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 - 6 of 6

Decentralizing Infrastructure Services : Lessons from the East Asia Experience
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2007-02) Elisa Muzzini
Decentralization is the transfer of responsibilities from the central government to subnational agencies empowered to act as increasingly autonomous entities within their geographical and functional domains. In theory, decentralizing infrastructure services can deliver efficiency gains when service benefits accrue mainly to the local population-such as in water and sanitation, urban transit, and waste management. Subnational agencies are indeed better placed than the central government to tailor infrastructure services to the needs of local constituencies (allocative efficiency) and deliver them at lower costs (productive efficiency). In practice, the economic benefits of decentralized infrastructure services are by no means a given, as they are contingent upon effective coordination among tiers of governments (regional coordination) and accountability mechanisms for results achieved.
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.
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.
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$80.9 million, was implemented by the government over the period 2000-2004. The project was designed to scale up an earlier UN Capital Development Fund pilot to 30 districts (out of 56) so that policies and principles could be tested (and costed) on a larger scale and lessons learned used to develop national policy formulation within a sound fiscal framework. It had 4 objectives : (1) Test the feasibility of implementing constitutional and legal mandates with respect to decentralized service provision and devolution of the development budget through the provision of investment funds to the Local Governments; (2) Build the capacity of the Ministry of Local Government, the Local Government Finance Commission Secretariat, and a sub-set of the local governments for improved service delivery, accountability and transparency; (3) Test and institute alternative service delivery mechanisms through the private sector, beneficiary communities and other stakeholders in the Kampala City Council; (4) Monitor and evaluate project implementation for actual experience and good practices for formulating an appropriate strategy, implementation modalities, and phasing for eventual scaling-up, nationally, over time.
Tanzania - Urban Sector Rehabilitation
(Washington, DC, 2006-01) World Bank
The Urban Sector Rehabilitation Project (URSP) consisted of a large program of infrastructure rehabilitation works and institutional reform activities covering 8 project towns - Arusha, Iringa, Morogoro, Mbeya, Moshi, Mwanza, Tabora and Tanga. Additional investments in Dodoma and Dar-essalaam were, in comparison, of limited scope and complexity. The project with a Credit of US$ 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.
Village Immersion : Mandaka, Cameroon
(Washington, DC, 1997-10) World Bank
During the period May 19-31, 1997, three Bank staff, Connie Luff, Philippe Callier, and Mark Blackden, took part in a village immersion program. They stayed for two weeks in the village of Mandaka, Far North Province of Cameroon, about 80 km to the west of the Provincial capital of Maroua. The program was launched at the initiative of Nicholas Bennett, Senior Education planner at the Bank's resident mission in Yaounde. It was prepared and organized by Cooperative for American Relief Everywhere (CARE) Cameroon, an international non-governmental organization (NGO) with more than 18 years experience in the country, and which has undertaken many projects in the far north province.