Page 55 - UN Gambia 2020 CCA stakeholder consultations report

Beside the installation of electricity in the communities the unstable supply of both electricity and water remains a major

problem in all the communities. The lack of maintenance on the roads results in early dilapidation of the roads.

GOVERNANCE AND SOCIAL COHESION

• The participants cited numerous factors hindering active and meaningful participation of people in national development all centring
around; lack of civic education, lack of commitment to national development initiative and political divisions within the communities.

National development is seen to be the responsibility of Government officials within the community.
• Women have always been at the front when it comes to national participation. Participants highlighted remarkable improvement in the

status of women particularly in political decision-making. Women are now taking leadership roles, almost all the political parties have
women as executive members. They however, noted that women are still faced with harmful cultural stereotypes and men dominance.

• The main potential disruptors of peace in our society is political differences. The few conflicts that have erupted in some communities are

as a result of political intolerance. Socio-economic related issues in the community where also highlighted as potential disruptors of peace,
to explain further they say, “the uneven distribution of national resources, only few connected groups within the community benefitting
from national development programs can be a threat to peace”.

• The Gambia is known to have the best social connectivity, people get together on all life’s events to support both financially and more

importantly emotionally. In helping Government mitigate the spread of the COVID-19 disease, community members have adapted a new
lifestyle which is anti-social. The number of people permitted to attend social events like naming ceremonies, wedding and funerals are

strictly by invitation. “There was no need for an invitation to a funeral but now you wait to be called”. This “new normal” trying to live
with the virus is destroying our social cohesion. Alternatively, it has increase charitable activities, community members focused on helping

the marginalised and vulnerable to enable them to overcome the effects of the pandemic in their daily lives. This led to the creation of a
different set of marginalised and vulnerable group in the community, the low-income and middle-income earners were neglected forgetting

that some of their businesses would be affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

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