53509 Social Funds Innovations Notes Sierra Leone: The Road to Recovery ­ Results from a Beneficiary Impact Assessment JUNE-WEI SUM AND JULIE HACKETT T his note explores how a community-driven approach has successfully made inroads in Sierra Leone ­ a country racked by internal violence and without a tradition of wide- also rebuilding trust and collective action amongst a divided population. In particular, the project targeted areas not previously serviced by Government, "newly accessible areas," spread civic participation. By mobilizing village members to (those which were under rebel control until the end of the work together to rebuild physical infrastructure destroyed by war in 2002); as well as the most vulnerable population the war, the World Bank's National Social Action Project is groups within those areas.1 In the early 1990s, Sierra Leone found itself mired in a rural poor practice in exercising their legal rights to par- 12-year bloody civil conflict that did not officially end ticipate in their own development. until 2002. The effects of this conflict were devastating, leaving tens of thousands dead and over 2 million people The bases of this project are thus considered good prac- (one third of the population) displaced. According to the tice on two fronts: first its design was based on sound Human Development Index (UNDP 1998)2, during this social and political analyses which are especially important time, Sierra Leone had become the poorest country in for CDD approaches since they are so context driven. the world. Per capita income plummeted from US$240 at And second, the project's objective was framed within the start of the conflict in 1991 to approximately US$140 mitigating a root cause of the conflict in Sierra Leone, i.e. at the end of the war in 2002. unequal development in rural areas. These project design practices are amongst those recommended by a recent A World Bank Social Assessment undertaken shortly World Bank study of 13 conflict-affected countries which after the war judged that for decades, the government have specifically incorporated CDD initiatives into their had over-invested in the minerals sector, leaving rural development efforts.4 agriculture to trail far behind. This led to rural poverty, a full-fledged agrarian failure, and eventually conflict and vio- lence.3 Further the study concluded that the institutional 1 This note was written based on a desk review of the May 2006 Beneficiary Impact Assessment and Technical Audit of the Sierra Leone failures that had existed before the war, still unfortunately National Social Action Project, together with supporting documents. remained. The over-protected rights of land owners cou- Giuseppe Zampaglione, Task Team Leader, National Social Action Project, provided invaluable insights and additional information. pled with the under-protected rights of rural laborers is 2 United Nations. 1998. Human Development Report 1998. New York. 3 considered the main institutional breakdown. Richards, Paul, Khadija Bah, and James Vincent. April 2004. "Social Capital and Survival: Prospects for Community-Driven Development in Post-Conflict Sierra Leone". Social Development Papers Community- Based in part on the analyses of the Social Assessment, Driven Development Conflict Prevention & Reconstruction, Paper No. 12. Washington , D.C. : World Bank. a Community-Driven Development (CDD) project was 4 World Bank, June 20 2006. Community-Driven Development in the Context of Conflict-Affected Countries: Challenges and Opportunities. Social conceived for Sierra Leone both to reconstruct basic Development Department, Environmentally and Socially Sustainable infrastructure destroyed by civil violence, and to give the Development Network. Washington D.C. T H E WO R L D B A N K JUNE 2007 VO L U M E 4 N O. 3 MEASURING PROGRESS IN A the NaCSA design and implementation strategies within POST CONFLICT SETTING a post-conflict recovery setting; to examine how the NaCSA has changed the lives of the members of benefi- The National Social Action Project (NSAP) was estab- ciary communities; to assess the level of community par- lished in 2003 with the objective of assisting war-affected ticipation in the design and implementation of the NaCSA communities to restore infrastructure and basic services supported community projects; and to assess the effect and build local capacity for collective action. NSAP is the of community contribution and the level of community principal Bank lending instrument intended to provide satisfaction derived from the implementation of the sub- support for the National Commission for Social Action projects. The discussion below is based on selected, key (NaCSA). NaCSA was set up by an Act of Parliament findings from the BIA. in 2001 as successor to the National Commission for Reconstruction, Resettlement and Rehabilitation (NCRR), KEY FINDINGS a ministerial-level government commission that coor- dinated humanitarian relief and reconstruction assis- Overall Community Satisfaction tance and implemented donor-funded projects during the war including the World Bank-financed Community The overwhelming majority of respondents in NaCSA Rehabilitation and Reintegration Project from 1998 to supported communities indicated that their project had 2003. directly benefited the community, particularly in terms of promoting social cohesion and imparting practical skills. As a result of its long history and presence throughout Of the female respondents, 45% stated that the project much of the country, NaCSA was known and trusted met the identified need to a great extent and 29% to a both by Government and the broader public. CDD very great extent. The