## The Gambia: Joint Staff Advisory Note of the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper—Annual Progress Report

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---

### I. Overview
- JSAN reviews the first Annual Progress Report (APR) of The Gambia’s PRSP (PRSP finalized April 2002; presented to the Boards of the World Bank and the IMF in July 2002).
- PRSP organized around five components:
  - (i) macroeconomic stability and effective public resource management;
  - (ii) promotion of pro-poor growth and employment through private sector development, particularly in the rural agricultural sector;
  - (iii) improved basic social services and infrastructure;
  - (iv) capacity building of local communities and civil society organizations (CSOs);
  - (v) strengthened multisectoral programs to reduce population growth, gender inequality, HIV/AIDS, malnutrition, and environmental degradation.
- PRSP included: multidimensional poverty analysis; monitoring and evaluation framework outline; preliminary key performance indicators and targets; cost estimates of implementation; indicative financing gap.
- APR finalized December 2004; analyzes implementation from July 2002 to December 2003. Delay due to lack of capacity and resources, frequent personnel turnover, and need to address immediate macroeconomic difficulties.
- APR prepared through participatory consultations with public and private sectors and CSOs; cabinet and Inter-Departmental Steering Committee provided guidance and endorsed the report.
- Recommended next steps: wide public dissemination of APR, including regional workshops, and submission to the national assembly.
- APR findings on implementation:
  - Progress uneven; slow implementation mainly reflected low capacity, lack of commitment, and poor prioritization in 2002-03.
  - Most progress in increasing access to basic social services.
  - Most macroeconomic targets for 2002 and 2003 were not achieved.
  - Preliminary data indicate poverty-reducing expenditures fell.
  - Private sector participation and employment creation in agricultural sector did not increase significantly.
  - Poverty Reduction Fund was not implemented.
  - Poverty likely increased during first 1.5 years of PRSP implementation due to poor economic performance and severe crop failures in the groundnut sector.
  - MDG target for percentage living on less than US$1 per day is 27 percent by 2015; historical ratios rose from 54 percent in 1992 to 59 percent in 1998.
  - Changes in poverty rate to be confirmed by 2003 household survey results.
- Staff recommendations to accelerate PRSP implementation:
  - (i) maintain sound macroeconomic policies to consolidate gains in lowering inflation, stabilizing the exchange rate, and rebuilding international reserves;
  - (ii) increase the share of poverty-reducing expenditures, including on basic social services;
  - (iii) strengthen public financial management and overall governance of public resources;
  - (iv) promote private sector participation, particularly to make the agricultural sector more diversified and market-oriented;
  - (v) build capacity of local governments, communities, and CSOs to create sustainable and accountable local development based on improved service delivery to the poor.
- Monitoring and evaluation improvements urged: timely preparation of APRs; improved reliability of data; greater refinement of indicators and targets; more candid analysis of policy failures.
- Many recommendations require donor support; staff believes donor support likely if authorities strengthen macroeconomic environment and PRSP implementation.

### II. PRSP Policies and Programs — Macroeconomic Policies and Public Resource Management
- Key priority: maintaining fiscal and monetary discipline.
- GDP performance:
  - GDP declined by 3.2 percent in 2002 compared with PRSP target of 6 percent growth.
  - Recovery began in 2003 with GDP expansion of 7 percent.
  - Continued in 2004 with growth rate of 8 percent.
- Fiscal and monetary developments:
  - Fiscal deficits larger than planned in early period; lax monetary conditions contributed to higher-than-targeted inflation.
  - Dalasi depreciated substantially; foreign exchange reserves did not accumulate as projected.
  - Economic performance improved since 2003 due to agricultural recovery and tighter fiscal and monetary policies.
  - In 2004, basic fiscal primary surplus more than doubled to about 8 percent of GDP.
  - Rate of broad money growth reduced by half compared with a year earlier.
  - End-period inflation reduced from 18 percent in January to 8 percent by end-2004.
  - International reserves rebounded to US$ 85 million in 2004 compared with US$60 million in 2003.
- Governance concerns and actions:
  - Off-budget expenditures around 7 percent of GDP in 2001 signaled serious governance breakdown.
  - Recommended actions:
    - Thoroughly identify governance problems that led to fiscal data misreporting and implement concrete measures to prevent recurrence.
    - Update public accounts in short-term to address backlog undermining expenditure control and oversight.
    - More fully integrate PRSP policies into budget process through greater prioritization and refined costing of sectoral programs.
    - Introduce Medium-Term Expenditure Framework over medium-term, including: fully integrating recurrent and development budgets; improving revenue forecasting; introducing programmatic budget classification system.
    - Accelerate implementation of Integrated Financial Management Information System to strengthen public expenditure management and prevent delays in preparing accounts.
- Poverty-reducing expenditures:
  - FY04 multidonor Public Expenditure Review indicated actual poverty-reducing expenditures as share of domestic expenditures declined from 21.5 percent in 2002 to 14.9 percent in 2003.
  - Share of budget allocations to poverty-reducing expenditures increased in 2004; crucial to verify that increased allocations resulted in increased actual spending using up-to-date budget outturn data.
  - Next APR should analyze whether increased allocations in 2004 resulted in increased actual outlays.

