What are we funding?
GRANT AMOUNT | ENDORSEMENT DATE | ACTIVITIES | INSTRUMENTS SUPPORTED | WB PROJECT |
US$10 million | December 12, 2024 | Increasing the adaptability and financial capacity of The Gambia’s social protection system using two CDRFI instruments and ensure that the country’s adaptive social protection systems are integrated into a new, comprehensive DRF strategy. |
| The Gambia Resilience, Inclusion, Skills, and Equity Project (RISE) (P179233) US$81.65 million (IDA) |
- The Gambia has expanded its use of CDRFI since it joined the African Risk Capacity in 2015. The country recently completed a DRF diagnostic and, with World Bank financing, set up a social safety net program known as Nafa. Nafa launched in 2021 and currently covers the 20 poorest rural districts. It was scaled up during the COVID-19 pandemic to provide cash transfers to the 30 poorest districts and will expand nationwide as part of The Gambia Resilience, Inclusion, Skills, and Equity Project (RISE), an ongoing US$92.7 million World Bank operation. A US$20 million CAT DDO—a line of credit that the government can quickly access when there is a climate shock—is another World Bank operation that supports reforms aimed at boosting productivity in key economic sectors. The Gambia is most at risk of droughts, floods, and windstorms. With more than 60 percent of the country’s population relying on agriculture for their livelihoods and more than 50 percent of the population living below the national poverty line, food insecurity is of increasing concern.
- The GSFF Steering Committee has endorsed a US$10 million GSFF grant to develop two CDRFI instruments in The Gambia that will strengthen the financial resilience of its social protection system. In addition, the grant will fund the country’s first national DRF strategy.
- The government plans to create a sub-window within a national contingency fund that would be used to fund emergency cash transfers in response to climate shocks; this arrangement would reduce the severe funding shortage for more frequent, less costly events.
- Early estimates indicate that approximately 775,000 poor and climate-vulnerable individuals could benefit from these emergency cash transfers.
- To better protect individuals against catastrophic climate events, the government also plans to develop a sovereign/macro insurance product that would disburse payouts via the social protection system in the event of an extreme flood or windstorm.
- The grant would be embedded in an ongoing World Bank project that supports reforms aimed at boosting productivity in key economic sectors. Award of the grant is contingent upon approval of the additional financing for the project.