Banjul – In an effort to empower authorities to effectively respond to large-scale population movements, the International Organization for Migration (IOM), the National Disaster Management Agency (NDMA) and the Banjul and Kanifing Municipal Councils organized crisis simulation exercises – many elements of which were designed to reflect the current COVID-19 context.

Held in Kanifing – the country’s largest urban area – on 12 September, the exercise that involved 150 people, simulated a scenario in which rapidly rising COVID-19 cases led to the large-scale movement of people from Senegal’s Casamance Region into The Gambia, which in turn led to violence among armed actors amidst the chaos.

Meanwhile, in Banjul on 5 September, 70 people simulated a market fire, in reference to a recent real-life scenario that caused widespread socioeconomic loss, including to many migrant-owned businesses.

The exercises tested various stakeholders’ ability to effectively respond in times of crises, in particular to the needs of vulnerable migrants. Volunteers form The Gambia Red Cross Society (GRCS) simulated the migrants and first responders.

“Disaster continues to be a driving force for human mobility, thus building crisis preparedness is a vital component of improving the management of migration,” expressed Aron Tekelegzi, IOM’s Labour Mobility and Human Development (LHD) Programme Manager in The Gambia. “It was particularly important to update and test contingency plans in Banjul and Kanifing, given their significance as large urban areas and as transit points for the movement of people.”

Coordination between immigration, police, security, health and social welfare authorities was vital for a number of roles, including registering migrants, providing immediate medical and psychosocial support and identifying armed actors. The pandemic added another layer to the exercises, as first responders incorporated COVID-19 precautionary measures into the response, such as the donning of personal protective equipment.

The exercises were preceded by workshops in which the two Municipal Councils had the opportunity to update their crisis contingency plans. “The exercise enabled us to, for the first time, test the updated plan and test its efficacy in emergencies,” remarked Mr. Mawdo Amadou Jallow, Banjul City Disaster Management Coordinator. “This would certainly boost our planning and response in tackling disasters, especially those involving migrants.”

“Through these exercises, we documented important lessons learned in order to devise better response mechanisms,” echoed Serign Modou Joof, NDMA’s Deputy Executive Director.

Preparing for large-scale population movement is critical for Banjul and Kanifing, given similar occurrences in the past decade. In 2016, political tension led to 45,000 Gambians fleeing to Senegal, while a 2011 upsurge of violence in Casamance led to movement into The Gambia’s West Coast Region and upward to urban areas. 700 additional Senegalese asylum seekers entered the country that year, adding to the almost 8,000 in The Gambia.

This initiative forms part of the Africa Regional Migration Program. Funded by the United States Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration and implemented in West and Central Africa, the project aims to build the capacities of state and nonstate actors to assist vulnerable migrants.

For more information, please contact Miko Alazas at IOM The Gambia; Tel: +220 330 3168, Email: aalazas@iom.int