Between January and September 2025, officials from the Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs, the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Welfare, and the National Nutrition Agency in The Gambia participated in the Building Public Finance Capabilities for Nutrition (BPFCN) programme – a programme funded by the EU/BMZ and implemented by GIZ. Along with country teams from Ghana and Liberia, they addressed complex problems that are at the intersection of nutrition and public finance.

Team Gambia’s problem statement focused on: “Inadequate and irregular coverage and funding of the school feeding programme negatively impact the nutritional status of school children.” With full mastery of the problem-driven iterative adaptation (PDIA) approach, which is at the core of the BPFC programme – and the three A’s in the bag – Acceptance, Authority, and Ability – Team Gambia successfully secured stakeholder support from their relevant ministries.

Last November, Finance Minister Seedy Keita tabled the national budget, which saw a 50% increase in funding for The Gambia’s school feeding programme, in line with the recommendations made by the 2025 BPFCN Cohort.

We understand how Team Gambia won the award of ‘Best Understanding of the Problem’ last year for the BPFCN programme! CABRI congratulates Team N’danaan on this spectacular achievement.

In the picture, from left to right: