to respond as a programme because of the magnitude of the floods. The level of erosion by both water and wind increased significantly affecting many rural households especially those who depend on farming for their livelihoods. AAITG in collaboration with government and other development partners worked on disaster prevention and also provided support to people affected by the floods. Work in Rights issues in The Gambia still faces challenges in terms of low level of understanding by some duty bearers. This makes it difficult for us to use the campaign techniques to push the Rights agenda forward. People in poor communities in The Gambia are more responsive to the HRBA approach, when Rights programmes are complemented with response to the basic needs interventions. This supports the local popular quotation “An empty bag cannot stand”. The high level of poverty which puts the people in Maslow’s hierarchy of needs puts pressure on the CP to respond to the basic needs of the people. This enhances communities’ response to our interventions. Donor funding in The Gambia is quite low compared to most countries in the sub-region due to our political environment. This has affected the fundraising ability of AAITG as most bilateral donors consider The Gambia a low priority. However towards the end of the year AAITG was fortunately included in the high value donor list. The Fundraising Manager is working closely with IPD staff and also with the country team and partners to develop high quality concepts and proposals for marketing to different donors. We are thus hopeful that the level of non sponsorship funding will increase during the 2011 period as compared to 2010. The country’s report on around the four areas of change as specified in the GMF with success stories are presented below. The report also covers our international engagements with AAI, main challenges, lessons learned and the way forward for 2011. 2. Progress Against our Strategic Priorities and Plans Outcomes and Impact in Relation to five areas of Change in the GMF: 2.1 Improvement in the Conditions of Poor and Excluded People ActionAid The Gambia has made some important contributions to the lives of the poor in the country. These include: among others our work in the Seed and Cereal Banks which makes food available to the poorest during the hungry season; improved access to labour and time saving technologies for women on and off-farm; commodity cooperatives which facilitates marketing and access to production inputs; erosion control; farmland reclamation; REFLECT and literacy
to respond as a programme because of the magnitude of the floods. The level of erosion by both water and wind increased significantly affecting many rural households especially those who depend on farming for their livelihoods. AAITG in collaboration with government and other development partners worked on disaster prevention and also provided support to people affected by the floods. Work in Rights issues in The Gambia still faces challenges in terms of low level of understanding by some duty bearers. This makes it difficult for us to use the campaign techniques to push the Rights agenda forward. People in poor communities in The Gambia are more responsive to the HRBA approach, when Rights programmes are complemented with response to the basic needs interventions. This supports the local popular quotation “An empty bag cannot stand”. The high level of poverty which puts the people in Maslow’s hierarchy of needs puts pressure on the CP to respond to the basic needs of the people. This enhances communities’ response to our interventions. Donor funding in The Gambia is quite low compared to most countries in the sub-region due to our political environment. This has affected the fundraising ability of AAITG as most bilateral donors consider The Gambia a low priority. However towards the end of the year AAITG was fortunately included in the high value donor list. The Fundraising Manager is working closely with IPD staff and also with the country team and partners to develop high quality concepts and proposals for marketing to different donors. We are thus hopeful that the level of non sponsorship funding will increase during the 2011 period as compared to 2010. The country’s report on around the four areas of change as specified in the GMF with success stories are presented below. The report also covers our international engagements with AAI, main challenges, lessons learned and the way forward for 2011. 2. Progress Against our Strategic Priorities and Plans Outcomes and Impact in Relation to five areas of Change in the GMF: 2.1 Improvement in the Conditions of Poor and Excluded People ActionAid The Gambia has made some important contributions to the lives of the poor in the country. These include: among others our work in the Seed and Cereal Banks which makes food available to the poorest during the hungry season; improved access to labour and time saving technologies for women on and off-farm; commodity cooperatives which facilitates marketing and access to production inputs; erosion control; farmland reclamation; REFLECT and literacy