AFRICA TRANSFORMING Scaled up financing for scaled up ambition VOLUME 2 ■  C over: Using the World Bank Group’s Scaling Solar Program, Zambia has been able to procure privately financed solar power and enable its rapid rollout. Construction of Zambia’s first grid-connected solar PV power plant is underway at Bangweulu. © NEOEN 4 AFRICA TRANSFORMING Scaled up financing for scaled up ambition VOLUME 2 84 60 24 18 76 14 32 78 62 82 46 66 58 26 54 44 10 68 70 74 42 12 34 30 52 16 28 72 40 56 36 80 50 22 20 48 Table of Contents BUILDING HUMAN STRENGTHENING EXPANDING CAPITAL MARKETS INFRASTRUCTURE 10 BENIN 40 BURUNDI 66 BURKINA FASO Encouraging girls in skilled trades Restoring vital landscapes Extending water and sanitation services 12 CAMEROON 42 CÔTE D’IVOIRE Linking aid to development eAgriculture solutions for digital 68 CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC age Powering up with solar 14 CHAD Finding harmony for refugees 44 GHANA 70 ETHIOPIA and hosts Promoting sustainable Bridging gender gaps in energy commercial agriculture 16 DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC 72 KENYA OF CONGO 46 GUINEA Promoting public-private Tackling gender-based violence Investing in agricultural partnerships productivity 18 THE GAMBIA 74 LIBERIA Transforming education 48 LESOTHO Increasing access to electricity with technology Championing agricultural entrepreneurs 76 MALI 20 MADAGASCAR Easing rural mobility Paving way for national education 50 MALAWI reform Investing in irrigation 78 SENEGAL Increasing access to water 22 MOZAMBIQUE 52 REPUBLIC OF CONGO Keeping medicines stocked Building an agribusiness 80 ZAMBIA and students learning Unlocking large scale solar 54 SIERRA LEONE 24 NIGER Increasing transparency in mining 82 WEST AFRICA Job training for youth Fighting coastal erosion 56 TANZANIA employment Expanding sustainable tourism 84 SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA 26 NIGERIA Modernizing hydromet services 58 TOGO Eradicating polio Revolutionizing poultry industry 28 RWANDA 60 WEST AFRICA Working her way out of poverty Opening paths to homeownership 30 UGANDA 62 WEST AFRICA Renewing support for refugee Catalyzing off-grid solar markets hosts 32 WEST AFRICA Empowering women and girls 34 WEST AND CENTRAL AFRICA Training African scientists 36 SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA Preparing for pandemics CATALYZING AFRICA’S TRANSFORMATION There are countries across Africa driving ambitious development agendas, including pioneering mobile money, adopting renewable energy on a large scale, and investing in human capital. Development partners are strongly supporting the World Bank in matching this ambition. The 18th replenishment of the International Development Association (IDA), our fund for the world’s poorest countries, is the largest in history: targeting $45 billion to 39 IDA-eligible countries in sub-Saharan Africa. This makes IDA a preeminent provider of development assistance at scale. More importantly, it marks our firm commitment to our client countries and development partners to catalyze transformation and accelerate progress. We have hit the ground running. In the first year of the IDA18 cycle, we have invested $15.4 billion in new projects and programs across Africa. This is our largest ever single-year commitment of resources and more than 50 percent greater than the annual average during IDA17. ■  ndela, a company based A We have injected new IDA financing to help countries like Madagascar raise in Nigeria and Kenya, is helping to shape Africa’s healthcare and education standards to ensure the very youngest members of growing digital economy society get a good start in life. We are supporting countries across the Sahel in their by training software efforts to curb child marriage and empower girls and women through education developers and placing and reproductive healthcare. And across the region, we are helping boost the skills them in salaried positions in companies worldwide. and employability of Africa’s youth for in-demand jobs that can fuel economic diversification and the fast-growing digital economy. © Dominic Chavez /  International Finance Corporation 5 Under IDA18, we are providing dedicated support to refugees and their host communities in many countries, including Cameroon and Uganda, and helping other countries scarred by conflict and violence rebuild essential infrastructure and social services to increase productivity and economic opportunities for their citizens. We are helping countries mitigate and adapt to climate change with increased investments in climate-smart agriculture, coastal erosion, and hydro- meteorological services. Indeed, last year our record new commitments generated a 25 percent rate of climate co-benefits, in excess of our target. Examples include the West Africa Coastal Areas program as a globally-significant effort to tackle climate change impacts. We are also expanding renewable energy markets to address critical energy shortages sustainably. Zambia and the Central African Republic are launching their first-ever large scale solar power plants, and Kenya now has more than half of its energy from climate-friendly sources. Progress is encouraging, but we must make more and faster. Although Africa’s poverty rate is falling, rapid population growth of 2.6 percent per year has led to an increase in the absolute number of people living in poverty. The region continues to face daunting challenges and demand for IDA resources is stronger than ever. By working upstream and de-risking countries through the Maximizing Finance for Development approach, we are empowering the private sector to invest more in Africa’s development. This volume presents these and many other activities that IDA18 is supporting— scaling up successful approaches and backing ambitious new ones that hold tremendous promise. It is an exciting moment for Africa and, with continued IDA support, we are making a difference and building a better future for Africa, together. HAFEZ GHANEM Vice President for Africa ■  surveyor takes the GPS A World Bank altitude of a water-control canal in Mozambique as part of efforts to mitigate flood and drought damage near the provincial capital of Xai Xai and surrounding areas. © CIF 2014 BUILDING HUMAN CAPITAL ■  DA investments across sub-Saharan I Africa are helping to keep girls in school and expand their social and economic prospects. © Arne Hoel / World Bank BENIN Encouraging girls to embrace skilled trades ■  ore and more girls M The demand for skilled labor is high in male- are entering vocational dominated fields like construction and car training to learn in- demand trades such repair. Girls are looking past gender stereotypes as plumbing. to seize opportunities through vocational and © Stephane Brabant / technical training. World Bank 10 On the roof of a building under construction in the Camp Guézo district of Cotonou, Jaëlle Hounkanrin and fellow I am the only girl on the construction apprentices deftly install pipes between the rods of a site, but I do the jobs assigned to me slab. She is training to be a plumber and is proud of it. just like the boys. I love what I do. “I am the only girl on the construction site, but I do the Jaëlle Hounkanrin, plumbing apprentice jobs assigned to me just like the boys. I love what I do,” in Cotonou she affirms, brimming with confidence. Hounkanrin is a school dropout who now boards at the Training and Apprenticeship Center in the commune of Building business skills and more Pahou (Centre de formation et d’apprentissage de Pahou). She and some 30 other girls at the center are training for Besides apprenticeships, the project provides small so-called men’s jobs, braving the social norms. grants to help young people strengthen their business skills and enter the job market. Already 7,500 young The center is one of 73 vocational training institutions people, half of them girls, have each received CFAF across Benin supported by the Youth Employment 200,000 (around $370) for this purpose. Many are girls Project financed by the World Bank. With a funding trained in traditionally male occupations. package of $35 million, the project has already helped some 3,500 young people, half of them girls, obtain their To further expand their ranks, the project is offering professional qualification certificate. technical and micro-entrepreneurship training in non- traditional trades for 500 girls. It also is providing start- up grants to help them launch and expand their activities. Training for job opportunities Momentum continues with three new projects to be Chantal Médégnon, who holds a certificate in electricity, financed under IDA18. The Education for Employment construction, and industry, saw vocational training Project will build on activities by supporting more young as a path toward better employment opportunities. people, including girls, in acquiring the skills needed in When she left school at the 8 th grade, she determined priority economic sectors where there is ever-increasing hairdressing and dressmaking were oversubscribed and demand for skilled labor. The Youth Inclusion Project will not to her liking. focus on services to promote the social and economic inclusion of young people in various communities. “But in construction you are always in demand and can Benin will also join the Sahel Women Empowerment go from site to site,” she explains. and Demographic Dividend Project, which, among While their numbers are small compared to boys, Benin’s other support, helps girls gain access to scientific and girls are gaining ground and performing well in vocational technological subjects and priority economic sectors. training in fields like automobile repair, electricity, cooling and air conditioning, welding, and building construction. “We want to end the social norms that combine to discourage girls from pursuing these occupations traditionally exercised by men. The model offered by those who are already trained encourages us to urge women to have confidence in themselves and to make the most of their potential,” explains Maxime Sogbossi, Project Coordinator. T RANS FORMING AFRICA | BUILDING HUM AN CAP I TAL 11 CAMEROON Linking humanitarian aid to local development ■ H adjidjatou Djibrilla, To help poor countries respond to the needs of here with six of her both refugee and host communities, the World 10 children, feels safe in the poor but peaceful Bank has created the $2 billion IDA18 regional commune of Kouba, East Region. sub-window for refugees and host communities. In May 2018, Cameroon became the first ©  Odilia Hebga / World Bank country to benefit. 