PROJECT INFORMATION DOCUMENT (PID) CONCEPT STAGE Public Disclosure Copy Report No.: PIDC477 Project Name Building Resilence through Innovation, Communication and Knowledge Services (P130888) Region AFRICA Country Africa Sector(s) General water, sanitation and flood protection sector (50%), General agriculture, fishing and forestry sector (20%), Agricultural ex tension and research (20%), Irrigation and drainage (10%) Theme(s) Climate change (20%), Environmental policies and institutions (20%), Land administration and management (20%), Biodiversity (20%), W ater resource management (20%) Lending Instrument Specific Investment Loan Project ID P130888 Focal Area Multi-focal area Borrower(s) Permanent Interstate Committee for Drought Control in the Sahel Implementing Agency International Union for the conservation of Nature West Africa Office, International Union for the conservation of Nature West Africa Office Environmental C-Not Required Category Date PID Prepared/ 25-Feb-2013 Public Disclosure Copy Updated Date PID Approved/ 03-Mar-2013 Disclosed Estimated Date of 30-Apr-2013 Appraisal Completion Estimated Date of 16-Jul-2013 Board Approval Concept Review Decision Other Decision (as Decision taken to change the project name to BRICKS: Building needed) Resilience though Innovation, Communication and Knowledge Services Project I. Introduction and Context Country Context Economies and livelihoods in the Sahel and West Africa’s semi-arid and humid systems heavily depend on soil, water, and vegetation cover. Land is the integrating component of all livelihoods depending on farm, forest, rangeland, or water (rivers, lakes, coastal marine) habitats. The state of Page 1 of 6 these resources has been steadily deteriorating as a result of expanding human settlement and demand for more food, fodder, fuelwood, and water. Frequent droughts and natural climate variability accompanied by unplanned, unsustainable, and poorly managed use of land and water Public Disclosure Copy have lowered rivers, lakes, and water tables while wind and water erosion have removed valuable soil, affecting the productivity and integrity of land resources – and with it, greater livelihoods disruption and attendant insecurity, vulnerability, and reduced economic growth opportunities. The UN estimates that 15 million people are currently exposed to food insecurity from 2011’s drought. The historic climate variability and projected climate change in the area adds to these challenges. In response, countries have prioritized investment largely in agricultural inputs and markets, with smaller budgets earmarked for water and forest resources, or for management of the many overlapping risks related to climate variability and change including droughts, floods, and land degradation. To address these risks, twelve countries are participating in the World Bank/GEF Sahel and West Africa Program (SAWAP), which to date has delivered three of its 12 projects to the Bank Board. SAWAP is the Bank’s main support to the continent’s Great Green Wall Initiative (GGWI). The SAWAP objective is to expand sustainable land and water management in targeted landscapes and in climate vulnerable areas in West African and Sahelian countries. Through the SAWAP, the Bank is supporting Sahelian and West African countries to secure more food, fiber, and freshwater while protecting natural assets in the face of climate variability and change. Being so dependent on natural wealth, the fates of these countries are linked through weather, climate, transboundary rangeland ecosystems and watersheds, as well as human migration. For example, deforestation in humid West Africa has negatively affected weather patterns in the dry interior, helping to drive land users southward and into expanding cities. The 12 countries developing or implementing investment operations under the SAWAP umbrella are: Benin, Burkina Faso, Chad, Ethiopia, Ghana, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Republic of Sudan, and Togo. These challenges are all highly knowledge intensive, yet countries are not fully equipped to respond to these interwoven challenges that compromise economic growth and equity. In particular, the Public Disclosure Copy many national institutions and sectors involved are not adequately prepared to (i) monitor natural resources or key management processes, (ii) generate or share knowledge, or (iii) plan or budget strategically for scaling up proven technologies and approaches, or (iv) effectively respond to and recover from recurring natural disasters. With support from TerrAfrica and operations supported by the Bank, FAO, IFAD, and/or UNDP, some countries in the region have prepared multi-sector investment plans for sustainable land management actions. Sectoral and Institutional Context Regional institutions could play a much stronger role in reinforcing countries to monitor and benchmark their efforts, and to share knowledge on what works, how to scale it up and sustain the effort. There are a number of regional institutions working in the region, each concerned with aspects of the broader, system-wide challenge faced. There is no single regional institution covering the many sectors or themes involved, nor is there a single