THE REPUBLIC OF THE GAMBIA’S COMBINED REPORT ON THE AFRICAN CHARTER ON HUMAN & PEOPLES’ RIGHTS & INITIAL REPORT ON THE PROTOCOL TO THE AFRICAN CHARTER ON THE RIGHTS OF WOMEN IN AFRICA The Agency has opened four legal aid centres in the regions. The Basse (the Upper River Region) and Farafenni (North Bank Region) centres which were previously established are materially equipped and sufficiently staffed. The West Coast Region and Central River Region centres are in the process of being established. Challenges NALA faces budgetary, logistical and staffing challenges. In 2018 alone the Agency is handling a total of 160 cases in the five regions of The Gambia with a staffing of only five lawyers. These challenges are also among the causes of backlog of criminal cases in court. The Agency has the mandate to handle civil cases but since its inception it is yet to handle any civil case. II. Alternative Dispute Resolution Secretariat ( ADRS) The Alternative Dispute Resolution Secretariat (ADRS) which operates under the purview of the Ministry of Justice was also established to ensure access to justice. It has been operational for the past five years. The objective of the Secretariat is to implement a functioning Alternative Dispute Resolution scheme in The Gambia. Its main function is to settle civil disputes which include customary land and family disputes. It also has a mandate to train community mediators, carry out sensitisations and continuous radio and television outreach nationwide. The mechanisms employed by ADRS in dispute resolution are mediation, arbitration, negotiation and conciliation. Between the periods of June 2008 and June, 2014, a total number of 792 cases were registered, of which 577 cases were solved by ADRS. Two ADRS pilot centres were opened in Farafenni and Basse. Both centres have registered success in both the number of cases registered and the services rendered. In 2011, Farafenni registered 40 complaints, most of which were concluded successfully. During the end of year, the Monitoring and Evaluation team met with the people that had utilized the ADR service or were brought to the centre as respondents. All of them expressed appreciation of services rendered to them by the state and in the way their cases were handled. The Basse centre registered 107 cases in 2011 and 2012. ADRS also conducts training of community mediators, with a total of 30 Mediators trained in 2011. The services of some of the Mediators trained in Basse were utilized almost immediately after the completion of 39