Economic Management and Social Policy Infrastructure 122 ,wsONALe4y 8,q,November 1998 a / , Xos Findings reports on ongoing operational, economic, and sector work carried out by the World Bank and its member govemments in the Africa Region. It is published periodically by the Knowledge and Leaming Center on behalf of the Region. The views expressed in Findings IVWOR L D BA N K l are those of the author/s and should not be attributed to the World Bank Group. Lessons from Africa's 22124 N AND Social Funds and Public Works and Employment Projects C ,) The concept of creating autono- Angola) and three urban works mous or semi-autonomous enti- projects (Senegal, Benin and ties to implement small-scale pro- Mauritania), and begins with two - 1 =jects more efficiently has spread pacesetting operations. The first, throughout Sub-Saharan Africa. Senegal's Public Works and Em- This review, Local Solutions to ployment Project, 1989 was de- Regional Problems: The Growth signed to address an urgent un- of Social Funds and Public Works employment situation in an inno- and Employment Projects in Sub- vative way and set up an imple- Saharan Africa, is the first at- menting agency with a commer- tempt to compare and draw cial, not-for profit status. Its lessons from ten years of African French acronym, agetip, became experience with these types of a standard term in West Africa. projects. The key point in the evo- The second, Zambia's Social Re- lution of these operations has covery Project, 1991, was de- been their transition from emer- signed bottom-up with a menu of gency, results-driven, socially and beneficiary options; it set up an ur economicallyjustified small-scale implementation unit under the projects to more permanent deliv- Ministry of Finance. ery systems for reaching the Next, operations in Benin and urban and rural poor. As the re- Angola introduced significant port emphasizes, a great deal has changes in institutional design been learned that can guide and and sustainability. In addition to motivate the next generation of building works, Benin's Urban projects, in Africa and elsewhere. Development Project of 1992 The evolution of these projects is began with long-term objectives. described flrst, followed by the Planning was done separately views of stakeholders, and ending from the works agency by a differ- with the lessons learned regard- ent agency. Municipal capacity ing institutional set-up and sus- building and revenue mobiliza- tainability. tion were introduced, and a bot- tom-up, community-based com- Pacesetting operations ponent was included. Angola's op- eration became the first social The review highlights three so- fund in Africa that was fully de- cial funds (Zambia, Eritrea and centralized from the start, with provincial offices created to ap- fits were significant, especial- and through other measures. prove projects and transfer funds ly in furniture making, cement In Burkina Faso, community for implementation. sales, trucking services, and development funds are supply- Mauritania's operation, mean- food vending. Through train- ing funding maLintenance for while, took municipal capacity ing courses, firms improved micro-projects. In Mali, micro- building' a step further by their capacity to prepare and project proposals have a main- strengthening local government manage micro-projects and to tenance component that re- through local resource mobiliza- deal with formal financial and quires beneficiaries to con- tion and introducing local invest- insurance institutions. tribute for three years of main- ment and maintenance plans. It Second, stakeholders reported tenance, even before works also introduced a municipal con- improved coordination be- begin. Stakeholders also sug- tract for a transparent and pub- tween the service providers gest that, to promote long- licly accountable agreement with (government agencies, the term sustainability and beneficiaries. donor community, and min- greater ownership, there Finally, Eritrea's innovation istries). In fact, coordination should be more emphasis on was to include social fund and was seen as much better than information, education, and works mechanisms into the same other development projects in communication programs, as project. It combines the bottom- the three countries, Benin, is typical in social funds. up approach with the top-down Burkina Faso and Mali. This Finally, end-users thought contracting of small and medium may be due to the delegated participation was inadequate. enterprises. This project was style of management that the Stakeholders acknowledged country-driven from the start and three agencies have devel- that the driving force was has developed into an important oped. Stakeholders also re- speed and efficiency at the ex- capacity-building tool for local ported that the use of several pense of long-term sustain- governments. agencies with specialized ability. But even in Benin's areas of interventions, such as project, which hLad two addi- Stakeholder views in Benin, allows more contact tional components (a bottom- with the target population. up community upgrading com- The review solicited views from One stakeholder pointed out ponent and EL municipal service funders and providers and that "competition breeds a strengthening one) stakehold- from those using the services, healthy and more productive ers held similar views. In all such as neighborhoods, districts, environment." As expected, countries, NGOS thought that and local governments. There coordination between the their services could be better were four clear messages. local population and works used to promote a more "bot- First, all groups reported high contractors was rated below tom-up" approarh and help impact on employment, in- average because the use of instil a maintenance culture come, and local capacity local labor was seen as very among beneficiaries. Munici- building. Jobs were created limited. palities agreed on the impact quickly, with unemployed Next, stakeholders did not of improved access to roads, urban males beneflting the think that enough attention drainage, markets, schools, most. Families in turn benefit- was given to the sustainability and health centers but often ed from the employment of the of micro-projects, because of felt neglected during the selec- male household heads, al- either technical design or con- tion and implemnentation of though job creation was most- struction quality, the capacity micro-projects and, hence, un- ly temporary. Groups repre- to manage facilities, insuffi- prepared to receive the micro- senting local government and cient recurrent