Concern Universal
Concern Universal is an international development organisation tackling poverty from the grassroots. We create opportunities for people around the world to improve their lives and shape their own futures. We help communities deliver practical solutions with a long term impact by building skills and connecting people at all levels in society. We look after our funds by producing quarterly financial reports, engaging in annual audits and utilising our financial management training from the EU funded Non-State Actors Strengthening Programme. We are organised • Produce quarterly narrative reports to our donors. • Hold monthly and bi-monthly internal meetings to discuss project implementation. • Hold regular monitoring and evaluation visits to the field. We work with the European Union, Irish Aid and The Big Lottery Fund. SMILE-B and EXCEL are two of our most successful projects to date. SMILE-B – Small-Holder Irrigation for Livelihood Enhancement - Business was a four year initiative building on phase 1 of the project SMILE in (2004-7). The aim was to provide appropriate, affordable and labour-saving irrigation technologies to increase horticultural productivity of vegetable garden smallholders. The project has resulted in: • 6 viable businesses manufacturing and marketing the technologies nationwide. • 5,000 farmers adopting small-scale irrigation and water-lifting technologies. • 12,500 families adopting water-lifting technologies to meet potable water needs. • A 50% increase in income from horticultural activities by new users of irrigation technologies. Women’s vegetable gardens The Empowering Civil Society Organisations through Capacity Building & Network Linkages (EXCEL) project was funded by DFID and ran from 2006 until 2011. The aim was to enable Civil Society Organisations in The Gambia to be self-sustaining organisations that can better serve their missions and engage in the policy dialogue processes. The project resulted in building the capacity of local Community Based Organisations to be effective and efficient in seeking to improve rural livelihoods and reduce poverty through their specific interventions. |
One of Concern Universal’s current projects is Promoting Gender Empowerment and Increasing Women’s Representation in Local Government Authorities. This is a 12 month project funded by the European Union’s Non State Actors Strengthening Programme. CU’s role is to work through implementing partners; Wuli and Sandu Development Agency (WASDA), Agency for Village Support (AVISU), Freedom from Hunger Campaign (FFHC) and Njawara Agricultural Training Centre (NATC) in their promotion of women’s participation in the decision making process at a local level. The project is being implemented in four regions of The Gambia, the Upper River Region, Central River Region, North Bank Region and Lower River Region. 63 Ward Committees and Councillors within the four Local Government Authorities have been targeted. These regions have been chosen because women constitute approximately 52.2% of the total population in the four regions yet they occupy fewer than 7% of the seats at local government level. Our focus is bringing women into the decision making process at area councils and unit committee levels to improve the quality of the decisions being made and increase the likelihood of gender sensitive policies being implemented. We have sought to bring women into the decision making process in this project through; conducting a gender analysis study, training a Gender Action Team in each of the regions, conducting sensitisation meetings at Council, Ward and Regional levels and launching a media campaign using radio and TV programmes. This project will result in increased awareness of the need for women’s participation and representation in local decision making processes and have an impact on the women’s knowledge of the local political process and the Local Government Authorities Act to instil them with the confidence to represent their communities. |
Concern Universal
Fajara
P.O. Box 2164, Serekunda
The Gambia
Phone: (+220) 4494 457
Fax: (+220) 449 4474
Website: www.concern-universal.org