Africa Region Findings & Good Practice Infobriefs

415 items available

Permanent URI for this collection

https://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.

Items in this collection

Now showing 1 - 10 of 30

Bankable Assets : Africa Faces Many Obstacles in Developing Financial Systems
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2006-07) Christensen, Jakob; Gulde, Anne-Marie; Pattillo, Catherine
Sound, deep, and efficient financial sectors are vital for high sustained, private sector-led growth. But financial sectors in their current form pose major problems for the economies of sub Saharan Africa (SSA). Insufficient access to credit by small and medium- sized enterprises constrains their ability to expand and limits countries' growth potential. Most households cannot build formal savings, so their ability to escape poverty by investing in education or housing is limited.
Benin - Decentralized City Management
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2005-08) Mohan, P.C.
The objective of the First Decentralized City Management project - 2000-2004 (credit equivalent of US$25.5 million) was to provide better quality and more cost-effective basic services to urban residents, especially the poor, of Benin's 3 main cities - Cotonou, Porto- Novo and Parakou. The project was the first phase of a planned 2-phase Adaptable Program Loan (APL) and followed a previously successful project, the Urban Rehabilitation and Management project.
Sierra Leone - Community Reintegration and Rehabilitation
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2005-05) Mohan, P.C.
The objective of the project (Credit of US$25 million from the World Bank over the period 2000-2003) was to support the peace process and expedite the return of stability to Sierra Leone through the support of two initiatives - one that helped reintegrate demobilized combatants into social and economic life and the other that sought to restore basic socioeconomic infrastructure and services in the communities most affected by the war. The successful implementation of the project was also a precondition for any other Bank investment in Sierra Leone.
Madagascar - The Third Social Fund Project
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2005-03) Mohan, P.C.
The project ($ 15 million plus another $18 million - 1999-2003 ) had four objectives: (i) improved access of poor rural populations to social and economic infrastructure; (ii) on a pilot basis, empowerment of poor rural communities and/or communes to identify, organize, manage funds and implement sub-projects responsive to community needs; (iii) employment creation; and (iv) increased capacity of the private sector, local small contractors, artisans, skilled labor, and NGOs. Madagascar was struck by a series of cyclones that damaged basic infrastructure over the first three months of 2000. As part of the multi-pronged approach to assist the country in its rehabilitation efforts, in July 2000, the World Bank's Board approved a Supplemental Credit of $18 million - there was no change, however, in the project's original objectives.
Estimating Financing Needs for Local Services in Madagascar
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2004-06) Febgler, Wolfgang
This note presents the methodology and findings of a field study on the financing needs of Madagascar's communes-the country's lowest but most institutionally advanced level of subnational government. Following a first round of municipal elections in 1995, more than 1,500 communes are now formally responsible for maintaining basic administrative services and social and economic infrastructure, including local waste disposal and sanitation. In addition, communes are responsible for identifying and coordinating local investments and for supporting implementation of the national Poverty Reduction Strategy at the local level.
Mauritania : Urban Infrastructure and Pilot Decentralization Project
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2003-10) Mohan, P.C.
The project, implemented between 1996 and 2001 with World Bank funding of US$24 million had two components: (i) a program of poverty-oriented, labor-intensive works subprojects in participating cities, consisting of the rehabilitation or construction of urban infrastructure and community facilities; and (ii) capacity building ( pilot decentralization) at the municipal and national levels. The project capitalized on the work and experience gained by the country, the Region and the Bank through the earlier "highly satisfactory" Construction Capacity and Employment Project (CCEP). The project created approximately 46,281 man-months of temporary jobs- more than twice the projected number. There was a delegation of 125 contract management conventions covering 149 infrastructure construction and/or rehabilitation subprojects completed in 13 cities, which accounts for 85 percent of the urban population or 1.2 million inhabitants. Nouakchott and Nouadhibou consumed 40 percent of the investments, commensurate with their share of the urban population (37 percent). Of the 149 subprojects, 144 were fully executed (5 were under implementation in 2002) targeting the most under-serviced neighborhoods. Two-thirds of the subprojects were for educational and social infrastructure and contributed to the reduction of crowding, improvement of hygiene and security in schools, access to primary health, and, to a lesser extent, access to productive assets. Revenue-generating projects accounted for about 18 percent of the total coat of $15.4 million-these included the rehabilitation and/or construction of new markets, slaughterhouses, livestock enclosures, and taxi stations.