### II. PRSP Policies and Programs — Pro-Poor Growth and Employment
- Rural development:
  - Staff encourages full development and implementation of a rural development strategy; PRSP and APR provide limited information on government’s vision.
  - Reducing rural poverty requires comprehensive approach: high growth rates; employment creation; health, education, and improved physical infrastructure.
  - Crop failures of 2002 and frequent changes in top management of Department of State for Agriculture hampered articulation of rural sector policy.
  - Authorities should focus on reducing agricultural vulnerability to inadequate rainfall, including strengthening irrigation system.
  - Prospects of diversifying into horticulture and agro processing should be covered in next APR.
  - Objective: diversify sector away from subsistence activities and make it market-oriented.
  - PRSP focus on agricultural research and extension services should be matched by adequate resources and proper monitoring of impact.
- Private sector development:
  - Develop action plan with milestones for comprehensive divestiture policies given slow pace of privatization.
  - Groundnut sector reforms needed, including privatization of groundnut-processing facilities.
  - Improve monitoring of private sector activities, including via planned economic census.
  - Caution: subsidized provision of agricultural inputs can undermine private sector participation.
  - Business climate improvements recommended: reform judicial system; strengthen administration of land transactions; streamline legislation and administrative procedures for businesses; strengthen trade and investment-promotion agencies.
  - Next APR should address developments in tourism, reexport and transit trade, and light manufacturing.
  - Trade policy to be given higher priority medium-term.
  - The Gambia selected under Integrated Framework (IF) for Trade-Related Technical Assistance to Least Developed Countries (includes Fund and World Bank participation).
  - Opportunities from regional integration and entrepot trade should be further explored.

### II. PRSP Policies and Programs — Basic Social Services and Infrastructure
- Education:
  - Progress in expanding access to basic education, particularly for girls, through sustained classroom construction program.
  - Initiatives: girls’ scholarship program and Girl-Friendly School Initiative.
  - High failure rates in standardized tests indicate quality of education still poor.
  - Recommended actions: strengthen training, supervision, and support of teachers; increase supply of classroom materials; increase incentive packages to recruit and retain qualified teachers in rural areas (including through Education For All initiative); expand nonformal education and vocational and technical training.
  - MDGs for net primary enrolment ratio and girls to boys ratio in primary education broadly on track; girls to boys ratio in secondary education needs to be increased.
- Health:
  - Inadequate staffing, including absenteeism, impedes service delivery; staffing problems partly due to low salaries and emigration.
  - Access to health services increased with expansion of health facilities; staffing in rural areas needs increase to reduce geographical disparity.
  - Recommended strategic options:
    - (i) increase auxiliary midwives and assistant nurses;
    - (ii) improve incentive packages for rural jobs;
    - (iii) use innovative staff-management methods including performance-based contracting and part-time work.
  - Key actions: further decentralize resources and responsibilities to regional units (particularly Divisional Health Teams); develop and expand community-based services; improve drug-supply management via more open and competitive procurement; reallocate funds from hospitals to primary health care.
  - Basic MDG health indicators on track except under-five child mortality ratio.
  - Develop and implement integrated policy to improve social welfare and protect vulnerable groups.
- Infrastructure:
  - Expansion of roads, telecommunication, and electricity and water services should better target the poor.
  - Current road expansion targets urban areas and highways; greater emphasis on feeder roads would better target rural poor.
  - Telecommunication expansion should ensure rural areas benefit.
  - Government should develop strategy to ensure National Water and Electricity Corporation can increase investments in generating capacity, distribution network, and maintenance.

