Millennium Development Goals: Focus on The Gambia

September 2000, to commemorate the beginning of the new millennium, the UN rallied countries around the world towards a common 15-year agenda known as the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) with the following eight time-bound targets to improve the lives of the world’s poorest people:

Source: UNDP

As the year 2015 marks the deadline for the above target goals, the UNDP declared; "To date, the Millennium Development Goals have made a profound difference in peoples lives" by highlighting the following achievements:

• Global poverty has been halved five years ahead of the 2015 time frame.
• Ninety percent of children in developing regions now enjoy primary education, and disparities between boys and girls in enrolment have narrowed.
• Remarkable gains have also been made in the fight against malaria and tuberculosis, along with improvements in all health indicators.
• The likelihood of a child dying before the age of five has been nearly cut in half over the last two decades. That means that about 17,000 children are saved everyday.
• The target of halving the proportion of people who lack access to improve sources of water was also met.

The last point (highlighted in bold above) is a very curious claim indeed as it doesn't mention any significant figure or data. This is why we want to explore that area in relation to The Gambia's MDGs achievement thus far.

With a total area of 11, 295 sq km and a population of about 1.7 million, The Gambia is undoubtedly one of the smallest countries in Africa. Situated on the West of the continent, it is almost entirely encircled by the Republic of Senegal except for the Atlantic Ocean on the West.

According to the African Economic Outlook, The Gambia is one of the most densely populated countries with 173.6 persons per sq km, which exerts extreme pressure on the country's limited productive land and prevent social service from being adequately provided.

The 2014 MDGs Status Report shows that The country have made significant progress in meeting some of the eight time-bound target goals but it remain to be seen whether all the targets will be met and to what extend by September 2015. According to the latest Integrated Household Survey (IHS), the number people living under one dollar a day has been significantly reduced by almost 10% between 2003/4 and 2010, from 58% down to 48.1% precisely. This achievement propels the government to make an ambitious target for a further 10.4% reduction in poverty by 2015.

There is also evidence of progress in achieving universal primary education and the promotion of gender equality and women empowerment. However it should be noted that despite the progress gained in poverty reduction, the gap between the rich and the poor still remains an issue. And access to improved sources of water as claimed by the UNDP above is hardly being experience by most part of rural Gambia.

Main Source of Water in a Village in Rural Gambia, West Africa. Source: Facebook

Dug wells are the major source of water in almost every village and some of these wells eventually end up drying out due to immense pressure. It is however worth mentioning that, some communities have had benefited from certain NGO projects for the erection of hand pump taps and/or boreholes, but this often doesn't last long due to long term technical and maintenance issues. Women, as the backbone of most rural families, therefore have to bear the burden of fetching water added to their already saturated households chores in very difficult conditions such as the picture above.

Another one of the 8 MDG targets that is on the loose  in The Gambia is environmental sustainability. The country is heavily reliant on rain-fed subsistence agriculture which renders it totally vulnerable to climate change. The African Economic Outlook reported that, "the high level of reliance on the forest as a source of energy together with continued encroachment of protected areas by human settlements have resulted in a significant reduction of the forest cover". It is estimated that the proportion of land areas covered by forest was 48% in 2010, but the 50% MDG target by 2015 is far from being achieved.

Of course, no one government can steer a country's development on its own. It always requires a lot of support and input from partners and stakeholders alike. The onus is therefore on the Gambia government to focus on Goal No. 8 of the MDGs (forging partnership for development). More bilateral cooperation should be fostered and development projects should be stretch as far the remotest part of the country in order to promote equality and all-inclusion.