ISDS THE WORLD BANK GROUP AWorld Freo of Poverty InfoShop Report No AC33 Integrated Safeguards Data Sheet (Initial) Date ISDS Prepared/Updated: 04/18/2003 Section I - Basic Information A. Basic Pro ect Data Country: AFGHANISTAN Project ID: P082472 Project: National Emergency Employment Program - Task Team Leader: Amer Zafar Durrani Rural Roads Authorized to Appraise Date: April 18, 2003 IBRD Amount ($m): Bank Approval: June 24, 2003 IDA Amount ($m): 12.00 IDA GRANT FOR POST-CONFLICT: 30 Managing Unit: SASEI Sector: Other social services (50%); Roads and Lending Instrument: Emergency Recovery Loan (ERL) highways (50%) Status: Lending Theme: Other social protection and risk management (P); Rural non-farm income generation (S); Conflict prevention and post-conflict reconstruction (S) I.A.2. Project Objectives: The development objective of the proposed National Emergency Employment Program - Rural Roads project is to contribute to rural poverty reduction and to facilitate economic and social recovery of Afghanistan. I.A.3. Project Description: The project will comprise two components: i) labor intensive rural roads sub-projects and ii) technical assistance to support management of the project and the overall national emergency employment program (NEEP). Component 1: Labor Intensive Rural Roads The project will finance sub-projects for labor intensive maintenance and rehabilitation of roads-primarily secondary and tertiary roads. These sub-projects will be spread over all the 32 provinces, and will expand the reach and supplement the on-going projects financing NEEP. Component 2: Technical Assistance for NEEP The technical assistance to NEEP will involve building the capacity of the MRRD to establish and operate a National Program Coordination Unit sufficient to manage the overall program including this project. The TA will fund consultant's services, incremental operating costs, some works (office building 2 ISDS rehabilitation/refurnishing) and goods, for the NEEP. Activities currently being proposed for funding include the development of the NEEP framework with the various stakeholder ministries, development of national guidelines, and a national data-base/MIS for NEEP, assistance with the national vulnerability assessment, and preparation of a monitoring and evaluation system that will include social and environmental indicators ancl a financial management system for NEEP including this project. The government has developed a draft strategy document for NEEP. This component will support the Government's entire NEEP. I.A.4. Project Location: (Geographic location, information about the key environmental and social characteristics of the area and population likely to be affected, and proximity to any protected areas, or sites or critical natural habitats, or any other culturally or socially sensitive areas.) The project is a national project. The public works program will cover all provinces, and will cease functioning at the end of two years or less since it's purpose is to provide short-term emergency employment. B. Check Environmtental Classification: B (Partial Assessment) Comments. C. Safeguard Policies Triggered Policy Applicability Environmental Assessment (OP/BP/GP 4.01) * Yes O No 0 TBD Natural Habitats (OP/BP/GP 4.04) O Yes * No 0 TBD Forestry (OP/GP 4.36) OYes * No O TBD Pest Management (OP 4.09) 0 OYes * No O TBD Cultural Property (OPN 11.03) * Yes ONo O TBD Indigenous Peoples (OD 4 20) * Yes O No O TBD Involuntary Resettlement (OP/BP 4.12) 0 Yes * No 0 TBD Safety of Dams (OP/BP 4.37) O Yes * No O TBD Projects in International Waterways (OP/BP/GP 7.50) 0 Yes 0 No 0 TBD Projects in Disputed Areas (OP/BP/GP 7.60)* 0 Yes 0 No 0 TBD *By supporting the proposed project, the Bank does not intend to prejudice the final determination of the parties' claims on the disputed areas Section II - Key Safeguard Issues and Their Management D. Summary of Key Safeguard Issues. Please fill in all relevant questions. Ifinformation is not available, describe steps to be taken to obtain necessary data II.D.la. Describe any safeguard issues and impacts associated with the proposed project. Identify and describe any potential large scale, significant and/or irreversible impacts. No significant environmental impacts are anticipated. The Public Works Program only involves repair and rehabilitation of existing rural roads and related access infrastructure. The project is not expected to have any land acquisition or other adverse social impacts, but on the contrary significant positive social impacts regarding improved livelihoods. The project is national in scope with a focus on vulnerable districts, and this will enable different ethnic groups to benefit from the project. Since the project involves repair and rehabilitation of existing roads, it will not impact historical or cultural artifacts. The project implementation manual will include project screening, planning and appraisal formats, which will record the environmental and social impacts and related mitigation measures for specific sub-projects. 3 ISDS Monitoring will include reporting on chance archeological finds. The project implementation manual will be based on the Environmental and Social Safeguards Framework agreed between the Government and the Bank. The relevant safeguards for this project are Environmental Assessment (OP4.01), Involuntary Resettlement (OP/BP4.12), Indigenous Peoples (OD4.20), and Cultural Property (OPNI 1.03). For all four safeguard policies, the project design follows the criteria and norms laid down in the "Revised Guidance Note on Application of Safeguard Policies for the Afghanistan Program". Because individual subproject investments are not known in advance, GoA will adopt a programmatic approach, with the following characteristics: (a) Environmental impacts are expected to be those associated with the rehabilitation of rural roads and reconstruction of very small infrastructure (i.e. culverts, stream crossings, retaining structures etc.). Such impacts will be addressed by incorporating standard environmental operating procedures into the project manual and technical training courses. To this end, Environmental Codes of Practice (ECOPs) will be developed to address environmental issues at design, implementation and maintenance stages. ECOPs will incorporate mitigation measures which are essentially based on sound engineering, such as erosion protection, provision of adequate drainage, keeping earthwork to a minimum, prevention of shallow slope failures, etc. Implementation will be pursued through terms of reference and checklists for the implementation contractor, who are also responsible for carrying out preliminary environmental screening through on-site training and dissemination. Potential induced impacts in environmentally sensitive areas will be assessed and documented in the sub-project planning/appraisal format and mitigation measures designed and implemented, if applicable. In particular, the project should minimize the risk of further depletion of forest areas resulting from improved access in provinces such as Laghman, Kunar, Nuristan, IPaktia, and Badakhshan. The project does not envisage funding for pesticides or for dams. (b) Land Acquisition and Resettlement - The activities to be undertaken under the proposed project involve rehabilitation of existing secondary and tertiary roads that are not likely to involve any land acquisition or have any other adverse social impacts. No involuntary resettlement is anticipated. However, the project's Operational Manual will include a free-standing guideline on land acquisition, and will include a process framework for managing land acquisition of any type, voluntary or involuntary. If minor pieces of land are needJed in connection with construction of road structures, they can only be obtained though voluntary donation (local authorities do not have funds to purchase land), and the sub-project planning/appraisal format in the Project Technical Manual will include a check-list recording any amount of land donated, that the land is free of squatters or other encumbrances, and written proof that the land is provided as a voluntary donation [see Attachment 2(ii) in the project (NEEP-RR) Safeguards Framework]. Confirmation of voluntary surrender will be a criterion on the proposal review list and will be supervised by the oversight consultants and independent monitors. Bank supervision missions will verify that these guidelines are followed. The experience of the Labor Intensive Public Works (LIPW) component under the ongoing Emergency Community Empowernent and Public Works Project (ECEPWP) will be reviewed with regard to environmental issues, land acquisition and other social safeguards issues. The project will not cause any adverse impacts on minorities, and the overall project design with its targeting of vulnerable districts within each province will help ensure that different ethnic groups participate in the project and receive benefits from it. Within districts, inclusion of different ethnic groups will be addressed through the selection of specific sub-projects so that these include roads that serve villages inhabited by different ethnic groups After the first year of implementation, an assessment 4 ISDS will be made of whether this approach has succeeded in providing benefits to different groups in ethnically mixed districts. Results and recommendations from these studies and project monitoring in minority areas will be an agenda item in project annual reviews. Project monitoring will also assess whether within-village minorities are being included among project beneficiaries. Chance archeological finds will be recorded in project monitoring formats, the implementing agency will secure the artifact, and the ATcheological Committee will be informed of the find Should the continuation of work endanger an archeological site, project activities will be suspended until a solution is found. Mine Risk Management. Subprojects will not be implemented without appropriate mine-risk management. Current practices (evolved during field implementation) for managing mine risk have been robust. A GoA procedure for mine risk management (based on these practices) in World Bank funded projects has been sent for approval of the Bank Safeguards. Once approved by the Bank and signed by GoA, this will become a part of the project safeguard framework. All risk assessment and clearance tasks shall be implemented in coordination with the Mine Action Center for Afghanistan (MACA). These procedures may need to be amended in the future, depending on evolving circumstances. II.D. I b. Describe any potential cumulative impacts due to application of more than one safeguard policy or due to multiple project component. No cumulative impacts are expected. The public employment project only covers labor intensive maintenance and rehabilitation of existing (unpaved) secondary and tertiary roads. II.D.]c Describe any potential long term impacts due to anticipated future activities in the project area. Increased deforestation induced by improved access is the only potential long term environmental impact of the project. Althoughi rural road rehabilitation would be