The National Council for Civic Education (NCCE) with support from UNFPA The Gambia has kick-off in Kerewan, NBR, the Training of newly elected and re-elected Councillors on the Local Government Act, 2002 as Amended, Finance and Audit Act, 2004 and the Decentralization Policy. The main objective of the training is to build the capacities of all the elected and nominated Councillors and key council staff on the legal frameworks and policies that underpin decentralization in the Gambia.

Under the theme: “𝑩𝒖𝒊𝒍𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝑳𝒐𝒄𝒂𝒍 𝑪𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒄𝒊𝒍 𝑪𝒂𝒑𝒂𝒄𝒊𝒕𝒚 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝑬𝒇𝒇𝒊𝒄𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝑺𝒆𝒓𝒗𝒊𝒄𝒆 𝑫𝒆𝒍𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒓y”, the activity will be implemented from the 15th to 20th June, 2023 across the eight ( Administrative Regions (Basse, Janjangbureh, Kuntaur, Mansakonko, Kerewan, Brikama, Kanifing and Banjul) of the country.

Speaking at the opening ceremony, Mr Yusupha Bojang, the Programme Manager of NCCE, said that as Councillors, the Local Government Act is the legal framework that regulates a decentralized local system for The Gambia and its specifies their powers, functions and limitation as local council authorities. It is therefore, he argued, extremely important for councilors to have a firm understanding of the laws on decentralization.

Mr Bojang also handed copies of the Local Government Act to the Kerewan Area Council Authorities to improve access to the law.