Many young people in rural Gambia are seeing their economic prospects and opportunities wither along with the rice in the fields, as global warming and decreasing rainfall take their toll. For 20-year-old Musa Drammeh, new opportunities opened to him after taking part in a community climate change adaptation project that provided a chance to earn money and hone valuable skills, giving him an income, status in his community and a newfound sense of purpose.

Unemployed, unskilled and frustrated when he left school at 16, Mr Drammeh would scroll social media on his phone as he loafed around the family compound – a tidy enclosure of mud and concrete single story buildings with a neatly swept dirt yard and large tree growing in the centre. He could easily have ended up joining the rural exodus - searching for new opportunities in the capital Banjul or perhaps risking his life on the high seas in a bid to start afresh in Europe.

“Before I didn’t know whether to take tools with my left hand or my right, but now people are coming to me to build their houses,” said Mr Drammeh, who now works as a mason thanks to his participation in the Jobs, Skills and Finance for Women and Youth in The Gambia, a four year programme implemented by UN Capital Development Fund with International Trade Centre and funded by the European Union.

Musa Drammeh proudly shows the house he built in Brikama Ba, The Gambia. UNCDF LoCAL C.Jancloes 2023

“I had no work before and nothing to do. This job has helped me to improve myself,” he said, explaining how he started as a labourer through a cash for work initiative, learning how to make bricks and build walls. Soon, he progressed to ‘supervisor’, overseeing a team of workers, some much older than himself on the community project to construct a livestock facility on the outskirts of Brikama Ba, central Gambia.

The house being built by Musa Drammeh in Brikama Ba, The Gambia, UNCDF LoCAL C.Jancloes 2023

The JSF Programme launched after The Gambia’s return to democracy in 2016, following the ending of the iron rule of President Yahya Jammeh, with the express aim of providing a ‘whole of society’ approach to the nation’s development needs. As a result, the JSF Programme tackled job creation, skills development and improved access to finance while building community level adaptation to climate change with a focus on the most marginalised: women and youths. According to the UN Population Fund some 34% of the total population of The Gambia is, like Mr Drammeh, aged between 10-24 years old. It’s a segment of society that holds great potential for the future development of the nation, if equipped with skills and presented opportunities.

“This programme has changed young people’s lives and added value to the community,” said the 75-year old village chief Malang Ceesay, a former tractor driver on the nearby government-run rice paddies of Jahally Pacharr that have long since fallen into decline. “The young people have learned skills. Many would have taken the backway,” he added referring to the dangerous and irregular migrant route to Europe.

Malang Ceesay (right) with his son and grandchildren in Brikama Ba, The Gambia, UNCDF LoCAL C.Jancloes 2023

Many young Gambians, especially men, choose to leave The Gambia in search of better opportunities in Europe and the chance to make money for themselves and their families. It’s a journey fraught with danger and many would-be migrants lose their lives on the way. Others move to nearby cities – Banjul or perhaps Dakar, the capital in neighbouring Senegal.

Climate change-related rising temperatures and decreased and erratic rainfall, means its ever more difficult for young people to imagine sustaining a family and looking forward to a fulfilling future by working the land alone. The Government of The Gambia is all too aware that effective action on tackling the impacts of climate change has to come hand in hand with efforts to secure people’s livelihoods.

“My understanding of [effective] climate change adaptation, is [investment in] livelihoods and then some form of infrastructure,” said Bubacar Jallow, Deputy Permanent Secretary (Technical) in the Ministry of Environment, Climate Change and Natural Resources (photo above) . “If you just build bridges and whatnot, it does not give people that resilience they need unless they have a steady income, a reliable source of income.”

At the JSF Programme planning stage, community representatives from Brikamaba Ward were invited to take part in a series of consultations to identify local needs to address climate change and make their village and local economy more resilient. Discussions settled on the creation of a livestock shelter and breeding programme with the two-fold aim of providing affordable meat for the community as well as a stock of sheep and eventually chickens for home-rearing - it was in building this livestock shelter that Mr Drammeh honed his masonry skills.

The livestock shelter hosts a breeding programme benefiting over 18 communities in Brikamaba Ward, The Gambia,. UNCDF LoCAL C.Jancloes 2023

Amie Bah, a 35-year old mother of three, also benefitted from the livestock project, working as a labourer on the construction, alongside Mr Drammeh, and using the cash she earned to purchase a sheep that she’s fattening up at home to sell at an upcoming religious festival.

Amie Bah (top) in the Livestock Shelter and her goat (bottom) UNCDF LoCAL C.Jancloes 2023

The community livestock centre presently houses some two-dozen sheep and a small family of goats. When some of the sheep have been sold for slaughter, community leaders plan to invest the returns in chicks for the already constructed poultry house. The livestock, poultry and their eggs will provide an affordable source of meat and protein for the community, where incomes are limited and fish or meat is a luxury for many households including Ms Bah’s. They will also be used as breeding stock, creating a pool of animals local residents can buy and fatten up at home for their own consumption, sell, or to breed more animals.

Orphaned as a child, Ms Bah was taken in by an aunt who looked after her and her younger siblings. The additional children but a financial burden on the family and Ms Bah had to quit school to work as trader and generate some income for her adoptive family.

“Trading was all I knew,” she explained in Wolof, one of the main languages spoken in The Gambia. It’s one of three languages she speaks, though not English – as she never attended school. She wants her own children to have more opportunities and a better education and with the money she plans to make rearing and selling livestock, she feels she’s on the right path.

Amie Bah sits with her neighbour and children in Brikamaba Ward, The Gambia, UNCDF LoCAL C.Jancloes 2023

“I want them to be educated to a level they can help me and help themselves. I don’t want them to go through what I have been through. Even now I have to have people help me – like this translator,” she said nodding towards her educated and male neighbour who translates her words. “I want my children to be able to speak for themselves.”

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