Project Information Document - World Bank



General Comments

1. Emergency operation accepted will be processed under OP 8.50

2. The project is between financed between IDA and GOA, within the Priority Phase of the Program. No other donors involved. They are involved in financing the other activities include in the Priority Phase ( outside the Project).

3. Clean confusion between program and project

4. There is a need to introduce the Priority Phase of the Reconstruction Program and its link with the ECP

5. HI/AIDS in the Component A?

6. Keep the same name as in the identification AM for the various components ? or should we change everething as she is asking ?

Project Information Document AB847

|Project Name |Republic of Angola–Emergency Multisector Recovery Project |

|Region |Africa Regional Office |

|Sector |Multisectoral |

|Project I.D. |P083333 |

|Borrower(s) |Angola |

|Implementing Agency |To be determined |

|Environment Category |A B (are we sure this is what we want) should be B. We can in all cases take out reconstruction |

|Date PID Prepared |January 15, 2004 |

|Projected Appraisal Date |June 2004/July 2004 |

|Projected Board Date |July 2004 September 2004 |

1. The End of Conflict Circumstances of the Disaster ( generated by the Conflict)

The prospects for lasting peace 27-year civil war in Angola are now better than they have been for decadesis finally over, and the prospects for lasting peace now appear to be strong. (We need to be more positive) In April 2002 the representatives of the government and of União Nacional para Independência Total de Angola (UNITA) signed a ceasefire and peace agreement, ending a 27-year civil war, one of the longest in the world. No violations of the agreement have occurred to date and a return to civil conflict is unlikely. The reintegration of some 138,000 ex-combatants and their families is well underway with the assistance of UN agencies and the Bank-supported Emergency Demobilization and Reintegration Project approved by the Board in March 2003. Some 1.33 million war-displaced persons have already returned home (check see point 2).

The agreement creates a unique opportunity to stimulate growth and significantly reduce poverty. To consolidate peace and achieve national reconciliation, government has started to implement programs aimed at reestablishing order and security, addressing the needs of most vulnerable, stabilizing and revitalizing the economy, restoring essential social services, and reconstructing critical infrastructure, including roads, bridges, and railways.

2. Economic and Social Impact of the Conflict

Angola’s nearly 30 years of civil conflict have had devastating effects on the country’s economy, infrastructure, and citizen’s quality of life. While accurate data are lacking, it is estimated that over 1 million people may have been killed since the armed conflict began between rival groups following independence in 1975. The conflict also displaced about 4.3 million people, nearly one third of the country’s 13 million citizens. About 100,000 of these are unaccompanied children. Most of the displaced fled to Luanda, Lobito, and other coastal cities. They live in squalid conditions in overcrowded urban and semi-urban areas without functioning health and water and sanitation infrastructure and without any adequate social services. The potential for epidemics is high. It is also likely that the number of people infected by HIV/AIDS is rising rapidly due to the movement of people and lack of HIV/AIDS awareness. The situation is becoming even more complex as some 3 million (estimates of August 2003) internally displaced people are now returning to their provinces of origin and the needs for adequate social reintegration are becoming urgent and more important.

Conditions in the rural areas formerly under the control of UNITA are even worse than those of cities. In many areas, the recent drought conditions and the limited availability of seeds, fertilizers and other agricultural inputs have combined to create widespread food shortages. Many people in the worst affected provinces are still suffering from severe malnutrition and famine. The health situation in rural areas is extremely poor and alarming. Conflict has destroyed water and sanitation systems throughout the country; only 15 percent of rural dwellers have access to safe water. Health care services are nonexistent or inaccessible for the great majority of rural dwellers. Encouragingly, in areas that have been opened up to road traffic as security improves, living conditions appear to be getting better as humanitarian aid reaches previously isolated communities and food becomes more available.

Nearly three decades of conflict have left the nation’s infrastructure in shambles. The majority of roads and airstrips are impassable or insecure. Moreover, some 5–7 million landmines situated throughout the nation limit movement and threaten the lives and welfare of Angolans. The most affected provinces include Bié, Huambo, Moxico, Lunda Norte and Lunda Sul, Uige, Cuando Cubango and Malanje.