same held true for male respon- approaches supported by NaCSA were introduced in a dents at 42% and 41% respectively. Most also felt that gradual and politically sensitive way, and therefore not they could turn to other community members in times viewed as a threat to local and central governments, of financial need which signaled a rebuilding of trust and but rather as a partnering project which would help the social capital. Additionally, 41.1% reported an improve- Government to achieve its own goals of community re- ment in their family's economic situation over the two integration and decentralization after the war. year period since the beginning of the project. Roughly two years into implementation, a Beneficiary Changing Lives: Enhancement of Social Capital Impact Assessment (BIA)5 was conducted among targeted communities supported by NaCSA. This involved survey- Empowerment: The majority of respondents reported ing one hundred sub-projects that had been completed that they felt they had gained control over decision-mak- by February 2006, as well as comparable non-beneficiary ing in their lives. 72% of respondents felt their concerns communities within a 30 kilometer radius of communities were taken into consideration by decision makers (36% "a where sub-projects had been realized. Overall, there were lot", 36% "a little"); and 67.6% felt that the project imple- a total of 630 respondents from beneficiary and non- mentation process had significant influence over local beneficiary communities. Many respondents were from government and leaders in taking community concerns areas that previously had limited or no access to services, into account. including the newly accessible areas that were targeted by the project (areas freed from rebel control in 2002). Of the respondents, 56.5% were men and 46% were 5National Commission for Social Action and Nordic Consulting Group (Denmark). May 2006. "Beneficiary Impact Assessment and Technical youth (under 35 years of age). Principle objectives of Audit, Sierra Leone National Social Action Project". Freetown, Sierra the assessment included: to determine the relevance of Leone. T H E WO R L D B A N K JUNE 2007 2 VO L U M E 4 N O. 3 This is an important finding because as the 2006 World participation, also encouraged people to speak freely, with Bank study on CDD in conflict-affected countries found, 73% of respondents saying that if they disagreed with even minor responses on the part of government can what everyone else agreed on, they would feel free to profoundly affect the way citizens view their govern- speak out. 60% percent of respondents believed that the ment. As confidence grows among citizens that their sub-projects had helped bridge divisions between groups voice can affect change, they are likely to become both and respondents cited a greater feeling of community more willing and more able to participate in governance cohesiveness. issues and to become involved in the delivery of social services. These are positive findings in a state that was until very recently embroiled in civil war. By giving community mem- In contrast, respondents from communities not sup- bers an opportunity to first participate at the grassroots ported by NaCSA were much less likely to feel that their level, the CDD approach in Sierra Leone is providing new concerns were taken into account by decision makers. channels for citizen voice, which thus creates an opening Almost half, 48.3%, said their concerns were not consid- for incremental reform of governance.6 Additionally, the ered at all, compared with 27.5% from beneficiary com- project is contributing to the peace process by reducing munities, who said the same. social divisions. Collective Action and Cooperation: Within the benefi- However, there was a marked difference and levels ciary communities, there was a strong belief in the indi- of trust did not increase as much in communities not vidual need to work towards the benefit of the commu- reached by NaCSA. 16.3% of people in the latter felt that nity. 72% of respondents reported working together with trust had worsened since the war, nearly twice as many other community members to benefit the community in as respondents in beneficiary communities. Additionally, some form. 75.4% reported helping out with local groups although 47.7% of respondents from non-beneficiary as a volunteer and the majority (83.7%) said that by help- communities did say levels of trust had improved, respon- ing others, you help yourself in the long run. This was an dents from beneficiary communities were even more important indication that community members not only positive, with 69.9% saying that trust levels had increased. saw the importance of collective action in the rebuilding process, but were also willing to work alongside their Good Technical Quality neighbors to better the community as a whole. The Technical Audit conducted in conjunction with the Collective action and cooperation was found to be less BIA found that infrastructure constructed under the among non-beneficiary communities. 