12 Hadjidjatou Djibrilla lives in poverty, as do most residents in the commune of Kouba in the East Region of Cameroon. I feel safe here and my children are At 38, she has been a refugee for 12 years. She fled her growing up in a peaceful environ- country when fighting between the government and rebel forces intensified. ment. The war in my country has not ended, so why should I go back? Cameroon ranks 13th in the world for hosting refugees— seventh in Africa. Almost 350,000 refugees were counted Hadjidjatou Djibrilla, refugee living in Kouba as registered in Cameroon by February 2018, with Central African refugees accounting for 20 percent of the population of the country’s East Region and 6 percent of Elisabeth Huybens, World Bank Country Director for its Adamawa Region. Most may never return home. Angola, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and São Tomé & Príncipe, said additional IDA18 resources “I no longer want to leave,” says an emotional Djibrilla. specially earmarked for refugees and host communes “I feel safe here and my children are growing up in a “will allow us to directly target these persons in existing peaceful environment. The war in my country has not projects, and to provide support to the State, which can ended, so why should I go back?” very often be overwhelmed with managing the influx of refugees at the regional level.” More than half the world’s refugees have been displaced for over four years. Their situation can no longer be Kouassi Lazare Etien, who represents the UN Refugee handled as a temporary humanitarian crisis. A more Agency in Cameroon, believes “this new approach permanent solution must be found—one that offers a demonstrates that the presence of refugees can also new beginning for refugee men, women, and children, contribute to the development of host communities.” while easing pressure on the communities that host them, which are already very poor. Benefiting refugees and hosts alike A new financing mechanism For example, the third phase of the Community Development Program Support Project will facilitate To help poor countries respond to the needs of both community development activities and build local refugee and host communities, the World Bank has government capacity in management and host services. created the $2 billion IDA18 regional sub-window for It aims to address the concerns of refugees at the local refugees and host communities. level, intervening in such sensitive issues as gender- related violence or land tenure. In May 2018, Cameroon became the first country to benefit from this mechanism, with $274 million in Activities under  the Social Safety Net Project will be additional financing for four current projects in the stepped up in host regions, with refugees receiving development and social protection, education, and health identification documents to help them access Cameroon’s sectors. Cameroon is one of the eight countries selected national social protection system, employment to pilot this new form of integrated assistance, along assistance, and other citizen services. with Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Niger, Pakistan, and Uganda. The Cameroon Education Reform Support Project will assist schools in host regions to integrate children in a normal curriculum and special education programs, as well as bring in more state-paid teachers and textbooks. T RANS FORMING AFRICA | BUILDING HUM AN CAP I TAL 13 CHAD Finding harmony for refugees and host communities ■ E lise Morembaye The number of people seeking refuge in Chad of the Mekoulom continues to grow, with over 634,000 refugees, XXX Women’s Group in Goré calls for support asylum seekers, and internally displaced people from partners on behalf of the host identified by the UN Refugee Agency in April community. 2018. IDA18 funding will improve conditions © Edmond for refugees and host communities alike.   Dingamhoudou / World Bank 14 Some 8,000 people are desperately trying to rebuild their lives in the Dar es Salaam refugee camp located This project aims to create the con- along the banks of Lake Chad in the town of Baga Sola, ditions that will enable the gradual Chad. Dispersed over several kilometers in endless canvas tents bearing the colors of the United Nations, integration of refugees. they are struggling to recover from the trauma inflicted Soukeyna Kane, World Bank Country Director by Boko Haram. for Chad, Guinea, Mali, and Niger Further away in the far south of the country, the Goré prefecture is also buckling under the weight of refugees. “Here, all the returnees and refugees who fled the war in economic landscape of the country and strengthen the the Central African Republic (CAR) account for half of national refugee management system,” states Soukeyna the local population,” explains Augustin Gongtar, Goré’s Kane, World Bank Country Director for Chad, Guinea, former prefect. Mali, and Niger. The Dar Sila region, which straddles the border with The PARCA will improve access to health and education Sudan, has sheltered refugees from Darfur for over a services with investments to rehabilitate or build new decade, and more recently, from CAR. Here, too, the public service infrastructure in refugee hosting areas. region’s former governor, General Moussa Haroun Tirgo, It will contribute to the expansion of Chad’s social paints a bleak picture, “We are hosting roughly 54,000 protection system to include vulnerable households in refugees in terrible living conditions, with no access to Chadian and refugee communities through cash transfer water or basic social services. We are also cut off for five programs or support for productive activities. Support months of the year because of floods.” also will go to the National Commission for Refugee and Returnee Assistance and national mechanisms for refugee protection, registration, and monitoring. Improve access to social services In September 2018, the World Bank approved $60 million New partnership for comprehensive in IDA grant funding to help Chad improve access to basic response social services and livelihoods for refugees and host communities and to help strengthen national refugee The project was developed by a technical inter- management systems through the Refugees and Host ministerial committee chaired by the Ministry of Communities Support Project (PARCA). Economy and Development Planning in collaboration with the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), the World Food There are an estimated 1.1 million direct and indirect Programme, European Civil Protection and Humanitarian project beneficiaries, 30 to 50 percent of whom are Aid Operations, and other relevant agencies. refugees located in the refugee hosting areas of the East and South regions and around Lake Chad. “The UNHCR welcomes this World Bank financing for the Government of Chad, which is part of the new “This grant complements the aid already provided to Comprehensive Refugee Response Framework and the some 450,000 refugees by local communities, the humanitarian-development continuum. We stand ready Government of Chad, and international agencies. This to make a success of this new, inclusive partnership project aims to create the conditions that will enable model and replicate it in other projects,” affirms UNHCR the gradual integration of refugees into the social and Representative, Mbili Ambaoumba. T RANS FORMING AFRICA | BUILDING HUM AN CAP I TAL 15 DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO Tackling gender-based violence through prevention ■ Women practice In Africa’s Great Lakes Region, the World rhythm exercises Bank XXX is scaling up its support to help victims during music therapy at Maison Dorcas, a of gender-based violence and to stop it from community center set up by the Panzi happening in the first place. New focus on Hospital. prevention and community involvement will help © Naama Haviv / Panzi shift social norms. Hospital and Foundation 16 Pervasive conflict has taken its toll on women in the Great Lakes Region of East Africa. Security remains Empowering