Poverty and social indicators. Angola ranks 164th out of 175 countries on UNDP’s Human Development Index (HDI) for 2003, and attaining the Millennium Development Goals is a distant dream. Per capita income totals about US$660 per year.[1] Over two-thirds of Angolans live on less than US$2 per day. Nearly one in four Angolans is extremely poor, surviving on less than US$0.75 a day. Angola’s economy needs to grow by about 7.3 percent a year just to keep the number of poor from increasing. Although available data indicate that urban poverty has worsen in recent years due to a large extent to the influx of migrants from rural areas fleeing insecurity, poverty is still deeper and more widespread in rural areas.

Angola’s social indicators are among the worst in the world. Life expectancy stands at 47 years. Malnutrition is acute; about 45 percent of children under age 5 suffer from stunting (low height-for-age) and 31 percent are underweight. One of six children born never reaches his or her fifth birthday. Malaria, respiratory infections, diarrhea diseases, measles, and cholera are the main causes of illness and death. Sleeping sickness has reemerged as a major killer in the northwest. Primary school enrollment is among the lowest in Africa; in the regions most affected by the war just 25 percent of children are enrolled in primary school. Only 27 percent of students who enter grade one complete grade four. The poor access to education has left 70 percent of adult men and 80 percent of women unable to read, write, or perform basic computations.

3. Strategy of the Government

The government’s overriding objectives for the next four years are to consolidate peace, promote national reconciliation, and improve security by extending state administration to all areas of the country; to bring rapid improvements in food security and living conditions for the most vulnerable and most war-affected groups, especially those suffering from malnutrition and disease; to create safe and hospitable conditions for the return of displaced people to their regions of origin; to stabilize the economy and to start rebuilding social services. These objectives will be achieved by delivering basic social services to both urban and rural dwellers; by improving transportation infrastructure to facilitate the free movement of people and goods; and by adopting measures to stimulate the rural economy, such as improving conditions for investment in agriculture, mining, and rural industries. The government is working closely with the World Bank and other multilateral and bilateral donors to achieve these goals. Angola’s oil and diamond wealth did not translate itself in substantial welfare improvements for the country’s population. The country economic memorandum (CEM), that the Bank is assisting to prepare, will naturally focus on policies to help Angola initiate a virtuous cycle in which mineral wealth would support, not undermine, development in the rest of the economy as well as poverty reduction. Broad-based, poverty-reducing economic growth can only be achieved if the country embarks on a policy-reform program that promotes economic diversification and social inclusiveness. The CEM will be mainly based on medium-term macroeconomic and fiscal adjustment, macroeconomic aspects of oil revenue management, the economics and governance of the diamond sector, the growth-inequality-poverty relationship, trade, structural reforms and private sector development and rural development and agricultural growth.

The government recognizes that providing adequate social services will take time. It plans to follow a gradual and phased approach to providing services, focusing first on meeting the most urgent needs of the population with minimally-acceptable levels of service, while starting the rehabilitation of infrastructure that will allow the provision of higher levels of service. Restoration of services will also be carefully coordinated with investments in transport and clearance of mines.

The government is in the process of finalizing a poverty reduction strategy for 2003–07 (Estratégia de Combate a Pobreza or ECP) through consultation with a wide range of stakeholders throughout the country. The ECP specifies actions that the government and other stakeholders will take to address Angola’s most immediate needs. The central element of the US$3 billion government program is the first ‘priority’ phase of the Multisector Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Program (estimated at about US$2 billion) Emergency Multisector Recovery Project (EMRP) that the government prepared with technical assistance from the Bank. With its own resources the government is already implementing a large number of activities named in the ECP, principally in the social sectors. The government has submitted the draft ECP to the development partners for support. . The proposed project (to be processed as an emergency operation under OP/BP 8.50) supports selected activities of the priority phase of the government’s multisector rehabilitation and reconstruction program. A successfully implemented priority phase of the rehabilitation and reconstruction program is considered critical for Angola’s economic recovery and stability.

The government is conducting policy dialogue with the IMF. Strengthened governance and transparency, improved fiscal and monetary policies, and improved fiscal and external debt data are important steps toward a staff-monitored program. The Bank is working in close collaboration with the Fund in all these areas. Successful completion of a staff-monitored program could be the basis for an eventual Fund-supported program.

