A two-day conference dubbed Global Development organized under the aegis of Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO) ended recently at the Senegambia Beach Hotel.

The forum offered participants a window of opportunity to widen their scope of understanding on global development concepts and how they affect the modus operandi of VSO and its partners in achieving their development objectives in the Gambian context.

Presenting a paper at the two-day forum, VSO’S Country Director in The Gambia, Mrs. Hadijatou Lamin-Njie, dilated on global development, the roles of donors and VSO’s development projects. The development projects, she continued, are divided into three components, including the ones premised on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and VSO’s areas of intervention.

In his presentation, Permanent Secretary, Department of State for Health, classified donation for development endeavours into two. Donation, he added, flows in two forms of cash and provision of technical assistance geared towards supporting under-developed countries in their development efforts. He highlighted the need for building and maintaining trust between development partners for sustainability of donor-funded projects.
For Perm. Sec Touray, Gambia cannot single-handedly achieve its development projects, hence the need for fruitful and constructive collaboration with genuine partners in development.

Meanwhile, volunteers of each of VSO’s programme areas in The Gambia made brief presentations on rural life in The Gambia, disability and education.