IDA18 Mid-Term Review Review of the IDA Regional Program October 26, 2018 TABLE OF CONTENTS EXECUTIVE SUMMARY .......................................................................................................... i I. INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................ 1 II. STRATEGIC CONTEXT FOR THE IDA REGIONAL PROGRAM ........................ 1 III. THE IDA REGIONAL PROGRAM POLICY FRAMEWORK ................................. 5 IV. IMPLEMENTATION PROGRESS OF THE IDA REGIONAL PROGRAM .......... 8 A. Progress and Achievements of IDA Regional Program Support ....................................... 8 B. IDA Regional Projects Portfolio Performance ................................................................. 16 C. IDA18 New Commitments for the IDA Regional Program ............................................. 17 V. LESSONS FROM EXPERIENCE ................................................................................ 18 VI. POTENTIAL ADJUSTMENTS TO THE IDA REGIONAL PROGRAM ............... 21 VII. CONCLUSION AND ISSUES FOR DISCUSSION .................................................... 22 LIST OF ANNEXES Annex 1: Sector/Thematic Focus of the IDA Regional Projects................................................. 24 Annex 2: Regional IDA Grants to Regional Organizations ........................................................ 33 Annex 3: IDA18 IDA Operations Approved as at end of September 2018 ................................ 36 LIST OF BOXES AND FIGURES Boxes Box 1. Regional Integration across WBG Regions ....................................................................... 4 Box 2. Current Eligibility Criteria for IDA Regional Program ..................................................... 6 Box 3. Eligibility Criteria: Grant for Regional Organizations Pilot.............................................. 8 Box 4. IDA Regional Program support to address Regional Fragility........................................ 13 Box 5. African Centers of Excellence Projects ........................................................................... 14 Box 6. Example of an IDA Credit to a Regional Organization ................................................... 15 Box 7. Examples of Analytic Work on Regional Integration ..................................................... 15 Box 8. What is it Like to be Task Team Leader of a Regional Integration Project? .................. 20 Figures Figure 1. Size of the IDA Regional Program ............................................................................... 5 Figure 2. Total Commitments by Replenishment for IDA Regional Projects .............................. 9 Figure 3. Regional Breakdown of IDA Regional Projects ............................................................ 9 Figure 4. IDA Regional Program Commitments – Top 10 Countries........................................... 9 Figure 5. IDA Regional Program Commitments – Top 10 FCS Countries .................................. 9 Figure 6. IDA Regional Program – Commitments to Sectors ..................................................... 10 Figure 7. Central Asia Regional Links Program (CARs) ............................................................ 11 Figure 8. West Africa Power Pool Connectivity ......................................................................... 12 Figure 9. IEG Ratings of IDA Regional Projects ........................................................................ 16 Figure 10. Time Lag between IDA Regional and National Projects........................................... 17 ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS Fiscal year (FY) = July 1 to June 30 AAU Association of African FCS Fragile and Conflict-affected Universities State ACE African Centers of Excellence FCV Fragility, Conflict and Violence ACBF African Capacity Building FDI Foreign Direct Investment Foundation FY Fiscal Year ADB Asian Development Bank GW Gigawatt AFR Africa Region HD Human Development AIDS Acquired Immunodeficiency HIV Human Immunodeficiency Virus Syndrome IBRD International Bank for ATI Africa Trade Insurance Agency Reconstruction and Development APL Adaptable Program Lending ICAO International Civil Aviation ASA Advisory Services and Analytics Organization ASEAN Association of South East Asia ICT Information and Communications Nations Technology BEAC The Bank of Central African IDA International Development States Association BOAD The West African Development IEG Independent Evaluation Group Bank IFC International Finance Corporation CASA Central Asia South Asia IMF International Monetary Fund CARCIP Caribbean Regional JICA Japan International Cooperation Communications Infrastructure Agency Program LAC Latin America and the Caribbean CAREC Central Asia Regional Economic LLIN Long Lasting Insecticidal Nets Cooperation Program M&E Monitoring and Evaluation CEMAC Central African Economic MDB Multilateral Development Bank Community MDG Millennium Development Goal CFTA Continental Free Trade Area MENA Middle East and North Africa CARs Central Asia Regional Links MIGA Multilateral Investment Program Guarantee Agency CCRIF Caribbean Catastrophe Risk MPA Multi-Phase Programmatic Insurance Facility Approach CPF Country Partnership Framework MTR Mid-Term Review CRW Crisis Response Window OHADA Organization for he DFi Development Finance Vice- Harmonization of Business Law Presidency in Africa DFID Department for International OECS Organization of East Caribbean Development States DPL Development Policy Lending OECD Organization for Economic Co- DPO Development Policy Operation operation and Development DRC Democratic Republic of Congo PASO Pacific Aviation Safety Office EAC East Africa Community PBA Performance-Based Allocation EAP East Asia and Pacific PEF Pandemic Emergency Financing EBPCS Electronic Bulk Payment Facility Clearance System PforR Program for Results ECA Eastern Europe and Central Asia PPP Public-Private Partnerships ECERA Eastern Caribbean Energy PRAPS Sahel Regional Pastoralism Regional Authority Support Project ECOWAS Economic Commission of West RCIP Regional Communications African States Infrastructure Project REC Regional Economic Community STEM Sciences, Technology, REDISSW Regional Disease Surveillance Engineering and Mathematics Systems Enhancement SUF Scale-up Facility RI Regional Integration TTL Task Team Leader SAARC South Asian Association for UK United Kingdom Regional Cooperation UN United Nations SADC South African Development UNECA United Nations Economic Community Commission for Africa SAR South Asia Region USAID United States Agency for SDR Special Drawing Right International Development SEADRIF South East Asia Disaster Risk WAEMU West African Economic Insurance Facility Monetary Union SME Small and Medium Enterprise WAPP West African Power Pool SOP Series of Projects WBG World Bank Group EXECUTIVE SUMMARY i. Regional integration remains a priority in the development agenda for IDA countries, even in the face of emerging uncertainties on globalization. IDA countries are working to strengthen regional trade and links to global markets through enhanced connectivity; better manage shared natural resources; and take advantage of economies of scale in providing public goods including those aimed at addressing common challenges such as cross-border disease outbreaks, climate and environmental hazards such as droughts. ii. IDA (together with IBRD, IFC and MIGA) has been at the forefront of supporting regional integration efforts of client countries across the regions. The IDA Regional Program, launched during IDA13 to support the regional integration efforts of IDA countries has grown substantially in response to client demand. As of September 30 2018, US$16.2 billion (with US$6.4 billion co-financing leveraged from other sources) has been approved for 204 projects. With a high demand for regional solutions, the Africa region has accounted for the greatest share of commitments (over 75 percent). Demand in other regions has also increased. A total of 68 countries have participated in at least one IDA regional project, with a good coverage of landlocked, Fragile and Conflict-affected States (FCS), and Small States. IDA’s support to regional integration has been underpinned by its analytical work, advisory services, and policy dialogue drawing on its convening power at regional and country levels. IDA has leveraged strong partnerships with other development partners in support of regional integration. iii. The IDA Regional Program’s policy framework has evolved over time in response to client needs. Beyond the key provisions (projects involving multiple participating countries, generating spill-over benefits across boundaries and showing clear country and regional commitment), special attention has been paid to enable FCS and small islands/countries to participate in regional integration initiatives. The program can support a project located in one country if it demonstrates regional spillover benefits. It also enables IDA borrowers to participate in a regional project with non-IDA borrowers. The program has supported regional organizations including Regional Economic Communities (RECs) and other specialized regional organizations to play a key role in implementing regional projects. iv. The IDA Regional Program was launched with an initial focus on support to enhance regional connectivity mainly through infrastructure. IDA has supported key transport corridors, ports and aviation to connect countries with larger markets regionally and globally. Energy, a key engine for development, has accounted for the largest share of the IDA Regional Program with aims to increase power generation and transmission to facilitate power connection and trade across countries. Digital connectivity has emerged as an important area, laying the foundation for digital economies and reducing the cost of technology links. v. The Program has since expanded to support efforts to provide public goods and address cross-border challenges across different sectors. The program has supported managing shared resources such as fisheries, river basins, pastoral resources and addressing common environmental challenges. It has supported regional efforts to strengthen health surveillance in the wake of disease outbreaks (such as HIV/AIDS, Ebola, cholera, among others); vulnerable populations following cross-border conflicts, fragility and violence (e.g., Great Lakes initiative) - ii - droughts and climate related disasters (e.g., through catastrophe risk insurance in the Caribbean and the Pacific). Finally, the program is supporting initiatives in education, research and skills building. For example, the African Centers of Excellence project has supported 40 educational centers across 20 countries to enhance capacity in Sciences, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). vi. Overall, despite their complexity, performance of the IDA Regional Program projects has been satisfactory, comparable to that of national projects. The majority of completed projects have been rated satisfactory, based on Independent Evaluation Group (IEG) reviews. Similarly, internal ratings for development outcome at the end of June 2018 found (83 percent) were rated moderately satisfactory or above. This is similar to overall Bank projects approved during the same period. While implementation ratings have tended to lag behind those of other projects, trends in reducing lags have been positive, and consistent with the trends for the overall IDA portfolio. Lessons from implementation and recommendations from the recent IEG evaluation of the World Bank Group’s (WBG)’s support to regional integration 1 will be used to inform the design and implementation support for the program in the future. vii. The IDA18 Regional Program has had a solid start with commitments of US$1.3 billion as of September 30, 2018. An initially slow start that was partly due to the delivery of large projects towards the end of the IDA17 period was offset by strong performance in the third and fourth quarters. The pipeline for the remainder of IDA18 is strong and it is expected that the US$5 billion IDA18 allocation for the IDA Regional Program will be fully utilized. viii. This stocktaking presents the IDA Regional Program’s progress in supporting connectivity, managing common “goods” and “bads”, and creating scale benefits, and, also reveals the collective challenges regional projects often face in project design and implementation. To continue IDA Regional Program’s robust support, Management seeks early feedback from IDA Participants on three emerging issues. Management would present a proposal on each for discussion at the IDA19 meeting in June 2019: • Expanding the choice of instruments that the IDA Regional Program could use to include Program-for-Results (PforRs) and Development Policy Operations (DPOs); • Expanding its menu of support through providing credit financing to regional organizations that have the ability to repay IDA credits; and • Allowing IDA recent graduates access to the IDA Regional Program resources, including the refugees sub-window, under certain limited conditions. (See IDA18 MTR Graduation Paper for details) 2. 1 See “Two to Tango: An Evaluation of World Bank Group Support to Fostering Regional Integration”, IEG, 2018. 2 “IDA18 Mid-Term Review, Transitioning out of IDA financing: A review of graduation policy and transition process” I. INTRODUCTION 1. In the past 15 years, the IDA Regional Program has been an important instrument for IDA to support its clients in addressing regional challenges and promoting regional integration. 3 Launched as a pilot in 2003 under IDA13, the IDA Regional Program has grown substantially. To date, US$16.2 billion has been committed to 204 regional projects. Sixty-eight countries and thirty regional organizations across all regions have benefited from the IDA Regional Program support. The policy framework governing the Regional Program has been adjusted in subsequent replenishment to reflect lessons learned and to better meet evolving client demands. 2. This paper takes stock of the IDA Regional Program’s overall performance since its launch, reviews the evolution of its policy framework and recommends further areas for IDA Participants’ discussions. The paper is structured as follows: Section II provides the strategic context of regional integration emphasizing that regional solutions remain a priority for IDA countries in an uncertain external environment. Section III describes the evolution of the IDA Regional Program’s policy framework, demonstrating IDA’s flexibility and responsiveness to client needs, particularly for FCS and Small States. Section IV provides an overview of the implementation progress and portfolio performance of the IDA Regional Program in the past 15 years, followed by an update on IDA18 progress. Section V shares the lessons learned on the policy framework, project design and implementation, and enabling processes. Section VI proposes emerging issues for IDA Participants to discuss: (i) expanding the instruments to be used by the IDA Regional Program to include PforRs and DPOs; (ii) expanding IDA’s menu of support— within appropriate limits—to include provision of IDA credits on regular and Scale-up Facility (SUF) terms to regional organizations with the ability to repay IDA credits; and (iii) support from the Regional Program for recent IDA graduates to join regional integration efforts. 4 II. STRATEGIC CONTEXT FOR THE IDA REGIONAL PROGRAM 3. Addressing regional challenges has been an important part of the global development agenda. The IDA Regional Program was launched as a pilot in 2003 recognizing that regional integration offers an important solution to expanding economic opportunities: enhancing connectivity to boost regional trade and links to global markets, especially for landlocked countries; managing shared natural resources; and, addressing common development challenges, including the financial crises (the East Asia and Eurasia financial crises at the time), and disease outbreaks such as the HIV/AIDS pandemic. The IDA Regional Program was launched based on the recognition that concerted actions were needed to achieve the Millennium Development Goals 3 The paper focuses on the IDA Regional Program, the funding envelope dedicated to promoting regional solutions and integration. In addition to the IDA Regional Program funding, a few IDA regional projects have been funded from other windows such as the early IDA allocation for HIV/AIDS, the Crisis Response Window, and the Scale-Up Facility (SUF). This review builds on the past reviews of the Regional Program conducted at the MTRs of IDA14, 15 and 16, and the recent IEG evaluation on WBG Support to Fostering Regional Integration. It does not cover the Refugee Sub-window created under IDA18 under the Regional Program. The Refugee Sub-window is covered in paper “IDA18 Mid-Term Review. Fragility, Conflict and Violence (FCV)”. 4 More details on the last issue, see “IDA18 Mid-term Review. Transitioning out of IDA financing: A review of graduation policy and transition process”. -2- (MDGs), and that countries would gain from economies of scale by working together and reaping common benefits from regional integration. 4. IDA countries have made important progress in the past decade in institutionalizing regional integration, albeit with differences across regions. Africa has made major progress in building institutions for regional integration–the African Union was established in 2001 as the continental body for regional cooperation and integration and its 2015 “Agenda 2063” outlines its vision and action plan around seven aspirations. 5 Eight RECs continue to provide leadership at the sub-regional level. Other regional integration initiatives in other regions include: The Central Asia Regional Economic Cooperation Program (CAREC), the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) and the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN). Overall, progress has been uneven with cooperation initiatives designed to meet different purposes in the context of different geo-political settings. 5. IDA countries remain the least integrated parts of the world and stand to reap substantive economic benefits with closer regional cooperation and integration. In Africa and South Asia, the level of regional integration remains the lowest in the world. The economic potential from filling such gaps is substantive. In South Asia, intra-regional trade accounts for less than 5 percent of total trade, and intra-regional foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows are only 4 percent of total FDI inflows. It is estimated that reduced trade friction can raise Bangladesh’s exports to India by 300 percent, and enhanced access could significantly benefit landlocked countries like Nepal, Bhutan and Afghanistan. 6 In Africa, an IMF study indicates that bringing Africa’s infrastructure to global average quality could increase intra-regional trade by 42 percent, and further lower tariffs by another 28 percent, among other benefits. 7 6. Regional integration remains a priority on IDA countries’ development agenda. This is particularly true in Africa and other parts of the world that face greater regional challenges. Regional integration can bring smaller, fragmented, and often landlocked markets together, to strengthen their links to global markets. For example, the recent Continental Free Trade Area (CFTA) agreement signed in March 2018 by 44 African countries, sets an ambitious agenda for expanding intra-Africa trade. This will also allow free movement of people and capital, and enhance competitiveness through the creation of a single market of 1.2 billion people and a continental GDP of over US$3 trillion. The CFTA could drive intra-Africa trade up by over 50 percent between 2010 and 2022, according to the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA). 8 Similarly, the Africa Union’s Agenda 2063 also has an ambitious target for regional integration that would see intra-African trade grow from less than 12 percent in 2013 to about 50 percent by 2045. 9 5 African Union, “Agenda 2063”, http://www.un.org/en/africa/osaa/peace/agenda2063.shtml. 6 South Asia Regional Integration: Progress Report on The Regional Integration Strategy – Summary, February 2, 2017. 7 IMF Sub-Saharan Africa Regional Economic Outlook 2016: multispeed Growth, 2016. 8 UNECA, “ECA urges Africa to push ahead with Continental Free Trade Area”, December 1, 2016 https://www.uneca.org/stories/eca-urges-africa-push-ahead-continental-free-trade-area. 9 World Bank. Supporting Africa’s Transformation: Regional Integration and Cooperation Assistance Strategy for the Period FY18-FY23. May 7, 2018. -3- 7. Concerted action is also critically needed to address new emerging threats at the regional level. 10 Changing climate patterns – warming temperatures, shifting rainfall patterns, and droughts (in areas such as the Horn of Africa), are increasingly occurring at a regional scale. Epidemics such as Ebola have spread at a quicker pace in recent years due to faster and increasing transboundary movement of goods and people. Financial spillovers are also now more common given closer economic ties and larger capital flows. 11 Moreover, crises such as wars, conflicts and refugee flows are triggering significant economic, social and political spillovers across countries and continents. 12 The recent IDA response to the Ebola epidemic in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea, as well as the response to famine caused by drought in the Horn of Africa, demonstrate that coordinated, regional interventions are more effective and necessary to combine individual country responses. Greater integration efforts supported by technological advances such as better and faster internet connection can lead to economies of scale in responding to challenges and expanding development opportunities across countries 8. IDA has been at the forefront of supporting countries’ development through regional solutions. IDA, working together with IBRD, IFC and MIGA, has supported regional initiatives starting from modest levels in the late 1970’s. Regional integration received a boost with the introduction of the IDA Regional Program under IDA13 to provide an incentive for countries to leverage additional financing beyond their own national IDA allocations for regional projects. Support to regional integration has ranged from investing in the needed connective infrastructure, addressing common natural resources and public goods, to supporting institutional and policy reforms. These efforts have been supported by regional entities, partners and the private sector. 9. Across the regions, regional integration is embedded in the World Bank Group’s (WBG) work at regional and country levels. The WBG supports countries regional integration efforts in serving as enabler, financier and convener, utilizing the full suite of WBG instruments.13 The WBG’s toolbox to support regional integration includes analytical work, convening power, advisory services, lending, investing and mobilization. WBG support has been customized to provide strategic and selective response to IDA clients in different geo-political situations. (See Box 1 on regional integration strategies). Regional strategies are synchronized with WBG’s engagement in the countries through Country Partnership Frameworks (CPFs). Country level dialogue often serves as an entry point for regional efforts and is coordinated with regional integration dialogue and initiatives. 10. The WBG support to regional integration has leveraged strong partnership with development partners. IDA financing is often complemented by co-financing or parallel financing from other Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs), governments, bilateral agencies, as well as trust fund, private and other funding sources. A total of US$6.4 billion co-financing has been mobilized by US$16.2 billion IDA financing for regional projects. The African Development 10 See Antoinette Monsio Sayeh, Keynote Speech at Harvard University's 9th Annual African Development Conference, March 24,2018. https://www.cgdev.org/sites/default/files/keynote-speech-harvard-university-9th-annual-african- development-conference.pdf 11 See IDA MTR paper on Jobs and Economic Transformation special theme. 12 See also IDA MTR Papers on Review of Crisis Response Window, FCV special theme, and Climate change special theme. 13 The three roles of the WBG in supporting regional integration are presented in the IEG evaluation of the Bank, “Two to Tango: An Evaluation of World Bank Group Support to Fostering Regional Integration. 2018.” -4- Bank, the Asian Development Bank, European Investment Bank, Islamic Development Bank, the French, German, Swedish development agencies are among the largest co-financiers of IDA- supported regional projects. Box 1. Regional Integration across WBG Regions In Sub-Sahara Africa, a new WBG Regional Integration Strategy was recently endorsed by the Board for the period FY18-23. This builds on the first Regional Integration Strategy for Sub-Sahara Africa launched in 2009. The new strategy will support the WBG’s Africa priorities through four “pathways”: (i) promoting economic dynamism along regional economic corridors; (ii) developing functioning regional markets in selected sectors; (iii) scaling up access to quality public services and entrepreneurship through complementary regional solutions; and, (iv) promoting collective action to address risks of regional economic contagion, fragility, epidemics and climate ‘hot spots’. In South Asia, the WBG has been scaling up efforts to promote and support economic cooperation since 2010. Given the intrinsic challenges of advancing regional cooperation in South Asia, the SAR integration program strategy seeks to (i) support blocks of a regional electricity market (connected to Central Asia and potentially East Asia); (ii) develop transport infrastructure and strengthen policy and institutional trade facilitation arrangements to move South Asia towards ASEAN levels of intra-regional trade and investment; (iii) improve the management of shared natural resources and disaster risks through collaborative cross-border institutional arrangements. While the eventual goal is to advance regional cooperation across South and Central Asia, the program has focused on promoting cooperation on a sub-regional basis, partly based on practical realities rooted in the sub-continent’s politics. In LAC, the regional support strategies range from the regional strategy for the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) to country specific strategies given the range of IDA countries in the region. The WBG’s Regional Partnership Strategy for the OECS for the period, 2015-20 focuses on two strategic objectives: fostering conditions for growth and competitiveness and strengthening resilience, while capitalizing on the benefits of regional integration. Haiti and Nicaragua have been supported in establishing catastrophic risk insurance. Support for addressing cholera has complemented support for other disasters through national IDA and the CRW. In EAP, the WBG Regional Partnership Framework for nine Pacific countries (FY17-21) supports regional integration initiatives in the areas of aviation, communications, environmental management, fisheries and disaster financing including, the Pacific catastrophic risk insurance. For the larger countries (Lao, Myanmar, Cambodia and Vietnam), the Regional Program supports: integrated water resource management in the Mekong river basin and establishment of a South East Asia Disaster Risk Insurance Facility for Cambodia, Myanmar and Lao PDR. In ECA, priorities for regional integration focus on enhanced regional cross-border interconnections and cross- border trade. The Central Asia Regional Links Program (CARs) aims to increase cross-border connectivity and revitalize historical economic exchanges in Central Asia and beyond along the Silk Route through improved road links. Central Asia countries governments are working to tap into their energy-related natural resources to enhance supply of hydro power to South Asia countries through the Central Asia South Asia Electricity Transmission and Trade Project (CASA-1000) Project. The project is expected to facilitate development of the Central Asia-South Asia Regional Electricity Market in the longer term. Hydrometeorological data strengthening is another priority area. Since 2015, regional cooperation is one of the four main pillars of the MENA region’s strategy “Economic and Social Inclusion for Peace and Stability in the Middle East and North Africa: A New Strategy for the World Bank Group”. The pillar focuses on regional public goods and sectors such as education, water, and energy so as to foster greater trust and collaboration across MENA countries. The majority of the MENA countries are IBRD borrowers. -5- III. THE IDA REGIONAL PROGRAM POLICY FRAMEWORK 11. The IDA Regional Program builds on earlier IDA support to regional integration. Before 2003, ten IDA projects with a total commitment of US$315.1 million had been “tagged” as regional projects. In the 1990s, IDA support to the OECS countries on solid waste management helped forge a regional agreement among the small island economies to protect the environmental integrity of the islands and their costal and marine systems – essential to the long-term success of their tourism industry. In addition to funding for countries, lines of credit were also extended to regional entities like the West African Development Bank (BOAD) and the Caribbean Development Bank for capacity building and to finance on-lending to regional projects. 12. With the establishment of the IDA Regional Program in 2003, IDA’s support to regional projects accelerated and has led to a growing portfolio of Regional Projects. The Regional Program is designed to provide a financial incentive for countries to join regional projects and initiatives – qualified regional investments are funded at least one third from the national IDA allocation and the rest from the regional IDA envelope. This has been the norm since then, 14 and has provided the intended incentives to the countries. 13. The size of the Regional Program allocation has grown steadily in response to client demand. The overall allocation for the IDA Regional Program has increased ten-fold from US$435 million in IDA13 to US$5 billion in IDA18. The increases reflect the heightened importance of regional integration as a development solution, progress achieved, increasing demand from clients and the overall increase of IDA resources from with each replenishment. Figure 1. Size of the IDA Regional Program (in US$ billion) IDA18 allocations IDA Commitments from to Regional Window Regional Window $5.0 IDA13 IDA14 IDA15 IDA16 IDA17 IDA18 (as of end FY19 Q1) 14. The IDA Regional Program resources have prioritized the Africa region given the high demand for regional solutions and the large number of IDA countries many of which 14 Except the exceptional cases and for small states where a country’s regular IDA allocation is capped at 20 percent of a country’s annual allocation. Grants to regional entities do not require country contribution. -6- are small and landlocked. Funds are allocated and managed at the regional level to align with regional strategies and ensure regional ownership. Since IDA16, 75 percent of the IDA Regional Program has been earmarked for Sub-Sahara Africa. 15 Allocations to other regions are proportional to their share of the core IDA country allocations in total non-Africa PBA allocations. 16 While initially slow during IDA15 and IDA16, uptake of financing for regional projects in other regions picked up with the rise in demand for regional integration. 15. Criteria for accessing the IDA Regional Program have evolved with implementation experience and response to different client needs over the years. As defined at inception in IDA13, projects are eligible for IDA Regional Program resources if they involve multiple participating countries, generate spill-over benefits across boundaries and show clear country and regional ownership (See Box 2). Box 2. Current Eligibility Criteria for IDA Regional Program 1. Involve: (i) three or more countries, all of which need to participate for the project’s objectives to be achievable (at least one of which is an IDA country); (ii) two countries if at least one fragile country participates in the regional project; (iii) on a case-by-case basis, one IDA country, where it can be clearly demonstrated that the project would have a transformational impact on the region, and that three or more countries (two, if one is FCS) would receive substantial benefits from the project); 2. Have benefits that spill over country boundaries (e.g., generate positive externalities or mitigate negative ones across countries); 3. There is clear evidence of country and regional ownership (e.g., by Economic Commission of West African States, ECOWAS or South African Development Community, SADC) which demonstrates commitment of most participating countries; and provide a platform for a high level of policy harmonization between countries and is part of a well-developed and broadly-supported regional strategy. 16. Special attention has been paid to increased flexibility to enable FCS and small islands/countries participate in regional integration initiatives. To enable IDA countries with small allocations (small countries since IDA18) 17 to participate in regional projects, a provision was introduced during IDA15, to cap allocations to any one regional project at 20 percent of a country’s annual national allocation. This rule has benefited countries like the Central African Republic and some island countries. Similarly, small countries are also allowed to frontload up to 80 percent of their national IDA resources, which may be necessary for meaningful participation in a regional project. During IDA16, the eligibility criteria for FCS countries to access the IDA Regional Program was relaxed to allow projects with two, instead of three, countries when at least one is a FCS country. Countries like Haiti, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Afghanistan, have benefited from this amendment. 17. Flexibility has made it possible to maximize impact, while maintaining the design purpose and integrity of the IDA Regional Program. In addition to the flexibility for FCS and 15 Africa has 48 countries, 39 of which are IDA countries, 16 are landlocked. 16 As an example, IDA18 Regional Program Window allocation to the different regions are: 75% for Africa, 14.7% for South Asia, 4.7% for EAP, 3% for ECA, 1.8% for LAC, 0.6% for MNA. 17 Since IDA18, rather than based on small allocations, adjustment was made to base the eligibility for the 20 percent cap to small states on populations of 1.5 million or less. -7- small states, several additional features demonstrate how the IDA Regional Program policy is applied to achieve its intended purpose: • Use of Series of Projects (SOP), Multiphase Program Approach (MPA) or an umbrella regional program as flexible instruments: 18 instead of requiring three participating countries to move at the same time, the IDA Regional Program has supported umbrella regional initiatives with multiple country participation using SOP and MPA instruments. These instruments allow countries to join through individual projects at different times, in accordance with their readiness but under one regional platform. This reflects the multi- speed reality in regional efforts. For example, the Central Asia Regional Links Program (CARs) and the South Asia sub-continent transport program are both SOPs that allow different countries to join at different times. • Countries participating in a regional project do not all need to be IDA borrowers. The IDA Regional Program can support one or more IDA participating countries, while others may use their own resources or borrow from other sources to finance their participation. This helps IDA countries which do not have IDA neighbors. For example, the IDA Regional Program supported Haiti’s effort to combat cholera because of its cross-border impact on both Haiti and the Dominican Republic, an IBRD country. • The IDA Regional Program can support very large and transformational projects that are located in only one country if it can be clearly demonstrated that the project would have a transformational impact on the region. There is also a 20 percent cap on the amount that would come from a country’s regular IDA allocation for regional projects where costs are very large. 18. The IDA Regional Program has provided critical support for capacity strengthening of regional organizations to advance the regional integration agenda. As IDA regional projects expanded, the role of regional organizations has become more prominent. Many IDA-financed regional projects included activities to be carried out by regional organizations, but most of these do not have the capacity to repay credits. 19 In response to this challenge, a pilot program for regional organizations was introduced in 2009 during IDA15. This pilot program provides up to ten percent of the regional IDA envelope as grants to eligible regional organizations that support the preparation or implementation of IDA regional operations. 20 In addition to meeting the criteria for IDA regional projects, the recipient regional organizations have to fulfill six eligibility criteria detailed in Box 3. At the IDA16 Mid-Term Review (MTR), the eligibility criteria were further revised to allow regional organizations that are not directly associated with an existing regional IDA-financed project, but still perform an important and critical role in moving the regional integration agenda forward to access grant funding. 21 As a result of this amendment, regional organizations like the African Capacity Building Foundation (ACBF) was able to receive IDA 18 These are all Bank approaches for organizing projects under an umbrella initiative: SOP, MPA. 19 Except regional entities such as BOAD or regional development banks who borrowed from IDA for on-lending activities and had the revenue stream to pay back the credits. 20 IDA15 Mid-Term Review of the IDA Regional Program. 21 The specific language introduced was “the regional entity is associated with an IDA-funded regional operation or otherwise supports the strategic objectives of IDA on regional integration”. -8- funding support to carry out regional capacity building activities in Africa (see Annex 2 for list of regional organizations received support from IDA). Box 3. Eligibility Criteria: Grant for Regional Organizations Pilot 1. Recipient is a bona fide regional organization that has the legal status and fiduciary capacity to receive grant funding and the legal authority to carry out the activities financed. 2. Recipient does not meet eligibility requirements to take on an IDA credit. 3. The costs and benefits of the activity to be financed with an IDA grant are not easily allocated to national programs. 4. The activities to be financed with an IDA grant are related to regional infrastructure development, institutional cooperation for economic integration, and coordinated interventions to provide regional public goods. 5. Grant co-financing for the activity is not readily available from other development partners 6. The regional entity is associated with an IDA-funded regional operation or otherwise supports the strategic objectives of IDA on regional integration. 19. There is a growing need to explore the scope for expanding the range of instruments used to support regional integration. The IDA Regional Program was created with a focus on funding infrastructure and connectivity investments. The Investment Project Financing instrument was the appropriate way to support these operations. As IDA moves towards addressing the next frontier of regional integration efforts, i.e. reforming policies and building institutions to complement physical investments, an emerging issue is whether to expand the range of instruments supported by the IDA Regional Program (see Section VI for more discussion on the issue). 20. Since IDA18, the terms of IDA Regional Program allocation including grant/credit distribution have been fully harmonized with the terms of a country’s core IDA allocation. This has corrected an inconsistency in the past for IDA borrowers at moderate risk of debt distress that received IDA Regional Program allocations only on credit terms. IV. IMPLEMENTATION PROGRESS OF THE IDA REGIONAL PROGRAM 21. This section provides an overview of the implementation progress of the IDA Regional Program since its creation, focusing on the commitments, selected results especially from closed projects, and overall portfolio performance. It also includes an update on IDA18 implementation. A. PROGRESS AND ACHIEVEMENTS OF IDA REGIONAL PROGRAM SUPPORT 22. The IDA Regional program has provided significant support to regional integration efforts over the past 15 years. A total of 204 22 projects worth US$16.2 billion have been approved under the program. 23 Figure 2 shows commitments to regional projects since IDA13 22 Important to note that there were regional projects that leveraged the IDA Regional Program and others that went ahead without the leverage. 23 Out of the 204 projects, 162 of the projects were new while 42 projects provided additional financing to existing projects. In terms of financing, grants amount to US$4.4 billion; regular IDA credits (US$11.5 billion); IDA Guarantee (US$245 million) and the IDA Scale Up Facility (US$130 million). -9- (including commitments from both national and regional allocations). Approximately US$6 billion was financed from national allocations, leveraging US$10 billion from the IDA Regional Program. The Africa region has accounted for the greatest share of commitments (Figure 3). A total of 68 countries have participated in at least one IDA regional project, with a good coverage of landlocked, _FCS, and small states. 24 The top 10 countries participating in projects are listed in Figure 4 below. Both landlocked and coastal countries are active participants of regional projects reflecting the wide regional and sectoral coverage. A total of 28 FCS countries 25 have participated in regional projects, accounting for 30.2 percent of total commitments (see Figure 5 for the top ten FCS beneficiaries). Small island/countries—many Pacific and Caribbean island countries—have been very active in accessing the IDA Regional Program, even though the amounts are smaller compared to other larger borrowers. Figure 2. Total Commitments by Figure 3. Regional Breakdown of IDA Replenishment for IDA Regional Projects Regional Projects MENA, ECA, 2% LAC, 1% 0% EAP, 4% SAR, 14% AFR, 79% Figure 4. IDA Regional Program Figure 5. IDA Regional Program Commitments – Top 10 Countries Commitments – Top 10 FCS Countries (in US$ millions) (in US$ millions) 24 IEG Evaluation, page 17. 25 These countries are Mali, DRC, Guinea, Niger, Chad, Burundi, Cote D’Ivoire, Togo, Cameroon, Liberia, Central African Republic, Sierra Leone, Gambia, Tuvalu, Guinea Bissau, Tajikistan, Nepal, Micronesia, Afghanistan, Comoros, Haiti, Madagascar, Marshall Islands, Sao Tome and Principe, Republic of Congo, Myanmar and Solomon Islands. - 10 - 23. The IDA Regional Program initially Figure 6. IDA Regional Program – focused on infrastructure for connectivity, Commitments to Sectors but it has since supported projects across a wide range of sectors. Broadly, these projects, Industry & Social in line with the original design and evolution of Trade/Ser ProtectionFinancial the program provided support for: 1) Water/Sanit/ 4% 3% Sector enhancing regional connectivity, (2) Waste 3% Education promoting provision of public goods and 5% 2% addressing common “bads”, and (3) Public mobilizing innovative scale benefits. Project Admin financing is underpinned by (4) regional 5% Energy & Health Extractiv analytical work and complemented by (5) es 6% institutional support to regional 28% organizations which often play a facilitation Info & role in project implementation. 26 IDA regional Communic ation Transportation projects have advanced past and current IDA 8% 23% special themes particularly, jobs and economic transformation, climate change, fragility, Agriculture gender and others. The following paragraphs 13% provide an overview with highlights of the key areas of the IDA Regional Program support. More details are presented in Annex 1 on specific sectors. A.1. Investing in regional infrastructure for enhancing connectivity 24. A hallmark of the IDA Regional Program has been supporting regional infrastructure to enhance connectivity – key to the foundation of economic transformation especially for smaller and landlock countries. 27 Starting with the transport sector, the IDA Regional Program has supported projects across regions to build transportation links – roads, ports and aviation – connecting countries (including many landlocked) with larger markets and access to ports. In Africa, IDA is supporting programs in critical transport and trade corridors across the continent. 28 As a result, the percentage of trunk corridors in good or fair condition along IDA- financed sections in these corridors has increased from under 50 percent to over 90 percent. The average transit time for container imports from Mombasa to Kigali has been reduced from 19 days (2008) to 5 days (2015). In both South Asia and Central Asia, ongoing flagship regional programs are enhancing the road links in the South Asia subcontinent since 2011 and among Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan in Central Asia since 2013 (Figure 7). As a result of the Central Asia Regional Links program, road safety standards have been enhanced, and for the first time in the Kyrgyz Republic, automated weigh-in-motion technologies were introduced along two major 26 Recent IEG evaluation categorized IDA Regional Program Window support around improving (1) regional connectivity, (2) public goods, and (3) institutions. 27 See IDA MTR Paper on Jobs and Economic Transformation special theme. 28 The corridors: the Northern Multimodal Corridor covering Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi; the Abidjan-Lagos corridor covering Nigeria, Benin, Togo, Ghana and Cote D’Ivoire; the Abidjan-Ouga/Bamako Corridor covering Cote D’Ivoire, Burkina Faso and Mali; the North-South Multimodal Corridor connecting South Africa, Zambia and Malawi; the Central Corridor connecting Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and the DRC; and, Doula-Bangui/Doual-Ndjamena Corridor covering Cameroon, Chad and CAR. Projects for other corridors are under development. - 11 - international corridors to detect vehicle overloading. 29 In the Pacific Islands, the Pacific Aviation program approved in IDA16 has refurbished regional airports with enhanced safety standards to better link the islands. 30 Similar projects also supported aviation links in West and Central Africa. IDA support often combines investment in transportation infrastructure with complementary economic activities to facilitate Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) competitiveness and economic opportunities for women and youth, as in Africa’s priority economic corridors, and the recently approved Khyber Pass Economic Corridor project linking Afghanistan and Pakistan. Figure 7. Central Asia Regional Links Program (CARs) 25. The Energy sector has received the largest sectoral support from the IDA Regional Program with a focus on enhancing generation capacity, expanding transmission lines across countries, building management capacity of institutions and, developing regional power markets. This effort has been intensive for Africa, centered around three power pools. With IDA Regional Program support, over 4,500 km of transmission lines have been constructed or 29 Addressing vehicle overloading will not only help to prevent damage to roads but also improve traffic safety. Since the introduction of this automated system as part of the Taza Koom program collection rates at weigh stations have more than doubled. 30 Support to aviation investment has been provided to Kiribati, Tonga, Tuvalu, Samoa and Vanuatu. - 12 - rehabilitated. The West Africa Power Pool will soon be expected to connect the grids of 15 countries in ECOWAS, with a transformative impact on the region. (Figure 8). It is expected that by 2021, the entire West Africa Power Pool region will be inter-connected with ongoing and future projects supported by the IDA Regional Program. Together with USAID, IDA is supporting, the Central Asia-South Asia Transmission Project (CASA-1000) which provides a partnership platform to trade existing surplus hydropower in Kyrgyz Republic and Tajikistan to energy deficient Afghanistan and Pakistan – constituting a fundamental building block for the establishment of a regional market. While enhancing transmission links, the IDA Regional Program has also moved towards supporting regional institutional building (e.g., regional power pool secretariats) to strengthen the capacity of regulators and utilities, and building regional markets, especially in South Asia and Africa. 