### II. PRSP Policies and Programs — Local Governments, Communities, and CSOs
- Decentralization:
  - Legal arrangements for decentralization in place with new laws calling for extensive fiscal decentralization.
  - Little tangible progress in implementing new laws.
  - Recommendation: develop a country-owned implementation plan and sensitization program to build expectations and create momentum.
- Poverty Reduction Fund (PRF):
  - PRF is main mechanism in PRSP for supporting local communities and CSOs; plan to make PRF operational should be developed and implemented.
  - World Bank preparing a project combining community driven development and health aligned with PRF principles.
- CSO engagement and monitoring:
  - Next APR should provide more comprehensive analysis of activities and impact of CSOs.
  - Implement PRSP objective to establish a poverty reduction dialogue forum.

### II. PRSP Policies and Programs — Population, Nutrition, HIV/AIDS, Gender, and Environment
- Next APR should provide more comprehensive assessment of population, gender, and environment policies.
- Initiatives to reduce HIV/AIDS incidence and improve nutrition are being implemented.
- Political commitment to fight HIV/AIDS reasonably strong, but policy interventions should better target core transmitters because infection rate has been gradually increasing.

### Education outreach and environmental assessment
- An education outreach program will be critical for changing traditional views that limit opportunities for women and their access to resources.
- The Gambia is one of the most densely populated countries in sub-Saharan Africa.
- Future APRs should include a proper assessment of implementation of the government’s National Population Policy.
- Future reports should assess how the country has addressed environmental pressures such as coastal erosion, salinization of tidal lands, and deforestation.

### Monitoring and evaluation
- Proper monitoring and evaluation of the PRSP process require greater resource allocation.
- Strategy for Poverty-Alleviation Coordinating Office remains understaffed despite integration into the Department of State for Finance and Economic Affairs.
- Inter-Departmental Steering Committee should be more active in supervising implementation activities.
- The four PRSP thematic groups should be reinvigorated; to date, only two have been active.
- Greater political leadership is key to accelerating PRSP implementation; without it there is risk of continued weak implementation and monitoring.
- Improving the timely availability of reliable data is critical:
  - Timely monitoring of inputs has been difficult because of significant delays in producing the public accounts.
  - APR should be produced in a more timely manner.
  - List of PRSP targets and indicators should be further refined, prioritized, and explicitly linked to MDG targets.
  - Incorporate targets into a summary policy matrix containing key actions and milestones to facilitate monitoring and analysis.
  - Make proposed Poverty Monitoring System operational.
  - Strengthen impact analysis by incorporating results of latest participatory poverty analyses, service delivery surveys, and pilot citizen report cards.
- Central Statistics Department constraints and priorities:
  - Limited capacity to produce timely and credible basic statistics.
  - Critical to accelerate donor-supported reform agenda, including implementing the draft institutional restructuring strategy, processing and analyzing the national census and the household survey, and conducting an economic census.
  - Authorities should consider collecting employment data regularly, given employment creation is a key PRSP objective.

### Conclusion and policy priorities
- Greater political leadership will be critical in accelerating implementation of the PRSP.
- Sustaining focus on the strategy in the public sector is challenged by low capacity, frequent turnover of personnel, and tendency to view the strategy as one of many competing agendas.
- Political leadership should institutionalize the strategy as a comprehensive approach to overall public policymaking, including through continued dissemination and education programs.
- The Gambia’s reliance on external financing makes active dialogue with development partners essential.
- Upcoming roundtable meeting of donors should focus on the PRSP.
- Consider annual multistakeholder meetings about the APR; for annual meetings, APRs must be more timely and candid, and data improved.
- Proper assessment requires that parts of the strategy (civil service reform, divestiture, and decentralization) be more fully developed and costed.

*Prepared by the Staffs of the International Monetary Fund and the International Development Association; April 22, 2005.*

### Section 1

### The Gambia: Joint Staff Advisory Note of the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper—Annual Progress Report

