The Gambia is located in Western Africa and covers an area of roughly 11,300 square kilometres, about the size of Yorkshire (Gregg and Trillo (2006) The Rough Guide to the Gambia, Second Edition). With a population of more than 1.5 million, and a birth rate of between four and five infants per child-bearing woman, the Gambia is a densely populated country. The Gambia is still one of the worlds poorest countries with an average annual income of less than 200 pounds.

These figures do however suggest widespread poverty but this is not the case as most of the Gambias inhabitants are subsistence farmers or fishermen thus, they are self-sufficient. The main export of the Gambia is groundnuts (peanuts). They are grown mainly in the summer months and shelled in factories for export mainly in Britain to be used as bird seed, oil, and soap and also in some animal feed.

The surplus shells are given out in large quantities to the local community to be used as a fertiliser and to preserve fallow land. This also is a way of recycling within the community, promoting a sustainable resource but as it is voluntarily donated from the factories it is not to be completely relied upon. The Gambia gained independence from Britain in 1965 and has a multiparty democracy promoting its sustainability as a country and its comfortable access from northern Europe.

The PRSP is located in Fajikunda, Western Gambia and has been at its present site for four to five years following the need for expansion. The project was established in 2001 by an English woman May Rooney (an art graduate) following an influential holiday, a rough idea and calling to help the local children. The original plot of land was brought for 1,500 pounds and the paper mill was constructed with a further 2,000 pounds.

The original idea was to recycle paper to make into books for school children, May Rooney later found that the finished product was inadequate to write on and now the paper is made into hand-made books, calendars and the like to sell to tourists visiting local areas and a small quantity are sent to The Netherlands, Germany and the UK for sale. The project was finally registered as a charitable trust in 2001.

Rationale:

The aim of this study is to identify to what extent the PRSP project is sustainable within The Gambia or whether it is forcing Western ideas upon its population. The group found this to be very fascinating especially as the project was found within The Gambia, but it has a very Western ideology.

This particular project was investigated in regards to whether it was sustainable as a company, a project and as a charity.

If the project is sustainable within The Gambia then evidence will be found showing its positive influence on both the local area and economy and its influence back in the UK.

If the project is found not to be sustainable then evidence will show that it has had very little impact on the local area and economy and back in the UK. It may also be considered that negative effects could be found.