The World Bank Integration of Social Accountability into National and Sub-national Systems (P172632) Appraisal Environmental and Social Review Summary Appraisal Stage (ESRS Appraisal Stage) Public Disclosure Date Prepared/Updated: 10/23/2019 | Report No: ESRSA00294 Oct 24, 2019 Page 1 of 9 The World Bank Integration of Social Accountability into National and Sub-national Systems (P172632) BASIC INFORMATION A. Basic Project Data Country Region Project ID Parent Project ID (if any) Cambodia EAST ASIA AND PACIFIC P172632 Project Name Integration of Social Accountability into National and Sub-national Systems Practice Area (Lead) Financing Instrument Estimated Appraisal Date Estimated Board Date «PRACTICEAREA» Investment Project 10/21/2019 11/14/2019 Financing Borrower(s) Implementing Agency(ies) Ministry of Economy and National Committee for Sub- Finance National Democratic Development Secretariat (NCDDS) Public Disclosure Proposed Development Objective(s) To improve the performance of public service providers through the development and institutionalization of national and sub-national government systems with improved transparency, strengthened citizen engagement and responsive action. Financing (in USD Million) Amount Total Project Cost 1.72 B. Is the project being prepared in a Situation of Urgent Need of Assistance or Capacity Constraints, as per Bank IPF Policy, para. 12? No C. Summary Description of Proposed Project [including overview of Country, Sectoral & Institutional Contexts and Relationship to CPF] The proposed project will support national and subnational government implementation of a the second, 5-year phase of Implementation Plan for the Social Accountability Framework (ISAF II) which aims to scale up from covering more than 60% of the rural districts in the country under ISAF Phase I to cover all rural districts and to additionally cover all urban municipalities. Initial financing for the proposed project will cover activities in the ten provinces, seven of which were covered in ISAF I and three new provinces. Additional financing to allow the project to cover all Oct 24, 2019 Page 2 of 9 The World Bank Integration of Social Accountability into National and Sub-national Systems (P172632) provinces in the country is planned as contributions to the main financing source, the Social Accountability and Service Delivery Trust Fund (SASD-TF) are secured over the next year or so. The project aims to facilitate subnational government authorities and public service providers to engage citizens in activities that would allow citizens to hold public service providers accountable for the quality of their services. The four main service providers are District Administrations, Commune Councils, health centers and primary schools. As such, the project is a large-scale, national platform for multi-stakeholder engagement which will have various design elements intended to ensure the participation of a wide diversity of stakeholders in all project activities. D. Environmental and Social Overview D.1. Project location(s) and salient characteristics relevant to the ES assessment [geographic, environmental, social] The Project is nationwide in scope and builds on the lessons learnt from the successful implementation of the 3-year, first phase of the Implementation Plan for the Social Accountability Framework (ISAF I), 2015-2018. The proposed project will support implementation of a the next 5-year phase of ISAF activity (ISAF II) which aims to scale up from covering more than 60% of the rural districts in the country to cover all rural districts and to additionally cover all urban municipalities. Initial financing for the proposed project will cover activities in the ten provinces, 7 of which were covered in ISAF I and 3 new provinces. Within these provinces, the project would cover 48 rural districts, 6 urban municipalities (the equivalent of a rural district), 442 rural communes and 23 urban sangkats (the equivalent of a rural commune). Additional financing to allow the project to cover all provinces in the country is planned as contributions to the main financing source, the Social Accountability and Service Delivery Trust Fund (SASD-TF) are secured over the next year or so. Public Disclosure The project aims to empower all citizens, but especially those who tend to be excluded from government decision- making processes such as indigenous groups, poor households, youth, women, and people with disabilities to participate in activities that would hold public service providers accountable for the quality of their services. The four main service providers are District Administrations, Commune Councils, health centers and primary schools. As such, the project is a large-scale, national platform for multi-stakeholder engagement which will have various design elements intended to ensure the participation of a wide diversity of stakeholders in all project activities. Implementation of the project will differ somewhat between rural and urban areas as the social structure of rural areas allows more for the use of village institutions to gather people to participate in social accountability activities, the population density and economic activity of people living in urban areas will require more intensive neighborhood-based activity as well as the use of electronic tools to cover larger numbers of people. D. 2. Borrower’s Institutional Capacity National Committee for Sub-National Democratic Development