The Gambia ranks 149th of 162 countries on the United Nations Human Development index. Poverty has increased since 1993 and is predominantly a rural phenomenon (although urban poverty is sharply on the rise). Regional variations are clearly marked and show a high prevalence rate in the Eastern half of the country.

The country’s PRSP (SPA II) was formulated after a broad-based and prolonged consultation process beginning in October 2000. It was presented to the Boards of the IMF and World Bank in July 2002; and to donors during the Sixth Donor Roundtable Conference (sponsored by UNDP) in Geneva in September 2002. The overall goal of SPA II is to reduce income disparities in access to sources of income and empowerment.

The Government has been working with several development partners with regard to aid harmonization in support of PRSP priorities. Major development partners are AfDB, DFID, EC, IDA, IMF, the UN agencies and Taiwan ROC. The Gambia has benefited from interim debt relief from AfDB, IDA and IMF. The country reached the Decision Point under the enhanced Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Initiative in December 2000. The Completion Point, originally timed for end-2003, is now expected to be reached in the second part of 2004.

In 2003, a Country Financial Accountability Assessment (CFAA) was prepared jointly with AfDB, DFID, EC and the World Bank.

The Gambia is a pilot country in the Education for All- Fast Track Initiative (EFA-FTI). EFA-FTI plans to restructure the school system in the Gambia by (a) increasing access to basic education for all school aged children; (b) providing additional training to school teachers and middle management officers; and (c) improving management of the education sector.

The Government was represented at the Paris HLF and was a signatory to the “Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness” of March 2005.

The Education for All – Fast Track Initiative (EFA-FTI) was launched in April 2002 as a global partnership between donor and developing countries to ensure accelerated progress towards the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) of universal primary education by 2015. It was endorsed two months later by the G-8. The objectives and strategies are described in the EFA-FTI Framework document, adopted by the donor partners in March 2004.

In June 2002, eighteen countries were invited to prepare proposals for FTI financing. Five other countries (Bangladesh, Democratic Republic of Congo, India, Nigeria and Pakistan) were invited to participate in an “Analytical Fast Track” (EFA-AFT). Operational guidelines for AFT and for access to resources were under the FTI Analytical and Capacity Building Trust Fund.

EFA-FTI has evolved from a vertical program and global fund – where participation was on an invitation basis only - to a country-based and country-led process of program development and resource mobilization, with the global partnership providing tools and resources to support, fill gaps and leverage longer term financing. To this end, the FTI partnership has:

• Opened up participation to all IDA-eligible countries responding to the EFA-FTI criteria of a Poverty Reduction Strategy (PRS) and an education sector plan prioritizing Universal Primary Completion (UPC) and endorsed by the local donor group (EFA-FTI Partnership Meeting in Oslo, November 2003);
• Clarified expectations of the local endorsement process whereby the endorsement process is conducted by the local donor group. The endorsement brings a collective responsibility to mobilize financing, and a collective responsibility that whether donors channel their funds through project or budget support, it should be within country priorities as established in their sector plans and accounted for in national budgets;
• Launched and operationalized the Catalytic Fund (CF) in November-December 2003 to provide transitional grant financing over a limited period of time (a maximum of two to three years) to countries to (1) help finance endorsed sector plans that mobilize insufficient resources due to an inadequate number of donors and (2) scale up implementation and establish a track record that may leverage more sustainable support through regular bilateral and multilateral channels. Current donors supporting the Catalytic Fund include: Belgium, Italy, The Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom. Pledges to the CF reached about $300 million for 2004-2007. Six countries (The Gambia, Guyana, Mauritania, Nicaragua, Niger and Yemen) have received CF grants for 2004. Ghana and these six countries will receive CF financing in 2005.
• Launched the Education Program Development Fund (EPDF) in November 2004. The EPDF, a multi-donor trust fund, was put in place to enable more low-income countries to access the FTI and accelerate progress towards universal primary education. As of January 2005, the EPDF has two donors (the United Kingdom and Norway) that have pledged a total $6 million for 2005. Pledges are expected from other donors in the near future. Norway is also contributing $10 million for 2005 into a trust fund for only African countries through the Norwegian Education Trust Fund (NETF). Ultimately, there is a plan to merge these two funds.

The Analytical Fast Track no longer exists and the five countries initially invited to participate are now EFA-FTI potential countries. At mid-April 2005, thirteen countries have received endorsement through the EFA-FTI review process. Burkina Faso, Guinea, Guyana, Honduras, Mauritania, Nicaragua and Niger were the first seven countries to be endorsed in 2002. The Gambia, Mozambique, Vietnam and Republic of Yemen were accepted in 2003 while Ghana and Ethiopia joined EFA-FTI in 2004.

There are three EFA-FTI Working Groups as follows: (i) The Harmonization Working Group became operational in March 2004 and has grown from 10 members to more than 20 members. The membership includes the following bilateral or multilateral agencies – Belgium, Canada, EC, France, Germany, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, UNESCO, the World Bank – and the FTI Secretariat. The Harmonization Working Group has developed and tested a tool – the Donor Indicative Framework (DIF) – that enables countries and donors to assess their progress on harmonization.

(ii) The Finance Working Group, led by DFID, monitors donor support. It has undertaken four studies whose draft reports were presented at the FTI Partnership meeting in Brasilia, November 10-12, 2004.

(iii) The Communications Working Group is headed by UNICEF and is charged with defining a communications strategy, including key messages customized to various audiences (e.g. donor agencies, partner governments, NGOs). A communication strategy was discussed with the FTI Partnership at the annual meeting in November.

The FTI Secretariat is based at the World Bank (WB) in Washington, DC and is comprised of staff from donor partner agencies and from the WB. It is managed by the WB under the direction of the FTI Steering Committee (present five members are the current co-chairs - Sweden, UK; UNESCO, WB; and the most recent out-going co-chair – USA).

In The Gambia, EFA-FTI plans to restructure the school system by (a) increasing access to basic education for all school aged children; (b) providing additional training to school teachers and middle management officers; and (c) improving management of the education sector.

UNICEF is the EFA-FTI lead donor in the country.

In 2004, $4 million was allocated to The Gambia from the Catalytic Fund, of which $2.5 million was disbursed by March 2005. The grant agreement was signed on November 4, 2004. Another $4 million was allocated for 2005. Resources from the Catalytic Fund have closed the financing gap in 2004 and 2005.

The initial grant is enabling the country to purchase thousands of textbooks for grades 1 to 4, resulting in a significant impact on the quality of education for poor schools in rural areas.