4. Response of the International Community

During most of the years of civil conflict development partners limited their assistance to Angola to provision of humanitarian aid, basic education and health services, assistance to combat HIV/AIDS, clean water and sanitation services, support for smallholder agriculture, assistance for demining, and technical assistance for activities such as improving economic management and promoting good governance and democracy. Donors increased their support following the signing of the Lusaka protocol in 1994, but scaled back their assistance when the peace agreement subsequently failed to hold. Since the signing of the recent peace agreement in 2002 development partners have resumed their support for economic recovery and development of Angola. United Nations agencies are helping the government with a variety of programs designed to create conditions for lasting peace, including programs to clear mines, resettle war-displaced persons, and reintegrate ex-combatants into civilian life; health, agriculture, and nutrition programs; and education and training services. The African Development Bank following the clearance of arrears in 2001 is supporting basic education, health, agriculture, fisheries, and basic infrastructure. The European Commission is focusing on activities to further the peace process, promote good governance and development of civil society, and improve delivering of social services and food security. Bilateral donors, including the United States, Spain, Italy, Portugal, France, Sweden, Norway, the United Kingdom, and the Netherlands are supporting programs to provide health and nutrition services, support for demining, safe drinking water supplies, support for agriculture, macroeconomic management and statistical capacity building. A Consultative Group meeting, the main coordinating forum for donor activities, has not been held for Angola since the country joined the Bank in 1989.

Before going for a greater support to Angola, the donors are waiting to see more signs on the reforms. In particular they are waiting for a PRSP; an SMP with the IMF which would perforce have to include real progress on transparency and actions against corruption, for example, (a) publishing the final report on the oil diagnostic study; (b) implementing the consultants' recommendations; and (c) actively using the study's oil revenue (forecasting) model, and a credible cash flow statement from the government showing how much of government’s own resources will be put into the reconstruction effort.

5. Bank Response and Strategy

During the 1990s the Bank approved eleven projects for Angola, all in support of peace initiatives that ultimately disintegrated. In mid-1999 the Bank scaled back its assistance program to Angola in response to unstable economic conditions, the resumption of fighting, a shrinking portfolio and poor prospects for new lending. It approved one project in 2000, the Second Social Action Fund, which is rated satisfactory.

The Bank started to reengage with Angola with the signing of the 2002 peace accords. It presented its Transitional Support Strategy for Angola in March 2003, which was designed to support Angola’s complex transition from a war-torn to a stable, democratic, prosperous society. Technical assistance to the government to help prepare the priority phase of the multisector rehabilitation and reconstruction program (of which the proposed project forms a part) was a central elementpart of the TSS. The present TSS is on track and will run out in June 2004. (was it?) The proposed project will form a central element of the Bank’s next TSS, which will be presented together with the proposed project.

The proposed project will be anchored in Angola’s ECP. The government has already started implementing programs with its own and so far limited donor resources, focusing on delivering education and health services, promoting community development, and strengthening social safety nets. The Bank and other partners have approved in June 2003 the Third Social Action Fund Project (US$120 million, of which IDA is contributing US$55 million) (part of the priority phase of the multisector rehabilitation and reconstruction program), which will fund community development and social protection activities.

The proposed project will operate in six of Angola’s most war-affected provinces, as agreed between the Bank and the government. These are Bié, Moxico, Kuanza Norte, Luanda, Uige and Malange. In addition to being among the most affected by the war, these provinces also have been much more deprived of public services than others. They contain about 58 percent of Angola’s population and are expected to receive some 30 percent of the internally displaced people returning home.

The proposed program project comprises four components: (a) rural development and delivery of health and education services, (b) reconstruction and rehabilitation of critical infrastructure (transportation, roads and bridges, water supply, electricity, and urban infrastructure); (c) development of sector strategies for the medium and long terms and strengthening of human and institutional capacities; and (e) management, monitoring and evaluation of the implementation of the project. The activities of the proposed project are drawn from the priority phase of the multisector rehabilitation and reconstruction program in consultation with various sector ministries.

About 222 percent of the program’s project’s resources are for delivery of health services care, and education, and activities aimed at preventing the spread of HIV/AIDS (no, this is another project….reinsertion and social protection). This will help address people’s most urgent needs and lay the foundations for longer-term programs. About 5 percent of resources would directly support rural development, mainly through seed multiplication and distribution and improvement of rural feeder roads to help farmers obtain critical inputs and market their outputs. Another 27 percent of the projectgram’s resources are for rehabilitation of transportation infrastructure, with the priority given to roads and bridges. Reestablishing transportation links is vital to stabilize the economy and promote economic recovery including in the rural areas, and to ensure that the inputs needed for reconstruction of infrastructure in other sectors can be delivered on time and at reasonable cost. About 39 percent of the resources are for rehabilitation of electricity and water supply systems, for strengthening of solid waste management services, and for stabilization of urban structures against natural disasters. This will help improve health of the population, and stimulate growth of enterprises. Another 4 percent is for capacity building and analytical and advisory services. Finally, 3 percent is allocated to project management and preparation of the next phase.