Secretariat (NCDDS) has past and present experience as an implementing agency for World Bank-financed projects such as the Land Allocation and Social Economic Development (LASED) project and recently approved Cambodia Nutrition Project. As such they have developed and effectively implemented World Bank-approved social and environment safeguard instruments. NCDDS has individuals who have been trained in World Bank safeguard policies and instruments as well as the Environment and Social Framework (ESF). As part of support experience of supporting the World Bank financed project NCDDS have been involved in development and implementation of the a Citizen Engagement Framework and grievance mechanisms which meets the meaningful engagement aspects of stakeholder engagement standard of the ESF. II. SUMMARY OF ENVIRONMENTAL AND SOCIAL (ES) RISKS AND IMPACTS Oct 24, 2019 Page 3 of 9 The World Bank Integration of Social Accountability into National and Sub-national Systems (P172632) A. Environmental and Social Risk Classification (ESRC) Low Environmental Risk Rating Low The project risk is low. There are no activities planned that have a physical footprint and / or environmental dimensions and implications resulting from TA or policy development. The project will focus on improving public service delivery to citizens, through the training and coordination of volunteer community facilitators, public posting of service provider budgets and service delivery information, community scorecard meetings and meetings to agree on actions to improve the quality of service delivery. The project will not invest in any actions to improve service delivery quality, including physical infrastructure facilities or developing policies/regulations that may cause, from its implementation, adverse impacts to environment and/or ecosystems. Social Risk Rating Low The social risk is classified as low. The overall design and objectives of the project are to empower all citizens to participate in holding public service providers accountable for the quality of service delivery. Core indicators for the project will therefore include measures as to its ability to include stakeholders that are typically excluded from decision-making on the use of public resources such as indigenous peoples, poor households, people with disabilities, women and youth. As such, insufficient inclusion of disadvantaged groups in the project is not so much a risk, but would rather be a failure of the project to achieve its objectives. As evidence by the first 3-year ISAF I implementation period, the project will have no adverse impacts on people. Rather, findings from ongoing monitoring and evaluation of ISAF I indicate several cumulative, positive social impacts such as increased citizen awareness of their rights and service standards, strengthened citizen voice in their interactions with service providers, improved relations and trust Public Disclosure between citizens, public officials and service providers, and concrete improvements in local public service delivery as a result of citizen engagement. B. Environment and Social Standards (ESSs) that Apply to the Activities Being Considered B.1. General Assessment ESS1 Assessment and Management of Environmental and Social Risks and Impacts Overview of the relevance of the Standard for the Project: The project’s aim is to build a sustainable mechanism for feedback on the quality of government services. The project will refine and improve ISAF tools and methodologies, achieve full national coverage of communes, establish sustainable support networks for active citizenship, integrate social accountability practices into existing government systems, and expand ISAF into new service delivery and urban areas. It will support the establishment of permanent systems, within government to ensure that supply-side of social accountability activities can be sustained in the long term. After five years, by 2023, it is expected the project will conclude with both evidence of significant service delivery improvements and a sustainable implementation approach. It is informed by the ISAF Phase II Implementation Plan which was prepared in late 2018 in consultation with a range of government and civil society stakeholders, outlining the key dimensions of a new five-year phase of ISAF, from 2019 to 2023. The plan was produced based on an assessment of Phase I strengths, weaknesses, achievements, challenges, and lessons learned. The methodology for preparing the plan included: a desk review (of ISAF Phase I project documents, progress reports and assessments) as well as interviews, consultations and focus groups discussions with key informants and stakeholders. Oct 24, 2019 Page 4 of 9 The World Bank Integration of Social Accountability into National and Sub-national Systems (P172632) No adverse social and environmental risks and impacts are anticipated as a result of the project, and as the project is one of engagement for social accountability a number of benefits are expected. These benefits relate to improved performance of public service providers through improved transparency, strengthened citizen engagement and responsive action. Hence no specific environmental or social instruments other then the Environmental and Social Commitment Plan (ESCP) has been prepared for this project. ESS10 Stakeholder Engagement and Information Disclosure The nature of the project is to ensure meaningful engagement of all groups, in particular