This section captures information about the general feelings of respondents towards the Covid-19 pandemic. Questions of anxiety, fear, concerns and, ultimately, optimism are explored to get a sense of the whether people are responding positively or negatively to the situation, and their outlook for the future.
The Food Aid Data Platform explores data surrounding the overall landscape of the food aid relief package presented by the Government of the Gambia to its citizens during the Covid-19 pandemic.
It also features investigative reports on the acquisition of the provisions within the said food aid relief package, which shed light on the underhanded activities and dealings that took place during the procurement process, and the response of the officials in charge to such reports.
The Pandemic Heist Opportunity, a series of reports surrounding the procurement and distribution of the food aid, chronicles happenings during the process.
Covid-19 Food Aid: The Pandemic Heist
“Covid-19 Food Aid: The Pandemic Heist” is a project of Gambia Participates that started in April 2021 to investigate the credibility of the government’s covid-19 food aid procurement and distribution.
Following the virement of D700m from the 2020 budget by the Minister of Finance to establish the Covid-19 Food Aid without Parliamentary approval, Sidia Jatta, a Gambian veteran Parliamentarian declared the process as an act of “fraud”. But the fraud surrounding the disbursement of the funds, is perhaps the country’s biggest financial crime committed during a medical crisis.
In this series of reports, Gambia Participates supported local investigative journalists that has revealed a significant sum of the COVID-19 food aid expenditure was unjustified, including cases of missing contracts amounting to over D60M of the D1.7B earmarked health and economic component of the covid intervention.
Investigations of The Covid-19 Food Aid Data Report
Following the economic impact of Covid-19 on Gambians, President Barrow launched a COVID-19 food Aid to support 84% of the population of The Gambia. The government of The Gambia through the Ministry of Trade, Industry, Regional Integration and Employment called for bidders to apply for the procurement and distribution of 230,000 bags of 50kg rice, 230,000 bags of 50kg sugar, and 148,000 10 litre drums of refined oil. The data below is collected from 1176 households in the 7 regions of The Gambia to determine the credibility, transparency and coverage of the distribution that is meant for the 84% "deserving households" in the country.
Monthly Income of Household Head (Range)
The results above show a substantial proportion (about 45%) of the households interviewed reported that their monthly income is between GMD 1,001 to 5,000. However, approximately 17% reported that they receive less than GMD 1,000 while less than 2% received GMD 25000 or higher as monthly income. Thus, a significant number of households included in this study can be regarded as low-income earners.
Household Head
In term of gender, the households surveyed were mainly male-headed households; only 11.3% of the households were female headed households. This information resonates the Gambian setting where most households are headed by a male rather than a female member.
Type of Food Aid Household Received
The chart above shows the food items received by households. We see that about 99% of households that received the food aids said they got the rice, about 97% said they received the sugar, and about 85% said they received the oil. Therefore, the results indicate that, among the three (3) food items distributed, the percentage of respondents that reported that their household didn’t receive oil is the highest.
Groups
Presents data on the government COVID-19 food aid. Information collected is focused on the receipt of the food aid,...
Presents data on household perception on corruption in the procurement, delivery, and distribution of the food items.
Presents data on the income and poverty level indicators of the households.
Presents data on the socio-economic background of the households included in the study with focus on the household heads...
Households' Level of Concern about the novel coronavirus Pandemic
Similarly, the survey also shows that people are very concerned about the coronavirus pandemic; less 20 percent of respondents have rated their level of concern below 7 on a 1 to 10 scale.
Aware of Any Form of Corruption at The Distribution Points
Another information collected, was whether respondents are aware of instance where staff are warned to desist from corrupt practices. As seen in the chart above, about 65% of the households interviewed were not aware of any staff been caution on corruption practices during the distribution of the COVID-19 food items. Only 5% attested that staffs were warned on corruption practices.
Dashboards
This section of information collected on the government COVID-19 food aid, which is focused on the following receipt of the food aid, distribution of the food aid, coupons for the food aid, and household perception about the procurement process for the food aid.
In this section looks at household perception on corruption in the procurement, delivery, and distribution of the food items.It distills downs people's experiences and opinions regarding this issue, and their general awareness of the issues in such processes, and how corruption can possibly tackled for the benefit of all.
This section presents results on the income and poverty level indicators of the households. Since poverty was one of the main indicators considered in targeting households for the government food aid, it is an important for this study to collect information on poverty related indicators.