6. Rationale for Bank Involvement

Angola is the seventh largest country in Africa. It is a resource rich, policy poor LICUS country. Its civil conflict and its role in the conflicts of its neighbors have contributed to instability in the entire region. Moreover, with its vast petroleum, mineral, and other natural resources Angola could potentially be one of Africa’s richest countries. Attaining this potential requires peace and good governance.

The peace agreement offers Angola an opportunity to rebuild its shattered economy and to establish a stable, democratic, and just society. The World Bank Group will play a critical role in helping Angola to recover and develop by providing substantial financial resources for rehabilitation and delivery of social services. Perhaps more importantly, it will also help build capacity of both the government and nongovernmental organizations; support efforts to establish the policy, legal and regulatory frameworks that promote good governance and economic growth; and formulate the economic and sector strategies for a medium and long-term development program. No other institution has the resources, know-how and experience that the Bank has to prepare, implement, and supervise such a large, complex projectgram as the Emergency Multisector Recovery Project. The large experience of the Bank in post-conflict countries, in emergency multi-sector reconstruction programs and in Angola itself on CDD and resettlement will be drawn upon. Bank involvement will also help guarantee a focus on reducing poverty.

Bank involvement will also help in mobilizing resources from other donors and in coordinating the various inputs and contributions. Coordination is essential to ensure coherence of the overall program and the smooth implementation of the project. Both the government and other donors have asked the Bank to take this responsibility. This is consistent with the expected Bank role and its value added within the LICUS approach.

7. Project Description

Objectives (see Paragraph 25 of the AM)

This needs to be links to the ECP and the objectives of the Priority Phase of the Program

The overall purpose of the proposed project is to help to build the foundation for long-term of reconstruction, economic rehabilitation, and the reestablishment of state administration throughout the country. The specific objectives of the project are to assist the government to (a) improve rural incomes and enhance food security, especially in the provinces most affected by the conflict; (b) deliver essential education and health services, and help prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS (NO), (c) restore critical transportation links, and (d) strengthen capacity of government at all levels to formulate, prepare, implement, and manage medium and long-term development programs. These objectives are consistent with those of the ECP. They are also consistent with those of the priority phase of the government’s multi-sector rehabilitation and reconstruction program.

Targeted population

Provinces agreed upon with GOA

Estimated costs and financing

The overall cost of the proposed projectgram is estimated to be about US$324 million, of which IDA will finance about US$205 million (63 percent). and tThe Ggovernment will finance about US$ 109 million (34 percent), and other co-financiers (EU, UNDP/UNCDF, French Cooperation) about US$10 million . This proposed IDA-financed project is part of the overall priority phase of the multi-sector rehabilitation and reconstruction program. The priority phase (estimated at some $2 billion) is anchored in the ECP. The proposed project is the contribution of the Bank to the priority phase, and it is expected that other donors will subsequently follow the Bank in supporting and financing the overall priority phase of the multi-sector rehabilitation and reconstruction program. Other multilateral donors, bilateral donors and the government will finance the remainder.

Table 1 Emergency Multisector Recovery Project Financing Plan

|Source |Millions US$ |

|IDA |205 |

|Government of the Republic of Angola |109 |

|Other co-financiers (EU, UNDP/UNCDF, French Cooperation) |10 |

|Total |324 |

Components

The proposed project comprises four components: (a) rural development and delivery of social services and (subproject A); (b) reconstruction and rehabilitation of critical infrastructure (the railways, roads and bridges, electricity, water supply, and urban infrastructure) (subproject B); (c) capacity building, institutional strengthening and sectors development strategies; and (d) management and monitoring of the project and the program and preparation of the next phase.

Component A: Rural development and delivery of social services. (keep the name and restructure)This component will finance support for rural development, and delivery of health and education services. The strategy for these sectors is to bring services to the most war-affected provinces―where delivery of services has been extremely poor―and to exploit synergies between interventions in rural development, health services, education, and water and sanitation.