regional institution that covers all Sahelian states on any of the issues involved. As a result, a networked approach to service delivery is required, building on existing operational partnerships. Arguably, the most technically relevant regional public African institution is the Permanent Interstate Committee for Drought Control in the Sahel (CILSS), a technical agency serving member states that roughly correspond to the current set of participating countries in the GGWI. Nevertheless, regional actors will need to work together to provide coherent, pragmatic knowledge and monitoring services to countries. In particular, the Sahel and Sahara Observatory (OSS), Agrhymet, and the International Union for Page 2 of 6 Conservation of Nature (IUCN) West Africa are all active in monitoring and knowledge dissemination in the region. Public Disclosure Copy Other regional institutions are current or potential Bank partners and should be networked. These include a range of political and advocacy organizations such as the Pan-African Agency of the GGWI, the African Union (AU), NEPAD Planning and Coordinating Agency (NPCA), as well as the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the Community of Sahel-Sahara States (CEN-SAD), and technical agencies such as the African Centre of Meteorological Applications for Development (ACMAD) and the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD). Global actors should also be networked to help backstop the regional institutions and deploy advanced services; these actors could include, for example, FAO, CGIAR centers, European Union and European Commission (ECHO, EU-Africa Partnership on Climate Change, etc.), the World Bank Institute, faith organizations, and academic institutions with on-the-ground presence such as the World Overview of Conservation Approaches and Technologies (WOCAT). Indeed most of these institutions and more are already working on the issues in the region, and are keen to link efforts to work with the Bank on the GGWI, using the existing TerrAfrica program now managed by NPCA of the AU and in which the Bank is a key founding partner (www.terrafrica. org). For example, see the multi-partner open data initiative for risk management being carried out under the newly launched www.sahelresponse.org. The proposed Decision Support Services Project (DSSP) for the SAWAP would provide M&E support and opportunities for sharing knowledge and good practices among the 12 Bank-financed projects. This approach strategically adds value by creating a platform for joint learning among Bank clients and specifically SAWAP project teams working on investments to generate multiple benefits from healthy landscapes – whether the entry point is forest, erosion, agriculture and soil fertility, drought, water resources, disaster risk reduction, or livelihoods. No matter the local storyline, the need to protect and drive equitable economic growth requires careful management of natural wealth in an era of increasing risks associated with climate variability, land degradation and Public Disclosure Copy disasters. This need is one tie that binds together each project in the SAWAP portfolio and as such the project will serve as the hub for the SAWAP portfolio. By capitalizing on this added value, the proposed project would enhance the prospects for successful implementation and scale-up of on- the-ground interventions by improving country client capacity and efficiencies in adopting good practices and successful innovations on integrated natural resource and disaster risk management through joint learning and comparable portfolio level M&E. Relationship to CAS The Project contributes to Bank’s Africa Development Strategy, Africa’s Future and the World Bank’s Support to It. In particular it helps implement Pillar 2 (vulnerability and resilience) while also strengthening public sector capacity by supporting mutual learning among Sahel and West African and Sahelian countries and stakeholders. The project would leverage partnerships (TerrAfrica, CAADP, SAWAP/GGWI) to build on respective strengths; promote multi-sectoral approaches to optimize a range of poverty reduction and growth development benefits from landscapes, and enhance regional solutions to help achieve economies of scale in knowledge and monitoring which will inform a new generation of investments in management of land, water, biodiversity, forest, climate risks and natural disaster readiness. Finally the Bank’s new Environment Strategy places emphasis on green, clean and resilient growth. In particular, it focuses on better management of natural resources and climate risks in production landscapes. Page 3 of 6 The rationale for Bank and GEF involvement is to apply and leverage knowledge to help maintain environmental public goods as a fundamental strategy for securing economic growth, equity, and livelihoods opportunities during an era of increasing climate variability and change. An improved Public Disclosure Copy knowledge base is needed to underpin this agenda and evidence-based policymaking and investment. The proposed project can help make a difference if the 12 SAWAP country project teams are motivated to do more together than they could alone, with the regional