Africa Region Findings & Good Practice Infobriefs

415 items available

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http://hdl.handle.net/10986/9389

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

Sub-Saharan Africa

Sub-Saharan Africa, home to more than 1 billion people, half of whom will be under 25 years old by 2050, is a diverse ...

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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.
Madagascar - Building Leadership and Management Capacity through the Rapid Results Approach

( 2008-06) Mastri, Lawrence

In 2002 Madagascar's new government under President Mark Ravolamana recognized the urgency of addressing the peoples' high expectations for concrete economic and social improvements. While it rushed to put the economy back on track and improve the quality of life, its vision and strategy for reform was no match for the realities on the ground. By the time the Ravolamanana government assumed power in 2002, GDP had declined by 13 percent, key public services were discontinued, and the poverty rate soared from 69 percent in 2001 to 80 percent. There was widespread joblessness and high inflation. Within the government, there was little capacity for policy planning or monitoring and evaluation in most sectors. Collaboration was weak, with no existing mechanism to allow for a joint ministerial response to problems that cut across sectors. In February 2005, when the government launched its first rapid results pilot, the goal was to mitigate the effects of a significant shortfall in rice production, importation, and distribution. The crisis was solved by a combination of policy-based and technical interventions. Rice production increased significantly in two of the four targeted regions when the rapid results approach (RRA) was applied. In the region of Boeny, production went from 2.5 tons per hectare in 2004 to 4 tons per hectare in 2005, and in the region of Menabe, it increased from 22,000 tons to 37,000 tons.
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.
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.
Tanzania - The Rural and Micro Financial Services Project

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2007-06) 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 reports on the Tanzania Rural and Micro Financial Services Project. The project was designed as a Learning and Innovation initiative (2000-2004) with support from an IDA credit of US$2 million. Its objectives were (i) the development of a common policy framework, based on internationally recognized best practices, for rural and microfinance initiatives in the country which would establish an enabling environment for rural and microfinance and increase the quality and returns of subsequent investments by the government agencies and other donors; (ii) increasing the level of knowledge and skills within the industry; and (iii) instituting a program of systematic tracking and analyzing of all related initiatives against a set of common criteria. This info brief gives information on the project impacts as well as lessons learned.
Ghana : The AIDS Response Project (GARFUND)

( 2007-05) Mohan, P. C.

The specific objectives of this project - financed through an IDA credit of $28.7 million (2002-05) - were to: provide resources that would enable the government to implement a balanced, diversified multi-sector response, engaging all relevant government sectors, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and grassroots initiatives; to expand contributions made by the Ministry of Health ( MOH ) engage civil society in the fight against AIDS; and finance eligible activities conducted by civil society organizations, including NGOs, community-based organizations (CBOs), faith-based organizations (FBOs), trade and professional associations, associations of people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHAs), districts, and line ministries to ensure a rapid multisector scaling-up of HIV prevention and care activities in all regions and at all administrative levels.
Cameroon - The National Agricultural Extension and Research Program Support Project

(Washington, DC, 2006-12) World Bank

The National Agricultural Extension and Research Program Support Project of Cameroon undertook to finance - jointly with the government, IFAD, and AfDB - implementation (2001-2004) of the national agricultural extension policy and agricultural research in Cameroon as follows : competitive research grants (IDA); linkages between agricultural research and extension (IFAD); and on-station agricultural research ( AfDB). While providing services to all farmers, the project sought to prioritize resource-poor farmers, and women farmers. This project was a follow-on intervention to the National Project for Agricultural Extension (PNVA).
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.
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.
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.