community-based fragile and public services are weak in the Democratic organizations and mobilizing them Republic of Congo (DRC). Burundi has made progress in securing peace, but poverty levels remain high and sexual in the fight against gender-based and gender-based violence is widespread. Rwanda has violence is of crucial importance. made dramatic strides since the mid-1990s and plans to redouble its efforts to confront violence against women Jean‑Christophe Carret, World Bank Country Director for Central African Republic, the DRC, and children. and the Republic of Congo In 2014, the Great Lakes Emergency Sexual and Gender- Based Violence and Women’s Health Project launched as the first World Bank project in Africa offering integrated community-based organizations and mobilizing them services to survivors of gender-based violence. IDA grants in the fight against gender-based violence is of crucial totaling $107 million have since made their way to DRC, importance. As the lack of economic autonomy can be Burundi, and Rwanda to support health and counseling a driver of gender-based violence, the project will also services, legal aid, and economic opportunities for build livelihoods and provide economic opportunities survivors, as well as to strengthen health services for through savings and income-generating activities at the poor and vulnerable women in the region. community level.” Not just a “ private matter ” Services for survivors, support for all In DRC alone, 40,000 people, including 29,000 women, The new project will reach 795,000 direct beneficiaries have benefitted from these services and support, but over the next four years, 400,000 of whom are women more can be done to stop gender-based violence in the and girls. first place. In August 2018, the World Bank committed another $100 million in IDA financing to prevent gender- A critical mass of qualified and reputable community based violence in the DRC. activists (both women and men), including paralegals, health and social workers, teachers, and religious leaders, The new Gender-Based Violence Prevention and Response will be deployed to implement prevention activities Project will consolidate gains made under the Great Lakes in communities across targeted zones in four eastern regional project and take aim at shifting social norms by provinces. Safe spaces will be established for women and promoting gender equality and behavioral change through girls at the community level where survivors will have strong partnerships with civil society organizations. In a access to psycho-social support and other specialized country where 75 percent of women and 60 percent of health services. men believe that wife beating is justified, involving men and boys in the process will demonstrate that violence In addition, the project will rely on the expertise of is an issue that must be tackled at the community level existing centers of excellence—the Panzi Hospital and and is not just a “private matter.” Foundation in South Kivu and Heal Africa in North Kivu— with demonstrated experience in responding to gender- According to Jean‑Christophe Carret, the World based violence in emergency settings. Both operate Bank Country Director for Central African Republic, mobile clinics in remote areas where insecurity and the DRC, and the Republic of Congo, “Empowering sexual violence are endemic. T RANS FORMING AFRICA | BUILDING HUM AN CAP I TAL 17 THE GAMBIA Transforming math and science education with technology ■ T  echnology like smart Classrooms in The Gambia are piloting an boards and handheld innovative program that combines technology smart responders, combined with teacher tools, course materials, and teaching methods training, make math and science classes to enhance math and science education in more engaging and secondary school. Test scores prove it works and improve learning. IDA18 is expanding the program. © New Jersey Center  for Teaching and Learning 18 To produce the scientists and engineers it needs to solve development challenges and advance socio-economic There is a shift in the whole delivery ambitions, The Gambia has partnered with the World of the subject matter—a shift in the Bank and others to raise the quality of its math and science education. In 2012, a pilot program introduced pedagogy, a shift in the understand- the Progressive Science Initiative and Progressive ing, a shift in the time. Math Initiative (PSI-PMI) in 24 upper basic and senior secondary schools. Developed by the New Jersey Center Samuel Koidia, physics and math teacher at Nursat Senior Secondary School in Serrekunda for Teaching and Learning, this adaptive approach facilitates classroom engagement and student learning through technology. Both Koidia and Kuraisy see a jump in their students’ Dusty chalkboards were replaced with interactive smart academic performance and their enthusiasm for math boards and classrooms were outfitted with solar panels and science. Ansumana Jobarteh, an 11th grader at to overcome the intermittent supply of electricity. Nursat Secondary School agrees, “Before PSI-PMI, I was Teachers received training and online course materials to doing fine, but now that I can compare the results, I can standardize the curriculum and make it more student- say that I love the subject of physics more than before.” centered. Students received handheld smart responders to use in class to answer problems in an engaging, game- Preliminary independent evaluations of the pilot indicate like manner—and to allow teachers to gauge student that PSI-PMI students scored 21 percent higher on a understanding in real-time. math test relative to a comparable group of non-PSI-PMI students from non-PSI-PMI matched schools. Profound effect on learning Expanding PSI-PMI According to Samuel Koidia, a physics and math teacher at Nursat Senior Secondary School in Serrekunda, The The Gambian government aims to expand PSI-PMI Gambia’s largest urban area, PSI-PMI’s methods and use supported by the new Education Sector Support of technology have had a profound effect. Program. With grant funding of $30 million from IDA18 and $5 million from the Global Partnership for Education, “There is a shift in the whole delivery of the subject the program expects to benefit over 400,000 school- matter—a shift in the pedagogy, a shift in the aged children, including those enrolled in Majalis (religious understanding, a shift in the time,” he explains. “In the schools). conventional mode of teaching, the teacher must do 80 percent of the work and the student is only given 20 In addition to scaling up PSI-PMI in upper grades, it will percent of the time to interact. Now, it is the reverse and support systemwide improvements in teacher training it is helping students to understand concepts.” and expanded early childhood education initiatives. The curriculum of all core subjects in lower and upper basic Usman Kuraisy, a science teacher at nearby Charles Jow schools will also be reviewed, and revised textbooks will Memorial Academy, says the use of smart responders be printed and distributed to every school in the country. improves class dynamics and learning by “making it very easy for me to assess my children. As we go along, I see how they are moving—the weak ones, the strong ones— and I know when to go back over my lesson and when to continue.” T RANS FORMING AFRICA | BUILDING HUM AN CAP I TAL 19 MADAGASCAR Paving the way for national education reform ■  ustin is happy to be J In 2009, public spending on education fell as back in school after foreign funding plunged following a political two years away. He had to drop out when crisis. Thousands of children were at risk of his parents could not afford fees. being taken out of school. Emergency support has led to scaled up funding that is overhauling © Diana Styvaney / World Bank basic education. 20 Justin is 14 years old. He is in 5th grade, but his friends are already in lower secondary school. He had to drop I have a lot of catching up to do… out of school in 2014 when his parents could no longer but that’s okay. I’m happy to be back afford to pay for his education. After the political crisis that shook Madagascar in 2009, his parents were unable at school. to make ends meet. Justin, 14-year-old student at Ankadindambo public primary Justin’s mother explains: “My husband is a builder and work was very scarce. I’m a seamstress and it’s even worse in a crisis when people don’t buy clothes. I have By the end of the four-year project, MESEA was deployed five children and food is our priority. I had to take Justin in 12 Malagasy regions, reaching over 2 million direct out of school.” recipients. Nearly 1.9 million children were enrolled In 2016, his school was able to access funds so Justin in school, some 20,000 teachers got paid, and over could return to class free of charge, but he had been 5 million school kits were distributed. In Madagascar’s away for two years. three drought-stricken regions in the south, MESEA enabled over 100,000 children to have meals in school “I have a lot of catching up to do. All my old friends are cafeterias. More than 260 classrooms were built, and over already in 8th grade, but that’s okay. I’m happy to be 50,000 teachers trained. back at school. I dream of being a teacher,” smiles Justin. New funding, largest ever for education Keeping kids in school MESEA also paved the way for the newly launched Basic Justin’s school, Ankadindambo public primary in the Education Support Project funded by the World Bank and Analamanga region, is one of many that benefited from the Global Partnership for Education. The $100 million the Madagascar Emergency Support to Education for All project is designed to improve learning outcomes in the Project (MESEA). Launched in 2013 by the World Bank first two years of basic education in Madagascar. with a Global Partnership for Education grant, it worked to shore up a crumbling education system. This funding, which includes $55 million from IDA18, is the highest ever granted to assist education in Madagascar. With a sharp drop in foreign financing, public spending It will support the implementation of reforms outlined in on education had fallen since 2010. This meant that the country’s 2018–2022 Education Sector Plan. nationwide, very few schools were built, teacher and student materials were not supplied, and hardly any The project aims to reach over 4.7 million beneficiaries. schools received government funding. That includes enrolling 4.6 million children in primary school and 80,000 children in early learning centers, as well MESEA aimed to keep as many children in primary as training 35,000 primary school teachers, 6,500 pre- school as possible by reducing costs borne by families, primary community educators, 4,000 community- paying subsidies to teachers, and providing school school board members, and 20,000 principals and kits to students. It supported student learning by local supervisors. providing training for teachers and principals, textbooks, classrooms, school cafeterias, and school grants. T RANS FORMING AFRICA | BUILDING HUM AN CAP I TAL 21 MOZAMBIQUE Keeping medicines stocked and students learning ■ H ealth service Weak public financial management was professionals work hurting the medicines supply chain and school in a health center in Nampula Province, rural performance in Mozambique. By pioneering Mozambique. an IDA results-based financing approach, © Gustavo Mahoque / health and education systems improved—and World Bank financing flowed—as targets were met. 22 Mozambique’s medical sector was in trouble: inadequate planning, procurement, warehousing, and distribution Medicines only have value when they of medicines had led to recurrent stock outs. Reports reach the right patient at the right of stolen or damaged medicines were frequent. Lack of medicines at service delivery points impacted care and time. treatment outcomes. João Grachane, senior officer at Mozambique’s Ministry of Health The education system was also in crisis. Weak school governance, limited community participation, ineffective supervision, high absenteeism, and delays or the diversion school’s functioning was constantly disrupted by delays of school funds contributed to low student retention, low in grant allocations meant to procure basic learning completion rates, and poor learning outcomes. materials and support the most vulnerable children. In 2014, Mozambique launched its Public Financial “We now receive our grant allocations at the beginning Management for Results Program for Health and of the school year, a major improvement as it allows us Education to bring more transparency and efficiency to plan better at the beginning of the year,” says Xilume. to spending and management in these two key sectors. It featured the World Bank’s new Program for All 1,300 primary schools under the project are benefiting Results instrument. from more reliably delivered funding. Untested at the time, this IDA instrument disburses funding in a phased manner and based on the achievement Working together to find solutions of pre-agreed targets. This pioneering project paved the way for sectors to create specific incentives to drive The project, which is in its final stages of implementation, behavior change at the sub-national level and across has provided a unique support structure to create a stakeholder groups. network of reinforcing incentives. A capacity building window has ensured that sector stakeholders collaborate more with public financial management agencies to get Progress is significant the resources they need to deliver services and improve “Medicines only have value when they reach the right institutional know-how. patient at the right time,” says João Grachane, a senior “The project adopted an innovative problem-driven and officer at Mozambique’s Ministry of Health. He has seen iterative approach,” says Humberto Cossa, World Bank the project shift practitioners’ attention from inputs to senior health specialist. “Frontline implementers focused results, decisively improving the medicines supply chain. on identifying bottlenecks to the achievement of results Key progress includes a substantial increase in the in their sectors, bringing people out of their silos to craft availability of essential maternal health medicines at integrated solutions.” the facility level, from 79 percent in 2013 to 86 percent Building on this successful approach, Mozambique has in 2015, as well as a sharp decrease in the number of treatment sites with stock outs of antiretroviral drugs, launched a new Primary Health Care Strengthening from 27 percent in 2013 to 5 percent in 2015. Program for Results. It is benefiting from additional results-based grant financing of $105 million, including The education system is also faring better under the $80 million from IDA18, to improve reproductive, project. Matilde Xilume, primary school director at EP1.2 maternal, child, and adolescent health and nutrition of 3 de Fevereiro, explains that before the project, the services in underserved areas. T RANS FORMING AFRICA | BUILDING HUM AN CAP I TAL 23 NIGER Customized job training promotes youth employment ■ Roumanatou Kailou Every year, some 350,000 young Nigeriens (left) attended a free enter the job market, but most (90 percent) two-year training course to become do not have the right qualifications for available a hairdresser. positions. Niger is focused on equipping its © Djamilou Oumarou / youth with the skills they need to find work World Bank and build careers. 24 Twenty-five-year-old Roumanatou Kailou lives and works in Niger’s capital of Niamey where she earns her living as I was hired by a large food processing a hairdresser. Like many young Nigeriens, she was forced company because I interned there to abandon her studies after secondary school due to financial constraints. As she got older and began looking and proved myself to them. for work, Kailou realized her job options were limited. She Hamsatou Idi Moussa, former intern of PRODEC- felt like a burden on her family. supported program “My life was reduced to sleeping and eating. I had no job, and I could not help my family,” she recalls. This skills shortage is compounded by the fact many in It was at this time that she heard about free training the young workforce have not completed school beyond courses for dropouts and out-of-school youth to learn the primary cycle. According UNESCO, over 197,000 skilled trades, such as cosmetology, carpentry, and Nigerien children left primary school prematurely in masonry. Kailou signed up. 2013, a leap from 55,000 recorded in 1999. The National Statistical Institute put school enrollment at 76 percent “I took a two-year course in women’s hair styling. We in 2016 (70 percent for girls and 82 percent for boys). alternated between theoretical coursework and practical internships. We also received funding for transportation so that we could travel to our work placements,” From school to work Kailou explains. In addition to supporting programs for out-of-school youth like the one Kailou attended, PRODEC also Today, with a comb and hair dryer in hand, Kailou happily helps to improve the school-to-work transition. Some uses the knowledge she gained and hopes to open her 3,500 young graduates of technical secondary education own hair salon one day. programs and higher (half of whom are female) have benefited from PRODEC-backed internship programs Skills development for growth that connect graduates with potential employers. According to a 2017 National Employment Agency study, Kailou is among 13,000 young Nigeriens (43 percent 70 percent of interns were able to use their experience as female) who have benefited from the World Bank’s Skills a springboard to full time employment. Development for Growth Project (PRODEC). Launched in 2014 with $30 million from IDA, it is working to After completing her bachelor’s degree in logistics, improve the effectiveness of formal technical and 25-year-old Hamsatou Idi Moussa, struggled to find vocational training, short-term skills development, work. An internship opportunity made all the difference. and apprenticeship programs in priority sectors, such as civil engineering and construction, food processing, “I was hired by a large food processing company because hospitality, agriculture, and telecommunications. I interned there and proved myself to them,” she says. PRODEC addresses the deficit between jobs and skills To continue PRODEC’s momentum and expand training that block youth employability and development. Of the support to the agriculture and livestock production 350,000 young people entering the job market every sectors, the Government of Niger and the World Bank year, 90 