### I. Overview
- JSAN reviews the first Annual Progress Report (APR) of The Gambia’s PRSP. PRSP finalized in April 2002 and presented to the Boards of the World Bank and the IMF in July 2002.
- PRSP organized around five components: (i) macroeconomic stability and effective public resource management; (ii) promotion of pro-poor growth and employment through private sector development, particularly in the rural agricultural sector; (iii) improved basic social services and infrastructure; (iv) capacity building of local communities and civil society organizations (CSOs); and (v) strengthened multisectoral programs to reduce population growth, gender inequality, HIV/AIDS, malnutrition, and environmental degradation.
- PRSP included: multidimensional poverty analysis; monitoring and evaluation framework outline; preliminary key performance indicators and targets; cost estimates of implementation; indicative financing gap.
- JSAN note at PRSP adoption emphasized need to refine sectoral priorities, costing and monitoring, and strengthen linkages between strategy and national budget.
- APR finalized December 2004; analyzes implementation from July 2002 to December 2003. Delay due to lack of capacity and resources, frequent personnel turnover, and need to address immediate macroeconomic difficulties.
- APR prepared through participatory consultations with public and private sectors and CSOs; cabinet and Inter-Departmental Steering Committee provided guidance and endorsed the report.
- Recommended next steps: wide public dissemination of APR, including regional workshops, and submission to the national assembly.
- APR findings on implementation:
  - Progress uneven; slow implementation mainly reflected low capacity, lack of commitment, and poor prioritization in 2002-03.
  - Most progress in increasing access to basic social services.
  - Most macroeconomic targets for 2002 and 2003 were not achieved.
  - Preliminary data indicate poverty-reducing expenditures fell.
  - Private sector participation and employment creation in agricultural sector did not increase significantly.
  - Poverty Reduction Fund was not implemented.
  - Poverty likely increased during first 1.5 years of PRSP implementation due to poor economic performance and severe crop failures in the groundnut sector.
  - MDG target for percentage living on less than US$1 per day is 27 percent by 2015; historical ratios rose from 54 percent in 1992 to 59 percent in 1998.
  - Changes in poverty rate to be confirmed by 2003 household survey results.
- Staff recommendations to accelerate PRSP implementation:
  - (i) maintain sound macroeconomic policies to consolidate gains in lowering inflation, stabilizing the exchange rate, and rebuilding international reserves;
  - (ii) increase the share of poverty-reducing expenditures, including on basic social services;
  - (iii) strengthen public financial management and overall governance of public resources;
  - (iv) promote private sector participation, particularly to make the agricultural sector more diversified and market-oriented;
  - (v) build capacity of local governments, communities, and CSOs to create sustainable and accountable local development based on improved service delivery to the poor.
- Monitoring and evaluation improvements urged: timely preparation of APRs; improved reliability of data; greater refinement of indicators and targets; more candid analysis of policy failures.
- Many recommendations require donor support; staff believes donor support likely if authorities strengthen macroeconomic environment and PRSP implementation.

### II. PRSP Policies and Programs

#### A. Macroeconomic Policies and Public Resource Management
- Key priority: maintaining fiscal and monetary discipline.
- Failure to achieve most PRSP macroeconomic targets for 2002 and 2003 attributed to inappropriate macroeconomic policies and crop failures.
- GDP performance:
  - GDP declined by 3.2 percent in 2002 compared with PRSP target of 6 percent growth.
  - Recovery began in 2003 with GDP expansion of 7 percent.
  - Continued in 2004 with growth rate of 8 percent.
- Fiscal and monetary developments:
  - Fiscal deficits larger than planned in early period; lax monetary conditions contributed to higher-than-targeted inflation.
  - Dalasi depreciated substantially; foreign exchange reserves did not accumulate as projected.
  - Economic performance improved since 2003 due to agricultural recovery and tighter fiscal and monetary policies.
  - In 2004, basic fiscal primary surplus more than doubled to about 8 percent of GDP.
  - Rate of broad money growth reduced by half compared with a year earlier.
  - End-period inflation reduced from 18 percent in January to 8 percent by end-2004.
  - International reserves rebounded to US$ 85 million in 2004 compared with US$60 million in 2003.
- Staff advice:
  - Maintain momentum while ensuring adequate funding of poverty-reducing expenditures.
  - Carefully monitor debt situation, update macroeconomic framework, resolve data inconsistencies with staff.