funding for op- project when completed. In rural communities urged ERATION AND MANAGEMENT (O&M), conclusion, most stakehold- greater involvement of local or the lack of ownership on ers would like to see a contin- people and enterprises in se- the community side. Recur- uation of the "AGETIP-style" to lecting and implementing rent funding concerns are now build local infrastructure, but micro-projects. Stakeholders being answered by the cre- with greater participation by thought that the other bene- ation of maintenance funds local communities. Institutional issues erational tools for communities maintain micro-projects. Because and intermediaries. Application participation and ownership are The greatest challenge these op- forms, community-level imple- key to a bottom-up approach, they erations face is the reconcilia- mentation manuals, statutes, and are designed into all African social tion of short-term and long-term registration forms of project com- funds. However, with the excep- goals, especially between the mittees as well as contractual tion of Benin, bottom-up ap- pressure to complete projects agreements are not just paper- proaches were only introduced in and the time needed to ensure work - they are learning and ca- the second-generation works pro- ownership and sustainability. pacity building aids. jects, after the urgency period had The political expediency and the Although poverty-alleviation is passed. poverty reduction objectives are central to most social funds in A second aspect of sustainabili- also a challenge - the poor are Sub-Saharan Africa, they have so ty is with regard to solid o&M often geographically and socially far lacked effective targeting arrangements and the question of invisible and, therefore, not a pri- mechanisms. Part of the reason recurrent funding. While o&M re- ority. Until recently, the empha- for this seems to be the contradic- mains a cross-sector issue, sis has been on quick response tion between the demand-driven stronger support and long-term and disbursement, more than on approach and the micro-project commitment needs to be built into micro-project sustainability. selection strategy. Driven to show future works and social fund oper- Only one first-generation works results - and establish the ations. project, in Benin, included close agency's credibility - most social Appropriate technical stan- links with local govemmen. In funds have initially funded pro- dards for design, construction, fact, Benin was not named a "pub- jects in geographically accessible and supervision are essential for lic works" project but an "urban communities that already have or- micro-projects to last, without management" project, designed ganizational skills. By definition, which operations and mainte- around an AGETIP-type agency. the communities endowed with nance costs will increase. This Three social funds stand out for social capital and access to infor- issue seems to apply more to being closely linked with local or mation are in a better position to newer operations where there was district governments and decen- take advantage of social funds little capacity in the local con- tralized bodies: Zambia, Malawi, and, therefore, express demand struction and consulting industry. and Eritrea. Even if the link with for services better than the poorer, Second-generation projects are local government is built into the more isolated communities. faring better as systems become design, getting local government Finally, the lack of good target- internalized. personnel involved in the project ing mechanisms has had two con- The next issue concerns repli- cycle takes time, incentives, train- sequences: (a) social funds tend to cating the institutional setup in ing, and communication manage- support ministries that provide in- the same country and the form it ment. Most social funds are aiding frastructure, and thus become takes. There are already a few ex- this decentralization process. In less of a poverty alleviation mech- periences in Africa where a works addition, the consultative bodies anism; (b) social funds have be- and social fund exist side-by-side that approve social fund-initiated come de facto regional or local - Benin and Madagascar - but projects are really not able to play government planners as they have there are no instances of more a significant role. Consequently, gained influence in selecting than one AGETIP or more than one the relationship between local clients, micro-project locations, social fund existing side by side. government and the social fund is and interventions. There is now a second social fund often unclear and sometimes seen being planned in Benin and a sec- as a power game by the part- Sustainability of micro-projects ond works agency being planned ners." In the end, the social fund in Mali. In both cases, the ratio- holds the purse strings and can Sustainability affects both social nale is to introduce alternative act independently. funds and works projects, as well agencies and to specialize, so that The social funds most solidly as projects in speciflc sectors. the existing agencies are not committed to capacity building at First without participation and spread too thinly. the community level have shown ownership, beneficiary communi- The last question about sus- the importance of investing in op- ties will not value, use, or help tainability is whether the strategy itself, especially efficient procure- ment and contracting methods, Laura Frigenti andAlberto Harth should be extended to the public with Rumana Huque. 1998. Local sector across the board. Benin, Solutions to Regional Prob- Senegal, Mauritania, and Mali lems: The Growth of Social have introduced legislation to Funds and Public Works and replicate the procurement Employment Projects in Sub- arrangements for micro-projects Saharan Africa. Water and beyond the works agencies. Benin Urban 2 and Institutional and So- has gone even further by promot- cial Policy Divisions, Africa Re- ing a law that enables others to gion, World Bank, Washington enter into the delegated manage- D.C. For more information, please ment contracting fdeld, contact Laura Frigenti, Rm. J2- 141, World Bank, 1818 H Street, Washington, D.C. 20433. Tel. no.: (202) 4587229; e-mail address: Lfrigenti@worldbank.org Finding _____ r ln ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~. n ... ia..&;.;;.dd0 Findings would also be of interest to: Name = . . . e Institution________________________ sed to: Address _ _ _ __Editor, Fins : 0Knowld-X:?"t0 0 0:i0Btdt0aS i.g an Leari.g. 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