National Strategy for Sanitation and Hygiene.

This Strategy, based on the national sanitation policy for The Gambia, creates a sector-wide approach for achieving a sustainable sanitation programme in The Gambia. The existing National Water Policy has made insufficient provision for sanitation issues, and this Strategy aims at filling in this gap. The objective of the Strategy is to provide an acceptable, affordable and sustainable sanitation and hygiene service to all communities in the Gambia through inter-agency collaboration and community participation. It sets out eight Strategic Priority Areas around which the strategic responses and activities recommended in the strategy revolve: (1) Policy and Legislation; (2) Sanitation and Hygiene Sector Coordination Framework; (3) Sanitation and Hygiene Services; (4) Capacity Building and Infrastructure Development; (5) Sanitation Marketing and Hygiene Promotion; (6) Monitoring and Evaluation (7) Research and Development; (8) Financing Framework. The Strategy proposes new coordinating structures for promoting inter-agency collaboration and partnership in delivering the recommended actions. Community Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Committees are to be created at the local level with the mandate to cooperate in the implementation of national policies and strategies on water, sanitation and hygiene. The Strategy sets out the current policy and legal context and describes the current situation of sanitation and hygiene in The Gambia.