26. Beyond transportation and power transmission links, the IDA Regional Program has also supported digital connectivity laying the foundation for digital economy of IDA countries. In Africa, through a set of Regional Communications Infrastructure Projects (RCIPs), IDA support has connected 24 countries to Internet, and reduced the cost of international bandwidth by between 75 to 90 percent. Similar projects are linking the Pacific and Caribbean islands to the digital world. The Digital CASA programs are building the digital links across Central and South Asian countries. Complementing the physical broadband infrastructure, IDA also supported harmonization of policies and improving transparency through e-government initiatives. Figure 8. West Africa Power Pool Connectivity A.2. Promoting common public goods and addressing common “bads” 27. The IDA Regional Program has been a primary instrument for IDA to promote public goods as envisioned in the original design of the program. The Program has supported - 13 - management of cross-border natural resources: water basins for surrounding countries, common fishery resources for coastal countries, and pastoral resources, forestry and environment management. IDA has supported water resources management around Mekong River Basin, Niger River Basin, Senegal River Basin and Lake Victoria. Fishery projects across West Africa, South Asia and Pacific have provided a platform for countries to manage the common fishery resources productively and sustainably. In line with the climate change agenda, an IDA special theme over several replenishments, the IDA Regional Program has supported hydrological and meteorological (hydromet) services and promoted regional platforms for weather data sharing and monitoring of weather events across South Asia, ECA, and Africa regions. South Asia has also used the Regional Program support for wildlife protection across borders. 28. At the same time, the IDA Regional Program supported countries taking collective actions against trans-boundary challenges, the common “bads”. In the health sector, IDA has taken a regional approach to respond to pandemic diseases that are traveling across borders, first on HIV/AIDS 31, and more recently, the Ebola crisis. After the initial multi-country interventions supported by the Crisis Response Window (CRW), the IDA Regional Program supported a series of projects for strengthening the surveillance systems at national and regional levels to enhance collaborative monitoring and preparedness. 32 During IDA17, the Horn of Africa, the Sahel and the Great Lakes initiatives were supported by IDA Regional Program to address cross-border conflicts, fragile and violence, and provide basic services to vulnerable populations, with a focus on the displaced especially women (Box 4). More recently, under IDA18, the West Africa Coastal Erosion project is supporting a regional approach to mitigate climate change impact on the coast. Box 4. IDA Regional Program support to address Regional Fragility Under IDA17, the IDA Regional Program support helped to address rising cross-border conflict and violence through a regional approach. The WBG along with other regional and international partners developed three flagship initiatives that work on a continuum of conflict, security, humanitarian, and development axis. These initiatives in the Great Lakes, Sahel, and the Horn of Africa have resulted in new WBG lending of over US$3 billion for regional projects covering multiple sectors. The initiatives have also included the first wave of regional forced displacement projects in Africa, which provide a solid bedrock for implementation of the Refugee Sub- Window under IDA18. 33 There is strong justification for such regional efforts in FCS settings. For the development efforts to deliver their full benefits, tangible progress needs to be made on the security and political aspects. Rolling back progress on security and political issues could undermine the development efforts. A.3. Mobilizing efforts in innovative areas through scale benefits 29. An important driver of regional integration is to capitalize on economies of scale to benefit countries which act together on innovative regional solutions. This is particularly important for smaller countries. With IDA Regional Program support, the Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility (CCRIF), the Pacific Catastrophe Risk Assessment and Financing Initiative, and the Pandemic Emergency Financing Facility (PEF) all use an innovative regional 31 The HIV/AIDS projects were not directly supported by the IDA Regional Program, there was a special IDA set-aside in IDA12, the HIV/AIDS Multi-country HIV/AIDS Program (MAP), in response to the HIV/AIDS pandemic. 32 See the Regional Disease Surveillance Systems Enhancement (REDISSE) projects. 33 See, “IDA18 Mid-Term Review, Fragility, Conflict and Violence (FCV)”. - 14 - approach to pool together risks for individual countries against catastrophes and enhance disaster preparedness. The CCRIF has made a total of 34 payouts of over US$129 million to 12 Caribbean members for hurricane, earthquake, and excess rainfall. Recently, the PEF’s first payment of US$12 million helped the DRC address the reemergence of the Ebola virus. In the education sector, the African Centers of Excellence SOP have opened the borders for greater collaboration for researchers and quality training of students in specialized regional academic centers (Box 5). In the health sector, regional laboratories were established under regional projects that serve multiple countries in Africa. In the financial sector, the IDA Regional Program has supported financial integration under the sub-regional communities including the Africa Trade Insurance Agency (ATI) and the regional mortgage markets. Box 5. African Centers of Excellence Projects To raise the capacity of technical institutions in a range of disciplines, the African Centers of Excellence (ACE) series of projects use a regional approach to help strengthen specialization and collaboration among academic institutions across countries so that students from all countries get to benefit from access to quality education across priority disciplines. Through the first ACE projects, around 40 Africa Centers for Excellence spread across 20 countries are at various stages of establishment and functioning–these are expected to help increase the quantity and quality of technical graduates in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) disciplines from African institutions. A.4. Supporting Regional Organizations 30. Since the IDA15 MTR, the IDA Regional Program has provided direct support to regional organizations to facilitate project implementation and build their capacity, an essential element of many regional initiatives. This has been an important instrument for IDA to enable regional organizations to play their role in regional initiatives. In total, 30 regional institutions have received over US$400 million grant support. Regional institutions provide a wide range of services to facilitate regional integration efforts—RECs like ECOWAS and West African Economic Monetary Union (WAEMU) are important in mobilizing political commitment and support among participating countries. They also provide critical regional-level project coordination and management functions. Regional technical organizations like the regional secretariats of the power pools in Africa, the Pacific Aviation Safety office (PASO), the Caribbean Telecom Union, have provided technical expertise, supported analytical work including feasibility studies and implementing social and environmental safeguards, and served as regional platforms for sharing data and promoting common policy and practice. 34 Most grants to regional organizations are components of regional projects, and in some instances, stand-alone projects such as IDA’s support to ACBF. On an exceptional basis, an IDA credit was provided to a regional organization which has the ability to repay (Box 6). This project was approved by the IDA Board through a policy waiver because the IDA Regional Program policy currently does not include provision for extending IDA credits to regional organizations. Similarly, the WAEMU Affordable Housing Project involved a waiver of the SUF policy to enable borrowing by BOAD. 35 Providing 34 For example, the Western Africa Power Pool Secretariat is supporting a number of projects, is helping to conduct studies to ensure medium to long-term the power generation capacity will be developed in a timely manner and providing technical assistance for preparatory institutional, legal, pre-feasibility/feasibility, and environmental and social impact assessment studies for transmission lines and potential hydropower plants. 35 The WAEMU Affordable Housing Project is designed to expand access to long-term housing finance in WAEMU, including for undeserved households through long-term loans to banks secured against small mortgage loans and funding for housing - 15 - IDA credit support to organizations with the ability to repay, can further extend the menu of support by the IDA Regional Program to regional organizations (see section VI below). Box 6. Example of an IDA Credit to a Regional Organization The project, “Strengthening Financial Regional Institutions in the Central African Economic and Monetary Community (CEMAC) Region Project”, aims to strengthen the capacity of selected CEMAC regional financial institutions, namely its central bank BEAC, and its supervision and anti-money laundering institutions. IDA provided a credit to BEAC which is not eligible for IDA grant as it has the capacity to borrow and repay the loan. Approval of the IDA regional credit to BEAC required a Board waiver. A.5. Analytical underpinnings and advisory services 31. IDA has taken an active role in regional knowledge and analysis, providing analytic underpinning for investment projects and policy debate and policy formulation on regional integration. The regional analytical work has helped shape both the policy dialogues and investment projects across regions (Box 7). Box 7. Examples of Analytic Work on Regional Integration • Africa Can Help Feed Africa, 2012 highlights barriers to food trade in Africa along the value chain. • Political economy of regional integration in Africa, 2016 – covers sector analyses of agriculture, financial services, professional services, trade facilitation, and transport. • Unexplored potential of Trade in Services in Africa – presents regulatory hurdles in trade flows and proposed policy actions for integrating fragmented services markets in Africa. • The Web of Transport Corridors in South Asia report – appraises corridor investments so they deliver equitable benefits. jointly with the ADB, JICA, and the UK/DFID. • Glass Half Full: The Promise of Regional Trade in South Asia, - uses intraregional trade as complementary to, and as a stepping stone for, deeper global integration. • Caribbean Energy Strategy financed by Public-Private Infrastructure Advisory Facility • Central American Caribbean Catastrophic Risk Insurance technical assessments, WB/US Department of Treasury. • Transport and Trade Facilitation Strategy and Action Plan for 2008-2017, CAREC. • The Eurasian Connection–studies supply-chain efficiency along the Modern Silk Route through Central Asia. • Pacific Possible—flagship analytical work served as platform for IDA’s regional strategy in the Pacific. 32. IDA’s technical assistance and advisory services have also supported various regional dialogues and platforms. IDA is supporting important regional platforms that bring together public and private sector stakeholders, such as through the Partnerships for Skills in Applied Sciences, Engineering and Technology and the Sahel Alliance in Africa, brokering the power trading agreement between Nepal and India, supporting transboundary water governance with UK and Australia, and supporting the creation of the Business, Enterprise and Employment Support network on women’s economic empowerment in South Asia. loans to non-bank financial institutions, serving the informal sector, and households with low incomes. The project required a Board policy waiver for SUF lending to BOAD – a credit worthy regional organization - without sovereign guarantee. The waiver highlighted the low risks associated with lending to BOAD, specifically its strong financial position, stable investment rating (Baa1/BBB) and the strength of members’ support. - 16 - B. IDA REGIONAL PROJECTS PORTFOLIO PERFORMANCE 33. The IDA Regional Program portfolio is relatively young, however, some of the earliest projects have now closed. There are currently 147 active projects in the portfolio with a total commitment of US$13.2 billion. The disbursement ratio of the IDA regional project portfolio is 13.9 percent, lower than 19.9 percent average ratio of IDA national project portfolio in FY18. This reflects the age of the portfolio as well as the implementation challenges posed by regional projects due to the number of countries and implementing agencies involved. To date, 50 projects committed during IDA13-14 have closed. The majority of completed projects have been rated satisfactory, based on IEG reviews (Figure 9.). The internal ratings for development outcome at the end of June 2018 are: 124 projects (83 percent) were rated moderately satisfactory or above; 22 (14 percent) were rated moderately unsatisfactory and 3 (less than 1 percent) rated unsatisfactory. This is similar to overall Bank projects approved during the same period. 36 Figure 9. IEG Ratings of IDA Regional Projects 34. The implementation challenges of regional projects in multiple countries are reflected at the portfolio level. Overall, the regional projects portfolio lags behind the overall IDA portfolio on performance indicators (Figure 10). 37 However, trends in reducing lags have largely been positive, and consistent with the trends for the overall IDA portfolio. This reflects the reality that the common implementation challenges faced by IDA national projects (weak implementation capacity, fiduciary arrangements, procurement, etc.) are multiplied when multiple countries are involved. Efforts are ongoing at corporate level and on the ground to address these implementation challenges. For example, effectiveness conditions are restricted to few critical ones and the use of cross-country effectiveness conditions was discontinued. Closing the gap between performance of 36 The overall rates are: 87 percent rated moderately satisfactory or above, and 11 percent rated moderately unsatisfactory and 2 percent rated unsatisfactory. 37 Preparation refers to time from project concept to project approval, project start from approval to effectiveness; effectiveness to first disbursement, and overall implementation: approval to closing. - 17 - country and regional projects is being addressed across the board through greater use of Country Portfolio Performance Reviews and country level dialogue. The system for tracking performance of the IDA Regional Program has been enhanced along with other IDA18 windows. Figure 10. Time Lag between IDA Regional and National Projects C. IDA18 NEW COMMITMENTS FOR THE IDA REGIONAL PROGRAM 35. The Regional Program has had a solid start in the first 15 months of IDA18. As of September 30, 2018, 30 projects (17 of which in Africa) with total commitments of US$2.47 billion, have been approved by the IDA Board (See Annex 3 for a complete list of projects approved in IDA18). An initially slow start partly due to the delivery of a large program towards the end of IDA17 period was offset by strong performance in the third and fourth quarters of FY18. Of the funds committed, US$457 million was in grants and US$1.76 billion in credits. US$913 million was funded from national allocations to leverage US$ 1.18 billion from the IDA Regional Program. 36. Building on previous investments to close infrastructure gaps and strengthen resilience, a number of new and innovative projects are further advancing the regional integration agenda. In FY18, infrastructure has so far accounted for the largest share of projects (23 percent) with continued investments to close infrastructure gaps in energy, transport and ICT and air transport. For example, the Tanzania-Zambia interconnector project aims to provide a vital - 18 - link between the Eastern Africa and Southern Africa Power pools, while the Khyber Pass Economic Corridor Project will strengthen the link between Afghanistan and Pakistan. Other projects focused on climate resilience supporting irrigation for the Sahel, disease surveillance, climate investment in Africa and disaster risk management and hydrometeorology in South Asia. There are some innovative projects under IDA18: The West Africa Unique Identification for Regional Integration, supporting development of a foundation for unique identification schemes with mutual recognition across the ECOWAS region. It is also the first regional MPA project. The West Africa Coastal Resilience Investment Project adopts a regional approach to combating coastal erosion and strengthening resilience of fragile communities in coastal Western Africa. The initiative was highlighted at the One Planet Summit in Paris, December 2017. 