By Ndey Sowe
Seedy Lamin Bah, the Governor of Lower River Region (LRR), has hailed and welcomed the Nafa Program in his region. Governor Bah said the initiative will help alleviate poverty and enhance people’s livelihood in his region.
“We are more than grateful and we will thank them and pray that their collaboration with the Gambia Government and World Bank will be strengthened,” Governor told this reporter in an interview during the ongoing cash transfer in the remaining seventeen districts of the country.
Governor Bah shared his elation for having the project in LRR and said “the impact is going down to the locals themselves which will assist them help their families as well.
“It is very impressive and the World Bank and Gambia Government are doing this in order to alleviate poverty and help vulnerable societies to improve their standard of life. We are highly impressed and we welcome this development,” Governor Bah said.
However, Governor Bah advised the beneficiaries to try their best and put the money into good use to ensure sustainability, and urge them to think about their future and invest part of the money to generate income. He was also quick to thank the World Bank and Gambia Government for their support.
Ousman Dem, Programme Manager for the Social and Behavioural Change Communication (SBCC) at NaNA, said the beneficiaries of the Nafa program is 15,606 nationally and they are found in the poorest districts of The Gambia.
“Today as a team, we are here in the North Bank Region (CRR North) in Lower Saloum at Kerr Maila (which is a payment point) were we have three communities that are going to be paid here and we will be paying 38 of them in Kerr Maila out of one hundred and seven (107) and in CRR North the total beneficiaries are one thousand six hundred and twenty-one (1,621),” he said. Dem added that they also look at communities that are closer to each other and cluster them so that they do not travel beyond five kilometers.
“We have encouraged beneficiaries to identify women as principal recipients who might be having children, pregnant,” Dem added.
