United Nations Children's Fund (Gambia)

UNICEF has been working in The Gambia for nearly 50 years, in close collaboration with the government of The Gambia and local partners, to promote and protect the lives of children at national and area based levels. Over the past few years, much of our focus has been on reaching the poorest and most vulnerable children in the country through various intervention, using different strategies.

The Gambia, which surrounds its river - The River Gambia – has a population of 1,882,450 million, (National Census, 2013). It comprises two municipalities and five regions: Banjul and Kanifing municipalities as well as West Coast River, Lower River, North Bank, Central River and Upper River regions. Of the five regions, the Janjangbureg Local Government Area (est. pop 126,910) in Central River Region and the Basse Local Government Area (est. pop 239,916) in the Upper River Region (National Census, 2013), have the poorest rating on social indicators in comparison to the other regions. Much of UNICEF’s area based interventions are focused in these two regions, with a view to closing the equity gap between the more privileged and most vulnerable.