The rural development subcomponent will finance activities designed to (a) help small farmers to restart their agricultural production by supporting the production of basic and prebasic seeds and distribution of seeds and planting materials; (b) facilitate marketing by rehabilitating some 800 kilometers of rural roads; (c) improve the knowledge base of rural livelihood systems by undertaking strategic studies, including the development of a strategy for involving producer organizations with rural road maintenance; and (d) build capacity. Activities will be focused on two provinces, Malanje and Bié, because these provinces are major producers of cassava and maize, basic staples for Angolans.

The health services subcomponent will assist the government to (a) increase access to and use of maternal and child health services and increase access to treatment and prevention of common illnesses by rehabilitating health posts and health centers; (b) improve the quality of services through training of health providers and through provision of essential medicines and supplies; (c) complement and strengthen programs (such as the HAMSET) to prevent and treat HIV/AIDS and sexually transmitted diseases; and (d) strengthen the government agencies involved with health services by strengthening the capacity of municipal and provincial health teams and supporting the review of health services policy. Participating provinces include Malanje, Moxico, Bié and Kuanza Norte, underserved provinces with large numbers of war-affected people. Studies, training, and provision of essential drugs will take place throughout the country.

The education subcomponent will support the government to (a) increase access to basic education by constructing and furnishing about 1,165 new classrooms (accommodating 93,000 students); (b) improve the quality of education by providing textbooks and other school supplies and equipment and training and retraining courses for new and experienced teachers; and (c) strengthen institutional capacity by building capacity of administration and management at all levels and improving data collection, analysis, evaluation, and planning. Participating provinces include Malanje, Moxico, Uige, Bié, and Kuanza Norte.

Component B: Priority rehabilitation Rehabilitation of critical infrastructure. This component will finance the rehabilitation of critical transportation infrastructure, electricity services, water supplies, and urban infrastructure. It comprises five subcomponents: transportation, roads, electricity, water supply, and urban services and infrastructure. On transport I would include a few words on GOA’s strategy The transportation subcomponent will finance the rehabilitation of some rail links between Kuito and Luena (408 kilometers) and institutional reforms. The roads subcomponent will finance the rehabilitation of about 285 kilometer of high-traffic roads and bridges linking Caxito with Uige (161 kilometers), and Lucala with Malange (123 kilometers). Activities under both the transportation and roads subcomponents support the government’s strategy for transportation, which is to link the two main ports (Luanda and Lobito) to the interior rail and road inner “strategic loop” connecting Luanda, Uige, Malange, Saurimo, Luena, Kuito, Huambo, Benguela, and Lobito, covering the provinces of Luanda, Kwanza Norte, Uige, Malange, Moxito and Bié. The electricity subcomponent will finance rehabilitation of the mini hydroelectric plants of Cunje 1, and rehabilitation of medium and low voltage distribution systems in major cities (N’dalantando, Uige, Malanje, Luena, Kuito and Luanda). It will also finance studies aimed at improving the institutional framework of the sector. The water supply subcomponent will support rehabilitation of water works in Luanda, in other urban areas in Bié, Malange, Kwanza Norte, and in rural areas of Moxico. The urban services and infrastructure subcomponent will finance institutional strengthening for solid waste management in Luanda and in provincial capitals most affected by the war, emergency repairs to the sewage system of Luanda, and studies and equipment to control erosion in selected provincial capitals at risk of natural disaster.

Component C: Capacity building, institutional strengthening, and development of the medium and long term sector development strategies, capacity building and institutional reform. This component will finance technical assistance for sector ministries and agencies; training programs; and preparation of the strategies for the key sectors: agriculture, education, electricity, health, transportation (covering all modes), water and sanitation. It will also finance measures to strengthen local capacity in preparation for decentralization (pilot trials are proposed under project financing to test approaches to decentralization and strengthening capacity of local institutions). Finally, this component will finance the principal studies and preparatory activities for future investment programs.

Component D: Management and monitoring of the project and preparation of the next ‘consolidation’ phase. This component will finance project management, and monitoring and evaluation of the implementation of the project. This will involve technical assistance, expertise, consultant services, operating costs, logistical support and equipment. The component will also finance the expertise and support needed to update the national demining strategy and action plan. It will also finance specific demining actions that will allow the project-supported rural development and infrastructure investments to move forward. The demining actions will be monitored as part of a social and environmental management plan (also financed under this component). Finally, this component will finance studies and preparatory activities for the next phase of the government program.

Table 2 Emergency Multisector Recovery Project Costs

[pic]

Please make names in the tables consistent with the names in the section above. Should be the opposite

Table 3 IDA Contributions to the Project

[pic]

8. Implementation Arrangements

Project implementation period. The proposed IDA-financed project is part of the overall priority phase of the multisector rehabilitation and reconstruction program, which is anchored in the ECP. The project is expected to take place over three years and a half, (Januaryuly 1, 20045–June 30, 2008 2008December 31, 2007).

Capacity of the government to execute the program and project. Capacity of the government in Angola to execute the program and the project of such scope and magnitude in accordance with Bank procedures is extremely weak. Current regulations and procedures are not always consistent with Bank requirements. The recent country procurement assessment review, carried out in April 2002, revealed major problems (transparency, enforcement and lack of capacity) in the procurement processes of IDA-financed projects. The implementation arrangements for the project will be designed to compensate for government’s weaknesses and to strengthen its capacity to implement future development projects.

Program implementation and management structure

Program oversight. An inter ministerial steering committee, chaired by the Minister of Planning and comprising ministers (or their delegates) of finance and sectoral ministries involved with the project will be responsible for overall project oversight. A coordination unit will be set up at the Ministry of Planning responsible for overall monitoring of the project implementation. The project will finance technical assistance to strengthen the Ministry of Planning and the coordination unit.

Project management. Given the urgent nature of the proposed project, the large number of activities to be completed within a short time frame, and the limited capacities of the ministries and other public entities, several options are being considered for the institutional arrangements for the project execution. These are based on the main implementation principles of: (a) achieving quick disbursement in an emergency situation, (b) reaching multisectoral objectives, and (c) maintaining absolute transparency. Discussions with the government are underway and several alternatives are being analyzed. It is expected that the appropriate implementation arrangements will be identified by appraisal. Although agreement between the Bank and the government has not yet been reached, one option is to consider the proposed project as two subprojects each of which may be executed separately (under two different government entities). These would be subproject A (rural development and delivery of social services) and Subproject B (reconstruction and rehabilitation of critical infrastructure). Each subproject would have its own financial management system and procurement unit.No need at this stage

Procurement arrangements

Procurement. Particular attention will be given to procurement arrangements for the proposed EMRP to ensure that the emergency project is executed rapidly, transparently, and efficiently. Consultant services, works and equipment to be financed by IDA will be procured according to World Bank procurement guidelines, taking into account the project’s large size, its quick implementation period, and the need for complete, unquestionable transparency of operation and implementation.

The government will prepare a detailed project implementation plan covering the implementation plans of both subprojects, which will be updated and finalized prior to project launch. The detailed procurement plans for the first eighteen months of project execution are expected to be prepared for both subprojects prior to effectiveness of the proposed IDA Credit. Audits of procurement and disbursement of funds of the government and IDA will be undertaken at regular intervals by internal and external auditors.

Financial management and audits

Financial management. The financial managers of the implementation units will have the overall responsibility for management of funds, including managing the special accounts of the government and the World Bank, recording and maintaining accounting documentation, and periodically reporting all expenditures for this component. A World Bank financial management specialist will be part of the next project preparation mission to assess with the government the existing situation and agree on a financial management action plan. The government will adopt financial and administrative manuals for the implementation units, satisfactory to IDA.

External audits. The government will recruit external auditors under terms of reference (and short list of audit firms) acceptable to IDA. Financial statements of the implementation units and/or project accounts will be audited every year and include separate statements for the project operations once the project becomes effective. Audit reports would be submitted to IDA within four months after the end of each semester.

Special Account. It is anticipated that the project will have two special accounts, one for activities financed by IDA under subproject A and one for activities financed by IDA under subproject B. These special accounts, opened in a commercial bank acceptable to IDA, will be operated in accordance with the Bank’s operational guidelines.

Monitoring and evaluation

Reviews. In addition to intensive supervision by the Bank staff, annual reviews by the Bank, together with the government and the other involved parties to assess progress in implementing the agreed activities will be carried out every six months. This will be part of the donor coordination process. The steering committee (chaired by the Minister of Planning) through the implementation units (still to be defined) will be responsible for preparing the necessary documentation for the reviews, and planning the review meetings. During the first reviews, special attention will be paid to assessing the distribution of the donors’ support to the priority phase of the program and project activities throughout the targeted provinces to eventually reorient some activities if needed.