percent lack the necessary qualifications for signed an agreement for $50 million in additional IDA available jobs. financing in June 2018. T RANS FORMING AFRICA | BUILDING HUM AN CAP I TAL 25 NIGERIA Expanding immunization coverage to eradicate polio Improving routine immunization coverage is critical to improving child health and reducing infant mortality. Incorporating vaccines and other health incentives, like polio vaccinations, into primary care is helping to immunize more children under five. ■  B lessing Sunday and her son awaiting treatment at the Karu Health Center in Nasarawa. © Chuka Agu / World Bank  26 “My friend said positive things about the care she received at the facility, so I came for my prenatal, which My daughter’s vaccinations are was very good,” says Blessing Sunday, a patient at the all current because I know how Karu Health Center in Nasarawa, Nigeria. She now brings her son to the center for his immunizations. important they are in keeping her healthy. Like Sunday, millions of women across Nigeria are benefiting from improving maternal and infant health New mother Bilkisu Awal care. Since 2012, the World Bank has partnered with the Government of Nigeria to support its mandate to increase the delivery and use of high impact maternal in partially accessible areas. These are also being used to and child health services. Over $900 million in IDA support mobile outreach teams, deployed to vaccinate funding has facilitated projects like the Nigeria Program underserved children in internally displaced populations to Support Saving One Million Lives, the performance- and settlements. based financed Nigeria State Health Investment Project, and the Nigeria Polio Eradication Support Project. Vaccines part of primary care Recent approval of $150 million in additional financing Nationwide, routine oral polio immunization coverage from IDA18 is giving the Polio Eradication Support is at 80 percent, a benchmark that has been met even Project the push it needs to staunch a recent recurrence in 98 percent of the country’s high-risk areas, despite of polio cases and further improve routine immunization persistent insecurity. Nearly 50 million children have coverage with oral polio vaccines to achieve a national been immunized against polio under the project. Nigeria target of 85 percent coverage in 18 months. has been able to achieve this—overcoming deeply- rooted beliefs and misconceptions held by many—by Getting to zero on polio incorporating vaccines and health incentives, such as the polio vaccination, into primary health care. The road to ending polio in Nigeria has been difficult. In 2006, the country had 1,222 confirmed cases, the most The goal is to vaccinate all children under five and reduce in the world. Through concerted national efforts, cases the risk of child mortality. were reduced to just one in 2014, and by 2015, the World Health Organization certified that Nigeria had halted New mother Bilkisu Awal chose to give birth at home transmission. But hope vanished in 2016 when four new rather than the hospital, despite the quality of prenatal polio cases were confirmed in the northeastern state of care she received. Yet, she returned to her primary health Borno, itself beset with violent conflict. care center with her baby. While no new cases have been reported since, Nigeria “I received prenatal care at a health care center; however, is using the additional IDA financing to improve due to our family’s belief, I delivered my daughter at immunization coverage and accessibility to children home. But her vaccinations are all current because in conflict and insecure areas and to strengthen the I know how important they are in keeping her healthy,” management of its polio immunization program. says Awal. It is calling on joint military and civilian task forces to provide updates on the situation in inaccessible areas and to serve as security escorts, and even vaccinators, T RANS FORMING AFRICA | BUILDING HUM AN CAP I TAL 27 RWANDA Working her way out of poverty through social protection ■ T hanks to VUP Rwanda is putting its people to work to get employment, small out—and stay out—of extreme poverty through business loans, and training, Gaudance its robust public works and social protection Mukagasana has been able to build a house program. It has employed 800,000 households and a better life for nationwide and has plans for more. her family.  Rogers Kayihura / © World Bank 28 Gaudance Mukagasana felt completely lost when her husband left, leaving her to raise their three children To me, the training is the most alone. Young and unemployed, she moved in with her important asset I received… It opened mother and desperately tried to eke out a living on the small family plot in Nduba in central Rwanda. my eyes to the many available services and opportunities. “He was our sole bread earner. It was like the world had crumbled right before me,” remembers the now 40-year- Gaudance Mukagasana, resident of Nduba old Mukagasana. and VUP graduate A lifesaver came in 2013 when she was accepted in the Vision 2020 Umurenge Program (VUP), the Government Strengthening social protection system of Rwanda’s flagship social protection program. Supported by the World Bank through the Social Since the VUP’s inception in 2008, its public works Protection Project, VUP aims to eradicate extreme component has employed more than 800,000 households poverty and malnutrition, as well as strengthen and generated more than 40 million paid working days household resilience and promote socio-economic for some 2,200 projects. Expanded public works were transformation, by accelerating graduation from launched in 2016 to offer flexible year-round work extreme poverty. schedules to moderately labor-constrained households caring for children. Some 13,000 households, most headed by women, are participating across 80 sectors. Public works program The VUP’s direct support (cash transfer) component now covers the entire country, with over 96,000 households Mukagasana joined the VUP’s public works program, as of 2017. which provides paid employment to able-bodied adults from extremely poor households. With the salary she According to Yasser El Gammal, the World Bank’s Country earned participating in the construction of agricultural Manager in Rwanda, “The World Bank partnership with terraces, she was able to cover her family’s basic needs the Government of Rwanda has played a key role in and even save a little. She eventually got basic business positioning Rwanda among global leaders in building an training and a VUP micro-credit of RWF 60,000 (about integrated social protection system.” $70) to invest in vegetable farming to supplement her income. As the Social Protection Project ended in 2017, the World Bank reaffirmed its support with $80 million in IDA18 “To me, the training is the most important asset I financing for a new Strengthening Social Protection received,” Mukagasana says. “It instilled in me a sense Project. Another $23 million in additional financing from of confidence, opened my eyes to the many available other sources was approved in April 2018. The project services and opportunities, and taught me how to use is supporting the government in further improving the them to improve my life.” coverage, quality, and delivery of social protection. Its focus is on scaling up the VUP and introducing That she has. Mukagasana has since led her community innovations, such as home-based childcare and direct in launching a hybrid goat farming cooperative, a support, to meet child and nutrition goals—particularly venture that is paying off. She has been able to build a to help overcome childhood stunting. comfortable house of her own and send her children to college. Mukagasana has graduated from the program with financial independence and a true sense of security. T RANS FORMING AFRICA | BUILDING HUM AN CAP I TAL 29 UGANDA Renewing support and hope in refugee host communities ■ U  ganda is committed With a refugee population of 1.5 million, Uganda to maintaining a is the biggest refugee hosting nation in Africa progressive approach to refugee management and third in the world. Often overlooked by and improving the resilience and coping humanitarian aid, poor host communities are ability of refugees and receiving new attention and support to improve their host communities. their lives.  