By Lamin Kujabi
The State House on Wednesday, January 8th hosted some figure heads of the Gambian Diaspora community to a meeting with government officials. The meeting - the third edition since the being of the Barrow government - is meant to discuss collaborative and complementary efforts between the two parties on acceleration of national development. It is premised on government’s recognition of the invaluable contribution of citizens living abroad to the socio-economic advancement of the country. Professor Gibril Faal is the Director of GK Partners and Migration and Sustainable Development in Gambia (MSDG) programme. Speaking on behalf of the diaspora community, he affirmed that the MSDG programme is part of the National Development Plan (NDP 2018-2021) and that the goal for the Diaspora is to expand, enhance and optimise its role in national development as valued partners. “Two decades of dictatorship has degraded the capacity, spirit and effectiveness of the public sector institutions in The Gambia. Through the MSDG Technical Cooperation programme, we expect GK partners to facilitate the implementation of the Gambia Diaspora Strategy,” he remarked. He informed that there are plans to have Diaspora focal points in all the ministries in the country so that they are better informed of any development going on in the country. He also intimated that they have signed a technical support cooperation with the Office of the President and that the same thing will follow for all the ministries. Part of their strategy, Professor Faal highlighted, are professional capacity development in migration, public sector management and consular services, Diaspora diplomacy, as well as Diaspora engagement action research for evidence-based implementation, websites to enhance diaspora engagement, social media app, online network for Gambia Diaspora- Development Organisations and radio programmes with ministries, departments, agencies, embassies and non-state institutions, and convening the annual national stakeholders’ forum as mandated in the National Development Plan. They also aim to revamp diaspora consular and migrant welfare services, and enhance government and civil society role in the regional and global policy processes, diaspora participation in municipal government deliberations, voting at election and structuring operations for the Gambia diaspora directorate. The meeting was graced by government officials including permanent secretaries, and chaired by the Secretary General and Head of the Civil Service.
About MSDG
MSDG is a diaspora-led Technical Cooperation Programme (TCP) developed and implemented by GK Partners (GKP) in partnership with the Government of The Gambia (GOTG). It is co-financed by GKP and the Swiss Government, with in-kind support from GOTG. The Office of the President sees the project as a contribution to “building operational capacities of Ministries, Departments and Agencies…..a good fit to the public sector reform and modernisation agenda of the coalition government…..the project activities will help establish mechanisms that will provide policy instruments to integrate the Gambian diaspora in the national development process”. The pilot phase of the project (August 2017 to December 2018) was initiated seven months after the inauguration of the new coalition government in The Gambia. It built on the initial ‘Induction and Training Workshop for the Cabinet Ministers’ conducted by GK Partners (GKP) on 11 February 2017 in Gambia, and the subsequent one-to-one briefings with the President, Ministers, senior government officials and development partners. The second phase (MSDG2) runs from January 2019 to December 2022. (Source of background info: http://gambiandiaspora.net/about-us/)
