Written by Theodora Rodman
October 2011

On a recent mission to The Gambia, I was struck by the extreme poverty and decaying infrastructure. Power outages occur regularly, roads are either flooded or eroding away, trash liters the streets, and the majority of people live in cement buildings or ramshackle structures that are falling apart. Yet, despite its dire poverty, The Gambia does not seem to be attracting much attention from the international donor community.

A very small country bordered by Senegal and the Atlantic Ocean, The Gambia has a population of around two million people. Even though The Gambia is not technically considered “fragile,” it could become so at any moment should any of the instability from neighboring regions or countries spill over onto its borders. In particular, Senegal’s Casamance region which sits directly below The Gambia is unstable as it is fighting for its independence.

The country’s biggest industries are tourism and the cultivation of groundnuts. Both industries are unable to prosper in an environment where transporting people and goods from one place to another is either very difficult or very expensive. Tourism will never be able to thrive as long as transportation along the river (one of the main attractions of the country) and waste management are still significant issues. Furthermore, the electricity outages that occur frequently make it very expensive for hotels, restaurants, and businesses to obtain the power needed, and in turn prevent the economy from growing.

During our visit, we met with various officials from government ministries, municipalities, and utilities who seemed genuinely passionate about providing better basic infrastructure services, but were not sure how to do so. The most significant challenge they face is insufficient financial resources. We heard over and over from all officials that the country’s biggest priorities are an environment conducive to private sector participation (i.e., an adequate public-private partnership legal framework), a dependable supply of electricity, available river transport, and waste management. These are all crucial to developing sustainable economic growth in The Gambia.

The Gambia is currently receiving a loan from the International Development Association (IDA), but it is insufficient to cover the country’s vast array of development needs. PPIAF is hoping to fund some of the studies the IDA loan was going to originally, in the hope of freeing up IDA funds for direct investments in infrastructure, which PPIAF is not allowed to fund.

Our frank and lengthy discussions with government representatives, to try and find ways PPIAF and its partners could help, led to the identification of specific goals: building government capacity, a public-private partnership legal framework, legal counsel for the government during contract negotiations with the private sector, and funding studies that would focus on how to strengthen certain utilities and municipalities.

The need for PPIAF’s involvement was reinforced by one story in particular from representatives of the National Water and Electricity Company Ltd (NAWEC). Officials there described how several years ago an expert had spent one year to guide and train them, and what a difference it had made. I was struck by how so little (i.e., one consultant) could have such a lasting impact.

In conclusion, every official we met applauded PPIAF’s efforts to try to help the country attract private sector participation in infrastructure at this time. PPIAF is in the process of following up with each counterpart in The Gambia, and we hope to see improvements over the next few years. In particular, we hope that The Gambia receives more attention from the international donor community and that tourism continues to grow until the country’s national infrastructure improves.