Gambia

<p>This project aims to contribute to the economic development of The Gambia by improving the employability of youth population of the country, especially potential and returning migrants. The project takes a market-led approach to create employment opportunities and will simultaneously upskill the workforce according to the demand of the market place. This project directly supports the development of the local economy by enhancing employability and self-employment opportunities for youth, with a focus on vocational training and the creation of micro and small-sized enterprises, and creating and improving employment opportunities for youth in selected sectors through value addition and internationalization.&nbsp;</p>

<p style="text-align: justify;">The project aims to mitigate growing conflict and tensions occurring among rural Gambian agricultural communities, which are affected by increasing impacts of climate change. This<span lang="EN-US">&nbsp;includes changes in precipitation patterns, declining agricultural yields, shorter growing seasons or rising sea-levels.&nbsp;</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US">The project provides solutions for climate conflict through reducing the impact of its drivers by rehabilitating and protecting arable land, diversifying away from conflict drivers, developing income sources not reliant on rain-fed agriculture and solving existing conflicts through the strengthening of conflict resolution mechanisms.</span><span lang="EN-US">&nbsp;</span>The<span lang="EN-US">&nbsp;project will be implemented by ITC, UNFPA and WFP in partnership with local implementing partners.</span></p><p style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="EN-US">ITC&apos;s interventions include the strengthening of local conflict resolution mechanism, the introduction of production techniques to improve the yields, developing new market solutions for agro-processing products and facilitating participation in trade fairs for communities. ITC will roll out vocational trainings to upgrade the skills of women and youth to adopt new sources of income generating activities.</span></p>

<p>Following the recent political changes in The Gambia with the transition to the new democratic coalition government, which coincided with significant levels of returning migrants, it is crucial for stability and peace of the country to have appropriate measures to positively and sustainably reintegrate young Gambian migrants who have, in their majority suffered abuse and face stigma back home. &nbsp;ITC&apos;s interventions will include developing a multi-stakeholder communications platform, led by the Government of The Gambia, to coordinate messages related to irregular migration. This includes the provision of timely, accurate and updated information and support services to returnees and vulnerable youth and the effective and constructive engagement of public and private actors involved in sensitization work. ITC will complement ongoing support measures (including provision of vocational training and business start-up support) available through ongoing programs of IOM and ITC (YEP) as well as community based reintegration activities for returnees and host communities, specifically by building the bridges for returnees to connect with existing economic support measures while also promoting the re-building and strengthening of socio-economic networks amongst returnees, youth and communities.<span>&nbsp;Finally, ITC will continue to provide capacity building to existing Youth Centers/institutions to develop and upscale the quality and range of services, including reintegration support, in two selected regions of The Gambia that are particularly migration-prone, envisaged to be Greater Banjul and West Coast Region.<span>&nbsp;</span></span></p>

<p><span>The overall objective of the regional programme is to &lsquo;&rsquo;Strengthen the competitiveness of West Africa through an enhanced level of production, transformation and export capacities of the private sectors in line with the regional and national industrial and SME strategies&rsquo;&rsquo;. The specific objective is &lsquo;&rsquo;to improve the performance and growth of selected priority sectors and value chains and related services by stimulating their contribution to industry, regional trade and exports&rsquo;&rsquo;. The intervention of ITC in the form of the West Africa Competitiveness Programme (WACOMP) will entail the implementation of the activities related to&nbsp;</span><span>the promotion of better regional linkages among selected value chain, support to</span>&nbsp;<span>key regional intermediary organizations, the reinforcement of industrial competitiveness in the region, and the establishment of the West African Competitiveness Observatory and related business tools.</span></p>

<p>The objective of the SheTrades Gambia project is to enable Gambian women to benefit from economic participation focusing on agricultural and textiles and clothing value chains.&nbsp;</p><p>Impact: Inclusive economic growth in The Gambia through the increased participation of women entrepreneurs in trade</p><p>Outcome: Women entrepreneurs increase their participation in trade by improving their competitiveness and strengthening their market linkages enabled by a supportive business environment</p><p>Outputs:</p><p>1. A public-private platform to support women&rsquo;s economic empowerment in The Gambia established.</p><p>2. Improved business support ecosystem for women entrepreneurs, including improved performance of trade and investment support organisations and sector associations</p><p>3. Strengthened technical and production capacity of women in the horticulture and textile and clothing value chains&nbsp;</p><p>4. Improved business and market linkages developed for women entrepreneurs in the horticulture and textile and clothing value chains</p>

<p>The &ldquo;Jobs, Skills and Finance (JSF) for Women and Youth in The Gambia&rdquo; Programme funded by the 11th European Development Fund is implemented by the United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) in collaboration with the International Trade Center (ITC). The project has an overarching focus on promoting a green economy such as renewable energy, sustainable construction and eco-tourism. ITC&rsquo;s support focuses on improving the relevance, effectiveness, and accessibility of vocational and technical training as well as other market-led skills training to improve employability and job creation. It focuses on improving strategic direction and coordination at national and regional level for a market-oriented TVET system, strengthening the capacity of training providers and effectiveness of their services, and supporting the roll-out of training opportunities through (in) formal skills training and apprenticeship programmes.&nbsp;</p><p><em><strong>SDGs</strong></em></p><p><em><strong>1, 2, 4, 5, 8, 9, 10, 12, 16,17</strong></em></p>