- Governance concerns:
  - Off-budget expenditures around 7 percent of GDP in 2001 signaled serious governance breakdown.
  - Governance problems contributed to weaker public finance, undermined PRSP implementation, and reduced donor support.
- Recommended governance actions:
  - Thoroughly identify governance problems that led to fiscal data misreporting and implement concrete measures to prevent recurrence.
  - Update public accounts in short-term to address backlog undermining expenditure control and oversight.
  - More fully integrate PRSP policies into budget process through greater prioritization and refined costing of sectoral programs.
  - Introduce Medium-Term Expenditure Framework over medium-term, including: fully integrating recurrent and development budgets; improving revenue forecasting; introducing programmatic budget classification system.
  - Accelerate implementation of Integrated Financial Management Information System to strengthen public expenditure management and prevent delays in preparing accounts.
- Poverty-reducing expenditures:
  - FY04 multidonor Public Expenditure Review indicated actual poverty-reducing expenditures as share of domestic expenditures declined from 21.5 percent in 2002 to 14.9 percent in 2003.
  - Findings consistent with Poverty Reducing Expenditure Reports by authorities indicating decline in poverty spending.
  - Share of budget allocations to poverty-reducing expenditures increased in 2004; crucial to verify that increased allocations resulted in increased actual spending using up-to-date budget outturn data.
  - Next APR should analyze whether increased allocations in 2004 resulted in increased actual outlays.

#### B. Pro-Poor Growth and Employment
- Rural development:
  - Staff encourages full development and implementation of a rural development strategy; PRSP and APR provide limited information on government’s vision.
  - Reducing rural poverty requires comprehensive approach: high growth rates; employment creation; health, education, and improved physical infrastructure.
  - Crop failures of 2002 and frequent changes in top management of Department of State for Agriculture hampered articulation of rural sector policy.
  - Authorities should focus on reducing agricultural vulnerability to inadequate rainfall, including strengthening irrigation system.
  - Prospects of diversifying into horticulture and agro processing should be covered in next APR.
  - Objective: diversify sector away from subsistence activities and make it market-oriented.
  - PRSP focus on agricultural research and extension services should be matched by adequate resources and proper monitoring of impact.
- Private sector development:
  - Tangible results in promoting private sector development should be a key government goal; APR could be more specific on plans.
  - Given slow pace of privatization, develop action plan with milestones for comprehensive divestiture policies.
  - Groundnut sector reforms needed, including privatization of groundnut-processing facilities.
  - Improve monitoring of private sector activities, including via planned economic census.
  - Caution: direct agricultural inputs provision (seeds, fertilizers) responded to 2002 crop failures but such subsidized interventions can undermine private sector participation.
  - Business climate improvements recommended: reform judicial system; strengthen administration of land transactions; streamline legislation and administrative procedures for businesses; strengthen trade and investment-promotion agencies.
  - Next APR should address developments in tourism, reexport and transit trade, and light manufacturing.
  - Trade policy to be given higher priority medium-term.
  - The Gambia selected under Integrated Framework (IF) for Trade-Related Technical Assistance to Least Developed Countries; IF includes Fund and World Bank participation.
  - Opportunities from regional integration and entrepot trade should be further explored.

#### C. Basic Social Services and Infrastructure
- Education:
  - Progress in expanding access to basic education, particularly for girls, through sustained classroom construction program.
  - Initiatives included girls’ scholarship program and Girl-Friendly School Initiative.
  - High failure rates in standardized tests indicate quality of education still poor.
  - Need to strengthen training, supervision, and support of teachers; increase supply of classroom materials.
  - Improve recruitment and retention of qualified teachers in rural areas by substantially increasing incentive packages, including through Education For All initiative.
  - Expand nonformal education and vocational education and technical training (PRSP priorities).
  - MDGs for net primary enrolment ratio and girls to boys ratio in primary education broadly on track; girls to boys ratio in secondary education needs to be increased.
- Health:
  - Inadequate staffing, including absenteeism, impedes service delivery.
  - Staffing problems partly due to low salaries and emigration of qualified staff overseas.
  - Access to health services increased with expansion of health facilities; staffing in rural areas needs increase to reduce geographical disparity.
  - Recommended strategic options: (i) increase auxiliary midwives and assistant nurses; (ii) improve incentive packages for rural jobs; (iii) use innovative staff-management methods including performance-based contracting and part-time work.
  - Key to improving health services: further decentralize resources and responsibilities to regional units, particularly Divisional Health Teams; develop and expand community-based services.
  - Improve drug-supply management via more open and competitive procurement.
  - Reallocate funds from hospitals to primary health care.
  - Basic MDG health indicators on track except under-five child mortality ratio.
  - Develop and implement integrated policy to improve social welfare and protect vulnerable groups.
- Infrastructure:
  - Expansion of roads, telecommunication, and electricity and water services should better target the poor.
  - Current road expansion targets urban areas and highways; greater emphasis on feeder roads would better target rural poor.
  - Telecommunication expansion should ensure rural areas benefit.
  - Government should develop strategy to ensure National Water and Electricity Corporation can increase investments in generating capacity, distribution network, and maintenance.