limited to improving access to villages, and thus is not likely to improve access to environmentally sensitive areas, impacts would be carefully assessed during sub-project preparation and appraisal in those areas, and mitigation measures developed. If such mitigation measures cannot be reasonably designed and implemented, a sub-project (or part thereof) would be declared ineligible for financing under the project. II.D.2. In light of 1, describe the proposed treatment of alternatives (if required) II.D.3. Describe arrangement for the borrower to address safeguard issues The key fact that is relevant for a proper treatment of safeguards in Afghanistan is that de facto there is essentially no government implementation capacity. Thus, the approach adopted by this project is to require issuance of a policy framework that sets down criteria, but then to incorporate safeguard procedures into the terms of reference and oversight of the agency/consultants and implementation contractors (such as UNOPS on the existing ECEPWP) who will be managing field activities. Independent reviews will be provided by National Emergency Employment Program Coordination Unit in MRRD, and their TORs will also include attention to safeguard issues. Bank missions will be very frequent for this project, probably on a bi-monthly basis for the first year. They will routinely include a safeguard specialist (i.e. at least 2 times per year), and safeguard performance will be assessed during annual programming reviews. II.D.4. Identify the key stakeholders and describe the mechanisilis for consultation and disclosure on safeguard policies, with an ernphasis on potentially affected people. The key stakeholders are the affected villagers. The design of the project itself is one that depends on extensive consultation throughout the entire process. Disclosure mechanisms include facilitated village 5 ISDS meetings, inter-village workshops, written and oral media, and a national awareness campaign. MRRD, which is one of the project lAs, is also overseeing a government-NGO task force on community development; safeguards, especially proposals for vulnerable minorities, will be one of the items this addressed by this group. E. Safeguards Classification Category is determined by the highest impact in any policy. Or on basis of cumulative impacts from multiple safeguards. Whenever an individual safeguard policy is triggered the provisions of that policy apply. SI. - Significant, cumulative and/or irreversible impacts; or significant technical and institutional risks in management of one or more safeguard areas [X] S2. - One or more safeguard policies are triggered, but effects are limited in their impact and are technically and institutionally manageable S3. -No safeguard issues [ SF. - Financial intermediary projects, social development funds, community driven development or similar projects which require a safeguard framework or programmatic approach to address safeguard issues. F. Disclosure Requirements Environmental Assessment/Analysis/Management Plan: Expected Actual Date of receipt by the Bank 5/31/2002 5/31/2002 Date of "in-country" disclosure 5/31/2002 5/31/2002 Date of submission to InfoShop 4/18/2003 4/18/2003 Date of distributing the Exec. Summary of the EA to the ED (For category A projects) Resettlement Action Plan/Framework: Expected Actual Date of receipt by the Bank Date of "in-country" disclosure Date of submission to InfoShop Indigenous Peoples Development Plan/Framework. Expected Actual Date of receipt by the Bank Date of "in-country" disclosure Date of submission to InfoShop Pest Management Plan: Expected Actual Date of receipt by the Bank Date of "in-country" disclosure Date of submission to InfoShop Dam Safety Management Plan: Expected Actual Date of receipt by the Bank Date of "in-country" disclosure Date of submission to InfoShop If in-country disclosure of any of the above documents is not expected, please explain why. The dates listed in the above disclosure requirements (under Environmental Assessment/Analysis/Management Plan) refer to the Environment and Social Safeguards Framework. The initial version of this Framework, applicable for all Bank supported projects in Afghanistan, was 6 ISDS translated and local languages (Dari and Pushto) and disclosed in Afghanistan and DC in the Spring of 2002 Thus, it was agreed that the disclosure of the original Social and Environment Safeguard framework meets the disclosure requirements of this project and is reflected in the above dates. This project Framework is now revised (without changing the basic principles) to meet the specific requirements of the proposed National Emergency Employment Program - Rural Roads (NEEP-RR) project. Consultation and disclosure requirements will be simplified to meet the special needs of this project. This revised framework specific to this project will be discussed and agreed with the Government during appraisal. In the mean time this draft Framework has been disclosed in Kabul and DC PIC. The final version will be translated in Pashto, and Dari, and widely disclosed in Afghanistan prior to the Board date. Signed and submitted by Name Date Task Team Leader: Amer Zafar Durrani 04/18/2003 Project Safeguards Specialists 1: Christophe Bosch/Person/World Bank 04/18/2003 Project Safeguards Specialists 2: Project Safeguards Specialists 3: Approved by: Name Date Regional Safeguards Coordinator: L. Panneer Selvam 04/18/2003 Sector Manager/Director: Philippe Dongier 04/18/2003 For a list of World Bank news releases on projects and reports, click here FSEARCH C E- LPEY- = F AHOWMA5E I3