By Arret Jatta
The Ministry of Higher Education, Research, Science and Technology (MoHERST) yesterday announced that The Gambia has secured key lessons and partnerships to reform its education, research and innovation sectors following an eleven-day strategic study tour to South Africa.
The Ministry said the tour was conducted under the World Bank-funded Resilience, Inclusion, Skills and Equity (RISE) Project, from January 24 to February 4. The nine-member delegation was led by the Minister of Higher Education, Prof Pierre Gomez.
MoHERST described the mission as a landmark engagement that produced “transformative insights, concrete partnership commitments, and an actionable implementation roadmap” for national development.
During the visit, the delegation held high-level meetings with South Africa’s Department of Higher Education and Training, the National Research Foundation, the Department of Science, Technology and Innovation, the Technology Innovation Agency, and several quality assurance and vocational training bodies.
“These engagements were not ceremonial, they were strategically designed to extract operational, governance, and financing lessons from one of Africa’s most advanced education and innovation systems,” MoHERST stated.
Speaking during the tour, Prof Gomez said the mission was guided by African solidarity rather than imitation. “We did not come to copy. We came to learn, to adapt, and to rise, together,” he said.
MoHERST said the study tour delivered outcomes across five main areas, including Technical And Vocational Education And Training (TVET) governance, sustainable financing, research governance, innovation commercialisation, and human capital development with a strong focus on gender equity.
On research and innovation, the Ministry said discussions with the National Research Foundation and the Department of Science, Technology and Innovation came at a critical time, as The Gambia prepares to operationalise its National Research and Innovation Fund.
“The timing could not be better,” the press release noted, adding that the engagements provided guidance on accountability frameworks, postgraduate training pipelines, and national innovation policy”.
The Ministry also paid special tribute to The Gambia’s High Commissioner to South Africa, Ambassador Fatoumatta Jahumpa Ceesay, and her team for what it called “exceptional diplomatic and logistical support.”
Prof Gomez personally thanked the High Commissioner, saying her office played “a critical role in elevating this mission from a routine tour to a landmark strategic engagement.”
Looking ahead, MoHERST said it will move swiftly to turn lessons into action adding that within the next two months, the ministry plans to establish performance frameworks for the research fund, seek membership in the Science Granting Council Initiative, and submit key policy proposals to Cabinet. “These are not aspirational targets. They are commitments,” the ministry stressed.