#### D. Local Governments, Communities, and Civil Society Organizations (CSOs)
- Decentralization:
  - Legal arrangements for decentralization in place with new laws calling for extensive fiscal decentralization.
  - Little tangible progress in implementing new laws.
  - A country-owned implementation plan and sensitization program recommended to build expectations and create momentum.
- Poverty Reduction Fund (PRF):
  - PRF is main mechanism in PRSP for supporting local communities and CSOs; plan to make PRF operational should be developed and implemented.
  - World Bank preparing a project combining community driven development and health aligned with PRF principles.
- CSO engagement and monitoring:
  - Next APR should provide more comprehensive analysis of activities and impact of CSOs.
  - Implement PRSP objective to establish a poverty reduction dialogue forum.

#### E. Population, Nutrition, HIV/AIDS, Gender, and Environment
- Assessment and targeting:
  - Next APR should provide more comprehensive assessment of population, gender, and environment policies.
  - Initiatives to reduce HIV/AIDS incidence and improve nutrition are being implemented.
  - Political commitment to fight HIV/AIDS reasonably strong, but policy interventions should better target core transmitters because infection rate has been gradually increasing.

*Prepared by the Staffs of the International Monetary Fund and the International Development Association; April 22, 2005.*

### Section 2

### _cr0613 - Section 2

### Education outreach and environmental assessment
- An education outreach program will be critical for changing traditional views that limit opportunities for women and their access to resources.
- The Gambia is one of the most densely populated countries in sub-Saharan Africa.
- A proper assessment of the implementation of the government’s National Population Policy should be included in future APRs.
- Future reports should assess how the country has addressed environmental pressures, such as coastal erosion, salinization of tidal lands, and deforestation.

### Monitoring and evaluation
- Proper monitoring and evaluation of the PRSP process require greater resource allocation.
- Notwithstanding its integration into the Department of State for Finance and Economic Affairs, the government’s Strategy for Poverty-Alleviation Coordinating Office remains understaffed.
- The Inter-Departmental Steering Committee should be more active in supervising the implementation activities.
- The four PRSP thematic groups should be reinvigorated; to date, only two have been active.
- Even with organizational changes and increased resources, greater political leadership is the key to accelerating implementation of the PRSP; otherwise, there is the risk that policies will continue to be implemented and monitored without sufficient interest and cooperation from other government agencies.
- Improving the timely availability of reliable data is the key to improving the monitoring and evaluation of the PRSP.
- Timely monitoring of inputs has been difficult because of the significant delays in producing the public accounts.
- The APR should also be produced in a more timely manner.
- The list of PRSP targets and indicators should be further refined, prioritized, and explicitly linked to MDG targets.
- Incorporation of the targets into a summary policy matrix containing key actions and milestones would facilitate monitoring and analysis.
- The proposed Poverty Monitoring System should be made operational.
- Impact analysis needs to be strengthened, including by incorporating the results of the latest participatory poverty analyses, service delivery surveys, and pilot citizen report cards.
- The Central Statistics Department has limited capacity to produce timely and credible basic statistics.
- It will be critical to accelerate the Central Statistics Department’s donor-supported reform agenda, including by implementing the draft institutional restructuring strategy, processing and analyzing the national census and the household survey, and conducting an economic census.
- The authorities should consider collecting employment data regularly, given that employment creation is a key PRSP objective.

### Conclusion and policy priorities
- Greater political leadership will be critical in accelerating implementation of the PRSP.
- Sustaining focus on the strategy in the public sector has always been a challenge given the low capacity, frequent turnover of personnel, and tendency to view the strategy as one of many competing agendas.
- The key to meeting the challenge is for the political leadership to institutionalize the strategy as a comprehensive approach to overall public policymaking, including through continued dissemination and education programs.
- The Gambia’s reliance on external financing makes active dialogue with development partners essential.
- The upcoming roundtable meeting of donors should focus on the PRSP.
- Annual meetings with multistakeholders about the APR should be considered; for annual meetings to be conducted, the APRs would have to be more timely and candid, and the data improved.
- Proper assessment also requires that parts of the strategy, such as civil service reform, divestiture and decentralization, be more fully developed and costed.

*Source: _cr0613 - Section 2*

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_Source: https://www.imf.org/-/media/websites/imf/imported-full-text-pdf/external/pubs/ft/scr/2006/_cr0613.pdf_