PROJECT INFORMATION DOCUMENT (PID) IDENTIFICATION/CONCEPT STAGE Report No.: Public Disclosure Copy Project Name Uganda: Mitigating Risk of Sexual Violence and Strengthening Response for Children Region AFRICA Country Uganda Lending Instrument IPF Project ID P161704 Borrower Name Ministry of Finance Planning and Economic Development Implementing Agency Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development Environment Category C - Not Required Date PID Prepared 06-Oct-2016 Estimated Date of Approval 07-Nov-2016 Initiation Note Review The review did authorize the preparation to continue Decision I. Introduction and Context Country Context Uganda has been successful in reducing poverty over the last few decades. However, a third of the population lives below the international extreme poverty line, with more than half the population under age 18 (56 percent). Income inequality is increasing within the country, and approximately 22 Public Disclosure Copy percent of children (4.4 million) live in income-poor households (State of the Ugandan Child, USAID 2015). In addition, 43 percent are characterized as moderately vulnerable, and 8 percent (1.3 million) as critically vulnerable (Kalibala and Lynne, 2010). A large number of children remain exposed to abuse, exploitation, and violence. Violence against children (VAC) can include physical, emotional, and sexual violence against girls and boys. Most VAC involves at least one of six main types of interpersonal violence that tend to occur at different stages in a child development (WHO, 2016). This includes maltreatment and violent punishment, bullying, youth violence, intimate partner violence (IPV), sexual violence, emotional or psychological violence, and witnessing violence. VAC is reported to take place within the family, schools, and in community settings (State of the Ugandan Child, USAID 2015). Data from the 2012/2013 Uganda National Health Survey reveals that 38 percent of children experience violence at home, while 32 percent experience it a school. While all children are entitled to social protection, girls face disproportionate risks and suffer distinctive consequences as a result of specific vulnerabilities they experience. Global evidence show that girls are particularly vulnerable to sexual violence (WHO, 2016). For example, the lifetime prevalence of childhood sexual violence against girls is 18 percent compared to 8 percent for boys (UNICEF, 2014). Furthermore, girls are also more likely to experience IPV and sexual assault by acquaintances or strangers, as well as early or child marriage. Page 1 of 8 58 percent of 15-19 year old girls have experienced physical or sexual violence in the last twelve months and in Northern Uganda, 32.4 percent of women indicated their first experience of sexual Public Disclosure Copy violence occurred during childhood (Uganda Demographic and Health Survey, 2012). A significant proportion of primary (78 percent) and secondary (82 percent) school students reported experiences of sexual abuse in schools (State of the Ugandan Child, USAID 2015). Forced early marriages and pregnancy increase vulnerability of girls for experiencing IPV, which also accounts for more than half of all reasons that girls cite for dropping out of school. The national teenage pregnancy rate is 24.8 percent among girls aged 15-19 years. Mounting domestic burdens, migration for work, increasing need for disposable income, and forced early marriage quickly jeopardize the economic stability of girls in the Ugandan context. The impacts of violence and poverty on children are far-reaching. Examples include chronic health conditions, poor psychosocial health or major depression, behavioral and/or emotional problems, poor school achievement, risky behaviors and reproductive health concerns. As of 2015, 147,394 children ages 0-14 were estimated to be living with HIV. Among girls aged 10-14, the estimated prevalence rate of HIV is 2.3 percent. While data on mental health is scarce, available evidence in Uganda suggests that mental illness and psychosocial distress in children has been associated with conflict, displacement, disability, and HIV/AIDs, among other issues (State of the Ugandan Child, USAID 2015). Research has shown that while infrastructure investments, such as roads, dams, and railways, can be key for economic development at a macro level, they can also adversely impact communities (World Bank, 2016). Labor influx associated with large investment projects in particular can expose vulnerable groups, such as adolescent girls living around construction sites, to negative impacts such as dropping out of school, child labor, and multiple forms of gender-based violence (GBV). This includes sexual assault, transactional sex, and rape, among other issues. Public Disclosure Copy Vulnerability of children to sexual violence is further exacerbated by development interventions such as infrastructure investments. The Uganda Country Portfolio has recently faced numerous challenges in managing and mitigating social risks affecting communities associated with labor influx and large infrastructure projects, particularly in Kamwenge and Kabarole districts. In these areas, there is a large number of vulnerable households headed by children or women. In addition, the level of education, health, and protection of children in Kamwenge and Kabarole districts are below the national average (Greene, 2016). A recent investigation of child abuse and harassment conducted by the Investigation Department in Kamwenge reveals that the majority of victims are orphans or belong to households in extreme poverty. Both poverty-induced vulnerability and high levels of social acceptance of violence against women and children are key drivers behind persistent levels of child abuse. Given the above, the proposed initiative aims to improve targeting within the social protection programs to effectively prevent and respond to sexual exploitation and abuse of children. Enhancing inclusion of vulnerable girls and