The Non-State Actors (NSA) Programme Management Unit (PMU) and the National Authorising Office Systems Unit have ended a one-week training for grant recipients to manage their projects in compliance with all necessary rules and regulations.
The training, which ended on February 25 at the Paradise Suites Hotel, is aimed at helping NSAs to achieve their set project goals in the interests of their target groups at community level.
The NSA Strengthening Programme is funded to the tune of €2, 469, 900 by the European Union (from the European Development Fund – EDF) and is being implemented in close collaboration with the Government of The Gambia.
The programme aims to strength the capacity of NSAs to play an active role in development processes and in public life in The Gambia.
The European Union has a long standing cooperative relationship with Gambian civil society, as well as with local and decentralized authorities in the field of development.
Within the scope of the NSA Strengthening Programme a call for proposals was launched in July 2010, which has now resulted in the award of grants totaling €815, 048.87 to a total of thirteen NSAs.
The grant recipients will now commence to implement a range of projects throughout the country within two broad thematic area, that is, Governance and Democratisation, and Sustainable Livelihoods and Poverty Reduction.
The training programme’s specific objective was to make sure that the participating NSAs have the financial management and implementation capacity to ensure the success of their projects.
The thirteen NSAs involved should now have a clear understanding of what is expected in the management of EDF-funded projects and the capacity to meet those expectations.
The topics covered included budgeting, procurement, monitoring and reporting, as well as setting out requirements in terms of visibility.
The overall objective of the programme is to enhance the role of NSAs or civil society in contributing to good governance, reducing poverty and the enhancement of sustainable livelihoods in The Gambia.
The PMU has promised, even as participants expressed joy at the programme, that further such training workshop will be held to further expose the NSAs to EDF practices and principles and strengthen their overall management capacity.
In the years ahead, the NSA Strengthening Programme will seek ways to work with and support NSAs throughout the country and their representative umbrella organizations to play a constructive and dynamic role in national development. Source: The Voice
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