Period covered by this final report: 27 April 2012 to 31 January 2013.

Appeal target (current): CHF 1,100,051

Appeal coverage: 65% covered in cash and kind

Appeal history:

Listen

More than 80,000 people in The Gambia are benefiting from a government project that reclaims and develops degraded land to use for agriculture.

The project, which is funded by the UN Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), uses very simple technologies.

A number of dykes and spillways that have been built in the area where the project is being implemented to retain water that used to flow away, making the land more productive.

Rome, 20 December 2012 – The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) will provide a US$20.28 million grant to the Republic of The Gambia to help improve livelihoods of smallholder farmers with a particular attention to rural women and youth in the country.

The financing agreement for the National Agriculture Land and Water Management Development Project was signed today by Abdou Kolley, Minister for Finance and Economic Affairs of the Republic of The Gambia, and Kanayo F. Nwanze, President of IFAD.

Highlights

• As of 4th October, the total population affected by floods and windstorms stands at nearly 34,018, of which 7,007 are children under five years. Almost 20% of the affected households were displaced (7,745 people) while 13 people were reported dead.

• Food assistance, shelter and support to WASH continue to be among the immediate needs of the affected population.

Highlights

1. As of 09 September, nearly 23,000 people were affected by floods and windstorms. Almost 20% of the affected population were displaced (3,857 people) while 10 people were reported to have died. Moreover, the number of people affected is likely to increase, particularly in Banjul and Kanifing municipalities, due to heavy rains in the last week of September.

2. The key needs include: scaling up of WASH and C4D activities, strengthening health sector disease surveillance system, and providing assistance with food and non-food items.

BANJUL – The UN World Food Programme (WFP) received a donation of 5,000 metric tons of rice from the Government of Brazil towards its emergency operations in the Gambia.

This donation will provide vital food and nutritional assistance to over 200,000 people, including children under the age of five, who are at risk of food insecurity and malnutrition as a result of the 2011 crop failure. The European Commission’s Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection Department (ECHO) has covered the shipment of the donation and associated costs.

Highlights

1. The community screening of children has led to the identification and admission of 960 children to the management of SAM program. UNICEF is providing RUTF to the outpatient therapeutic program sites.

Gambia is in the grip of a food crisis and so our Activista network there has leapt into action to support people living in the worst hit areas.

Our guest blogger and Activista, Awa, travelled to a rural area where the soil is too dry to grow food. She found that women, who do most of the farming, are finding new ways to produce food, earn money and improve their children’s lives.

Highlights:

• Humanitarian response to recent crop failure emergency has commenced in April 2012 and is targeting at least 206,000 people in 19 most affected districts through provision of food, seeds, horticulture inputs, fertilizer, livestock vaccination, drugs and feed as well as nutrition, health and sanitation support.