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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    Zambia - Social Investment Fund Project
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2008-07) Mastri, Lawrence
    The Zambia Social Investment Fund (ZAMSIF) is part of a two phase program (over 10 years) intended to support two of the objectives outlined in the Government of Zambia's (GRZ) National Poverty Reduction Strategic Framework & Action Plan (1999-2004). The specific project objectives were to (i) achieve sustainable improved availability and use of quality basic social services by beneficiary communities and specific vulnerable groups; (ii) contribute to the building of capacity for improved local governance; and (iii) strengthen the capacity to provide timely information on poverty and social conditions and facilitate its use in policy making.
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    Multi-Dimensional Results Measurement in CDD Projects : Experiences from the Malawi, Tanzania, and Uganda Social Action Funds
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2007-12) Pidatala, Krishna ; Lenneiye, Nginya Mungai
    In the last decade, Malawi, Tanzania, and Uganda have used the Community-Driven Development (CDD) approach to implement projects that exhibit multi-sectoral linkages, complex institutional structures and implementation processes, creative tension between the supply and demand sides, and convergence at the Local Government Authority (LGA) level in environments compounded by the pace of decentralization. The projects have broadened the issue of results focus from the measurement of a few input-output indicators to include intermediate outcomes (which measure beneficiaries potentially reached by outputs produced by the projects). In the process, these projects have been able to scale up from 'isolated boutique-type projects' to a mass production of outputs through participatory decision-making, local capacity development, and community control of resources. At the national level, the projects have contributed to: (a) poverty reduction, (b) improved social welfare, and (c) improved transparency and accountability.
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    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.
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    The Tanzania Second Social Action Fund (TASAF II) : Knowledge Sharing and Learning for Better Delivery of Results
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2007-11) Ida , Manjalo
    This report is currently implementing the second phase of the Tanzania Social Action Fund, known as TASAF II. The main objective of TASAF II is to empower communities to access opportunities so that they can request, implement, and monitor sub-projects that contribute to improved livelihoods that are linked to indicator targets of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) as stipulated in the National Strategy for Growth and Reduction of Poverty, popularly known by its Kiswahili acronym MKUKUTA. One major challenge of delivering TASAF II is its expanded mandate and full mainstreaming into local government authorities (LGA) operations. LGAs had to be provided with the opportunity to internalize an objective assessment achievements and challenges observed during the implementation of TASAF I, through the sub-project cycle. This would provide opportunity for the joining LGAs to learn from the experiences of TASAF I, thus create space and environment for efficient and cost-effective delivery of TASAF II.
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    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.
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    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.
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    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.
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    Senegal : The National Rural Infrastructure Project (NRIP)
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2007-01) Mohan, P.C.
    The objectives of the project - a credit of US$ 28.5 million equivalent over the period 2001-05 - were to: (i) improve decentralized local government and capacity; (ii) establish participatory and decentralized mechanisms for selecting, funding and implementing rural community investment programs; (iii) strengthen national institutions supporting decentralization; and (iv) implement basic infrastructure in a selected number of rural communities. The project was designed as an Adaptable Program of Lending (APL) to support a three-phase program over a 12-year period. The first 4-year period would be used to test and establish mechanisms for sustainable decentralized infrastructure planning and implementation, strengthen the capacity of rural communities to operate and maintain investments and reinforce national institutions responsible for decentralization. The first phase was also to include a program to improve intra-rural community roads and to test maintenance strategies.
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    Ghana : The Village Infrastructure Project
    (Washington, DC, 2006-09) World Bank
    The project, with an IDA credit of US$30 million, and a total of $60 million was implemented by the government between 1998 and 2004. It was jointly financed by KFW $7m; IFAD, $10; GoG $7.1m; District Assemblies $3.0m and beneficiaries $2.9m. Its main objective was to support the government's efforts to reduce poverty and enhance the quality of life of the rural poor through the increased transfer of technical and financial resources for the development of basic village-level infrastructure that could be maintained by the beneficiaries. It also supported the capacity building of District Assemblies to better plan and manage these investments. The project had 4 components: (i) Rural water infrastructure; (ii) Rural transport infrastructure; (iii) Rural post-harvest infrastructure; and (iv) Institutional strengthening.
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    Uganda : Local Government Development Program
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2006-07) Mohan, P. C.
    The Uganda Local Government Development Program, with a credit equivalent to US$80.9 million, was implemented by the government over the period 2000-2004. The project was designed to scale up an earlier UN Capital Development Fund pilot to 30 districts (out of 56) so that policies and principles could be tested (and costed) on a larger scale and lessons learned used to develop national policy formulation within a sound fiscal framework. It had 4 objectives : (1) Test the feasibility of implementing constitutional and legal mandates with respect to decentralized service provision and devolution of the development budget through the provision of investment funds to the Local Governments; (2) Build the capacity of the Ministry of Local Government, the Local Government Finance Commission Secretariat, and a sub-set of the local governments for improved service delivery, accountability and transparency; (3) Test and institute alternative service delivery mechanisms through the private sector, beneficiary communities and other stakeholders in the Kampala City Council; (4) Monitor and evaluate project implementation for actual experience and good practices for formulating an appropriate strategy, implementation modalities, and phasing for eventual scaling-up, nationally, over time.