In August 2024, the civil society organization Open Society Platform The Gambia (OSPG) partnered with the Community Resource Exchange (CRE) to monitor the implementation of the World Bank-funded GIRAV project. The objective was to strengthen meaningful stakeholder engagement and participation, accountability and sustainability, with a focus on vulnerable groups such as persons with disabilities, women, and youth.
OSPG worked alongside 16 communities across five Regional Agricultural Administrative Regions, engaging over 200 direct beneficiaries (the majority women). Key activities included desk reviews of safeguard documents, site monitoring visits, stakeholder consultations, advocacy engagements with the World Bank and government institutions, and knowledge-sharing events.
OSPG efforts led to a notable shift: communities began actively reporting safeguard issues, prompting corrective actions by contractors and project authorities.
About our CRE collaborator: Open Society Platform The Gambia
OSPG is a civil society organization dedicated to fighting corruption, promoting safeguards, transparency and accountability, and protecting the rights of vulnerable groups (such as persons with disabilities, women, and youth).
About the GIRAV project
In November 2021, the World Bank approved a $40m loan for the GIRAV project (Gambia Inclusive and Resilient Agricultural Value Chain Development Project). In April 2024, it approved an additional $68 million financing.
The project aimed to address food insecurity by improving water availability and land tenure, strengthening agribusiness value chains, fostering climate resilient agriculture, enhancing rural infrastructure, and supporting improved water and sanitation in the targeted areas.
Ensuring safeguards are not just words on paper
OSPG analysed and monitored the implementation of eight out of the ten World Bank Environmental and Social Standards, alongside relevant national laws, that outline safeguard measures to prevent or mitigate adverse impacts on community’s rights and livelihoods.
As part of the project, GIRAV established 45 Grievance Redress Committees (GRCs) across six agricultural regions in The Gambia and organized capacity-building workshops on social and environmental safeguards both for communities and workers, including on issues such as labour condition, child labour, Sexual Exploitation, Abuse, and Harassment (SEA/H) and Gender-Based Violence (GBV).
Way too often, in the context of development projects, affected communities are not aware of the safeguards in place and the possible pathways to seek justice and speak out in case their rights are violated.
This is why, to ensure GRCs could serve as effective tools, OSPG organized knowledge-sharing and dialogue sessions with affected communities, as well as regional knowledge-sharing forums with various stakeholders.
These sessions provided a key opportunity to learn about the safeguard mechanisms introduced by GIRAV, monitor the implementation of the safeguards and GRC’s responsiveness in addressing environmental and social risks, and share feedback and concerns. They helped not only in raising awareness, but also strengthening transparency and accountability among GIRAV stakeholders.
Reflecting on the experience, one community GRC member remarked:
“The two to three hours we spent felt like earning a PhD on how to make our GRC functional and responsive in addressing safeguard concerns with GIRAV and contractors in our community.”
To reinforce GRCs’ effectiveness, OSPG also collaboratively closed with government institutions and held advocacy meetings to demand inclusive representation of community voices, capacity building for GRC committee members to manage grievances effectively, and proper documentation and management of the complaints.
Complementing this work, OSPG produced a documentary video showcasing its independent monitoring approach, demonstrating how informed communities can become drivers of accountability.
Addressing concerns
During the engagements with community members and monitoring field visits, OSPG was informed of several concerns related to the project. These included non-compliance with some environmental and social standards, delayed approval of some site-specific Environmental and Social Management Plans, inadequate waste management, labour rights violations (including some incidents of child labour, non-payment of workers, and workers operating without protective equipment), limited information disclosure, lack of public information materials on GBV and SEA/H, and weak data on the participation of persons with disabilities.
However, thanks to OSPG’s engagement, many of these concerns were addressed. At the community level, OSPG observed that GRCs have played a critical role in addressing grievances and safeguarding community interests. Committees intervened in cases where contractors neglected safeguard obligations, such as poor waste management at construction sites. A notable example occurred at Lebba Malick Mbye, where a contractor attempted to remove cement bags from a waiting shade construction site for use elsewhere. Following community reporting, the GRC intervened and the contractor returned the materials.
Additionally, GIRAV and contractors increasingly incorporated community knowledge, views, and preferences into project design and implementation, reinforcing local ownership and acceptance.
Other project improvements include:
- Site-specific ESMPs were developed and shared.
- Contractors recruited occupational health and safety specialists.
- Codes of conduct were signed by project staff and contractors.
- Environmental assessments and national validation processes were scheduled.
- A land dispute threatening one agribusiness project was resolved by relocating the scheme to a new community through consultation.
- All the 45 community-based GRMs are connected to a single grievance reporting platform (Senenya Bantaba/eExtension) managed by our national partners Agricultural Communication Education and Extension Services (CEES).
Key impacts
OSPG’s experience demonstrates that well-supported grievance mechanisms and informed communities are essential pillars of accountable and inclusive development. Overall, the project strengthened community leadership, accountability, and engagement in development processes, while highlighting the need for continued capacity building, improved documentation, and stronger advocacy frameworks as large-scale infrastructure works expand. Key impacts of their work include:
- Improved accountability and transparency, evidenced by the resolution of issues such as soil erosion at agribusiness sites and adjustments to the design of waiting shade structures;
- Enhanced community trust, as communities increasingly use GRCs to report concerns and see tangible responses; and
- Effective dispute resolution, reducing conflict risks and strengthening the long-term sustainability of GIRAV interventions.
Some challenges still continue and it would be key to continue monitoring the project implementation. The work is far from finished, but one thing is clear: when communities are informed and organized, development works better for everyone.