Local government in The Gambia received a boost recently with an important workshop on developing effective strategies for resource mobilisation.

The Commonwealth Local Government Forum (CLGF) signed an agreement with The Gambia Association of Local Government Authorities (GALGA) in May 2024  to develop two separate resource mobilisation strategies for local councils and GALGA in the Gambia. The project is part of the European Union (EU) programme with CLGF entitled Empowering Local Authorities in partner countries for enhanced governance and more effective development outcomes.    

Improving approaches to own-revenue

This goal of the GALGA-CLGF project is to provide clear, systematic, predictable and well-coordinated approaches to local government authorities and GALGA in acquiring and  managing, own-revenue for local development.

In line with the agreement for the project, which is a co-funded initiative, CLGF supported the drafting of the strategies with a consultancy firm - Manager’s Prescription Consultancy Services, and UNDP supported the organisation of the review and validation workshops.

Sharing views to enhance strategies

With the availability of the draft strategies, a two-day review workshop was organised from 23 to 24 April, 2025 by GALGA, in the Kanifing Municipality of The Gambia. The aim was to enable the councils, GALGA and key stakeholders to share their individual and collective views on the draft documents and suggest ways to enhance them.

In all, about 40 participants attended the event including Mayors and Chairpersons, Chief Executive Officers, Directors of Planning and Development and Directors of Finance from the eight councils of the Gambia. Other participants were officers of GALGA, Ministry of Lands, Regional Government and Religious Affairs, Department of Community Development, Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs, CLGF and UNDP and the media.

During the opening session, CLGF’s Head of Programmes, Claire Frost, expressed  her great pleasure that the review workshop is taking place after working with GALGA for the past one year in drafting the documents. She added that the workshop was an opportunity for the councils and GALGA to review the documents and make them their own.

Local realities

She encouraged GALGA and the councils to think of the challenges and opportunities relating to the revenue generation that are available to them and reflect on the local realities for inclusion in the documents. She concluded by  emphasising the importance and value of partnerships, thanking the EU for funding the project and UNDP for supporting the workshop.