and development has supported, or sought to influence, government efforts to review and revise national policies to bring them in line with the ICPD Programme of Action. It has also solicited the support of policy makers and stakeholders to provide the necessary resources to establish databanks and databases in a bid to improve the availability of reliable data. Advocacy/IEC related to gender has focused on increasing girls' access to quality basic education and keeping them in school; eliminating discrimination, coercion and harmful practices against women and children; and promoting socio-cultural research that gives insights into how best to influence changes in customs and traditions that perpetuate gender inequality in relation to reproductive and sexual health and rights. Through Advocacy/IEC interventions the programme emphasizes the need to develop partnerships with the media particularly those that are grassroots-based to design appropriate advocacy campaigns, approaches and materials in a variety of forms (newspaper columns, newsletters and working with goodwill ambassadors, meetings, training, community drama performances, film shows and so on) and to build capacity in this area. The media are important gatekeepers to policy makers and the public alike and thus must be educated, reached and persuaded to be a partner in population Advocacy/IEC.
During the period under review, a one-day national workshop on population and sustainable development was organised by the Gambia government in collaboration with PPD with a view to to inform officials from various Departments of State, international organisations, leading NGOs in The Gambia the modalities of south-south cooperation and PPD activities and also to enlist their support for the promotion of South-South cooperation on population and development. The one-day workshop served as a forum for sensitizing policy makers, opinion leaders and other stakeholders on population and development issues in a way to facilitate the integration of population issues in to policies and plans. The workshop was attended by senior government officials, heads of various organisations, parliamentarians etc.
3. CROSS CUTTING ISSUES
3.1 Strengthening programme effectiveness
Strengthening programme effectiveness encompasses many components. It involves providing clear and pragmatic policy and programme guidance; developing effective programmes and; strengthening monitoring and evaluation of programmes; and matching staff training with the skills and competencies needed to meet organizational goals and priorities. Furthermore, it involves building national capacity for efficient use of programme resources implementing and monitoring programme activities. In order to maximize efforts to strengthen programme effectiveness, it is necessary to enhance coordination and collaboration with other development partners, including NGOs and in civil society organisations.
The programme supported among others the training of programme staff on results based management skills. Participants were drawn from all the partners with a view to promote transparency and effectiveness in programme implementation. Results-Based Management is fundamental to our common approach and practice in ensuring the sharing of information and knowledge, learning lessons, and giving necessary feed backs in order to improve decision-making and performance. This training aims at focusing on results to ensure that financial and human resources are strategically deployed to achieve the greatest impact. This will enable the programme managers to take the lead in ensuring that RBM guides the implementation process, bearing in mind the diversity of situations in which they work and the role played by all partners in achieving results.
3.2 Decentralization
The programme has made significant progress in decentralizing funds allocation and activity implementation, along with providing the necessary logistics support and technical advisory services, to its decentralised structures to strengthen the management and delivery of programme activities. This has been done on regular basis. Management and organizational structures have been reconstituted to provide better technical guidance and policy direction to the programme; policies and procedures have been revised to improve programme formulation and implementation; and greater emphasis has been placed on developing the necessary monitoring and evaluation tools to ensure effective programme implementation.
3.3 Partnerships with NGOs and civil society Organisations
A key element in strengthening programme implementation and delivery is making effective use of NGOs and other groups in civil society. Recognizing that NGOs have extensive outreach, associations and networks, particularly at the grass-roots level, the programme continues to expand and enhance its partnerships with NGOs and CSOs in 20077.
For example, in August, UNFPA under the auspices of the programme funded media programmes and the development IEC materials for the National Faith based organization on Islam, population and development. Among other, the programme facilitated the participation of Youth Network members in an HIV/AIDS meeting in Malawi. Through the programme, various networks formed under the programme benefited in attending various international forums that aims at broadening their horizon on population and development in a way to help integrating population variables in policies and plans.
3.4 Monitoring and evaluation
The year 2007 saw a remarkable intensification of M&E; activities at both national and regional levels. Resources allocated for M&E; activities although inadequate was able to facilitate a wide range of coverage. The monitoring activities carried-out included field visits to project sites and attending meetings and workshops organized by implementing partners. One key M&E; activity undertaken by the NPCS was the inauguration and conduct of the Technical working Group meetings that served as a platform where implementing partners share information on the status of their individual involvement in programme implementation and also find solutions to problems hindering progress. This forum promotes transparency and accountability in the overall implementation of the programme. The field visits involving the PTFs and NPCS tried to assess the relevance, efficiency and effectiveness of fund allocations in addressing the RH and gender related needs of the people within the context of Safe Motherhood, gender employment and striking a balance between population growth and socio-economic growth of the country. In 2007, apart from the individual Implementing Partners’ M&E; undertakings, the NPCS in collaboration with the regional PTFs conducted two visits that were followed by meetings at the regional levels that discussed findings from project sites and iron out the way forward for successful programme implementation. A major achievement in 2007 was the designing of new monitoring and evaluation guidelines, within the context of the UNFPA Programme Manual and CPAP. The guidelines highlight a more holistic approach to programming and emphasize the analysis of inputs as against outputs rather than focusing on activities. It is intended that IPs and contractees in the programme would all be introduced to this new tools in the course of 2008 implementation of the programme.
