By Fatou B. Cham
The Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Food Security (MoALFS) last week held a four-day training workshop on the development of Key Performance Indicators in the Agricultural sector for stakeholders in the OIC member countries.
The Agriculture Ministry submitted a proposal under the 10th call for the project proposals of the COMCE Project Funding Mechanism. The project was selected as one of the successful projects to be financed in 2024.
One of the activities identified under this project is capacity building programme, aimed to build human and institutional capacity in developing Key Performance Indicators (KPI) to measure performance against set targets. The training is also in line with the COMCEC Strategy Objective of “Reliable and Up-To-Date Data” which aims to promote reliable and up-to-date data collection with a view to ensuring sound analysis of the sector.
Speaking at the opening ceremony, Minister of Agriculture, Livestock and Food Security, Dr. Demba Sabally, reminded the gathering that last year around the same time, a similar training on data collection analysis and reporting was held at Tamala Beach Hotel supported by the same organisation, COMCEC.
Dr. Sabally observed that the training of agriculture and natural resource sector officials; M&E officers to be specific, will improve performance management in the agriculture and natural resource sectors of OIC countries. The training, he noted would involve experience-sharing among peer institutions.
He affirmed that the training would equip agriculture and natural resource sector officials of the OIC with the requisite skills and core competencies to develop and analyze KPIs for improved agricultural and natural resource policymaking and planning.
“I thank the Ministry of Agriculture of Turkiye for making it to this training in the spirit of solidarity and multilateral cooperation as envisaged in the COMCEC Strategy,” he concluded.
Also speaking at the opening ceremony was H.E F. Turker OBA, Turkish Ambassador to The Gambia. Highlighting the importance of agriculture in The Gambia, the ambassador made reference to the statistics that over 65% of Gambians depend on farming for their livelihood. “As stated during the State of the Nation Address, agriculture contributes 24% to the GDP of this country”.
This training according to the Turkish Ambassador would contribute to the endeavors of The Gambia aiming at enhancing capacities in the areas of performance measurement, compilation and data processing.
It will also provide a valuable opportunity for sharing experiences among project partners.
He also shared a brief account of information about the cooperation efforts under the COMCEC, in particular COMCEC Project Funding. COMCEC continues its efforts considering the COMCEC Strategy.
