Africa Region Findings & Good Practice Infobriefs

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These briefs report on ongoing operational, economic, and sector work carried out by the World Bank and its member governments in the Africa Region.

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  • Publication
    Eritrea - Cultural Assets Rehabilitation Project
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2008-06) Mastri, Lawrence
    The Cultural Assets Rehabilitation Project aimed to strengthen the management of public records in order to contribute to the development of a historiography of Eritrea while improving the efficiency of the public sector. The project will also strengthen the management of public records both to contribute to the development of a historiography of Eritrea while improving the efficiency of the public sector. Overall the project was able to meet its objectives of testing out and developing the means for more fully integrating the conservation and management of cultural assets into local and national economic development. Furthermore, it promoted learning in many areas that are central to development at an institutional and skills level.
  • Publication
    Mozambique - Municipal Development Project
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2007-11) Mastri, Lawrence
    The project was designed as a long-term capacity building and institutional development project utilizing a pilot funding program, Municipal Grant Fund (MGF), as the first stage of support for municipal infrastructure and services. The original four components included (a) Legal and Institutional Reform; (b) Municipal Capacity Building; (c) Municipal Grants; and (d) Project Management and Technical Assistance. The restructured project development objectives were to assist the Government of Mozambique to operationalize the legal, institutional and fiscal framework for municipal governance; develop a sustainable training and technical assistance system and increase the capacity of municipality officials and personnel; and establish an operating mechanism for providing grants to municipalities through a pilot program in eight cities to finance capital investments for municipal capacity building and infrastructure. Some of the lessons learned are as follows: (a) The design of a project and in particular of a pilot program should be simple and within the capacity of the staff and agencies responsible for its implementation. (b) Team leaders from government and Bank project teams must develop strong working relationships built on effective communication so that both organizations are working toward the same objective.
  • Publication
    Learning from the Extreme Poor : Participatory Approaches to Fostering Child Health in Madagascar
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2007-08) Blanchard, Caroline; Godinot, Xavier; Laureau, Chantal; Wodon, Quentin
    Definitions of poverty in developing countries used by most development organizations focus on household income or consumption that falls below a given threshold, such as one dollar per capita per day, and on other quantified indicators. While such definitions have the merit of providing a standard by which to measure progress, the very poor use quite different terms and ideas to communicate what extreme poverty means to them. This paper discusses learning from the extreme poor in the form of participatory approaches to fostering child health in Madagascar.
  • Publication
    Senegal - Agricultural Services and Producer Organizations Project
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2007-08) Mohan, P. C.
    Findings Info briefs reports on good practice in ongoing operational, economic and sector work carried out by the World Bank and its member governments in the Africa Region. This issue looks at the Senegal Agricultural Services and Producer Organizations Project. The objective of the program was the substantial increase of smallholder agricultural productivity, production and incomes through technological change. The objective of the first phase was to set in place institutional reforms to achieve autonomy and accountability of public agencies and empower producer organizations. This info brief discusses the project impact and gives lessons learned from the project.
  • Publication
    Senegal - Nutrition Enhancement Program (NEP) First Phase
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2007-07) Mohan, P. C.
    Findings Info briefs reports on Good Practice in ongoing operational, economic and sector work carried out by the World Bank and its member governments in the Africa Region. This issue looks at the Senegal: Nutrition Enhancement Program (NEP), first phase which was the first nutrition project in Sub-Saharan Africa to use the Adaptable Program Lending (APL) instrument for the design of the program. The three project components were (i) Community Nutrition and Growth Promotion; (ii) Capacity Building and Monitoring and Evaluation and (iii) Program Management. Project interventions were conducted in the 3 poorest rural regions of Senegal, and in 34 Health Districts selected on the basis of social indicators. This info brief reports on the project impacts as well as lessons learned.
  • Publication
    Malawi - The Emergency Drought Recovery Project
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2006-10) Mohan, P.C.
    This project was designed and implemented (January 2003-November 2004) in response to Malawi's severe food crisis in 2002, caused by the drought and floods in 2001 and 2002, which resulted in a significant drop in maize output, the country's main staple food. The food crisis was exacerbated by a suboptimal harvest in the previous year. In addition, the Early Warning System (EWS) failed by predicting a food surplus when in fact a major food deficit was looming. Poor management of the Strategic Grain Reserve and an over-reliance on maize in the diet were additional factors which compounded the crisis. This combination of an IDA credit of $29 million equivalent and a grant of $21 million equivalent were used to finance 3 components. (i) Quick disbursing assistance to support critical imports through a positive list of import requirements linked to the drought and recovery efforts; (ii) Augmentation of the purchasing power of families whose incomes had been reduced as a result of the crisis; and (iii) Support for project implementation, technical assistance and studies. The bulk of the credit/grant ($40 million equivalent) went to support the first component.
  • Publication
    Citizen Oversight through Social Accountability : The Malawi Social Action Fund and the Comprehensive Community Scorecard Process
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2006-08) Kajumi, Murphy
    The Third Malawi Social Action Fund Project (MASAF 3) was designed in the context of the Malawi Government's Poverty Reduction Strategy (PRS) of April 2002. The PRS had the following four pillars: (a) sustainable pro-poor economic growth to empower the poor by ensuring access to credit and markets, skills development and employment generation; (b) human capital development to ensure that the poor have the health and education status to lift themselves out of poverty; (c) improving the quality of life for the most vulnerable by providing sustainable safety nets for those who are unable to benefit from the first two pillars; and (d) promotion of good governance, political will and mindset which will ensure that public and civil society institutions and systems protect and benefit the poor.
  • Publication
    Rwanda - Agricultural and Rural Market Development
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2006-04) Mohan, P. C.
    This Credit of US$5 million was a Learning and Innovation Loan ( LIL ) -- implemented 1999-2003 -- whose objective was to contribute to revitalizing the country's agricultural and rural economy by identifying policies and institutional mechanisms to promote efficient, private sector-based local agricultural input distribution and out put marketing systems in order to raise modern farm input use among farmers and thereby the productivity of labor and levels of income in the rural sector. The project was implemented in 20 districts, representing about 25 percent of the total number of districts. It affected 21,00 farm families, with a population of 1.05 million, including about 1,000 lead farmers and 1,000 Farmers'Associations.
  • Publication
    Nigeria - Design of the Community Social Development Project (CSDP)
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2006-02) Watkins, Sharon L.
    The concept review for the Nigeria Community Social Development Project (CSDP) began in March 2005 with project appraisal scheduled for early 2006. The design of the CSDP incorporates innovative elements in Community Driven Development from Community-based Poverty Reduction Project (CPRPI) and is expected to play a pivotal role in harmonizing Community Driven Development (CDD) activities in Nigeria.
  • Publication
    Tanzania - Urban Sector Rehabilitation
    (Washington, DC, 2006-01) World Bank
    The Urban Sector Rehabilitation Project (URSP) consisted of a large program of infrastructure rehabilitation works and institutional reform activities covering 8 project towns - Arusha, Iringa, Morogoro, Mbeya, Moshi, Mwanza, Tabora and Tanga. Additional investments in Dodoma and Dar-essalaam were, in comparison, of limited scope and complexity. The project with a Credit of US$ 141.3 million equivalent was implemented by the government between 1997 and 2004. The project objectives were sustainable economic development and urban poverty alleviation through: (i) rehabilitation of basic infrastructure and expansion into high-priority, underserved areas; and (ii) improvement of urban local government management and financing capacity by (a) strengthening the financial, technical and overall operations of the urban local authorities through training and technical assistance; and (b) encouraging private sector and community involvement in urban services delivery and operation and maintenance.