Dorte Verner / World © Bank 30 Edith Kwarisima is a resident of Kyarugaju, a poor village near the Nakivale Refugee Settlement Camp in the This project has given us a lot of hope Isingiro district of southern Uganda. Refugees have been that things will be better for all of us. coming to this camp since the 1960s, and 52-year-old Kwarisima has grown up around them. Robert Kyomuhendo, resident of host community Kyarugaju Uganda’s refugee policy is considered one of the most progressive and generous in the world, providing free healthcare and education in refugee settlements and So far, Uganda has accessed financing under the IDA sub- permitting refugees to move and work freely. Refugees window for two operations: $50 million for the Support to are allocated plots of land to settle and farm, which Municipal Infrastructure Development Program to improve has enabled more self-reliance and integration into physical planning, land tenure security, and small-scale local communities. infrastructure; and $58 million for the Integrated Water Management and Development Project to improve access This has brought benefits to the local communities to water and sanitation services for several rural and urban through increased demand for goods and services, refugee hosting communities in Uganda. creating employment and income spill-over. But the continued swell in refugee numbers since 2016, due Two other operations are still under preparation: The to conflicts in neighboring countries, has increasingly Secondary Education Improvement Project and the strained social services and the environment as well as Development Response to Displacement Impacts Project the coping abilities of local host communities. (DRDIP), a regional program in the Horn of Africa to expand existing social and economic infrastructure and Efforts by the government and humanitarian boost income-generating activities for both refugees and organizations have largely concentrated on refugees, but host communities. more can be done for the communities that have given them a new home. Addressing needs of hosts “The refugees have good health facilities within an easily accessible range and have drugs all the time. We don’t DRDIP in Uganda, supported by a $50 million IDA grant, have such privileges,” explains Kwarisima. “Getting is working to protect the interests of host communities health services here is a nightmare. You can’t even make in 11 districts, including Kwarisima’s. She and fellow a phone call during an emergency because we don’t residents of Kyarugaju are pleased to see construction have network.” begin on a new local health clinic, and they look forward to new school classrooms to ease overcrowding and other improved amenities. Scaling up support for all Neighbor Robert Kyomuhendo says, “this project has given The Government of Uganda hopes to turn the tide us a lot of hope that things will be better for all of us.” by improving service delivery, expanding economic opportunities, upgrading municipal infrastructure, and Robert Limlim, Director of DRDIP, agrees: “With more improving access to water, health, and education in refugee support, we believe the lives of the locals who are hosting hosting districts. Additional financing of $283 million from refugees will improve.” the IDA18 regional sub-window for refugees and host communities will help make it possible by scaling up support to World Bank-financed projects already underway. T RANS FORMING AFRICA | BUILDING HUM AN CAP I TAL 31 WEST AFRICA AND THE SAHEL Empowering women and girls to unleash their potential ■ African governments Women constitute a well of untapped potential aim to empower girls to in Africa’s Sahel region. With continued XXX harness their countries’ greatest asset: schooling, spaced pregnancies, skilled labor, and their youth. better gender dynamics, women can contribute  Dorte Verner / World © much more to household income and national Bank economic growth. 32 Across the Sahel, it is difficult for a girl to continue her schooling. After several years of primary education, she A major problem for girls is the non- might not be able to read and write because of the poor application of the precepts of religion, quality of the education she has received. As she moves into adolescence, her parents might see early marriage which grants the same priority to the as a way of protecting her from the social exclusion that teaching of boys and girls. pregnancy outside of marriage would cause. Saadani Marakchi, former Minister of Islamic Settling their daughter into a new home is considered Affairs and Original Education, Mauritania a parent’s moral duty, and marriage a primary avenue toward securing a daughter’s future. As a result, the Sahel has the some of the world’s most alarming rates Championing the rights of women and girls of child marriage. In Niger, 77 percent of women aged 25 to 49 years old were married before their 18th birthday. This is just one of the many interventions that the countries involved in the SWEDD are undertaking to champion the rights of women and girls. Initiated by Child marriage is haram the presidents of Burkina Faso, Chad, Côte d’Ivoire, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, and Chad, SWEDD encourages In May 2018, in the context of the Sahel Women ministries to work across sectors and borders to help more Empowerment and Demographic Dividend (SWEDD), than 100,000 vulnerable girls stay in school, develop life influential Muslim scholars and religious and traditional skills, and access economic empowerment opportunities. leaders from seven countries gathered in Nouakchott, Mauritania, to develop action plans for leading World Bank financing for the SWEDD includes community-based dialogue on the challenges faced $205 million from IDA, with additional IDA18 resources by adolescent girls in order to promote healthier, more planned to assist Benin and other neighboring countries. productive families. The SWEDD is having an impact. For example, four The event was hosted by the Ministry of Islamic Affairs countries have used SWEDD-produced analyses to and Original Education and the Oulémas (theologians) revise national development plans with a stronger of Mauritania. It was preceded by a theological debate, focus on socio-economic policies and gender equity led by the University of Al-Azhar, on the position Islam measures that foster an enabling environment for the takes on issues related to child marriage, maternal demographic dividend. and child health, family planning, girls’ education, gender-based violence, and women’s economic and Six countries have adopted a standard, coordinated social empowerment. curricula tailored to low literacy learners and adolescent girls in poor areas. Tens of thousands of young boys and Engaging with the Muslim scholars, the message from men across the region also are being engaged to develop the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar was clear: Child marriage in understanding and support of female autonomy as the eyes of Islam is haram (forbidden by Allah). involved brothers, husbands and fathers. Participants agreed to establish a network that runs from a nation’s top scholars to religious leaders at community level to focus on enabling girls’ social and economic empowerment in rural areas of the Sahel. The second phase of this effort will see a more comprehensive inclusion of Christian and traditional leaders as agents of positive change. T RANS FORMING AFRICA | BUILDING HUM AN CAP I TAL 33 WEST AND CENTRAL AFRICA Training African scientists for Africa’s challenges African centers of excellence are giving a boost to African economies, creating jobs, and supporting essential research by training young graduates in highly sought-after fields, such as engineering, agronomy, science, and technology. ■ Participants of the first-ever Higher Education Student Fair crowd in to learn more about ACE students’ innovations that address Africa’s most pressing development challenges. © Manivelle 34 In spring 2018, the campus of the Institute of Water and Environmental Engineering (2iE) in Ouagadougou, the Upon completion of their training, capital of Burkina Faso, hosted an event unprecedented our students are innovative, in Africa. The very first Higher Education Student Fair brought together academics from 22 centers of competitive at the national, regional excellence—located in universities in nine West and Central and international levels, and rapidly African countries—to celebrate academic achievement enter the labor market. and present their students’ research and innovations to the public. Harouna Karambiri, 2iE Professor and ACE Coordinator Organized by the World Bank’s African Centers of Excellence (ACE) Project, the event was an important platform to share knowledge and inspire people, according Eighteen programs across seven centers have to Stéphane Olivier Yaméogo, an electrical engineering undergone the rigorous process to receive international student whose research project on solar pumping could accreditation. This certifies that the programs, curricula, improve water supply systems in poor areas. competence goals, and teaching methods meet international standards, including those of the German “I had always thought you had to go to Europe or elsewhere Agency for Quality Assurance through Accreditation of for cutting-edge scientific training. But with what we are Study (AQAS), the Royal Society of Biology in the UK, and doing at the 2iE Center of Excellence, there is no need to the Quality Assurance Agency in France (HCRES). be envious of those who go abroad,” he remarked. Since being established, centers have expanded their offerings, with 35 new programs attracting The ACE Project over 6,500 students pursuing master’s degrees and The ACE Project was launched in 2014 with IDA funding of 1,600 pursuing doctorates. Almost 17,000 national and $165 million to help Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Côte regional students have taken specialized short courses. d’Ivoire, the Gambia, Ghana, Nigeria, Senegal, and Togo A dedicated effort to attract more women and girls to establish 22 centers of excellence to develop the skills the sciences has resulted in over 4,000 female students needed to accelerate Africa’s development. enrolled in master’s, doctoral, and short