Field Visit to Gambia November 2016

“In The Gambia, widows are amongst the most vulnerable and are dis-proportionally impacted by external shocks. Often left to look after large families they struggle to put food on the table from meagre incomes of 50-100 dalises/day when they can find seasonal work in a . It is common for a husband to leave behind two or even three widows within a compound who struggle to meet the nutritional, educational and healthcare needs for themselves and their children.

UWT is supporting 200 such widows with a one off cash grants project. The widows have been selected with the help of community members and include some of the poorest from urban and rural areas within 50km of the Capital city of Banjul. The project is providing GMD 6,400 (approx. GBP 120) to widows to help alleviate some of their hardships. This amount is more than what some of the widows’ households may earn in an entire year. It is hoped that the grants will help these struggling mothers put food on the table, invest in income generation ideas such as vegetable gardens and facilitate with school fees and medical checkups for some of their children insha’Allah.”