Hon. Bakary Badjie Minister of sports and Marcel Mendy Executive Director NSC.
By Ramatoulie Jawo
The Ministry of Youth and Sports has announced that the Commonwealth Secretariat will be providing technical and financial support to help develop the country’s national sport policy. The agreement was reached following an expression of interest from the ministry.
“The Commonwealth will hire a consulting firm, whose tendering process has already started, to review and evaluate the old policy, develop a new policy, and conduct consultation with key stakeholders. To kick-start the process, the Ministry will institute a taskforce comprising key sports and non-sport agencies and organizations to guide the development of the new policy and associated frameworks,” they said.
The ministry announced that a Commonwealth Secretariat delegate visited The Gambia to meet with ministry leadership and discuss the types of services that could be provided. The meeting resulted in the development of terms of reference for recruiting a consultant or local expert to undertake the work in partnership with the Ministry of Youth and Sport and the Commonwealth.
The Youth Ministry emphasized that the new National Sports Policy will be developed through a comprehensive and inclusive process of consultation, ensuring that a wide range of stakeholders have the opportunity to participate and provide input.
“The final policy will articulate links between it and the Ministry’s Strategic Plan, the Gambia’s Recovery Focus NDP, and, where appropriate, ECOWAS and African Union sports policies and plans. It is also of critical importance to ensure that alongside the creation of the new policy, a robust Monitoring and Evaluation Framework is produced, and the delivery of the assignment, which will take 8 months, will also, where possible, assist in building the capacity of key officials to update and implement the new policy,” they concluded.