courses. Every ACE is unique and, together, they are at the forefront of applied research to produce a critical mass The next phase of high-level specialists in scientific and technical fields These results are encouraging, and the World Bank will as varied as genomics and infectious diseases, water and expand its support to establish new centers of excellence sanitation, biotechnology, reproductive health, agriculture and provide additional funding to particularly effective and environmental sustainability, and engineering. ACEs at the regional and international levels. With well-established partnerships with universities and A new project, called ACE Impact, is under preparation manufacturers in Africa and beyond, ACE students learn and will be financed from IDA18 resources. The emphasis from the best professors from the continent and the will be on impact and productivity. Universities will be diaspora, using state-of-the-art equipment. able to strengthen their activities and envision other opportunities in the continued effort to build the human resources Africa needs to speed its development. T RANS FORMING AFRICA | BUILDING HUM AN CAP I TAL 35   SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA Preparing for pandemics to prevent them ■ M any patients After the Ebola outbreak in the Mano River were screened at region of West Africa, the international Redemption Hospital in Monrovia, Liberia, community saw the need to develop a where Ebola hit hard in 2014−2015. coordinated approach to anticipating and addressing public health emergencies of © Dominic Chavez / global concern. IDA18 is helping to strengthen World Bank pandemic preparedness. 36 The 2014/15 Ebola outbreak in Sierra Leone, Guinea, and Liberia led to the deaths of over 11,000 people and cost the The DRC’s recent experience with region $2.2 billion, prompting the World Bank and African Ebola reinforces the importance countries to swear to never let it happen again. The World Bank has been making good on that commitment to help of continued focus on pandemic build national and regional pandemic preparedness and preparedness. response systems, with IDA18 as an essential vehicle for John Paul Clark, Senior Health Specialist, urgently addressing gaps. World Bank National Action Plans for Health Security While most sub-Saharan African countries have some form Investing in regional preparedness of emergency preparedness plan, these plans are often obsolete or incomplete and may provide little practical IDA18 lending is also assisting countries and regional value during a major outbreak of disease. Implementing institutions to more effectively prevent, detect, and respond a preparedness plan also requires coordinated planning, to public health emergencies. For example, the West Africa surveillance, and detection, as well as a response across Regional Disease Surveillance Systems Enhancement multiple sectors (health and non-health, public and Program, initiated under IDA17, continues to expand under private), many levels of government (national, provincial, IDA18. Additional financing of $120 million will take the and community), and regional and global partners. program to Benin, Mali, Mauritania, and Niger, bringing the total IDA commitment to $377 million for 11 West African To bring more cohesion to the process, IDA18 funding is countries. supporting 17 African countries in developing evidence- based pandemic preparedness plans—National Action The World Bank is preparing a similar regional disease Plans for Health Security—and the governance and surveillance project under IDA18 for parts of the Central institutional frameworks to enact them. African region, including the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Chad, and Angola. It comes at a critical time for the Countries like Liberia, Senegal, and Uganda have already DRC, which has battled to contain recent outbreaks of Ebola. developed their plans, which draw on the findings of an external evaluation of their national capacities to prevent, Benefiting from lessons learned during the West Africa detect, and respond to outbreaks of disease. World Bank outbreak, the DRC and its key partners moved quickly to technical assistance helps countries craft their plans, issue a $57 million, three-month joint Ebola response plan, estimate costs, and develop a financing strategy to which the government and donors funded fully in two days. implement them. The World Bank contributed by releasing $15 million from an ongoing healthcare project for immediate Ebola response The national action plan serves as a coordination platform and $12 million from the new multi-donor Pandemic to ensure interplay between multiple sectors and other Emergency Financing Facility, marking the facility’s first- existing plans at all administrative levels. To support ever financial commitment. countries in establishing institutional arrangements for multi-sectoral health emergency preparedness, the World According to John Paul Clark, World Bank Senior Health Bank helps to review and strengthen existing coordinating Specialist, “The DRC’s recent experience with Ebola mechanisms and create new ones as needed. reinforces the importance of continued focus on pandemic preparedness and reminds us that outbreaks can and do occur in very challenging environments where fragility, conflict, and violence can undermine prevention and complicate outbreak response.” T RANS FORMING AFRICA | BUILDING HUM AN CAP I TAL 37 STRENGTHENING MARKETS ■  Rwanda’s conducive investment climate is attracting manufacturers, creating jobs, and helping to increase foreign direct investment, including this Volkswagen assembly plant in Kigali. © Urugwiro Village BURUNDI Restoring vital landscapes for sustainable growth In a country where 90 percent of the ■ I DA18 will help restore 90,000 population relies on natural resources hectares, benefiting 80,000 households for food, income, and jobs—especially and increasing land the coffee sector—efforts to restore productivity by 20 percent. degraded landscapes are also restoring  ©  Dave Proffer / hope for a better future. Wikimedia Commons 40 In Burundi, coffee is a way of life. Over 600,000 families—half of the country’s households—rely on We were enemies of the forest the coffee sector for their livelihoods. It accounts for reserve of Bururi, but now, we are its 90 percent of the country’s foreign exchange. Yet, severe land degradation has led to a decrease in coffee best protectors. production from 40,000 tons in the mid-1990s to as Odette Nkurikiye, local Batwa community low as 5,700 tons in 2003. The World Bank estimates member that land degradation costs Burundi 4 percent of its GDP annually. This has deeply affected people already made vulnerable by natural disasters, pollution, and The project has also piloted a community-based sociopolitical tensions. agritourism program on sustainable coffee and a nascent ecotourism initiative. The Bururi Forest Reserve Managing natural assets, together in Southern Burundi has hired members of the indigenous Batwa community living nearby to help protect Land and lives are being transformed by innovative chimpanzees and guide tourists, as well as legally harvest approaches piloted by the $4.2 million Sustainable Coffee food and medicinal plants from the forest. With these Landscapes Project. Financed by the Global Environment earnings, the community has been able to save enough to Facility and implemented by Burundi’s Ministry of purchase land, marking the first time in Burundi’s history Environment, Agriculture and Livestock, the project that Batwas have been able to do so independently. has benefited from interagency collaboration on coffee certification, parks management, production of shade- “We were enemies of the forest reserve of Bururi, but grown coffee, sector regulation, research, and training. now, we are its best protectors,’’ says community Together, agencies have empowered communities member Odette Nkurikiye. “We now have jobs and have who are now changing how Burundi’s natural assets even bought land. We want to tap into the opportunities are managed. offered by our restored landscapes and stay out of poverty.” “Communities have been totally involved in the management and preservation of the nature that surrounds them, and now understand that it is for their Scaling up resilience with IDA18 own benefit,” explains Leonidas Nzigiyimpa, Chief Warden As this project ends in 2018, Burundi and the World Bank of the Burundi Office for the Protection of the Environment aim to build on its successes. Under IDA18, the $30 million and Recipient of the 2018 National Geographic Buffett Landscape Restoration and Resilience Project will scale Awards for Leadership in Conservation. “The future of up the restoration of degraded landscapes and support Burundi rests on the preservation of its nature.” the sustainable management of the Bururi Forest Reserve Since 2013, the project has reached more than and the Kibira and Ruvubu National Parks. It is expected 18,700 beneficiaries and has placed over 4,400 hectares to restore 90,000 ha, benefit 80,000 households, and (ha) under sustainable land management practices. increase land productivity in targeted landscapes by More than 9,600 households, nearly half headed by 20 percent. women, have adopted shade-grown coffee. This form of polyculture brings multiple wins for the environment, improves soil fertility, diversifies farm products, and boosts income and food security. T RANS FORMING AFRICA | ST RENGTHENING M AR K E TS 41 CÔTE D’IVOIRE eAgriculture solutions for the digital age ■ I mproved digital As its digital environment continues to boom, connectivity will help Côte d’Ivoire aims to expand services to farmers rural farmers get the information they need in rural communities. Wider, more affordable when they need it to increase productivity. coverage and dedicated communication on agricultural markets and the weather can boost ©  Dasan Bobo / World Bank productivity and climate resilience. 