50% of respondents direct supervision of beneficiary communities was techni- said they had worked with others for the community cally sound and impressive. A big boost to the project is good (as compared to 72% in communities with NaCSA that the quality of construction was found to be compa- supported sub-projects). Only 53.3% of these were volun- rable to that of other donor-funded projects that were teers to local groups; although a large percentage (85.9%) not implemented with a CDD approach, such as those also agreed that helping others benefited themselves in financed by the European Union and non-governmental the long run too. organizations. Even more significantly, the Audit found that the unit costs of community sub-projects built under Trust and Solidarity: Community trust and social net- NaCSA were up to 50% lower than that of similar proj- works were severely damaged during the war. However, two years into the project, 77.2% of beneficiaries felt that people in their neighborhood or village generally trusted 6 Arboleda, J. 2002. Colombia: Developmentand Peace in the Magdalena Medio Region. Conflict Prevention and Reconstruction Social one another. Many respondents claimed that the project Development Working Paper No 6. The World Bank, cited in World Bank process, which was driven by community demand and 2006. T H E WO R L D B A N K 3 JUNE 2007 VO L U M E 4 N O. 3 ects undertaken by other ministries and donor agencies. for, but limited supply of, quality goods and services in the This highlights that community involvement in project immediate post-conflict period as reconstruction begins. implementation can indeed lower costs, even in conflict Hence, a certain contingency level should be included in settings. Most of the 13 country case studies in the 2006 the unit cost estimates of sub-projects. Bank study on CDD and conflict also found that when communities manage their own resources, they have an BENEFICIARY IMPACT ASSESSMENT incentive to economize. Moreover, community contribu- RECOMMENDATIONS tions of material, cash and labor are an important source of additional resources. Community Contributions: Leveraging Resources One flag raised for NaCSA, however, was that inflation was high immediately following the war and prices of Overall, a very high percentage of BIA respondents goods and services were rising very quickly. High infla- (96.4% of men and 87.3% of women) said they had con- tion combined with new more sophisticated Government tributed in some form to their community sub-project. sector standards meant that the unit cost of sub-projects 62% of all respondents said they provided in-kind labor to estimated in the Project Appraisal Document, was now meet the required contribution of 10 percent of the sub- found to be too low. This experience can be taken into project value. Another 31% said they had provided use account in other social funds and CDD projects in post- of their land as their contribution. Both men and women conflict countries. Often there is an increased demand (approximately 70% each) concurred that the type of Other Stakeholder Feedback As part of the BIA, the team also interviewed a range of key stakeholders in addition to the direct beneficiaries. Responses are highlighted below: Health professionals and teachers interviewed reported that they knew about NaCSA, having heard about it either through a radio-based awareness campaign or via word-of-mouth. They felt that the social fund made significant efforts to reach out to and involve community members, and that this resulted in genuine improvement in deci- sion-making and leadership capacity amongst the community. Although nurses and teachers reported minor dis- putes over disbursement of funds, they said all were solved amicably. However, they did complain about a lack of support from line ministries. Specifically they said supplies and equipment were not provided for the infrastructure built. Poor water supply was also a complaint that they said hindered full use of the infrastructure built. Police officers interviewed felt that there had been a slight drop in both theft and violent crime in NaCSA sup- ported communities. They felt that getting youth involved in the sub-projects was positive, because it increased their self-esteem and made them "better" and "more valued" citizens. District Council members were happy with the amount of involvement and consultation that NaCSA did with them. They did not feel that their authority was undermined by the project, but rather that the process had improved communities' organizational skills and understanding of governance. Project Management Committees were almost all positive about their relationship with NaCSA (15 out of 17 rated their relationship as satisfactory). The 2 PMCs that were unhappy reported that there were delays in disbursement and poor financial management on the part of the PMC. T H E WO R L D B A N K JUNE 2007 4 VO L U M E 4 N O. 3 contribution for various community members was agreed result in more overall participation within the community. upon at a community meeting. Notably, women in general felt that they had less power to make decisions to change the course of their lives than However, there was some disagreement between men (88% compared to 68.6%). 23.9% also felt less valued community members and the Project Management by society than 7.6% of male respondents. Communities (PMCs) on the level of these contributions. Out of 10 PMCs that quantified the community contribu- tions, only five confirmed that the 10% requirement had BIA Recommendation: actually been met. Community respondents were unhappy NaCSA should allocate more resources to the that they were not compensated adequately for land and education of recipient communities about the proj- material contributed to the project, although the PMCs ect process, with particular emphasis on educating reported that they were paying for skilled labor. This high- women. Additionally, resources should be directed lights that community members did not fully understand towards increasing the level of understanding in the the definition of community contributions and their pur- community about the PMC's election processes and pose, and confused these contributions with paid employ- functioning. ment opportunities