boys in the social protection system and enabling access to quality services will also be crucial for breaking the inter-generational cycle of violence and poverty (UNICEF, Population Council, 2013). Sectoral and Institutional Context Page 2 of 8 The Government of Uganda has adopted social protection as an important strategy to fight poverty and promote inclusive economic growth. The National Development Plan II (NDP II) (2015/16 to 2019/20) responds to the national vision 2040 of a transformed and prosperous country. NDP II Public Disclosure Copy envisions to strengthen the country competitiveness through strategic infrastructure investments, employment generation, and inclusive private sector growth. It also emphasizes improving human development and enhancing resilience of the poor and vulnerable, who are unable to benefit directly from economic growth, through the social protection system. The Uganda Social Protection Policy (USPP) launched in March 2016 provides a comprehensive framework based on three focus areas as follows: (i) increasing access to social security; (ii) enhancing care, protection and support for vulnerable people; and (iii) strengthening the institutional framework for social protection service delivery. One of the main objectives of the USPP is to improve coordination of social protection services at the national and local levels. The Government of Uganda recognizes the social and economic burden that VAC places on the country development and has put in place policies and programs that aim to address this challenge. This includes (i) the Social Development Sector Strategic Investment Plan, (ii) The Children Act, Article 59, which upholds the right of children to participate in survival and development issues, (iii) the National Strategic Program-Plan of Interventions for Orphans and Other Vulnerable Children, which is also linked to the NDP II, (iv) the National Youth Policy, (v) the National Policy and Action Plan on Elimination of Gender Based Violence, and (vi) the National Strategy to End Child Marriage and Teenage Pregnancy. These laws, policies and plans all provide for child protection, including prevention and response of Sexual and Gender Based Violence (SGVB). The youth policy specifically provisions the prevention of sexual exploitation and abuse. Uganda First Budget Circular for FY2017/18 calls on all Accounting Officers to ensure that measures to address GBV, including protection of children, are incorporated into all public sector programs and projects. The Ministry of Gender, Labour, and Social Development (MoGLSD), is the main governmental Public Disclosure Copy body responsible for the USPP, the child protection framework and the national plan on elimination of GBV. MoGLSD works closely with the National Council for Children (NCC). Given the multi- sectoral nature of the problem, MoGLSD also coordinates the implementation of programs with ministries such as Education, Sports, and Local Government, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM), funding entities including the Ministry of Finance, Planning, and Economic Development (MoFPED), and key non-governmental and civil society organizations. Local governments also play a key role in implementing programs for preventing and responding to SGBV as well as supervising, monitoring, and coordinating non-government community-based implementers of these programs. In spite of this robust legal and policy framework there is a critical implementation gap in social protection schemes that provide support for children. Dysfunctional pathways and reporting arrangements, lack of coordination among service providers, poor case management for child survivors, lack of data-driven decision making, and weak legal redress are critical areas that need improvement. In addition, unreported cases have often been attributed to fear of a known perpetrator, social norms that promote silence and acceptance, poor quality or non-existent services, and a lack of knowledge of existing laws on defilement as a capital offense. Household poverty, Page 3 of 8 which leads many parents and guardians of survivors of SGBV to seek out court settlements, is also a critical factor. This challenge requires building awareness and education among the population on the legal protection resources available and the services to be accessed by survivors of SGBV. Public Disclosure Copy Improving the quality of services, the accessibility to services for children, in addition to enhancing coordination, monitoring, and enforcement of laws and policies, will be critical in building a robust social protection system. Relationship to CAS/CPS/CPF The proposed grant will directly contribute to the two pillars of the World Bank new global strategy, eliminating extreme poverty and promoting shared prosperity. In Uganda, the Country Partnership Framework (FY16-21) (CPF) underscores the importance of a strong social protection framework to support key development objectives including enhancing human capital development and efficient, quality service delivery. The need for preventing abuse and exploitation of children is recognized among other key development challenges, such as the impact of increasing population density that can promote greater vulnerability. The CPF (FY16-21) acknowledges that adolescent girls are especially vulnerable, with large proportions of primary and secondary students reporting experiences of sexual abuse in schools. These challenges require that a successful intervention would need to pay close attention to both the broader social context and the implementation capacity for social risk management. The grant will specifically address objectives two and four of the CPF, which are to i) improve social service delivery and ii) enhance resilience of the poor and vulnerable. The latter will include the integration of gender aspects into social protection activities to reduce the risks and drivers of SGBV. II. Project Development Objective(s) Proposed Development Objective(s) The