LocationsOn behalf of the UN Gambia Country Team (UNCT), I am delighted to join you at the validation of the 2024 CDA Report. This event offers us the opportunity to revisit the conflict drivers and peace engines articulated in the 2019 CDA report which served as a reference for enhanced understanding of the operations of contemporary issues, actors, and dynamics, shaping the consolidation of peace in The Gambia. While the CDA serves as a useful tool that assists with context-specific analysis, including the development of strategies to reduce or eliminate the impacts of violent conflicts, it also provides a deeper understanding of issues that can drive conflict and the dynamics that have the potential to promote peace.
The CDA is one example of the UN’s partnership with national stakeholders to ensure that interventions are informed by the local context, generate a common understanding of the conflicts that exist in each situation and design recommendations aimed at addressing the drivers of conflict. Such a collaborative effort is a key risk mitigating endeavour against engagements that may inadvertently intensify conflicts and thereby do more harm than good.
The CDA report’s findings and recommendations provide valuable reference for programming for both the UN and peacebuilding practitioners in the formulation of clear and attainable goals and policy objectives informed by more targeted programming and efficient use of resources.
The findings and recommendations in the CDA report are diverse and multifaceted. While it enables the UN to identify programming strategies and approaches for more effective results and outcomes, it can also provide insights in the formulation of intervention logics that demonstrate how the approaches can logically contribute to specific outcomes that address the drivers of conflict. More importantly, the CDA can strategically position the UNCT to make clear choices and determine priorities for peace consolidation, especially in a period of transition. It can also assist in the identification of entry points for effective peacebuilding interventions.
As highlighted in the CDA report, I hope that some of the recommendations will improve on our evolving partnership with the World Bank towards strategic investments that will yield multiple positive effects on The Gambia’s peace and democratic consolidation. We hope that the government benefits from some of the recommendations, particularly in the area of transparency and accountability relating to resource allocation, improvement in strategic communication, and the establishment of the decentralised Peace and Reconciliation Commission.
Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen, as we embark on a constructive engagement during the validation of the findings and recommendations of the 2024 CDA report, I call on all stakeholders to work together for the consolidation of peace and democratic governance in The Gambia.
I wish you all a successful deliberation.
Thank you.
