New In-House Scheme Saves SSHFC D51.8m And Builds Gambia’s First Informal Sector Social Security System
In an era when public institutions rush to foreign consultants for every reform, the Social Security and Housing Finance Corporation has done the opposite — and saved D51.8 million in the process.
The building of an in-house digital system for its revolutionary Informal Sector Scheme, “Taye Sama”, has delivered savings that are not just financial, but strategic. Procuring a system of this kind through conventional external contract is benchmarked at over US$600,000 — more than D40 million. SSHFC built it in-house at a fraction of that cost. That is only half the savings. The same logic applies to designing the scheme itself. SSHFC estimates outsourcing the design to external consultants would have cost at least US$700,000, roughly D51.8 million, based on a comparable consultancy in Ghana in 1997 — a figure that at today’s rates would be far higher.
Instead, those millions stay with the Fund. And the Corporation has gained something no consultant could leave behind: a pool of Gambian professionals with consultancy-level expertise in social protection design and systems development.
The idea took shape after SSHFC Managing Director Saloum Malang attended the International Social Security Association Forum at the World Social Security Forum in Morocco in 2022. He returned with a concept for adapting international best practice to Gambian realities. Management endorsed it, the board approved it, and in August 2023 a Technical Taskforce and Governance Team were constituted. The taskforce was directly supervised by the MD himself.
Three years on, the result is a fully developed, board-approved pilot programme — designed, built and to be deployed by SSHFC’s own staff, often working weekends for three years. This is the first time in SSHFC’s more than four-decade history that it will extend social security beyond the formal workforce.
For over four decades, SSHFC concentrated on formal employment — at most 14.2% of workers. According to GBOS, in 2026, 85.8% of The Gambia’s workforce is informal — market vendors, farmers, artisans, transport workers — with no safety net in old age, illness or hardship.
UN SDG target 1.3 calls for universal social protection by 2030. The Government’s National Social Protection Policy 2025-2035 commits to covering informal workers, but practical interventions have been limited. “Taye Sama” turns policy into coverage, and places SSHFC at the forefront.
A nationwide baseline survey by the in-house team found 99% of informal sector respondents are willing to join a social security scheme. Countrywide consultations crossed the country more than six times, with dedicated engagement with women horticultural gardeners — the pilot’s priority group.
Benchmarking study tours to Ghana’s NPRA Tier 3 voluntary scheme and Kenya’s NSSF “Haba Haba” product were done, but lessons were adapted to Gambian conditions, not copy-pasted. The Informal Sector Framework was developed in-house and validated by UNDP and National Social Protection Agency at technical level, with backing from World Bank, EU, UNDP, ILO, UNICEF, IMF, WFP.
The centrepiece is Taye Sama IT system, formally the Informal Sector Management Information System (ISMIS). Under Managing Director Saloum Malang’s direction, management chose to build internally. It is digital-first, on modern, secure, scalable architecture, with features that foreign vendors charge millions for: Offline-first registration — field staff can enrol members where there is no Internet, Wave mobile money integration for contributions, instant receipts via WhatsApp and Members Portal, member self-service portal showing balances, savings, benefits and full statements in real time, flexible contribution options for irregular incomes, automated arrears tracking and data analytics, dashboards and reports.
A dedicated website was also built in-house. The system was presented to senior management on 1st April 2026 and field-tested for registration, payment and adoption. Management assessed it as stable and ready for national rollout. Because it was built by people who sat through consultations and mapped business processes themselves, it reflected how informal workers actually live and earn.
The pilot addresses three priorities such as inclusion for the 85.8% informal workers, social security is no longer reserved for the few — it is coming to market stalls, farms and workshops. As more formal members retire and draw benefits, a growing contributor base keeps the fund strong. SSHFC’s forward strategy is three-pronged: extending coverage to the informal sector, pursuing offshore investments for forex returns, hedging Dalasi depreciation, and land banking for capital appreciation. Of these, the informal sector scheme is most transformative. It cuts across agriculture, gender, trade, finance, transport. women market gardeners can save, reinvest, scale production, reach urban markets via improving roads, and export via ACC3-certified cargo complex at Banjul Airport.
That means less food import dependence, higher export earnings, demand for transport, storage, processing, packaging, retail — jobs for youth and women, viable livelihoods reducing “back way” migration, stronger dalasi.
With pilots about to launch, SSHFC is positioned as a regional leader in extending social protection beyond the formal workforce.
By Mr Sidibeh
Source: The Standard