created by the sub-project (e.g., in infrastructure construction). Information Flows: Keeping Things Transparent BIA Recommendation: Approximately 22% of both men and women did not NaCSA should devise a mechanism to give the fully understand the project processes and three times communities full credit for its levels of contribu- as many women as men believed that the community did tion, including quantifying contributions of land and not fully understand the PMC election process. This was material. further evidenced by the significant portion of male and female respondents (33%) who felt the need for longer consultations at the start-up phase of the project and the majority who believed that increased consultation would Gender Gap: Increasing Women's Participation improve participation and understanding. One quarter of male and female respondents also believed there was a A significantly lower proportion of female respondents lack of transparency in the procurement of works, goods were involved in the PMC election process. As such, and services. Additionally, over half of both men and there was a considerable lack of understanding about key women felt there had been a lack of transparency in the aspects of the project among women. One quarter of project's financial management. female respondents believed they had no input into the sub-project selection process. 83% of men compared to 68.9% of women trusted NaCSA staff and only 67.7% of BIA Recommendation: women trusted PMC members as compared to 77.8% of men. While the majority of female respondents stated NaCSA should endeavor to increase transparency that the project met the identifying need, they were also by ensuring that there is a consistent and accurate four times more likely to identify negative or regressive flow of information from the PMCs to the commu- effects on the community (16.7%). The majority of male nity regarding procurement and financial manage- and female respondents believed that more consulta- ment. tion--initially as well as throughout the process--would T H E WO R L D B A N K 5 JUNE 2007 VO L U M E 4 N O. 3 Greater Sustainability by munity members were that they were difficult to follow. Community Mobilization In addition, more than a third of women and a quarter of the men felt that `nothing happened' at the meetings. At the time of the Assessment, community-level mobili- Since these meetings were supposed to update commu- zation occurred primarily at the project promotion and nity members on what was happening in the sub-projects identification stages and less so during project implemen- and to allow them to monitor progress collectively, the tation. Facilitating agencies hired by NaCSA conducted BIA recommends that both the running of and participa- participatory poverty analyses and ranking exercises tion in these meetings be improved. with beneficiaries to assess their needs, and helped form Project Management BIA Recommendation: Committees from amongst community members.. NaCSA should increase PMCs' skills to run sub- However, the BIA found that it is equally if not more project meetings, and also raise the capacity of important to sustain community mobilization throughout community members to participate effectively. Sub- the entire duration of the project. Otherwise interest in, project documents should be simplified to fit the and momentum of, sub-project implementation is very literacy skills of community members. likely to fade, especially since benefits of a sub-project are often community-wide, long-term, cumulative, and not immediately apparent. Who Maintains the Project? A troubling finding is that almost half of all women and BIA Recommendation: men interviewed (45% and 49% respectively) said they were not aware that they needed to contribute towards Community mobilization should be carried out project maintenance. This does not necessarily mean that throughout the sub-project implementation process, they are not willing to though, as 85% of all respondents and not only when identifying community needs said that they were willing to help maintain the project, and priorities. With more mobilization, beneficiaries including financially. However, no analysis had been done by might better understand why they need to stay NaCSA on how much communities can afford to contrib- involved throughout the project cycle and even ute. The question of maintenance does not fall only on the beyond, to maintain the infrastructure and services communities. In fact, under the project, District Councils put in place. bear the overall responsibility, but it was discovered, the Councils had no fiscal means allocated to them to do so. Monitoring by the Community: Room to Improve BIA Recommendation: About 82% of all beneficiaries believed that project imple- Fiscal data on realistic levels of contributions from mentation meetings were taking place on a monthly basis, the community for maintenance must be collected. and 79% of them felt the meetings were satisfactory. This The question of maintenance must be prioritized, satisfaction rate fell to 72% amongst women. The main and communities taught its importance. problem with the meetings cited by about a third of com- Social Funds Innovations Notes are published informally by the Social Funds thematic group of the Human Development Network ­ Social Protection. For additional copies, contact the Social Protection Advisory Service, The World Bank, 1818 H Street, NW, Washington, DC 20433, USA, E-mail: socialprotection@worldbank.org. Copies are also available on-line through the Social Funds website at http://www.worldbank.org/socialfunds. T H E WO R L D B A N K JUNE 2007 6 VO L U M E 4 N O. 3