St Joseph's Family Farm (SJFF)
Saint Joseph’s Family Farm is a local Gambian Non-Governmental Organisation that aims to empower the poor rural community by helping to improve their living conditions. |
Saint Joseph’s Family Farm was established in 1988 by an Irish priest named Philip Crowe with the aim of helping to the stop migration of the youthful population from rural to urban areas. Our first project focused on income generation through poultry farming which is why the local name for Saint Joseph’s is “poultry”. Our projects focus on reducing the vulnerability of the rural poor by providing direct support and capacity building to farmers in vegetable gardens, horticultural activities and conservation. |
We work mainly with the rural urban poor and with Casamance refugees in the West Coast Region of The Gambia and Casamance in Southern Senegal. Our main programme areas are in: • Agriculture, food security and income generation • Environmental management • Peace building and refugee assistance • Disaster risk reduction All of our projects are in line with the Government’s national development goals in the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper II and The Gambia Vision 2020. |
The FAMILIES Project and the Casamance Peace Building Project are a good reflection of the work we do and highlight some of our best achievements as an organisation. The FAMILIES (Fostering Agro Enterprise and Market Development for Improved Livelihoods and Economic Security) Project was funded by the European Union and The Big Lottery Fund from 2007 – 2011 in partnership with Concern Universal. The aim of FAMILIES was to equip women farmers with the necessary skills to manage their own small businesses and receive a fair price for their produce. We established 52 marketing cafo’s in the West Coast Region which enabled women farmers to collectively market their produce to increase their income. The women were trained in leadership, resource mobilisation, market research, business management and basic literacy and numeracy. Now they are able to study the market independently and keep their own records. The Casamance Peace Building Project has been funded by DFID and CSCF (Civil Society Challenge Fund) from 2007 until the present. The aim of the project was to build peace between the host families and the Casamance refugees by providing the necessary resources for improved livelihoods. We provide a resettlement package for refugees going back to Casamance which includes relief support, seeds, farming tools and house reconstruction so that they can rebuild their lives. |
We look after our funds by using the excel accounting system, producing quarterly financial reports for our donors and taking part in European Union funded financial management training under the Non State Actors Strengthening Programme. We are organised: • We have a nine member board selected by a bishop for their experience and expertise who serve for a three year term • We produce monthly and quarterly narrative reports to our donors • We hold monthly meetings with our team We have attended trainings in project cycle management, fundraising skills and proposal development by Concern Universal, The Gambia. We engage with government by working with district authorities over issues that affect the livelihoods of grassroots communities; in partnership we identify problems that affect communities and devise action plans which are then utilised in project activities. Our main donors are the European Union, DFID, American Embassy and United Nations Development Fund. |
SJFF will continue to focus its efforts on the capacity building of community based organisation so that they are vibrant and robust organisations able to tackle the root causes of poverty. |
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About 6,442 Casamance refugees have escaped to The Gambia since the Casamance Rebellion and are predominantly hosted in the West Coast Region. These refugees share with their hosts limited resources and dilapidated infrastructure in rural communities. Saint Joseph’s Family Farm is working with the European Union funded Non State Actors Strengthening Programme on a 12 month project to improve the living conditions for both the refugees and host families. This is achieved through improving their access to safe drinking water and sanitary facilities. We have been rehabilitating 10 hand pumps, constructing 10 ventilated pit latrines which will improve the infrastructure for people living in 20 refugee hosting communities. The communities will be trained in the maintenance of these facilities so that they have sustainable resources for years to come. We have achieved access to safe, clean drinking water and have improved the sanitary conditions to encourage good health for the people living in the village of Dobong. Mama Sanneh is a mother with 7 children living in the village of Dobong; her village is one of the ten to receive a ventilated latrine. Saint Joseph’s Family Farm asked the community what facilities they needed to improve their living standards and address health problems in the village. During the community assessment Mama Sanneh said that her family “seriously need a toilet facility to use with the rest of the neighbourhood.” Mama Sanneh’s son Manjai Jatta recently had to go to hospital from a snake bite he received when he was going into the bush for the toilet. Now with a latrine outside of their home Mama Sanneh will no longer have to risk her children’s health by sending them into the bush. In the village of karorr live Jonkong Sanyang, Modu Bojang, the alcahlo of Karorr village and their 7 children. Jonkong and her children would travel 1 ½ km to another village to collect water which took up to three hours a day away from household duties and subsistence farming. Sometimes they would even have to pay tractors to collect water to store in barrels which is very expensive for their family. Now that Karorr is one of the 10 villages that has a rehabilitated water point Jonkong has more time for subsistence farming to feed and support her family by growing ground nut, maize and rice. |
Bwiam, P.O. Box 2164
Serekunda
The Gambia
Phone: (+220) 630 6242/ 638 1019
Fax: (+220) 449 4474
Email: [email protected]