Community Skills Improvement Project (Wid II)

The proposed Community Skills Improvement Project is a key element in the African Development Bank’s strategy for poverty alleviation in The Gambia, and is consistent with the development objectives of the Government. It aims to reduce Poverty in The Gambia and is expected to directly benefit over 40,000 women and out-of-school youths in 250 communities in the country. As a result of the project, 21 multi purpose centres should be constructed in remote rural communities for the delivery of literacy and income generating skills training. About UA 0.6 million should be disbursed in micro finance funds to over 500 groups of learners. The rural banking sector should be strengthened through the training of 55 extension workers in micro finance monitoring. And all these inputs should contribute to the national sectoral goal of reducing poverty by about 25% in The Gambia by 2005. The components of the project are as follows: (i) Institutional Strengthening and Capacity Building; (ii) Functional Literacy and Income Generating Skills Training; (iii) The Skills Fund supports the delivery of financial services to the learners and (iv) Project Management.