The Commonwealth Secretariat has agreed to support the Ministry of Youth and Sports to develop the country’s National Sport Policy. This is through a technical and financial cooperation agreement resulting from an Expression of Interest from the Ministry.
The Commonwealth will hire a consulting firm, whose tendering process has already started to
1. Review and evaluate the old policy
2. Develop a new policy
2. 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.
The earlier process included a visit to The Gambia by a Commonwealth Secretariat delegate who held a high-level meeting with the Ministry’s leadership to better understand the type of services that could be provided. The outcome of the meeting was to develop Terms of Reference to recruit a consultant or local expert to undertake the work in partnership with the Ministry of Youth and Sport and the Commonwealth.
The new National Sports Policy will be developed through a collaborative and inclusive consultation process, securing effective engagement and buy-in from a range of stakeholders.
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.
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.
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