Donor coordination

All development partners supporting the implementation of the government’s programs recognize the importance of establishing appropriate mechanisms for coordinating their inputs and contributions. The Bank is expected to take the lead in this and in mobilizing the resources for parallel financing of the priority phase of the multisector rehabilitation and reconstruction program. Good coordination will help to direct assistance to priority needs in a timely manner, to prevent gaps or overlaps, to ensure sustainable budget expenditure planning, and to reinforce their contribution to the policy dialogue. The government has already suggested that all jointly undertake preparation, appraisal, supervision missions, semiannual and midterm reviews and, as much as possible, harmonize procedures for procurement, accounting, financial management, auditing, monitoring and evaluation and reporting . The proposed project would be IDA’s contribution to the multi-donor funded priority phase of the reconstruction program.

9. Social and Environmental Safeguard Policies

The project is expected to be classified as environmental category B because no subprojects are expected to have significant environmental impacts. The project will support the rehabilitation of existing infrastructure (railways, roads, bridges, rural tracks, water supply systems, central electricity stations and power transmission lines, and urban erosion control systems). No new construction will take place. An environmental analysis of all activities to be implemented under the EMRP must be completed to the satisfaction of IDA within six months of the date of effectiveness of the IDA credit. The terms of reference for this environmental analysis will be discussed and finalized during IDA’s appraisal mission once the activities to be undertaken are more precisely defined.

Because the project is multisectoral and not all the environmental characteristics of subprojects are known in sufficient detail at this time, a programmatic process or a strategic approach for environmental and social assessment (including screening and categorization, preparation, public consultation, disclosure, review, approval and monitoring) will be put into place and implemented over the life of the project. Given uncertainties regarding the location of some activities, and the complexity of Angola’s environmental and social situation, this approach is designed to ensure that the selection, design and implementation of all activities comply with World Bank safeguard policies.

Because local capacity for environmental and social management is currently weak, it is anticipated that an environmental consulting firm will be engaged for a period of three years to manage and oversee the environmental and social management process, while providing institutional strengthening and on-the-job training services throughout the project period. This firm will work closely with the Ministry of Planning and the implementation units, the Bank, and the ministries and agencies concerned to develop procedures that will improve activity quality and sustainability through compliance with World Bank safeguard policies, while at the same time, being time and cost-efficient, so as to facilitate subproject planning, approval and implementation.

10. Benefits and Risks

Benefits. The proposed project will provide several important benefits. Most importantly, it will help prevent the further deterioration of health and loss of life of people who are living in extreme poverty by increasing food security, delivering health care and other basic services, restoring water and energy supply services, and improving public health conditions. It will help revive the economy by bringing down the costs of transportation, which will increase the competitiveness of goods. It will help to reintegrate the country by reestablishing transportation links between the country’s provinces. It will help to reduce poverty among both agricultural producers and consumers by stimulating agricultural production and reducing costs and time of transporting food from producers to markets. Over the medium and longer terms, through capacity building, it will benefit the Angolan people by helping to create an improved legal and regulatory framework and more stable and effective institutions— critical conditions for better governance. Finally, it will help lay the groundwork for future policy and institutional reforms and a future investment program for the country’s development.

Risks. The risks to the project are high. The program’s and project’s size and complexity coupled with the macroeconomic constraints of Angola mean that the development, safeguard, financial, and fiduciary risks are high. Therefore IDA will work closely with the government and the development partners to ensure the risks are identified and mitigated appropriately. The major risks are: (a) the peace process fails and conflict renews; (b) little progress is made in establishing a stable macroeconomic framework; (c) inadequate progress is made in strengthening governance and transparency, (d) lack of capacity that impedes timely project implementation; and (e) important financing gap for the priority phase of the rehabilitation and reconstruction program remains unfilled.

Exit strategy. If progress implementing the peace accords andin ensuring stable, transparent government with broad-based support is unsatisfactory, IDA, in close consultation with other development partners and civil society, will review its activities and consider restructuring, scaling back, or suspending its program. To be reworked

For information, please contact:

The InfoShop

The World Bank

1818 H Street, NW

Washington, DC 20433

Telephone: (202) 458-5454

Fax: (202) 522-1500

Task Manager

Abdelmoula Ghzala

Note: This is information on an evolving project. Certain components may not be necessarily included in the final project.

-----------------------

[1] Calculated using the World Bank Atlas method.

................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download