participation from any marginalised and vulnerable groups, towards greater accountability of public service providers. The project aims to explicitly institutionalize an annual public feedback mechanism for four of the most pervasive public service providers, and possibly more, that will go beyond a basic grievance mechanism, but rather become a dynamic means of citizen engagement in the delivery of public services that will allow for citizens to provide feedback directly to service providers as well as to their local commune councils and district administrations. At the core of the project design, and the ISAF as a whole, is a network of Community Accountability Facilitators (CAFs) whose role it is to inform citizens of their rights and to support and organize citizens to express their views on public services. Lessons from the use of an Indigenous Peoples Protocol and associated engagement tools (i.e. indigenous group CAFs and indigenous language audio and video) will be integral to project design as well the lessons regarding the inclusion of men (who participated less than women in ISAF I) and people from more remote villages. Public Disclosure As the design of the project is explicitly one of stakeholder engagement and social inclusion, and its aim is to build a sustainable mechanism for citizen feedback on the quality of government services, a standalone stakeholder engagement plan with grievance procedure will not be needed. Any engagement requirements, to ensure that participation is inclusive and adopts approaches to address physical distance, language and other possible barriers, are captured in the ESCP. The ESCP has been disclosed on the NCDDS website on 18 October 2019. B.2. Specific Risks and Impacts A brief description of the potential environmental and social risks and impacts relevant to the Project. ESS2 Labor and Working Conditions The project will involve direct workers, consultants, interns and community facilitators. The main activities of these workers will be the provision of information, organization of meetings, travel between communities for meetings and training. These are basic activities common to most development projects. The main safety risk is road safety related to the frequent travel from community to community. No labour related adverse risks and impacts are anticipated. Human resource and occupational health and safety policies and procedures are in place, including a worker grievance procedure, and these will be reviewed to ensure alignment with the Bank's requirements under this standard. The review will be done prior contracting any consultants or volunteers and revisions will be made as necessary to ensure conformance with Bank requirements. The policies and procedures and revisions, including the worker grievance procedure, will be communicated to all workers to ensure they are aware of their rights and benefits. Training will be provided on health and safety, specifically road safety, while working remotely. Oct 24, 2019 Page 5 of 9 The World Bank Integration of Social Accountability into National and Sub-national Systems (P172632) ESS3 Resource Efficiency and Pollution Prevention and Management The project activities will neither involve in using and/or depleting scare natural resources nor generating negative environmental impacts in a short, medium and long run. If the public services are improved, it is likely reducing travel times, thus contribute to reducing traffics in the city/area where the service is provided. ESS4 Community Health and Safety No adverse community health and safety impacts are anticipated as a result of project activities. As a result of the project there is potential that health service deliveries will be better targeted, ensuring better health outcomes for all groups. ESS5 Land Acquisition, Restrictions on Land Use and Involuntary Resettlement The activities for this project will not require the acquisition or conversion of any land nor will the activities restrict access to resources. ESS6 Biodiversity Conservation and Sustainable Management of Living Natural Resources Public Disclosure The project aims at improving service delivery of public service providers through citizen engagement. It will not involve any civil works or other activities that might adversely impact biodiversity or living natural resources. ESS7 Indigenous Peoples/Sub-Saharan African Historically Underserved Traditional Local Communities The nature of the project is to ensure meaningful engagement of all groups, including participation from ethnic minorities and indigenous peoples, in providing feedback on the quality of public services. The activities will not adversely impact any communities, but rather provide them with opportunities they would not otherwise have for influencing the quality of the public services they are entitled to as citizens. There is potential for vulnerable groups to benefit in terms of local development activities as their unique needs will be better understood by services providers and efforts to take action to address these needs will be encouraged through the project as well. The design of the project will incorporate the positive lessons of the Bank’s support to two NGOs under ISAF I, particularly application of Indigenous Peoples Engagement Protocol and associated tools to ensure the inclusion of indigenous groups in social accountability activities. The Protocol addresses specific requirements on engagements to ensure