37. The IDA18 Pipeline is expected to be strong. A strong pipeline of projects is under preparation for FY19-20 and it is expected that the IDA18 Regional Program envelope will be fully committed. The Regional Program will also seek to respond to growing regional challenges faced by IDA countries such as marine pollution. V. LESSONS FROM EXPERIENCE 38. Regional projects are complex, because of the collective actions required by multiple countries in a concerted manner. The multi-country focus makes regional projects uniquely important. However, the collective action challenge manifests in different aspects of regional projects—the political economy context, commitment of clients, project design, implementation, and supervision, results and M&E, and internal processes. These challenges are not dissimilar from those faced by IDA national projects, but they are magnified in regional projects. The following are some of the lessons. Bringing them to life, Box 8 reflects on the “challenging and rewarding real life” of a regional integration project Task Team Leader. 39. Regional integration needs a strategic approach supplemented by opportunistic interventions, driven by regional political economy dynamics. The Bank’s strategy and approach to regional integration and opportunities to engage are driven by regional political economy developments and client demand. The interplay between sectoral and political dialogue and between regional and country level engagements further complicate the political commitments required for regional projects. Opportunistic support, often a pragmatic option, can put in place building blocks for a longer-term objective. In the dynamic regional politics, engagements with multiple countries often requires considerable development diplomacy and high-level contact. Furthermore, even after a regional coalition is formed at the time of project commitment, sustaining the commitment throughout the long project cycle is not guaranteed. In addition, unexpected events could also arise and impact implementation of the projects. 38 With multiple countries involved, delay by one country can stall the overall progress. Indeed, “a chain is only as strong as its weakest link” aptly describes the challenge faced by regional efforts. 39 38 For example, in West Africa, a coup d’etat and civil war in 2012 resulted in higher costs for security and goods and services for the WAPP Felou Hydroelectric Project. 39 As an example, project effectiveness was delayed for 1.5 years in the case of the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU) Capital Market Development Project due to the requirement for eight countries national parliaments to ratify credit guarantees and for their courts to issue corresponding legal opinions. In South Asia, the transformational CASA-1000 project - 19 - 40. Regional project design, implementation and results. Over the years, regional project teams have generated some practical lessons. The project cycle for a regional project is less linear and more iterative. A simple project design when multiplied becomes more complex. Project implementation requires more extensive coverage and more handholding especially with countries with limited capacity. The results achieved by individual countries or projects are often difficult to aggregate at the regional level. It is particularly difficult to measure and attribute outcome and impact. Indeed, the recent IEG evaluation highlighted the challenge for the IDA Regional Program in demonstrating the spillover impact of regional projects. Projects teams will continue to balance the need for simplicity, facilitating implementation, and strengthening the M&E, to ensure projects achieve the intended regional impact. Specific lessons: • Simpler project design: project completion reports point to the need for greater simplicity in project design. Projects need to be simplified to avoid trying to tackle too many issues across multiple countries and institutions. They also call for fewer and more realistic objectives and timelines. • Complementing investment lending with deeper policy reforms across countries. While regional infrastructure gaps continue to be a binding constraint for deepening integration, they must be accompanied by faster movement on policy, regulatory, and institutional reforms. For example, reforms will be needed to create a regional market for power trade in Africa, and in the ICT sector e.g. awarding a new license, privatization of operators and passing Public-Private Partnerships (PPP) laws. • Project implementation challenges – weaknesses in implementation capacity, fiduciary arrangements and procurement – are magnified when multiple countries are involved in a project. For example, negotiations of the Broadband PPP contract under the Caribbean Regional Communications Infrastructure Program (CARCIP) for Nicaragua took nine months, due to the need to work with different national procedures. More recently, some projects are undertaking joint procurement across countries to enhance efficiency and save costs for individual countries, but this requires each country to give up some level of control over its own project. • Strengthening M&E at the regional level. There is recognition of the need for stronger overall M&E frameworks, particularly at the regional level across individual projects to demonstrate regional impact. The weakness with M&E has been identified by the recent IEG evaluation. When a regional initiative is composed of multiple projects with a wide array of interventions, aggregating results from individual operations poses a challenge, sometimes due to the lack of consistent indicators across projects. Even where there is data, there is no common platform to present results across individual projects. The Africa region’s new Regional Integration Strategy provides a good example going forward. It has a three-tier results framework that brings together results from countries and individual projects and aggregates them at the regional level. only became effective in January 2018 after being extended for three times over four years, as the effectiveness condition of signing the construction contracts for major infrastructure packages have yet to be met. - 20 - Box 8. What is it Like to be Task Team Leader of a Regional Integration Project? by Christian Berger, Task Team Leader for the Regional Sahel Pastoralism Project On the difference between being a Task Team Leader (TTL) for a country project and a regional project. A regional project involves a significant level of coordination – for shared regional and country objectives. Capitalizing on the regional dimension makes the difference! During preparation, this requires bringing all countries together around a shared goal and ironing out any differences – and this can be hard work. During implementation, it means keeping an eye on the regional and national needs and benefits. It is this combination that makes regional projects unique! On the workload of a TTL of an RI project. Day to day TTL work may not be very different from being the TTL of a national project: reviewing documents, providing “no objection” to plans and activities, securing procurement, organizing and reporting implementation support among others. In the case of the Sahel Regional Pastoralism Support Project (PRAPS), we are talking about handling activities and disbursements in the range of US$1 million per week. This might translate into spending a couple of hours a day on average for managing each individual country project under PRAPS. Multiply this by the number of country projects bundled together and add the regional coordination which need management and one will understand why RI projects need more than a single TTL to be successful. A good practice has been to devote one co-TTL to each country project, all collaborating with the “regional TTL”. On what is really the hard part and what is the easy part of managing an RI project. Successful national projects require hard work in general, and successful RI projects are no different. Indeed, maybe they need more harder work. To some extent, some of the WBG systems are still not designed to accommodate large RI projects, but we are making progress. During preparation, regional projects may prove harder, mainly due to the number of national and regional stakeholders we have to deal with. These are sovereign states and there can be asymmetrical benefits between countries. Getting them onto a regional platform is the first step and then getting them to agree on a common regional program is the next step. Then we have practical problems to worry about – elections in one country, civil unrest in another, change of country personnel…but we try not to move the agenda at the pace of the slowest mover. There are scale economy opportunities - experience with PRAPS shows that country teams network together, sharing methodologies, experts, and draft manuals, and bidding documents. On the other hand, implementation support in the field may be logistically more demanding, since there are a lot of individual country projects to support at the same time, and also due to limited budget allocations. On what gives you most satisfaction to be a TTL for an RI project? I consider that being TTL of a RI project at the World Bank is a real opportunity as it is both challenging and rewarding. Task teams help with building efficient professional networks between countries, linking people who hardly knew each other, and contributing effectively to regional economic and political integration. Bringing these often disparate groups together is the cherry on the cake for an RI TTL. Source: World Bank, Africa Regional Integration Strategy, May 7, 2018, page 73. http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/700111528428661825/pdf/REGIONAL-INTEGRATION-CAS- AFRICA-05112018.pdf. 41. Improving internal systems and processes. Regional projects follow existing systems and processes as national projects, but they require more resources and staff efforts for preparation and supervision. While there is some level of scale benefits for project teams, working on regional projects is generally more intense. The administrative and processing burden is higher, for example, separate legal documents need to be prepared for each participating country. The recent IEG evaluation also pointed to a need to encourage staff to pursue regional integration operations. Management has responded through more planning and clearer prioritization at the regional level, further increase of budget resources for regional projects, and operational and system - 21 - simplification measures. 40 Regional integration “champions” in various regions are also helping advance the agenda forward. Management is also encouraging a more consolidated portfolio to reduce fragmentation and create more efficiency. VI. POTENTIAL ADJUSTMENTS TO THE IDA REGIONAL PROGRAM 42. Based on the implementation experience of the IDA Regional Program and the need to better support the regional integration agenda going forward, three emerging issues could be considered during the IDA19 replenishment discussions: (1) exploring how IDA Regional Program can better support policy reforms and results-based approaches for regional integration; (2) exploring whether the IDA Regional Program could expand its menu of support through providing financing – within appropriate limits - to regional organizations which have the ability to repay IDA credits; and, (3) exploring access to the IDA Regional Program by recent IDA graduates. Based on MTR discussion, Management proposes to develop proposals on each of the three issues for consideration as part of the IDA19 package. 43. Expanding Instrument Choice. Addressing the next frontier of regional integration efforts will require more deliberate efforts to reform policies and build institutions complementing physical investments. To support regional investment and advance the pace of integration, there is need to unlock implementation obstacles to achieve coordinated policy reforms across countries. The economic case for coordinated regional policies is that they allow cross-border policy spillovers to be internalized (thus supporting the provision of regional public goods), and that they can create an anchor to commit Governments to policy reforms. 41 Regional investment projects typically require significant agreement on regional policies—for example regional power projects need to be complemented by building in power-sharing arrangements. In such cases, regional policy-based operations through DPOs could strengthen IDA’s support for regional integration. 42 Similarly, the PforR instrument could also be useful for the Regional Program to build results- based interventions to strengthen institutions and deliver regional efforts. 44. Expanding instrument choice for the Regional Program can provide opportunities for synchronized policy reforms and institution building, but they involve added complexity and challenges. In terms of DPOs, two regional DPOs (using national IDA allocations with no additional leverage from the regional program) have been approved so far. The Burkina Faso and Cote D’Ivoire Regional Trade Facilitation and Competitiveness DPO (FY15) helped reduce trade costs through reforms, although it faced slippages and delays due to the different implementation pace of participating countries. The other is the First Regional Development Policy Operation for the Accelerated Program for Economic Integration (FY16), a trade facilitation program for 40 See for example Africa Regional Integration Strategy, page 76. 41 Grossman, G. M. 2016. “Chapter 7 - The Purpose of Trade Agreements.” In Handbook of Commercial Policy, edited by Kyle Bagwell and Robert W. Staiger, 1:379–434. North-Holland. 42 There is potential for multi-country DPOs, for example, a regional policy-based operation could support a series of reforms in tax policy within WAEMU (Benin, Burkina Faso, Cote d’Ivoire, Togo, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Niger and Senegal) with the twin objective of increasing the member countries’ capacity to mobilize more domestic revenue and to encourage private sector activities-firms in the region still see taxes as an important constraint for their investment decisions despite the 1994 WAEMU treaty on coordinating tax policy. A DPO could support a regional stabilization fund to help deal with revenue volatility for the Southern African Customs Union (SACU) for Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, South Africa and Swaziland. The regional DPO could help to set up the appropriate governance structure. - 22 - Malawi, Mozambique, Mauritius, Seychelles and Zambia. While all the countries implemented the reforms, only Mauritius and Seychelles had adequate macroeconomic frameworks and hence, received DPO related financing. These experiences showed the need for clear and coordinated country ownership, the need for sound macroeconomic framework among participating countries, and, the challenge of variable implementation speed. For any future regional DPOs, the rigor applied to national DPOs will apply. In addition, the optimal number and intricacy of prior actions will need to take into account the added complexity of multi-country operations. Similarly, use of the PforR, at the regional level will require careful design of the regional program of support along with disbursement linked indicators that would need to be harmonized for maximum regional impact. 