By Olimatou Coker
The Nafa Programme under the Gambia Resilience, Inclusion, Skills and Equity (RISE) project over the weekend enrolled 15,000 new beneficiary households across several communities in rural Gambia. The social safety net initiative provides cash transfers to extremely poor households in the provinces and is implemented by The National Nutrition Agency (NaNA), Department of Community Development (DCD) and Directorate of Social Welfare (DSW) with funding from World Bank and Gambia government.
The new beneficiaries were enrolled in North Bank and Central River Region North. Awa Dumbaya, a beneficiary in Kuntair, expressed her delight at joining the programme, saying it will significantly help in sustaining her family. “We are very grateful to be part of this initiative. It will help us plan better for our families and with it our children will be able to eat nutritious food,” she said.
Lamin Jaiteh, a community development officer in North Bank Region, explained that the Nafa programme is principally designed to help the most vulnerable households in rural communities as part of governments efforts and its partners to address the basic needs of the people. He noted that this is the first enrollment in North Bank and the beneficiaries will now receive monthly cash and other benefits associated with the programme.
Njaba Kunda VDC chairman Ebrima Jaiteh, expressed his appreciation for the initiative and urged his fellow beneficiaries to make best use of it.
Alhagie Gaye, Assistant Community Development Officer CRR North also welcomed the initiative and thanked the government and World Bank for funding the programme.