accessibility and inclusion, including approaches to address physical distance, language and other possible barriers. This protocol will be reviewed and revised if necessary before commencing work in any localities with Indigenous communities. ESS8 Cultural Heritage Oct 24, 2019 Page 6 of 9 The World Bank Integration of Social Accountability into National and Sub-national Systems (P172632) The activities from the project are not expected to result in any adverse risks and impacts to tangible or intangible cultural heritage or access to those. ESS9 Financial Intermediaries The project will not make use of a financial intermediary. B.3 Other Relevant Project Risks All risks and impacts have been presented against the standards. C. Legal Operational Policies that Apply OP 7.50 Projects on International Waterways No The project is not expected to relate to any known international waterway. OP 7.60 Projects in Disputed Areas No The project will not be located in an area under legal or international dispute nor competing territorial claims. III. BORROWER’S ENVIRONMENTAL AND SOCIAL COMMITMENT PLAN (ESCP) Public Disclosure DELIVERABLES against MEASURES AND ACTIONs IDENTIFIED TIMELINE ESS 1 Assessment and Management of Environmental and Social Risks and Impacts REGULAR REPORTING: NCDDS will prepare and submit regular environmental and social monitoring reports as a section of the semi-annual project reports regarding compliance in accordance with the 08/2020 requirements of ESCP. INCIDENTS AND ACCIDENTS NOTIFICATION: NCDDS will implement the incident management procedure and promptly notify the Bank of any incident or accident related to the Project which has, 01/2020 or is likely to have, a significant adverse effect. ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE: NCDDS will ensure staff with appropriate skills are in place to support 01/2020 project E&S risk management. This resourcing will be maintained throughout the life of the project. CAPACITY SUPPORT: Training will be provided, on an ongoing basis, to all NCDDS staff, consultants and volunteers on a range of issues relating to E&S policy, meaningful engagement, inclusion, grievance 01/2020 systems, health and safety and incident reporting. ESS 10 Stakeholder Engagement and Information Disclosure STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT: The Project includes an intensive, annual cycle of engagement with citizens in target communities which forms the basis of stakeholder engagement. These activities will 01/2020 be continued through the duration of the Project. Oct 24, 2019 Page 7 of 9 The World Bank Integration of Social Accountability into National and Sub-national Systems (P172632) PROJECT GRIEVANCE MECHANISM: WVI-C will implement the existing grievance mechanism and 01/2020 associated instruments and communicate, operationalise, and maintain for the life of the project. ESS 2 Labor and Working Conditions LABOUR MANAGEMENT PROCEDURES: NCDDS will review its existing policies and procedures with regards to labour and working conditions and address any gaps before hiring of new workers including 03/2020 consultants, interns and community facilitators. GRIEVANCE MECHANISM FOR PROJECT WORKERS: NCDDS will conduct orientation on the worker grievance procedure with all workers to ensure they are aware of their rights and benefits before they 01/2020 start work. OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH AND SAFETY (OHS) MEASURES: NCDDS will review existing OHS procedure and amend, as necessary, and implement to meet the required standards of the Bank, especially travel 01/2020 safety for workers. ESS 3 Resource Efficiency and Pollution Prevention and Management ESS 4 Community Health and Safety ESS 5 Land Acquisition, Restrictions on Land Use and Involuntary Resettlement Public Disclosure ESS 6 Biodiversity Conservation and Sustainable Management of Living Natural Resources ESS 7 Indigenous Peoples/Sub-Saharan African Historically Underserved Traditional Local Communities INDIGENOUS PEOPLES PROTOCOL: NCDDS will review the existing Protocol and M&E framework to ensure inclusion and engagement aspects are in line with Bank requirements and revise, if required, 03/2020 before working in communities with Indigenous Peoples. ESS 8 Cultural Heritage ESS 9 Financial Intermediaries B.3. Reliance on Borrower’s policy, legal and institutional framework, relevant to the Project risks and impacts Is this project being prepared for use of Borrower Framework? No Areas where “Use of Borrower Framework” is being considered: There are no areas where the Borrower’s E&S Framework will be considered. IV. CONTACT POINTS Oct 24, 2019 Page 8 of 9 The World Bank Integration of Social Accountability into National and Sub-national Systems (P172632) World Bank Contact: Erik Caldwell Johnson Title: Senior Social Development Specialist Telephone No: 5721+1314 / Email: ejohnson1@worldbank.org Borrower/Client/Recipient Borrower: Ministry of Economy and Finance Implementing Agency(ies) Implementing Agency: National Committee for Sub-National Democratic Development Secretariat (NCDDS) V. FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT The World Bank 1818 H Street, NW Washington, D.C. 20433 Telephone: (202) 473-1000 Web: http://www.worldbank.org/projects VI. APPROVAL Public Disclosure Task Team Leader(s): Erik Caldwell Johnson Practice Manager (ENR/Social) Christophe Crepin Cleared on 22-Oct-2019 at 22:52:17 EDT Oct 24, 2019 Page 9 of 9