BY MADI NJIE
The National Nutrition Agency (NaNA) yesterday, 21 July 2020 started the disbursement of $10,000 Fund to 30 Districts, starting from the Foni in the West Coast Region, to all districts in Lower River Region (LRR), North Bank Region (NBR) Central River Region (CRR) and Upper River Region respectively.
This news was disclosed to journalists during a press briefing held at the NaNA Conference hall. Dr Amat Bah Deputy Executive Director of NaNA said Nafa is a Government program providing cash transfer and behavioural change activities to poor households in 30 Districts in The Gambia in response to Covid-19 pandemic.
Bah said the objectives of NaNA is to improve household’s health, nutrition, early childhood development, adolescence, parenting and family planning, and prevent gender-based violence.
Pa Modou Cheyassin Faal- the Executive Director of the NaNA expressed the need for journalists to carry accurate information, which is why they decide to call on the media to brief them about the ongoing project for the public to be informed, and to ensure transparency in their work.
Lamin Njie- Head of Finance and Admin at NaNA said the project was approved on 21 May 20219, and started on 29 May 2019, ending on 29 March 2024.
He said the project is a $31 Million, out of which $10 Million is devoted for the Response to the COVID- 19, for a period of 4 Months. Under the project he said a month allocation of D1500 is budgeted per household, but disbursement will be done in two folds, bi-monthly, totalling to D3000 per household for the first two months, and a total of D6000 per Household for the four months period.
The disbursements exercise is won by Reliance Financial Services.
Njie said the Nafa proper which started earlier on but over shadowed by the Response to COVID-19 Project will continue after the Response to COVID- 19, targeting 15,606 extremely poor households in 20 poorest districts in The Gambia. This equates to approximately 40% of the extremely poor households in The Gambia.
He said the objective of Nafa is to improve coordination of social assistance activities and increase inclusion of the extreme poor in the Nafa program.
Meanwhile the project is being implemented through collaboration with the Department of Social Welfare, Department of Community Development, GSSNP, and the Office of the Vice President