Kenya - Emergency Response to Rebuilding Flood-damaged Infrastructure
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2003-09) Gadek, Joseph
Between November 1997 and March 1998, heavy rains (the El Nino rains) dumped over 1.5 m on parts of Kenya. Many parts of the country were isolated for months and when the floods receded it was clear that the vital services-health delivery, transportation, and water supply-needed to be urgently restored. The World Bank was requested to assist in the massive recovery efforts. However, given that the Government of Kenya was slotted into a low case lending scenario by the Bank, it was only on an exceptional basis that the Bank agreed in July 1998 to approve the El Nino Emergency Credit for US$ 40.0 million (an additional US$ 37.5 million was reallocated from another existing credit towards the reconstruction of urban roads). Quarterly external audits were mandated in approving the credit. During the preparation of the El Nino Emergency Project (ENEP), it was agreed with the Government that the management of the project would be placed under a group of professionals hired from the private sector placed within the institutional structure of the Office of the President. The African Development Bank financed US$ 15 million equivalent and the Agence Francaise de Developpement an additional Euro 28 million of rehabilitation funds, all functioning under the same management structure and arrangements.
Cote d'Ivoire - Railway Rehabilitation
(Washington, DC, 2003-04) Mohan, P.C.
The project (1996-2001) objectives were to contribute to the revitalization of the railway transport service in Cote d'Ivoire in order to promote competitiveness and regional integration through the rehabilitation of the railway infrastructure and equipment assets. The credit of approximately US$18 million financed the following project components: infrastructure rehabilitation; equipment rehabilitation and acquisition; and works supervision and training. The project provided the necessary resources to finance physical investments on the railway track in support of the private concession of railway operations on the Abidjan-Ouagadougou-Kaya line jointly awarded by Cote d'Ivoire and Burkina Faso in 1993 and made effective in 1995. Despite the suspension of all Bank-assisted projects since October 30, 2000, almost all contracts and disbursements have been completed, 93 percent of the credit was disbursed when the project closed. The other partners were the Agence Francaise de Developpment (France), the European Investment Bank, the Administration Generale pour la cooperation et le Developpement (Belgium).
Gabon: Strengthening the Transport Sector
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2002-04) Mohan, P.C.
The project -Transport Sector Technical Assistance, later renamed Project for the Adjustment and Planning of the Urban and Transport Sectors - was conceived as an integral part of the government's overall macroeconomic strategy following the adjustment of the CFA franc. This strategy focused on reducing, rationalizing and improving the efficiency of the private sector, while promoting privatization and increasing competitiveness in the economy. In addition to supporting the government's macroeconomic policies, the project aimed to strengthen a broad range of capacities in the urban and transport sectors by encouraging the wide participation of government, public sector entities, the private sector and the international donor community in setting the sector strategies.
Export Processing Zones in Sub-Saharan Africa
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2001-10) Watson, Peter
Attempts in Africa to use Export Processing Zones (EPZ) as an instrument for economic development, with the exception of Mauritius, have been less successful then in countries in East Asia, Central America, and the Caribbean basin. This paper examines the literature on Export Processing and Free Trade Zones. Successful zones in Mauritius, Tangiers, Panama and the Dominican Republic, were visited and investors, developers and government officials in the zones were interviewed in order to determine what were the factors that resulted in their success. The paper concludes that there is substantial potential for African countries to benefit from export-oriented growth based on the development of EPZs. Any country attempting to develop an EPZ program will have to enlist the concerted and coordinated support of its development partners in the implementation of its program.