According to the Bank’s website, the project aims to promote the economic and social inclusion of the most vulnerable sections of the population, by building their capacities and productivity to enable them to take advantage of the economic opportunities offered by agricultural value chains, and to play a full part in the country's economic transformation. The project is needed to reduce the level of vulnerability of the Gambian population, which has been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. The project will adopt a comprehensive approach to address the multidimensional aspects of vulnerability and poverty. It will also help to reduce gender inequalities, by providing better economic and social opportunities for girls and women, and by reducing the social expectations of young men as providers of household resources. In addition, the project will contribute to strengthening the country's resilience by addressing some of the main factors of fragility. The project has three (3) components, namely: (i) support for young people and women's empowerment for equitable access to jobs and livelihoods, (ii) support for improved and inclusive access to basic social services and (iii) project management.

The project development objective is to promote livelihoods and access to basic social services (health, nutrition, social protection, and education services) for people in rural areas, especially out-of-school youth and women. Overall, the project will: (i) Create jobs and improve the quality of jobs and livelihood for vulnerable women and out-of-school youth in rural areas; and (ii) Improve the use and access to better and inclusive basic social services.

Aminata BAKOUAN Epse TRAORE

a.bakouan-traore@afdb.org

ACCESS TO INFORMATION

You can submit an information request for project information at: https://www.afdb.org/en/disclosure-and-access-to-information/request-for-documents. Under the AfDBÕs Disclosure and Access to Information policy, if you feel the Bank has omitted to publish information or your request for information is unreasonably denied, you can file an appeal at https://www.afdb.org/en/disclosure-and-access-to-information/appeals-process.

ACCOUNTABILITY MECHANISM OF AfDB

The Independent Review Mechanism (IRM), which is administered by the Compliance Review and Mediation Unit (CRMU), is the independent complaint mechanism and fact-finding body for people who have been or are likely to be adversely affected by an African Development Bank (AfDB)-financed project. If you submit a complaint to the IRM, it may assist you by either seeking to address your problems by facilitating a dispute resolution dialogue between you and those implementing the project and/or investigating whether the AfDB complied with its policies to prevent environmental and social harms. You can submit a complaint electronically by emailing crmuinfo@afdb.org, b.kargougou@afdb.org, b.fall@afdb.org, and/or s.toure@afdb.org. You can learn more about the IRM and how to file a complaint at: https://www.afdb.org/en/independent-review-mechanism/