Gambia

Cultural, scientific and technical cooperation

Cultural cooperation mainly aims to promote bilingualism in Gambia with a view to regional integration. Although Gambia’s official language is English, French has an important place given the country’s geopolitical position. Since being bilingual in French and English is seen as a factor for economic development, Gambian authorities have made it an objective of their education policy.

The Banjul French school has some 100 students, including around 20 French nationals. As the only foreign cultural centre in Gambia, the Alliance Française branch in Banjul is the cornerstone of our cultural action in the country. It was founded in 1949 and has a library of more than 3,000 books, a multimedia centre and an educational resource centre that French teachers can consult free of charge. Linguistic and educational cooperation could resume from this year, particularly in the area of teaching French.

In order to support ongoing reforms in Gambia, a seminar on “transitional justice” was organized in October 2017. Cultural events on this theme were organized in April 2018.

Security and defence cooperation

From 2012 onwards, France had no further security and defence cooperation with Gambia. In response to the positive outcome of the electoral crisis, it has enabled itself, since 2017, to initiate new activities, such as in the field of training Gambian military personnel. Several projects have been launched: support for security sector reform (a French expert, an adviser to the Minister of the Interior, was appointed in November 2017), consolidation of the rule of law, and language training.