project catalyzing a multi-country platform for joint action. The basic approach for the regional project was featured in the Program Document for the SAWAP that was approved by the GEF Council in May 2011. II. Proposed Global Environmental Objective(s) Proposed Global Environmental Objective(s) (From PCN) To improve mutual learning and information on management of risks to natural resources from climate change, land degradation and disasters within the SAWAP portfolio Key Results (From PCN) Key result 1. Lessons from the SAWAP portfolio are regularly harvested and disseminated through a learning hub. Key result 2. The SAWAP portfolio is regularly monitored against a set of thematic and process indicators. Key result 3. Additional monitoringtools are deployed at regional and country levels to track impacts from the portfolio of projects. Key result 4. Staff of participating projects are satisfied with the added value of the Decision Support Services Project. III. Preliminary Description Public Disclosure Copy Concept Description There are three components as follows. Component 1. Knowledge dissemination and generation (approximate cost: $2,000,000). This component will provide a platform for cross-project learning, including by the following actions: 1.1 Building a platform for methodically identifying and disseminating best practices in the SAWAP portfolio and the broader GGWI. This activity would methodically identify proven best practices in the region and globally, promote the use of and facilitate targeted learning from impact evaluations, M&E from discrete projects, and the broader non-governmental community (academic, faiths, business) active in the region and globally. CILSS leads. 1.2. Holding regular south-south learning events and brokering periodic study tours for SAWAP project teams to exchange experiences (attendance covered by individual project budgets and substance is backstopped by WBI and other international partners). CILSS leads. 1.3. Carrying out a series of economic analyses (e.g. benefit-cost, valuations) on NRM, biodiversity, and ecosystem services. CILSS leads. Page 4 of 6 Component 2. Regional monitoring (approximate cost: $2,370,000). This component will focus on aggregating and reporting on results from the 12 projects in the SAWAP portfolio, including by the following actions: Public Disclosure Copy 2.1. Aggregating results from the SAWAP portfolio of 12 projects. OSS leads. 2.2. Carrying out monitoring of land resources and land use change in the portfolio using remote sensing in and around project areas. OSS leads. 2.3. Establishing a regional decision support portal (connected with existing national and regional information tools), including preparation of (i) a regional atlas of land degradation, climate, and disaster risks, and (ii) a platform providing near real-time remote sensing data (e.g. rainfall, vegetation cover, soil moisture) and analysis in appropriate formats. OSS leads. 2.4 Providing competitive innovation sub-grants to SAWAP teams for TA in such areas as participatory natural resource monitoring and technology dissemination. There are numerous new and low-cost tools and approaches in data analysis, geo-spatial mapping, cell phone networks, and photography that can reinforce social accountability and transparency in investment operations. CILSS leads. 2.5 Establishing an early warning system for food insecurity including communications and advisory services across countries. CILSS leads. Component 3. Project management and M&E (approximate cost: $230,000). This component will provide administrative functions including monitoring of the project activities to ensure that the project remains focused on providing useful and demand-driven services to the project portfolio. IV. Safeguard Policies that might apply Public Disclosure Copy Safeguard Policies Triggered by the Project Yes No TBD Environmental Assessment OP/BP 4.01 ✖ Natural Habitats OP/BP 4.04 ✖ Forests OP/BP 4.36 ✖ Pest Management OP 4.09 ✖ Physical Cultural Resources OP/BP 4.11 ✖ Indigenous Peoples OP/BP 4.10 ✖ Involuntary Resettlement OP/BP 4.12 ✖ Safety of Dams OP/BP 4.37 ✖ Projects on International Waterways OP/BP 7.50 ✖ Projects in Disputed Areas OP/BP 7.60 ✖ V. Financing (in USD Million) Total Project Cost: 4.60 Total Bank Financing: 0.00 Total Cofinancing: Financing Gap: 0.00 Financing Source Amount Page 5 of 6 BORROWER/RECIPIENT 0.00 Global Environment Facility (GEF) 4.60 Public Disclosure Copy Total 4.60 VI. Contact point World Bank Contact: Stephen Danyo Title: Sr Natural Resources Mgmt. Spec. Tel: 473-3294 Email: sdanyo@worldbank.org Borrower/Client/Recipient Name: Permanent Interstate Committee for Drought Control in the Sahel Contact: Philippe Zoungrana Title: Tel: Email: Philippe.zoungrana@cilss.bf Implementing Agencies Name: International Union for the conservation of Nature West Africa Office Contact: Title: Tel: Public Disclosure Copy Email: Name: International Union for the conservation of Nature West Africa Office Contact: Title: Tel: Email: VII. For more information contact: The InfoShop The World Bank 1818 H Street, NW Washington, D.C. 20433 Telephone: (202) 458-4500 Fax: (202) 522-1500 Web: http://www.worldbank.org/infoshop Page 6 of 6