Rural Water Supply Sector Support (RWSSS)

The 9th EDF Country Strategy Paper (CSP) for The Gambia has identified two focal sectors. These are rural development and transport. One of the main objectives within the rural development sector is to improve socio-economic development, with a particular emphasis on “the provision of potable water supply based on the principles of decentralized planning.

The RWSSS project aimed to increase access to rural and peri-urban water supply for about 115 000 people, to improve operation and maintenance arrangements for water supply facilities, to improve sanitation, hygiene practice and quality monitoring and to strengthen institutional capacity in the water resources sector.

80 large diameter dug wells equipped with hand pumps;50 drilled tube wells equipped with hand pumps; 25 solar powered water supply systems installed;9 peri-urban water supply systems extended; operational and maintenance arrangement improved; institutional capacities of the Department of Water Resources strengthened. Overall 164 new water supply systems were installed, benefitting about 113,500 rural and peri-urban residents. Since 1990 to date, all the water supply projects funded by the EU gave access to safe, clean and portable water to over 400,000 people in the regions in the country.