Key findings of the field visits are as follows:
3.4.1. POP/FLE
- Inadequate number of teachers trained on POP/FLE in some middle and senior secondary schools
- Opposition from some Arabic teachers on the teaching of POP/FLE
- Inadequate time allocation for POP/FLE lessons in schools
- Inadequate POP/FLE reference material for the students
- Limited number of qualified teachers teaching the subject
- The statistical figures in the POP/FLE text books are not reflective of the current socio-economic situation of the country
- Stigma attached to the teaching of the subject in some in some communities
- Inadequate knowledge on POP/FLE among members of the Mother clubs
3.4.2. Traditional Communicators
- Inadequate support from partners and collaborators for the activities of the regional TCs
- No means of transportation to facilitate their drama performances within their respective regions
- Grossly underutilized by IPs in their community outreach IEC activities
- Inability to record plays/performances and air them on local media outlets
- Lack of incentives to motivate the Tcs in carrying-out IEC activities within the regions
- No support form the programme since training in Mansa Konko
- Lack of media coverage for them to reach out to a larger audience
3.4.3. Gender projects
- More gender related projects focusing on poverty alleviation and promotion of gender equity and equality needed in the regions
- Gender issues are still frowned at in some pockets of the country
3.4.4. RH youth friendly service centres
- Most activities planned for the centers have not been implemented as a result of which outreach activities could not be carried-out.
- Lack of internet access for those who visit the centers for SRH services
- Parent support committee meetings not frequently held
- Lack of funds to facilitate the movement of peer health educators to schools for their IEC activities
3.4.5. RH outreach stations
- Shortages of antenatal and child welfare cards in public health outlets
- Shortages of equipments (BP machine, etc)
- Inadequate IEC materials for out reach services
- Inadequate data generation systems to reflect the various health issues of the regions
- Lack of proper data management system in the DHTs which hinders data sharing with partners
- Non- sharing of returns from the regions with partners in the programme
- Limited knowledge on the use of contraceptives in the communities
3.4.6. The regional Sub committees on Islam Population and Development
- Limited funds to facilitate the movements of the committee members in reaching out to surrounding communities
- Lack of funds for the committee members to conduct sensitization activities on local media outlets
- Lack of incentives to motivate the committee member in carrying-out their mandates within the regions
4. Lessons Learnt
The main constraining and facilitating factors affecting implementation and the achievement of results in 2007 were
- The appreciation of Dalasi was one of the main causes for the underbudgetting realised, after the approval of Annual Work Plans and also the subsequent shelving of certain activities
- Non-availability of contraceptives has serious implications for commodity supplies.
- Information sharing as a key instrument for ensuring transparency and efficiency in programme implementation was grossly limited between UNFPA and the implementing partners
- Frequent breakdown of the ageing programme vehicles was partly responsible for high over-head cost that affected coordination and the implementation of certain programme activities.
- Prevalence of inadequate human resource for ensuring effective implantation of the programme
- Laxities in coordination at the component level due mainly to limited understanding of the relations between the programme component managers and implementing partners on one hand and programme component managers and coordinating authority on the other.
- Some oppositions faced on population and development issues from some corners amongst members of the orthodoxy
5. Way Forward/Recommendations
- Advocacy efforts should be reinforced towards creating more awareness on population related issues targeting the religious and opinion leaders
- The Programme should motivate programme personnel to maximize output,
- Strengthen institutional capacities to ensure effective implementation, coordination, monitoring and evaluation
- Strengthen the capacities of programme staff to ensure better management and coordination of the Population Programme.
- Ensure regular communication through various platforms established by the components for better coordination and monitoring of the programme.
6. Best Practices
- The successful integration of SH into RH programme
- The establishment of regional structures for effective coordination, monitoring and evaluation of the population programme
- The establishment of various IEC/Advocacy structures to effect positive behavioural and attitudinal changes
- Political commitment at the highest level
- The introduction of POP/FLE in schools