objective of the Grant is to enhance referral mechanisms and improve integration of child Public Disclosure Copy survivors and those at risk of sexual violence into the social protection system. Key Results The following indicators will be used to track progress towards the PDO: Guidelines for the National Social Protection system on how to target children at risk of sexual violence adopted by the MoGLSD in their programs. A referral mechanism for children at risk, including survivors of sexual violence strengthened, in Kamwenge and Kabarole Districts. A minimum package of integrated services for survivors of sexual violence provided in Kamwenge and Kabarole Districts. Guidelines to manage the risks of SGBV produced by large labor influx developed and disseminated at the national and district levels. III. Preliminary Description Concept Description The proposed grant is supported by the Rapid Social Response (RSR) Multi-Donor Trust Fund managed by the World Bank. The overall RSR grant includes Recipient Executed (RE) and Bank Executed (BE) activities to develop a set of guidelines, toolkits, and interventions to improve social risk management and social protection of child survivors and those at risk of sexual violence. Page 4 of 8 This initiation note refers to the RE grant. The proposed RE activities aim to address vulnerability of child survivors and those at risk of sexual violence and abuse by: i) strengthening referral mechanisms and response services for child survivors of sexual violence, ii) strengthening capacity Public Disclosure Copy of national and local authorities to provide quality, child friendly response services; and iii) improving targeting of children at risk of sexual violence in existing social protection interventions. The grant will include three components as follows: Component 1. Strengthening referral mechanisms and response services for child survivors of sexual violence (USD 400,000). This component will support the improvement of referral mechanisms for children who have experienced sexual violence to gain access to services in Kamwenge and Kabarole. Under this component, a rapid assessment of quality and accessibility of services will be carried out with a focus on the availability of medical, psychosocial, and legal services for child survivors of sexual violence as a minimum comprehensive response. The assessment will also consider challenges to sustainability after the grant duration of two years. The enhanced referral and case management mechanism will draw on lessons learned from the Emergency Children Protection Response (ECPR) in Kamwenge and Kabarole, established in collaboration with the MoGLSD, Uganda National Roads Authority (UNRA), and District authorities. The ECPR currently addresses cases associated with the Transport Sector Development Project (TSDP), provides services to child survivors, and works towards the prevention of further SGBV in project affected sites. Preliminary experiences and lessons from the ECPR suggest that an integrated package of services for child survivors inclusive of livelihood support, psychosocial support comprising of family therapy and counseling, legal redress, and reintegration into schools, is critical to not only overcome extreme vulnerability but also prevent recurrence of violence. Existing collaboration between service providers, in this case BRAC and the Transcultural Psychosocial Support Organization, TPSO, has demonstrated such partnerships are essential for the provision of a holistic set of services Public Disclosure Copy for child survivors of SGBV. This is particularly important in districts where institutional capacity is limited. Furthermore, community engagement, support from local governments, and coordination between the MoGLSD and MDAs are key elements in the provision of these supports. Under this component, the grant seeks to: (i) support District Action Centers (DACs) within the Department of Community Based Services (DCBS). This could include training, equipment, and materials for case management; (ii) expand services through a community outreach in select locations that: a) support livelihoods including peer-support for girls (girls clubs) and training on life skills and vocational training for girls; b) provide emergency health care and psycho-social support for child survivors of sexual violence and their families; c) support mechanisms for legal redress; and d) incentivize households to keep girls in school. Simultaneously a set of evidence-based community interventions that promote behavioral change to reduce acceptability of SGBV will be carried out in communities and schools. From an implementation perspective, this component will generate lessons-learned to be shared with the Government of Uganda on how service provision of social protection services for child survivors of sexual violence can be effectively established in partnership with CSOs. Component 2. Strengthening capacity of national and local authorities to provide quality, child friendly response services (USD 173,000). This component will provide technical assistance to Page 5 of 8 national and local authorities, particularly those in the Districts where referral mechanisms for child survivors of sexual violence will be strengthened. Public Disclosure Copy At the national level, the grant will support the MOGLSD to oversee the implementation of component 1 in targeted districts to ensure quality of referrals and service provision. At the district level, the grant will support data collection capacity to monitor reported cases of sexual violence. Capacity on data collection and analysis for overall monitoring and evaluation of these activities will be assessed, including use of tools such as the National Gender Based Violence Database (NGBVD) and the Child Help Line. Local level authorities will be guided on how to feedback aggregate anonymous data to service providers to strengthen coordination and response. This monitoring mechanism will allow for consistent surveillance