“What if it was me, my mother, sister, or uncle? Would I accept it?” This powerful question resonated with 50 participants who attended a comprehensive training workshop organized by the African Development Bank on the application of the Integrated Safeguards System in Banjul, The Gambia, 5 – 9 May 2025.
Following the implementation of the updated Integrated Safeguards System on 31 May 2024, the African Development Bank developed a capacity-building program for its clients in regional member countries. This training was delivered to key stakeholders who provide oversight or are directly involved in the preparation and implementation of environmental and social instruments for bank-financed operations, aiming to improve their understanding of the system’s requirements and provisions.
The Gambia workshop follows similar training sessions conducted in Madagascar, Malawi, and Morocco, with a parallel session in Kenya scheduled for later in 2025. These workshops form part of the African Development Bank’s broader efforts to enhance the quality of environmental and social safeguards tools prepared for its financed operations, ensuring both efficient project implementation and sustainable results.
In his welcome address, Mr. Bruno Boedts, Regional Implementation Support Manager for the West Africa delivery office, emphasized the bank’s commitment to sustainability: “As part of its Ten-Year Strategy 2024-2033, the African Development Bank Group is pursuing an approach based on appropriate planning and rigorous project preparation, with a view to ensuring effective implementation and sustainable results. It thus reaffirms its commitment to supporting countries in implementing projects and all its activities that are ecologically and socially sustainable.”
Ms. Fatou Jagne, Senior Economist at the Aid Coordination Department, representing the Minister of Finance and Economic Affairs, officially opened the workshop. She expressed gratitude to the bank for the training opportunity and encouraged participants to fully engage to gain knowledge on better project preparation and implementation. She highlighted the importance of compliance with both national regulations and Integrated Safeguards System requirements to achieve sustainable development goals.
Comprehensive Training for Diverse Stakeholders
The workshop provided participants with essential knowledge for preparing environmental and social instruments and implementing them efficiently. A key emphasis was placed on adopting a hierarchical approach to mitigation: Avoid, reduce, mitigate, or compensate during the development of environmental and social studies. The training brought together fifty participants from diverse backgrounds, creating a rich collaborative environment. Attendees included professionals from management units of bank-financed projects, officials from the National Environment Agency and the Ministry of Lands, representatives from the Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs, staff from the National Social Protection Agency, and environmental and social consultants working throughout The Gambia. This diverse gathering ensured that perspectives from across the project implementation ecosystem were represented.
Collaborative Facilitation and Comprehensive Content
Experts from the African Development Bank Group facilitated the workshop in collaboration with government agency representatives. The training delivered a comprehensive curriculum addressing multiple critical themes essential for effective safeguard implementation. Sessions explored the main improvements and clarifications in the updated Integrated Safeguards System (2023) compared to its 2013 predecessor, alongside national provisions for environmental and social requirements specific to The Gambia.
Participants gained insights into the World Bank’s Environmental and Social Framework and the African Development Bank’s requirements for environmental and social safeguards throughout the project lifecycle. The program explored the roles and responsibilities of various actors in preparing and implementing safeguard instruments, including financing agreement requirements and contractual obligations. Practical sessions focused on preparing the contractor’s environmental and social management plan, establishing effective grievance redress mechanisms, understanding the bank’s Independent Recourse Mechanism, and implementing robust project monitoring and reporting protocols.
The tools shared during the training are grounded in the 2023 Integrated Safeguards System and aim to mitigate multidimensional risks, including potential fraud in compensating project-affected individuals and social conflicts. Participants were encouraged to ask themselves “what if it was me or us?” when making decisions with social impacts.
Participant Feedback and Impact
Participants expressed strong appreciation for the inclusive approach of the training, which brought together managers from different ministries to reduce misunderstandings that often exist between stakeholders. They also commended the bank for the importance it places on social and environmental aspects in project design and implementation.
Mr. Kingfrey Kaoma, an engineer working on bank-financed energy projects, shared his key takeaways: “This training on the Integrated Safeguards System has helped me look at the project life cycle differently as a supervisor. We have more clarity on the issues we faced with stakeholder engagement and monitoring implementation of the Environmental and Social Management Plan. Also, I understand that when considering the amount and type of compensation, the decision maker should consider the way the project-affected person feels by trying to put himself in their position and reflect. If the decision maker was the one being compensated at the level that is being offered, would he/she accept the offer? This should be a guiding principle on which compensations are calculated.”
Another participant noted that the lessons learned would enable her to identify often unnoticed gaps in studies conducted during project design that negatively impact implementation after approval. She affirmed that the quality of studies would no longer be the same and would be closely monitored going forward.
Background on the Integrated Safeguards System
The Board of Directors approved the African Development Bank’s updated Integrated Safeguards System on 12 April, 2023, and it came into force on 31 May, 2024. The technical guidance notes for borrowers are available on the institution’s website in English, French, and Portuguese