Hamidou Barry is eagerly looking forward to the launch of a Cash for Work project in his ward composed of 50 villages in central Gambia. The project aims to boost local incomes with skills development and construction jobs on new climate-resilient market gardens for commercial production of bananas.

The 22-year-old sees there will be benefits for his community, which has been hit hard by climate change, and benefits for him too – providing some welcome funds for him to complete his education in electrical engineering.

Kudang Ward, where Mr Barry lives, lies in Central River Region South; an area beset by an array of climate change related impacts, including soil erosion, reduced access to water and periodic drought. The three-month project will mainstream climate adaptation awareness and set a series of irrigated vegetable and fruit gardens, principally bananas, watered through a solar-powered supply. The work will be done by Hamidou and 49 other community members (25 men and 25 women) and in return they will receive a competitive daily wage of US$5 a day for unskilled labour, and US$9 a day for skilled work. Once up and running, villagers plan to sell their fruits and vegetable produce for a profit.

“I am looking forward to being part of this process which will ultimately help me save money for school,” said Mr Barry. “It will also allow me to create a sustainable source of income because once the bananas grow properly, we as a community intend to sell them and export them to other regions.”

The new project is being rolled out as part of the Jobs, Skills and Finance for Women and Youth in The Gambia Programme, funded by the European Union and implemented with technical support from UN Capital Development Fund. The JSF Programme aims to augment inclusive sustainable growth and green job creation with a focus on women and young people; it is also implementing Phase II of the Local Climate Adaptive Living Facility, or LoCAL. By merging locally led adaptation actions to the impact of climate change with broader social needs that include job creation, skills development and financial inclusivity, the JSF Programme to a whole of society approach to tackling the climate crisis.
LoCAL is a mechanism for channelling finance to local governments for locally led adaptation to climate change. Funds are delivered as Performance Based Climate Resilience Grants, that are accompanied by oversight and monitoring. The better local governments perform, the more they receive in future grants creating a virtuous learning cycle that builds capacity of sub-national government systems.

The model is designed to be self-sustaining, with continuous investment once the programme phases out in 2023 when it will be incorporated into LoCAL+ - a Gambian government initiative currently in development. LoCAL+ plans include scale-up of resilience-building activities using the LoCAL approach, plus investments such as financing for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises and skills development.

In The Gambian, LoCAL is implemented in four Local Councils through a Cash for Work approach and by engaging with local small and medium sized enterprises, creating direct and indirect job opportunities in support of a green and climate resilient local economy. LoCAL’s performance-based methodology ensures resources reach the local level while providing incentives for local governments to adopt and implement climate-adaptive notions into daily livelihoods. The decentralized system is distributed across:

• Local Area Councils, responsible for regional development,
• Ward Development Committees (WDCs), responsible for identifying needs, planning and implementing local development funds, and
• Multi-Disciplinary Facilitation Teams, which promote a collective approach to community development.

The collective system involves and prioritizes community-based decision making, which ultimately allows effective and inclusive participation of the all the local population, including vulnerable groups.

“The use of local councils and WDCs brings the government closer to the people and reduces the centralization of power in the central government,” states Sheriffo Secka, 27, a Community Development Assistant residing in Kudang. “In this context, it allows planning, budgeting in consolidation with the community’s local needs and to increase sustainable development without harming the environment.”

This month, Cash for Work operations are expanding from 20 to 32 wards across The Gambia. The 12 new green projects, located in two regions - Central River Region North and Central River Region South – plan to focus on high-value vegetable and fruit gardens, culverts (small bridges) and improved climate-resilient water supplies.
The decision to invest in a banana plantation and irrigated gardening system with a focus on banana-growing came about after consultations with community members, explained Mr Secka.

“The process involves a participatory approach where all ward representatives represent villages,” said Mr Secka. “Needs identified are ranked and the problem with the highest score in the rank is finally selected,” he said, clarifying that each village selects one male and one female representative to put their community’s case to the WDC, which is chaired by an elected ward councilor.
Following this process in Kundang Ward, said Mr Secka: “an integrated garden with banana has been selected.”

Decision-making also factors in the findings of a Climate Risk Vulnerability Assessment, done to identify hazards and vulnerability within communities. It included:
• Prioritizing of actions that contribute to climate resilience-building
• Budgeting and costing review
• Oversight and technical input by UNCDF
• Checks that allocations are proportionate to population size

This cycle of Cash for Work projects is due to complete in October, when performance assessments will be carried out with engagement from local councils and WDCs. Findings will feed into any future cycle of projects to ensure continuous learning and improvement and inform scale up of LoCAL nationwide as part of the government-led LoCAL+.

For detailed information about LoCAL in the Gambia, please read our latest annual report

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