Almost half the population remain poor, but the proportion has increased in rural areas and decreased in urban areas. Poverty stands at 48.6 percent nationally and almost 70 percent in rural areas
21.3 percent are extreme poor, rising to 32.2 percent in rural areas5. The poverty rate hasn't changed much in five years. The poor rely heavily on subsistence agriculture for income generation, while informal jobs are predominant in urban areas. The population is growing quickly, moving from rural to urban areas, and an increasing share of young people are suffering from unemployment or underemployment. Emigration rates are also exceptionally high, providing remittances but draining the country's future economic potential. The Government has recognized the importance of coupling growth with social protection to reduce poverty. The Government's National Development Plan (NDP) recognizes that economic stabilization and growth must be accompanied by an investment in the Gambian people in order to reach its development goals: to build the requisite human capital, improve living standards and power the economy. Social protection can support the poorest to participate in inclusive growth and economic development. A strong set of social protection guiding documents have been prepared. A National Social Protection Policy (NSPP) (2015-25) was developed by the Government of the Gambia with the support of development partners through a participatory process. It defines the Government's SP vision and agenda, and proposes a set of priority actions to guide the gradual establishment of an integrated and inclusive social protection system in The Gambia. The NSPP is supported by a Social Protection Implementation Plan (SPIP) (2015-20), which defines a set of activities to implement the policy over the medium-term. However, the Implementation Plan is not accompanied by a financing plan to show how various activities will be funded nor does it articulate who is responsible for implementing the various activities. A minimum SP intervention package6 was defined in 2015, identifying several social protection focus areas, aligned with the life-cycle approach. These cover the life stages with the most at-risk vulnerabilities: cash transfers for pregnant women and infants
school meals
youth empowerment
and social pension for the elderly.