45. Providing Financing on Credit Terms to Regional Organizations: Under the current IDA Regional Program policy, financial support to regional organizations is made only on grant terms. As described in Box 6 above, the policy was waived for BEAC, which had the ability to borrow and repay IDA credits. A similar waiver was approved for a regional project financed through the SUF in support of the West Africa Housing Finance project providing lines of credit through BOAD to provide mortgage finance. To further enhance IDA’s menu of support to regional organizations, IDA could consider extending financing on credit terms to regional organizations who have the ability to repay. Implications of IDA credit financing to regional organizations would need to be carefully examined, including assessment of the economics of the projects, the appropriate use of concessional resources to potentially crowd-in and leverage private financing, and the ability of the receiving organizations to repay these credits. It is expected that the volume of financing and the possible regional organizations to be financed would be limited. IDA Regional Program Window credits to regional organizations could be provided on IDA regular credit terms, potentially from the same current envelope of 10 percent financing provided for regional entities (hitherto, only on grant terms). SUF credits will be from the SUF allocation on SUF terms. 46. Support for Recent Graduates: To maintain incentives and support for providing regional public goods, often with spillovers to IDA countries, IDA graduates could be considered to receive IDA Regional Program resources. Access could be of limited duration, for example during three replenishments after graduation, and the financing could be on blend terms. The benefits of such projects for IDA borrowers are often larger than for more developed IDA graduates. For example, landlocked IDA countries may benefit from a credit financing connective infrastructure more than a neighboring coastal IDA graduate; a small island economy may benefit significantly from a project tackling cross-border ocean pollution issues; and an IDA country with significant hydro-power potential could gain much from an electricity transmission project in partnership with IDA graduates. (see IDA18 MTR Graduation Paper for details) VII. CONCLUSION AND ISSUES FOR DISCUSSION 47. The IDA Regional Program has provided significant support to IDA countries on the regional integration agenda over the past 15 years. This stocktaking presents the IDA Regional Program’s progress in supporting connectivity, managing common “goods” and “bads”, and creating scale benefits, and, also reveals the collective action challenges regional projects often face in project design and implementation. Over the years, the IDA Regional Program’s policy - 23 - framework has also evolved reflecting the changing client demands. To continue IDA Regional Program’s robust support, Management seeks early feedback from IDA Participants on three emerging issues. Based on feedback, Management would present a proposal for discussion as part of the IDA19 package: • Expanding the choice of instruments that the IDA Regional Program could use to include PforRs and DPOs. • Expanding its menu of support through providing financing on credit terms to regional organizations -within appropriate limits - that have the ability to repay IDA credits. • Allowing IDA recent graduates access to the IDA Regional Program resources, including the refugees sub-window, under certain limited conditions (See IDA18 MTR Graduation Paper for details). - 24 - Annex 1: Sector/Thematic Focus of the IDA Regional Projects 1. Energy. Energy is the largest sector in the IDA Regional Program. It aims to ensure stable and reliable power supply at a cheaper cost by supporting power pooling and cross-border electricity trade. Investments have focused on expansion generation, transmission and distribution capacity. In Africa three power pools have been financed: Eastern Africa Power Pool (Ethiopia and Kenya); the Western Power (the ECOWAS Member States) 43; the Southern Africa power pool (DRC, Zambia, Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya). The West African Gas Pipeline supported cheaper and environmentally cleaner gas from Nigeria to Ghana, Benin and Togo. 2. In South Asia, IDA supports the building Box A1.1. Selected Results from Energy blocks of a regional electricity market (connected Projects to Central Asia and potentially, East Asia). The • The Southern Africa Power Pool: over 4,500 Bank provided a platform through the Central km of transmission lines constructed or Asia South Asia Transmission Project (CASA- rehabilitated; Increase in energy delivered to 1000) for four countries, from Kyrgyz Republic mines and consumers in Katanga Province and Tajikistan (energy surplus) and Afghanistan from 2540 GWh (2011) to 4812 GWh (2016). and Pakistan (energy deficient) to forge a • The WAPP is soon expected to connect the partnership to trade existing surplus hydropower. grids of 15 countries in ECOWAS with the potential for a transformative impact on In LAC, IDA support to the Eastern Caribbean increasing generation, power trade, and access Energy Regional Authority (ECERA) is to energy across the sub-region. strengthening capacity and providing advisory • In ECA, the Energy Community of South East support to national regulatory authorities in Europe project three system-critical substations participating countries including on tariffs, were replaced (reduced outages from 50 to 20 per year), in Albania, transmission capacity licensing and design of new investments in was enhanced from 6000GWh to 6276 GWh. electricity generation. • 80 MW electricity being exported from India to Nepal. 1,000 MW which is intended to help 3. Transport and Trade Facilitation. facilitate the development and subsequent Support is focused on facilitating regional trade export of Nepal’s hydropower potential. in key corridors and access to world markets • In LAC, institutional strengthening – establishment of the Regional Regulatory through investments in road and rail Advisory body, Eastern Caribbean Energy infrastructure to improve efficiency and Regional Authority. reliability of transport and logistics along corridors, reducing barriers at ports, linking key ports to inland cities, strengthening and streamlining inspection and customs procedures at borders; interconnectivity-sharing information and data; insurance and financial services, and implementation of performance monitoring systems. In Africa the main corridors include: The Central African Economic and Monetary Community (CEMAC) for Chad, Cameroon and CAR); East Africa (Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda); Southern Africa (Tanzania, Malawi). Support is provided to communities residing along the corridors to stop the spread of HIV infection and reducing the impact of HIV/AIDS. In South Asia, trade and transport facilitation is supporting the Bangladesh/India/Eastern Corridor Regional Multimodal Connectivity program. With ongoing commitments of nearly US$600 million in Bangladesh, India, and Nepal and more than double that in the pipeline, this program will make significant contributions towards seamless connectivity between BBIN countries. The Central Asia Road Links Program aims to increase transport 43 Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Togo and Burkina Faso. - 25 - connectivity in Central Asia along priority Box A1.2. Results - Transport and Trade cross-border road links while supporting Facilitation improvements in road operations and • Africa: The ‘percentage of trunk corridors in maintenance practices starting with the good or fair condition’ along World Bank- connectivity between Kyrgz Republic and financed sections in seven corridors has Tajikistan along priority cross-border links in increased from under 50 percent to between 64- Batken Oblast. 90 percent. • Average transit time for container imports from Mombasa to Kigali has reduced from 19 days 4. A common weakness in early transport (2008) to 5 days (2015). corridors was the lack of participation and • Port dwell times reduced for standard containers limited benefits accruing to the communities at Dar-es-salaam from 18 days (2005) to 8 days along corridors. WBG investments in transport (2014) and Mombasa from 13 days (2005) to 3 days (2015). infrastructure are increasingly complemented • Institutional. Establishment of the East Africa by activities that facilitate competitiveness of Community Customs Union. micro and small enterprises and economic • In SAR, initial results from the multi-modal opportunities for women and other connectivity program in the eastern sub-region: disadvantaged people, and integrate gender- operational trade portals in Nepal and responsiveness into trade facilitation and Bangladesh, improvements to trade logistics infrastructure (e.g. Inland Container Depots in logistics initiatives. For example, projects under Nepal), and initial road improvements of the the multi-modal connectivity program are Kathmandu-Birgunj-Kolkata corridor. specifically addressing barriers that women face in using transport facilities (e.g., border post facilities, ports, etc.) including issues of safety, lighting, separate toilets and waiting areas. The Bank is piloting an approach to economic corridor development that incorporates backward and forward linkages to the economy, as part of the proposed Gateway to Central Asia project, a 4-lane Expressway from Peshawar to Torkham with further linkages to Tajikistan and beyond, is being supported. 5. Air Transport. The objectives of air transport projects in West, and Central Africa 44 and the Pacific 45 support investments in infrastructure, operational safety, sector reform, oversight, and management capacity of civil aviation authorities’ compliance with the safety and security standards of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). There have been improvements in infrastructure and equipment (safety, security, communications, firefighting, etc.) and enhanced capacity of staff through training. Burkina Faso, Cameroon, and Mali met 75% of ICAO’s security compliance standards Impacts beyond project specific results included new air companies serving the different airports covered by the project with increased in air flight frequency by company, passengers, freight, and mail air traffic, and support by Nigeria inspectors and experts to Civil Aviation Authorities in the Gambia, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Ghana. 6. Some of the challenges in the Western and Central Africa air transport projects include long implementation period (for example 8 years instead of 3 years for completion as planned); and, lack of managerial autonomy by CEMAC and WAEMU given that aviation regulation is a sovereign function and the project suffered from bureaucratic delays for approvals. This underscores the importance of securing commitments from governments in advance. The project was also affected by delays in technical studies and procurement arrangements for large civil 44 Mali, Guinea, Burkina Faso and Cameroon. 45 Kiribati, Tonga, Tuvalu. - 26 - works. The variation in countries’ readiness affected the pace of implementation and outcomes. This points to a need for realistic preparation and implementation schedules. Box A1.3. Results in Finance and Investment 7. Finance and Investment Climate. Climate IDA has supported greater financial market • Establishment of the Africa Trade Insurance integration including development of capital Agency (ATI), which has grown into an effective markets and their regulatory framework in the regional institution having facilitated trade and WAEMU 46; mobilization of public and private investments worth US$20 billion in its member financing infrastructure development 47 ; states. strengthening capacity of regional institutions • The WAEMU Capital Market Project -an increase in number of companies issuing bonds in such as the regional development Bank the regional market from 25 to 48, target was 50; (Banque Ouest-Africaine de Development BOAD publicly issued CFAF 43 billion bond per (BOAD), the Conseil Regional, the stock year as of 30th June 2012, target was CFAF 10 exchange and the WAEMU commission. In the billion/yr. East African Community (EAC) 48 , support • In Western and Central Africa, an Electronic Bulk Payment Clearance System (EBPCS) was aimed to establish a single market for a broad put in place resulting in a reduction in bank-to- range of financial services/products for a more bank transactions clearance to 2 days down from diversified clientele; harmonization of 3-4 weeks; by end of 2009, 58 institutions (45 financial laws and regulations (banking, banks, 3 government treasuries and 3 postal securities markers, insurance, pensions and savings institutions) were participating in EBPCS. investment funds); mutual recognition of • The Inter-Bank Card system became operational supervisory agencies; integration of financial with 8 of 32 banks in the region participating. market infrastructure; development of a • Increase in number of customers in deposit taking regional bond market; and, institutional institutions from 3% to 8% of the population. strengthening at national and regional levels • Banks consolidated their accounts at BEAC into for an effective integrated market. Support to a single account leading to improvement in BEAC’s knowledge of the liquidity position of the Organization for the Harmonization of banks. Business Law in Africa (OHADA) included: institutional strengthening of the Permanent Secretariat; and strengthening the Joint court of Justice and Arbitration and Regional Superior Magistrate School and selected investment climate reforms including improving corporate financial reporting. In Central Africa, support was provided for the Economic and Monetary Community of Central Africa Financing Institutions to develop and expand regional markets and a more transparent, better regulated and competitive financial system that is expected to facilitate the re-utilization of oil revenues for investment in Central Africa. 8. The bulk of investment project lending has gone into expanding regional basic infrastructure and an enabling financial and investment environment. However, these predominantly physical investments have not fully realized the potential envisaged in regional trade. For example, despite the expansion of trunk roads and the investment in reducing delays at ports and border custom crossings, intra-Africa trade is currently only 6 percent of continental trade. Similarly, while investments have been expanded to enhance the generation, transmission 46 WAEMU member countries: Benin, Burkina Faso, Cote D’Ivoire, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Niger, Senegal and Togo). 47 Including line of credit for financing public infrastructure projects and, a guarantee facility to provide political and commercial risk mitigation to support small and medium infrastructure projects in WAEMU countries. 48 EAC member countries: Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Burundi and Rwanda. - 27 - and to lower the cost of energy, there is a lack of coordinated policy reforms to enable the cross- border trade in electric power. To incentivize policy reform efforts and ensure that all participating countries are equally committed to taking coordinated action, policy-based lending instruments are recommended. 9. Regional Communications Box A1.4. Regional Communications Infrastructure. RCIPs have provided support Infrastructure Results to enhance: (i) connectivity - bridge gaps in • Africa region -IDA support has connected 24 regional and domestic broadband countries to the Internet, opening the doors to the communications infrastructure (including future of a digital economy and reducing the costs submarine cable infrastructure, landing of international bandwidth by between 75-90 percent. stations, domestic backbone networks, cross- • Rwanda - internet user penetration increased border links and national and regional internet from 726 broadband subscribers to 2.5 million exchange points geographic reach and usage of and the retail price of internet services broadband networks) and lower costs, and (ii) (per/mbit/per month) dropped from US$1,015 to transparency – contribute to improved US$201.17. government efficiency and transparency • OECS, a Unified Communications System was installed in St. Lucia leading to 80 percent cost through e-government applications making savings on the Government’s overall monthly use of the improved connectivity with telecom expenditures broadband access provided to targeted public • The three 3 CARCIP countries (St. Lucia, St. institutions within countries. In Africa Vincent and the Grenadines and Grenada) have countries have been supported through the recently signed broadband PPP contracts with 49 50 Digicel for maintenance and operation of a Eastern Africa RCIP, Western Africa RCIP Government Wide Area Network including and Central African Backbone program 51 . In schools and community Centers; East Asia the Pacific Regional Connectivity • E-government Services enhanced for financial Program supports Tonga-Fiji. In LAC, the management system; e-procurement platform: OECS Communications Infrastructure o aggregation of countries' pharmaceutical needs forecasts was reduced from 7 days to activities implemented under CARCIP 2 days ; supports St. Lucia, Grenada and St. Vincent o compilation of suppliers' bids was reduced and the Grenadines. The e-government project from 7 days to 1 day; supported ICT to improve internal efficiency, o e-tax filing (the average time to complete a delivery of public services, coordination VAT tax filing was reduced from one day to 30 minutes across four countries); among agencies and transparency and o e-ID cards introduced for OECS citizens. accountability of the public sector, with the objective of the free flow of persons and goods as part of a regionally integrated Economic Union. 