Highlight

The Gambia Gender and Women’s Empowerment Policy 2010-2020 has been subjected to review in 2017, and the review indicated the need for a policy shift from a women empowerment dimension to a fully fledge gender-oriented policy outlook. The rational for this policy shift was that, the Gender and Women Empowerment Policy 2010-2020 implementation has drawn to its end and this period was also overtaken by national issues that witness the emergence of a new democratic dispensation as well as emerging gender issues.

 

The Challenge

The Gambia women continue to be economically marginalized as they are over-represented in the informal sector, are involved in unpaid care work and under-represented in economic decision-making positions and have limited or no access to productive resources such as land, credit, technology and information. They are also, subjected to sexual and gender-based violence, harmful traditional practices such as female genital mutilation/excision (FGM), forced and early marriages that mostly go unreported; occupy only 10.3 percent of the parliamentary seats, are not represented among chiefs, constitute only 5.9% of elected councilors, and 21% of cabinet Ministers; and have lower literacy levels.

 

 

The Approach

The main objective of the assignment is to elaborate gender policy 2021-2030 and a 5-year strategy 2021-2025 outlining the strategic directions of the new Directorate of Gender and Women Empowerment. The new policy will consolidate gains made during the implementation of the National Development Plan 2018-2021. The policy will focus on alignment of strategic priorities of the Ministry of Women, Children and Social Welfare Strategy and Investment Plan 2021-2025. Such alignment calls for appropriate measures to ensure the full realization of equitable sustainable development that leaves no one behind through national policies and programme interventions.

 

The Results

(Ongoing)