of incidents of sexual violence and exploitation and bottlenecks in service delivery and the referral pathway. This component will also strengthen capacity of the Community Based Services Department (CBSD) in Kamwenge and Kabarole including the District Probation and Social Welfare Officer, Community Development Officer, District Orphans and Vulnerable Children Committees (DOVCCs), and the Sub County Orphans and Vulnerable Children Committees (SOVCCs), assigned to provide accompaniment for survivors. CBSD will involve other departments, particularly police, health, magistrate, production, and education to enhance a coordinated response at the district level. Support will include provision of training resources, materials, equipment and logistic resources. At the community level, contact points for when violence has occurred will be strengthened, such as the Community Development Officers, Police, Village Health Teams (VHTs), para social workers, local council chairpersons, religious leaders, and opinion leaders in the community. These contact points will be empowered through training on child- friendly services, provision of materials and training tools, and relevant basic logistical support to enhance prevention of abuse and support functionality of referral and follow up of cases. Public Disclosure Copy Component 3. Improving targeting of children at risk of sexual violence in existing social protection interventions (100,000). This component aims at developing standardized guidelines and tools to improve inclusion of children at risk of sexual violence in the social protection system. In addition, it seeks to strengthen country systems to mitigate social risks of SGBV associated with large influx of workers. Specific activities will include: (i) Development of guidelines and tools to target and support children at risk of sexual violence. These stand-alone tools are expected to be adopted and implemented by existing social protection interventions, including the Social Assistance Grants for Empowerment (SAGE), the Youth Livelihood Program (YLP), and the Uganda Women Entrepreneurship Program (UWEP). Specific recommendations on geographic criteria will be considered in order to target those populations at risks of SGBV associated with labor influx of infrastructure projects. Similarly, the proposed activities would benefit from the accumulated experience of three generations of the Northern Uganda Social Action Fund (NUSAF) interventions through community mobilization. For instance, the community structures put in place by this grant such as Village Livelihood Improvement Committees (VLIC), Youth Empowerment Groups (YEG), and the NUSAF Self-help Groups (NUSAF-SHGs) could provide good entry points to the proposed ELA+ methodology that supports livelihoods and peer-support for girls. Page 6 of 8 (ii) Finalization and rolling out of a toolkit on social risk management on VAC and SGBV. This activity will be conducted through the existing inter-ministerial task force to introduce core principles, key definitions, and guidelines for codes of conduct that outline reporting, monitoring Public Disclosure Copy and sanctioning procedures for SGBV occurring as a result of large influx of laborers related to infrastructure projects. Although beyond the scope of this initiation note, BE activities will complement these efforts. Firstly, this includes technical assistance to strengthen and pilot Grievance Redress Mechanisms (GRM). In close collaboration with government counterparts, the Bank will support formulating standardized guidelines and activating local Grievance Redress Committees (GRCs), including capacity for receiving and referring social risks and SGBV. The GRM will also be piloted in the targeted areas where the referral mechanism for child survivors of SGBV is implemented. This will also have a supporting grievance management action plan and stakeholder engagement plan to monitor activities and ensure the involvement of critical stakeholders in decision making processes. Secondly, BE activities will strengthen mechanisms for inter-ministerial coordination on social protection and social risk management. This will be achieved by providing technical assistance to key line ministries as well as MoGLSD, OPM, and MLG to help them better target and include child survivors of SGBV into social protection programs. In addition, the assistance will help clarify the roles and responsibilities of government agencies and national, district, sub-county and parish levels, ensuring information systems are available at all levels to effectively monitor referral pathways. IV. Safeguard Policies that Might Apply Safeguard Policies Triggered by the Project Yes No TBD Environmental Assessment OP/BP 4.01 ✖ Natural Habitats OP/BP 4.04 ✖ Public Disclosure Copy Forests OP/BP 4.36 ✖ Pest Management OP 4.09 ✖ Physical Cultural Resources OP/BP 4.11 ✖ Indigenous Peoples OP/BP 4.10 ✖ Involuntary Resettlement OP/BP 4.12 ✖ Safety of Dams OP/BP 4.37 ✖ Projects on International Waterways OP/BP 7.50 ✖ Projects in Disputed Areas OP/BP 7.60 ✖ V. Financing (in USD Million) Total Project Cost: 0.673 Total Bank Financing: 0 Financing Gap: 0 Financing Source Amount Borrower 0.672999 Special Financing 0.000001 VI. Contact point Page 7 of 8 World Bank Contact: Margarita Puerto Gomez Title: Social Development Specialist Public Disclosure Copy Tel: 458-5673 Email: mpuertogomez@worldbank.org Borrower/Client/Recipient Name: Ministry of Finance Planning and Economic Development Contact: Guillermo Galvan Title: Director, Territorial Development Tel: 50325601500 Email: ggalvan@presidencia.gob.sv Implementing Agencies Name: Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development Contact: Guillermo Galvan Title: Director, Territorial Development Tel: 50325601500 Email: ggalvan@presidencia.gob.sv VII. For more information contact: The World Bank 1818 H Street, NW Washington, D.C. 20433 Telephone: (202) 473-1000 Web: http://www.worldbank.org/projects Public Disclosure Copy Page 8 of 8