52 At the end of a 17-month network buildout, the three island states will have the most advanced, seamless, end-to end broadband (fiber optic) networks in the region. Support provided to Nicaragua aims to increase broadband penetration. 49 Kenya, Burundi, Madagascar, Comoros, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda and Malawi. 50 Guinea, Gambia, Burkina Faso, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Benin, Mauritania and Togo. 51 Chad, Central Africa Republic, Sao Tome and Principe, Republic of Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo and Cameroon. 52 for Dominica, Grenada, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia and St. Vincent and the Grenadines. - 28 - Cross-border Natural Resources Management 10. Water Resources Management. IDA Box A1.5. Examples of Results from Water has supported efforts to enhance regional Resources Management Projects coordination and develop integrated and • Niger Basin River Basin: rehabilitation or sustainable water resources management in construction of Hydropower Capacity (578 MW Africa (Senegal River Basin, Lake Chad Basin, at Jebba and 340 at Kainji dams); Regional Niger River Basin, Zambezi Basin, Nile River Environmental Code adopted by riparian Basin and Lake Victoria Basin 53 ) and the countries for integrated water resource Mekong river basin in East Asia with a focus on management 10,620 ha of land area under sustainable landscape management practices in 4 short, medium and long-term impacts. Activities of 5 countries; 8,555 Hectares stabilized against include: improved institutional capacity erosion, target was 2,250; and, 2,655 hectares building for coordination of integrated water afforested for ecological or income generation resources practices at the regional, national and purposes. 54 subnational levels . This has improved access • In the Senegal River Basin: over 2.6 million long lasting insecticidal nets (LLIN) were to water for agriculture, capacity for energy distributed, 84% of children were sleeping under generation and sustainable river basin LLIN; increased water flow ensures 6000 management, and led to improvements in hectares of land can be put in production and rehabilitation of infrastructure, management of since 2010 supports 2 crops per year; 80% of hydroelectric plants, irrigation in targeted areas, Water User Associations enhanced their technical capacity. watershed and small water infrastructure management and sustainable management of degraded ecosystems. The support has also led to improved management of transboundary natural resources and reduced environmental stress 55 and implementation of sustainable soil and water management practices and livelihoods improvement interventions using community-driven approaches. The Senegal River Basin demonstrated addressing disease control through a multi-sectoral regional project. 11. Agriculture, Regional Pastoral Livelihoods and Resilience and Fisheries. Support has been provided to four main regional agriculture programs in Western Africa 56;Eastern Africa57 and Southern Africa 58 and, the Great Lakes. 59 Interventions include: increasing the productivity of selected agriculture value chain; enhancing market linkages; improving critical infrastructure for market access; improving the business environment and access to finance; development of competitive and inclusive agro-industrial parks; agricultural technologies generation and adoption (including strengthening technical and regulatory capacity including property rights, mainstreaming climate change and gender into agricultural technology 60 generation and adoption, facilitating increased transfer of agricultural technology, information, and knowledge across 53 A two-phased program (Phase 1 covers Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania; and, Phase 2 covers Burundi and Rwanda). 54 Including developing harmonized policies, legislation and regulatory standards to improve cooperative management of the shared transboundary water and fisheries resources. 55 through rehabilitation of priority waste water treatment facilities, promotion of industrial cleaner production technologies; installation of lake navigation equipment and plan for oil spills and hazardous waste management. 56 Burkina Faso, Nigeria, Cote D’Ivoire, Ghana, Senegal, Benin, Niger, Gambia, Sierra Leone, Liberia , Mali and Togo. 57 Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. 58 Malawi, Mozambique and Zambia. 59 Democratic Republic of Congo. 60 Improved availability of seeds and livestock breeds and improving the capacity of seed and breed producers and traders. - 29 - national boundaries); developing regional specialization in agricultural research by strengthening regional and national centers of excellence; and, enhancing collaboration in agriculture training and technology dissemination. 12. Regional Pastoral Livelihoods Box A1.6. Results from Agriculture, Resilience support was provided to Eastern Pastoralism and Fisheries Projects Africa (Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia) and the Sahel Agriculture. In Eastern Africa (Ethiopia, Kenya, (Senegal, Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Uganda), each country renovated and upgraded Mauritania, Niger) to enhance livelihood research centers; upgrading of research resilience of pastoral and agro-pastoral infrastructure and equipment; increase in communities in cross-border drought prone information and knowledge transfer across national boundaries, research scientists working in regional areas and improve the capacity of governments research projects (834), 1932 staff trained (short – to respond promptly and effectively to crises or and long-term); 150 new technologies (cereals, emergencies. Activities include: natural fish, seeds, etc.) were developed and disseminated resources (water and pasture) management; (compared to target of 71) in 2013 and 3.7 million market access and trade; enhancing the beneficiaries reached with new technology. About 1.3 million producers (surpassing the targets) have livelihoods of pastoralist and agro-pastoralist adopted at least one improved technology made communities; pastoral risk management - available under the projects. Released technologies enhancing drought-related hazards show improvement in yield of at least 15% in farm- preparedness, prevention and response at the level productivity. In Western Africa - adoption of national and regional levels; and, monitoring the common ECOWAS regulations for the registration of genetic materials and pesticides by safeguards mitigation measures identified in the six countries; harmonized national protocols; different frameworks disclosed, and establishment of a regional data system. Scientific institutional strengthening at national and and research capacity enhanced through training regional levels for drought resilience. (158 Msc and 56 PhDs). Regional Sahel Pastoralism Support Project. 13. IDA has supported a series of projects in 498,988 beneficiaries reached by 2017, target fisheries and agriculture through the Western 2,070,000 (2021). Africa Fisheries Program (Cape Verde, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Senegal) and the South West Fisheries. Five new SWIOFC member countries Indian Ocean Fisheries projects for the signed bilateral and/or multilateral agreements on fisheries, by 2017. Conflicts between artisanal Comoros, Tanzania, Mozambique, Madagascar fishers and foreign industrial trawl vessels reduced and the Indian Ocean Commission. due to restrictions of the latter from accessing Interventions have included: enhanced regional Inshore Exclusion Zones in Western Africa. collaboration 61; governance and management of fisheries for environmental sustainability, social fairness and economic profitability (including policies, strategies, institutions and legal frameworks and public actions to improve priority fisheries management and performance as well as regional marine environmental health and resilience to climate change); reduction of illegal fishing; and, increasing the contribution of marine fish resources to local economies by increasing the share of value-added (improving the regional business climate, enabling private sector productivity and investment, and supporting public investments critical to a viable private sector). The Pacific Islands Regional Oceanscape 61 For example, promoting the implementation of Indian Ocean Tuna Commission (IOTC) Resolutions in the South West Indian Ocean (SWIO) countries enhancing their compliance with their international fisheries obligations and a coordination mechanism between African and Indian Ocean Developing Island States (AIODIS) for collaborating and sharing experiences and strengthening the newly created Indian Ocean Federation of Artisanal Fishers (Fédération des Pêcheurs Artisans de l'Océan Indien, FPAOI). - 30 - Box A1.7. Results from Climate Environment Program (Micronesia countries) also provide and Disaster-related Regional Project climate co-benefits by supporting adaptation in the form of better management of coastal • Bio-safety in West Africa. A draft regional biosafety framework signed off by WAEMU and fisheries and natural defenses and mitigation, ECOWAS (awaiting ratification) and 8 national in the form of conservation of vegetated coastal laboratories fully equipped and manuals on risk habitats that sequester significant amounts of assessment and management developed carbon. • Locust control in the Sahel. An effective early warning and response systems for locust 14. infestations was established in all 7 Sahel Environment, Climate and Resilience. Support has been extended to countries; approximately 400,000 households (4 address regional weather and climate related million people) affected by 2004 locust invasions provided agricultural inputs and equipment, challenges in partnership with the Global micro-grants, revenue generating projects. Environment Facility. This includes • OECS Disaster Risk Management. Financial strengthening institutional, scientific and legal vulnerability to hurricanes and earthquakes capacity in relation to the Cartagena Protocol reduced with the establishment of the CCRIF on Biosafety. Countries in Africa (Burkina SPC – it has made a total of 34 payouts to 12 Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Senegal, Caribbean member governments for hurricanes, earthquakes and excess rainfall of over US$129 and Gambia) were supported on locust control million. All payments were made within 14 days of the triggering event. prevention and mitigation. In the OECS and • Nicaragua, IDA support has aimed to reduce SAR Wildlife. The inter-governmental agency - South Asia Wildlife Enforcement Network the financial vulnerability to natural disasters through (SAWEN) established – to tackle wildlife crime insurance coverage against and all participating countries established earthquakes and hurricanes through the new/institutional arrangements; A tiger census establishment of the CCRIF and the financing was completed (201)5 between India and of catastrophe insurance coverage from the Bangladesh; pilot initiatives that address Facility. In the Pacific, support was provided transboundary wildlife issues include crop for Early Warning and Preparedness to natural insurance and 158 km of electric fence protecting over 3600 Ha of croplands. In Bhutan, 2 centers hazards (cyclones, coastal/riverine flooding, have rescued, treated and released over 210 volcanoes, tsunamis and earthquakes). Disaster animals into the wild since 2013. • Risk Financing to help regional post-disaster Emergency and disaster Management. In Haiti financial response capacity. In ECA, two access to improved water resources provided for over 17,000 people and access to improvedprojects 62 are supporting climate related sanitation facilities (including schools, bi- challenges - hydrometeorology services in national markets in the Haitian border with DR); Central Asia and improved climate change new cholera cases at an all-time low since the knowledge services, investments, capacity outbreak started in 2010 (around 100-150 cases building to address climate challenges in per week down from 6,500 cases per week during Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz peak of the epidemic in 2011); the cholera case fatality ratio kept below 1% (the international and Turkmenistan. The Governments of benchmark for epidemic control). Bhutan, Bangladesh and Nepal are receiving support to enhance their hydrometeorology and meteorology capacities. 63 The Program for Asia Resilience to Climate Change is accelerating 62 The Central Asia Hydrometeorology Modernization Project (CAHMP) for Kyrgyz Republic and Republic of Tajikistan and The Climate Adaptation and Mitigation Program for Aral Sea Basin. 63 Bangladesh Regional Climate Services Project (P150220); Bhutan Hydromet Services and Disaster Improvement Regional Project - Grant (P154477); and Nepal Building Resilience to Climate Hazards – Grant (P127508); the Bangladesh Weather and Climate Services Regional Project. - 31 - regional cooperation to build climate resilience of vulnerable groups. In South Asia Bhutan, Bangladesh and Nepal were supported to address illegal wildlife trade and conservation to habitats in border areas. 15. Emergency and Disaster Management. IDA has supported emergencies which had cross-border impacts. 64 In the wake of cholera outbreaks regional projects supported Haiti 65 and the Horn of Africa support was provided to increase access to improved water supply and sanitation and national response to emergencies and co-ordination of surveillance. Africa region prioritized cross-border conflict and violence during IDA17, three flagship initiatives work on a continuum of conflict, security, humanitarian, and development axis. This has resulted in new WBG lending of over US$3 billion for regional projects covering multiple sectors initiatives in the Great Lakes, Sahel, and the Horn of Africa including the first wave of regional forced displacement projects in Africa, which provide solid base for implementation of the Refugee Sub-Window under IDA18. 66 There is ample justification for regional efforts in fragile and conflict-affected settings; however, setbacks in progress on security and political issues could undermine the efforts. In Eastern Africa, “The Development Response to Displacement Impacts Project in the Horn of Africa” supported improvements to basic social services and expanded economic opportunities, enhanced environmental management for communities hosting. There are plans to establish a Regional Secretariat on Forced Displacement and Mixed Migration, primarily for the Horn of Africa. 16. Regional health and education projects are helping to take advantage of economies of scale in providing cross-border public goods and addressing key challenges. Health. In Eastern Africa (Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Burundi and Rwanda) and Southern Africa (Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique and Zambia) projects support the establishment of networks of efficient laboratories for the diagnosis of tuberculosis (TB) and other communicable diseases; training; operational research and knowledge sharing and coordination. In the Great Lakes area (DRC, Burundi and Rwanda), The Great Lakes Emergency Sexual and Gender-Based Violence and Women’s Health Project supports efforts to mitigate short and medium-term impact of sexual and gender-based violence; deliver a package of health services to poor and vulnerable girls and women; and, enhancing knowledge and research capacity. In Western Africa, several projects are support health and women’s empowerment: The Sahel Malaria and Neglected Tropical Diseases Project for Africa (Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger), supports increased access to and use of harmonized community-level services for the prevention and treatment of malaria and selected neglected tropical diseases: harmonization of policies and procedure, among other objectives. The Sahel Women's Empowerment and Demographics Project (Chad, Cote D’Ivoire, Mali, Mauritania and Niger) supports women and adolescent girls’ empowerment and their access to quality reproductive, child and maternal health services. The Africa REDISSE project has been implemented in phases (Senegal, Sierra Leone, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Nigeria and Togo) to strengthen national and regional cross-sectoral capacity for collaborative disease surveillance 64 This in addition to support provided through the Crisis Response Window and contingency financing and reallocations from other ongoing IDA projects for different emergencies/disaster such as the response to the Ebola outbreak in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea. 65 Activities aimed at strengthening institutional capacity as well as a comprehensive WSS package of interventions, including design, construction and rehabilitation of WSS systems in selected rural areas and small towns. 66 See “IDA18 Mid-Term Review Fragility, Conflict and Violence (FCV)”. - 32 - and epidemic preparedness in West Africa and to provide immediate and effective response to crisis or emergency. The recently established Pandemic Emergency Financing Facility (PEF) using regional IDA resources is another innovative use of regional approaches for disaster risk insurance arising from epidemics. Progress in harmonizing laboratory standards across countries is strengthening testing for diseases. The gender equality agenda is incorporated in these projects. Box A1.8. Results examples from Health and Education Projects 17. Education. IDA supports efforts to • Eastern Africa: 29 health facilities have been promote regional specialization among constructed, renovated and/or equipped; a drop in the universities in Africa through the African turnaround time for a key tuberculosis test Centers of Excellence (ACE) through (GeneXpert) from 48 hours to between 15-27 hours; and, 2.2 million people (half of them, women) are projects to strengthen the capacities of direct project beneficiaries of public health laboratory selected universities to deliver quality services. training and applied research in disciplines • Southern Africa: TB treatment success rate for related to Science, Technology, targeted areas is 85.8% while 83.7 of HIV patients are Engineering and Mathematics (STEM), routinely tested for TB in targeted geographical areas. • Sahel. Over 2.6 million people are directly benefitting Agriculture and Health. 67 Phase 1 focused (project target is 3.7 million) from malaria on Western Africa 68 ; Phase 2 on Eastern interventions. and Southern Africa 69. The Association of • Great lakes. Reported cases of sexual and gender- African Universities (AAU) received a based violence who received at least two multi- grant for capacity building, knowledge disciplinary services (medical, legal and psychological sharing and coordination between the all surpassed their targets in Rwanda (100%), DRC (90%) and Burundi (95%). ACEs and to ensure regional monitoring • 40 Africa Centers for Excellence across 20 countries and evaluation (M&E). AAU was also established —The target of 15 internationally tasked to provide technical assistance to accredited programs has been achieved. regional bodies, including ECOWAS and • ACE project supported centers are fully operational WAEMU. Challenges include governance with over 6,500 MSc. and 1,600 PhD students. and staffing, over-expenditure funds by • Female enrollment has increased in the sciences, from a baseline of 311 to 4,028 enrolled in Masters, PhD some centers; weak links with relevant and short-term courses. industry partners; and lack of interest by • The number of students enrolled in new specialized regional students in ACEs. Master, PhD, post-grad, post-doc and/or short-term courses/ programs: 16,086.00 has exceeded the target (15,600.00). • 3,468 students with at least a month internship in a private sector company or local institution relevant to their field/ sector (target 5,900). • A total of 2920 faculty have been trained by the ACEs exceeding the target (900). 67 Courses include: Applied Mathematics; Environment and Water Engineering; Material Sciences; Petroleum Engineering; Oil Chemical Engineering; Agro-business; Information Technology; Crop science; Agriculture and Environment sciences, Dry- land Agriculture, Food technology; Poultry sciences; Infections Diseases; Neglected tropical diseases; Infectious diseases; and, Maternal and Child Health. 68 Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Gambia, Ghana, Nigeria, Senegal, Togo and Cote D’Ivoire 69 Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Malawi, Rwanda and Mozambique. - 33 - Annex 2: Regional IDA Grants to Regional Organizations Region Recipient Institution(s) Project US$ M AFRICA AUC Africa Union Commission (AUC) Capacity Building (P126848) 25.00 International Conference on the Great Lakes Region Great Lakes Emergency Women’s Health & Empowerment Project 3.00 ICGLR – Conference Secretariat (P147489) ACBF Africa Capacity Building Foundation (ACBF) Support Program (P127549) 65.00 ACBF ACBF Regional Capacity Building Project (P122478) 25.00 Banque des États de L’Afrique Centrale (BEAC) Strengthening the Capacity of Regional Financial Institutions in the CEMAC 10.00 (Communauté Économique et Monétaire de L’Afrique Centrale) Region Project (P161368) OHADA Secretariat Africa - Improved Investment Climate within the Organization for the 15.00 Harmonization of Business Laws in Africa (OHADA) Project – Additional Grant (P164728) OHADA Secretariat Improved Investment Climate within the Organization for the Harmonization 15.00 of Business Laws in Africa (OHADA) Support Project (P126663) Association of African Universities (AAU) Africa Higher Education Centers of Excellence Project (West Africa). 5.00 (P126974) West Africa Power Pool (WAPP) Secretariat West Africa Power Pool (WAPP) APL2. (P094916) 26.2 West Africa Power Pool (WAPP) Secretariat West Africa Power Pool (WAPP) APL4. (P113266) 31.50 Sub-Regional Fisheries Commission/Commission Sous West Africa Regional Fisheries Program (WARFP) (P106063) Phase 1 9.00 Régionale des Péches (CRSP) - Cape Verde, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Liberia West Africa Fisheries Commission West Africa Regional Fisheries Program (WARFP) APL-A1: Additional 2.0 financing (P124242) Conseil Ouest et Centre Africain pour la Recherche et le West Africa Agricultural Production Program (WAAPP – 1B) (P117148) 1.00 Developpment Agricoles (CORAF)-West and Central African Council for Agricultural Research and Development Niger Basin Authority (NBA) Niger Basin Water Resources APL2a – Kandaji Hydropower (P130174) 3.0 Niger Basin Authority Niger Basin Water Resources APL2a – Kandaji Additional Financing. 0.31 (P148972) Niger Basin Authority Niger Basin Water Resources Development and Sustainable Ecosystems Management Project. (P093806) - Benin, Mali, Nigeria, Guinea, Niger Senegal River Basin Organization/Organisation pour la Senegal River Basin Multi - purpose Water Resources Development Project 12.12 Mise en Valeur du Fleuve Sénégal (OMVS) APL (P093826) Mali, Mauritania, Senegal, Guinea WAEMU & Banque Ouest Africain de Developpment West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU) Affordable 25.00 (BOAD) Housing Finance (161658) Implementing agencies: WAEMU Commission & CRRH (Caisse Régionale de Réfinancement - 34 - Region Recipient Institution(s) Project US$ M Hypothécaire )/West african Regional Mortgage Refinancing Company WAPP Secretariat West African Power Pool (WAPP-APL4) & Guinea Power Interconnection 17.50 Project; and WAPP Integration and Technical Assistance Project (P163033) Permanent Interstate Committee for Drought Control in Sahel Irrigation Initiative Support Project (P154482) 20.00 the Sahel West African Economic and Monetary Union West Africa Coastal Areas Resilience Investment Project (P162337 12.00 (WAEMU) Secretariat Economic Community of West African States West Africa Unique Identification for Regional Integration and Inclusion 29.85 (ECOWAS) Commission (WURI) Project -Phase I (P161329) International Conference on the Great Lakes Region Zambia - Great Lakes Region Displaced Persons and Border Communities 3.00 (ICGLR) Project (Phase 3) -Additional Financing (P163895) East African Community (EAC) Eastern Africa Agricultural Productivity Project (EAAPP) APL (P112688) Intergovernmental Authority on Development Regional Pastoral Livelihoods Recovery and Resilience Project (P129408) 5.0 Eastern Africa Power Pool Secretariat Tanzania-Zambia Transmission Interconnector Project: Eastern Africa Power 10.00 Pool – Technical Assistance (P163752) Lake Victoria Basin Commission Secretariat (of the Lake Victoria Environmental Management Project (P100406) – Additional 2.0 EAC) Financing Southern Africa Power Pool Coordination Centre Southern Africa Power Market Project (SAPMP) APL(P069258) Centre for Coordination of Agricultural Research and Regional Agricultural Productivity Program for Southern Africa (RAPPSA) 0.6 Development for Southern Africa (CCARDESA) (P094183) Dar Corridor Committee Southern Africa Trade and Transport Facilitation (North-South Corridor) 3.00 (P120370) West African Power Pool Solar Development in Sub-Saharan Africa Project (p162580) 21.00 East African Community (EAC) EAC Statistics Development and Harmonization Regional Project (164243) 20.00 International Centre for Insect Physiology and Ecology Africa Regional Scholarship and innovation fund for Applied Sciences, 15.00 Engineering and Technology African Union Commission (Additional Financing) Support for Capacity Development of the AUC and Other African Union 15.00 Organizations EAP Mekong River Commission (MRC) Mekong Integrated Water Resources Management Project (APL2). 8.0 (P104806) Pacific Aviation Safety Office (PASO) Pacific Aviation Safety Office Reform Project (P145057) 2.15 Pacific Aviation Safety Office (PASO 70) Pacific Aviation Safety Office Reform Project – Additional Financing 3.55 (P164468) Executive Committee of the International Fund for Central Asia Hydrometeorology Modernization Project (P120788) 8.7 Saving the Aral Sea 70 PASO comprises 9 Member States: The Cook Islands, Kiribati, Nauru, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu, and 3 non-voting Associate Member States of Australia, Fiji, New Zealand. - 35 - Region Recipient Institution(s) Project US$ M ECA Executive Committee of the International Fund for Central Asia Hydrometeorology Modernization Project (CAHMP) 3.5 Saving the ARAL Sea (EC-IFAS) SOUTH South Asia Wildlife Enforcement Network (SAWEN) Second Phase of the APL on Strengthening Regional Cooperation for 2.25 ASIA Wildlife Protection in Asia - Kingdom of Bhutan (P126193) Strengthening Regional Cooperation for Wildlife Protection in Asia – APL 39.00 SAWEN 1st Phase - Bangladesh, Nepal (P121210) LAC Caribbean Telecommunications Union Caribbean Regional Communications Infrastructure Program (P114963) 3.0 - 36 - Annex 3: IDA18 IDA Operations Approved as at end of September 2018 Total Regional Program Total National Regional SUF 2474 1004 1340 130 Approval Project ID Project Name Region//Country/Regional Institutions Date Africa (17 projects) 1,583 545 908 130 Western Africa. Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Sahel Irrigation Initiative Support 05-Dec- Mauritania, Niger Senegal and The Permanent P154482 170 63 107 0 Project 17 Interstate Committee for Drought Control in the Sahel Regional Disease Surveillance 07-May- P161163 Systems Enhancement Western Africa. Benin, Mali, Mauritania and Niger 120 50 70 0 18 (REDISSE) West Africa Unique Western Africa Cote D’Ivoire, Guinea and Nigeria 05-Jun- P161329 Identification for Regional and Economic Community of West African States 122 39 83 0 18 Integration a (ECOWAS) Strengthening the Capacity of Regional Financial Institutions in 04-May- Central Africa. Banque Des Etats De L’Afrique P161368 the Central Africa Economic and 35 0 35 0 18 Central (BEAC) Monetary community (CEMAC) Region Western Africa. Regional, SUF: WAEMU Affordable Housing 28-Sep- The West African Development Bank (BOAD) and P161658 155 0 25 130 Finance 17 The West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU) Burkina Faso - West Africa 25-Apr- P161836 Regional Communications Western Africa. Burkina Faso 20 10 10 0 18 Infrastructure West Africa Coastal Areas 09-Apr- Western Africa. Benin, Cote D’Ivoire, Mauritania, P162337 190 68 122 0 Resilience Investment Project 18 Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Togo and WAEMU The West African Power Pool (Wapp) - Côte D'ivoire, Liberia, 17-Nov- Western Africa. Côte d'Ivoire, Liberia and Sierra P163033 122 52 70 0 Sierra Leone, and Guinea 17 Leone and the WAPP (CLSG) Power Interconnection Project - 37 - AFCC2/RI-3A Tanzania-Zambia 18-Jun- P163752 East Africa. Tanzania and East Africa Power Pool. 466 228 238 0 Transmission Interconnector 18 Central Africa. The International Conference on The Great Lakes Region Displaced 25-Jul- Great Lakes Region P163895 3 0 3 0 Persons and Border Communities 17 Improved Investment Climate Within the Organization for the Africa. Organization for the Harmonization of 08-Jun- P164728 Harmonization of Business Law In Africa (OHADA) 15 0 15 0 18 Business Laws in Africa (OHADA) Project Solar Development in Sub- 06-Jul- P162580 Western Africa. West African Power Pool 21 0 21 0 Saharan Africa - Phase 1 (Sahel) 2018 EAC Statistics Development and 27-Jul- P164243 East Africa. Tanzania 20 0 20 0 Harmonization Regional Project 2018 Africa Regional Scholarship and Innovation Fund for Applied 5-Jul- Africa. International Centre of Insect Physiology & P165581 15 0 15 0 Sciences, Engineering and 2018 Ecology Technology Guinea – Mali Interconnection 13-Jul- P166042 Western Africa. Guinea, Mali. 84 28 56 0 Project 2018 Support for Capacity 31-Jul- P166316 Development of the AUC and Africa. African Union Commission 15 0 15 0 2018 Other African Union Organs Additional Financing for the Comoros program of the 4th 28-Sep- P166737 Phase of the Regional East Africa. Comoros 10 7 3 0 2018 Communications Infrastructure Program EAP (6 projects) 64 45 19 0 Lao PDR Southeast Asia Disaster 06-Jul- East Asia and Pacific. Lao People's Democratic P160930 30 27 3 0 Risk Management Project 17 Republic Tuvalu Aviation Investment 16-Nov- P163856 East Asia and Pacific. Tuvalu 9 3 6 0 Project Additional Finance III 17 - 38 - Pacific Aviation Safety Office 23-May- P164468 Reform Project Additional East Asia and Pacific. 4 0 4 0 18 Financing Additional Financing for the 27-Sep- P166974 Pacific Resilience Project under East Asia and Pacific. Marshall Islands 3 1 2 0 2018 the Pacific Resilience Program SAMOA - Pacific Resilience 1-Oct- P167152 Project under Pacific Resilience East Asia and Pacific. Samoa 3 1 2 0 2018 Program Additional Finance Additional Financing for the 18-Jul- P167166 Pacific Resilience Project under East Asia and Pacific. Tonga 15 13 2 0 2018 the Pacific Resilience Program ECA (4 projects) 127 66 61 0 20-Mar- P160230 Digital CASA - Kyrgyz Republic Eastern Europe and South Asia. Kyrgyz Republic 50 20 30 0 18 CASA1000 Community Support 10-Apr- P163592 Eastern Europe and South Asia. Kyrgyz Republic 10 7 3 0 Project - Kyrgyz Republic 18 Third Phase of the Central Asia 5-Oct- P159220 Regional Links Program (CARs- Eastern Europe and South Asia. Kyrgyz Republic 55 35 20 0 2018 3) Central Asia Hydrometeorology 1-Aug- Eastern Europe and South Asia. Kyrgyz Republic, P164780 Modernization Project (CAHMP) 12 4 8 0 2018 Tajikistan, Intl Fund for Saving the Aral Sea Additional Financing SAR(3 projects) 700 348 352 0 Afghanistan Digital CASA 28-Mar- P156894 South Asia. Afghanistan. 51 31 20 0 Project 18 Khyber Pass Economic Corridor 14-Jun- P159577 South Asia. Pakistan 461 154 307 0 Project 18 Pakistan Hydromet and DRM 25-May- P163924 South Asia. Pakistan 188 163 25 0 Services Project (PHDSP) 18