42 The Côte d’Ivoire is the world’s top producer and exporter of cocoa beans and raw cashew nuts. Its agriculture This project will ensure farmers have sector accounts for 22 percent of GDP and more than timely information on key aspects 75  percent of exports, but a multitude of challenges hinder growth—from low agricultural productivity, of the agriculture value chain. high cost of inputs, and huge post-harvest losses to Pierre Laporte, World Bank Country Director inadequate use and lack of modern farming techniques. for Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, and Togo Accurate and up-to-date agricultural data is also in short supply. The latest available National Agricultural Census dates back to 2001. Connecting farmers and services To help close these gaps, the Ivorian government has launched a national eAgriculture strategy. It seeks to The World Bank approved $70 million in IDA funding modernize the country’s agricultural sector, reduce in May 2018 for the eAgriculture Project. It seeks to food imports, and boost exports of cocoa, coffee, and upgrade digital infrastructure and equipment, modernize other produce through the integrated use of information, agricultural information systems, and develop digital communication, and technology (ICT) and its burgeoning applications for agriculture, among other activities. digital environment. It expects to benefit over six million smallholder farmers— nearly a quarter of Côte d’Ivoire’s total population of 24 million people. A digital revolution for agriculture According to Pierre Laporte, World Bank Country Côte d’Ivoire has gone from one of the world’s weakest Director for Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, and Togo, ICT countries—placing 130 out of 142 countries in the the agriculture sector is an important driver of Côte World Economic Forum’s 2012 Global Information d’Ivoire’s economy, but it has had only a modest impact Technology Report—to one of Africa’s rising stars. on income growth and poverty reduction in rural areas In 2016, it ranked 72 out of 139 countries thanks to due to its sensitivity to fluctuations in international strengthened legislation and regulations that support prices. the dissemination of information and communication technologies within the economy. The mobile connection “This project will ensure farmers have timely information penetration (number of total SIM cards divided by total on key aspects of the agriculture value chain, such as population) reached 126 percent at the end of 2017, the seed market, and public institutions can collect compared to 89 percent for the West Africa region and agricultural and rural statistics for more efficient sector 77 percent for sub-Saharan Africa. polices and strategies,” explains Laporte. While many Ivorians have two or even three phone numbers, Improved connectivity will also enable farmers to access some rural populations are still offline. The eAgriculture weather reports and other hydro-meteorological services strategy aims to build on the country’s robust digital to adapt their agricultural practices, while public services growth to extend mobile services and data sharing to rural and communities vulnerable to the impacts of climate smallholder farmers. By increasing their connectivity to change will be able to monitor water supply systems in the real-time market and weather information they need real time. to make critical planting and selling decisions, farmers will be able to improve their productivity, climate resilience, and income. T RANS FORMING AFRICA | ST RENGTHENING M AR K E TS 43 GHANA Promoting sustainable commercial agriculture ■ M echanized rice To reduce reliance on food imports and harvesting at satisfy increasing food demands with GADCO Farms is part of efficient domestic production, Ghana is focusing on its local processing and packaging of agribusiness sector. Domestic and international Aduanehene and COPA- agribusinesses—and the smallholder farmers brand rice products. they contract—are benefiting from investments  © Geoff Anno / GCAP to improve irrigated land and yields. 44 In food markets and stores across Ghana, it is easy to find Aduanehene and COPA rice products. From farm Project support has helped me to market, this local brand is homegrown and a shining increase my income from farming example of how Ghana is working to build the productive capacity of agribusinesses and smallholder farmers. activities, and now I have been able to build a house. The Global Agri-Development Company Ghana Ltd. (GADCO) is the producer, processor, and distributor of Aduanehene and Bernice Atakli, five-hectare rice outgrower COPA rice. It contracts smallholder farmers (outgrowers) to in Fieve produce rice to feed its processing plants. The arrangement provides outgrowers a ready market for their produce and removes the headache of marketing and the risk of post- To date, over 6,000 ha of farmland have been developed harvest losses. where crop yields have jumped: rice has gone from a baseline of 1.5 metric tons per ha to 3.8 metric tons per ha in 2017. New irrigation systems and post-harvest Better irrigation, better yields warehouses have been built and over 9,300 smallholder farmers (40 percent of whom are women) have been In the South Tongu District of the Volta Region, GADCO directly supported through nucleus farms to improve has 1,500 hectares (ha) of farmland, of which 300 ha their agronomic practices. is under cultivation through an outgrower arrangement with the nearby Fieve community. In 2014, GADCO acquired financial assistance from the World Bank- Benefits for farmers and agribusinesses financed Ghana Commercial Agriculture Project (GCAP) alike to further develop its operations in the area. In Fieve, both the community and GADCO have benefitted Funding was provided through the CGAP’s Matching from GCAP grant financing. GADCO was able to Grants Scheme, which provides grants to eligible develop 120 ha of land, erect storage facilities, connect agribusinesses working with outgrowers for land electricity to its local processing plant, install a pumping preparation and operating capital. One of GCAP’s key station for rice field irrigation, and build the capacity of missions is to encourage both domestic and international 90 outgrowers. agribusinesses to invest in irrigation schemes rehabilitated under the project. This will help boost Bernice Atakli, a five-hectare rice outgrower who also productivity and production of key staples—such as rice, grows maize, peppers, and cassava, says the support maize, and soybeans—and other high value commodities “has helped me increase my income from farming for the domestic and export market. activities, and now I have been able to build a house.” With IDA funding totaling $150 million, including an Two-hectare rice outgrower, Gabriel Djamesi, says, injection of $50 million in additional financing under “Through the GCAP support with GADCO, I have been IDA18, the project is expected to increase irrigated area able to buy two milking cows, which serves as another by over 8,000 ha and benefit some 30 medium and large source of income.” scale agribusinesses and 14,000 smallholder farmers in target areas. Tensions between GADCO and the community have also diminished thanks to the investments and social safeguards support provided by GCAP. For GADCO, the injection of capital into the company’s operations has motivated it to expand and bring more outgrowers on board. T RANS FORMING AFRICA | ST RENGTHENING M AR K E TS 45 GUINEA Investing in agricultural productivity yields shared prosperity ■ T hrough revenue obtained in agriculture, Diallo diversified his Rice is a staple food in Guinea, but low yields activities and now owns make the country dependent on rice imports it a water packaging and distribution operation. can ill afford. The nation as a whole, and farmers © Vincent Tremeau / in particular, are benefiting from better seeds World Bank and innovations in crop management. 46 Ousmane Diallo is a 35-year-old university graduate with a degree in sociology. He owns an eight-hectare farm in People thought I was crazy for Mandiana, one of the most remote locations in Guinea getting involved in agriculture, (over 700 kilometers east of the capital Conakry) and better known for mining than farming. Over 80 percent but now I am proving them wrong. of the local population works in the mining industry. But Ousmane Diallo, agriculture entrepreneur not Diallo. in Mandiana Facing limited job prospects after university, he decided to invest in agriculture because he “understood the Over 120,000 direct beneficiaries (40 percent women) agricultural potential of the region.” have seen their incomes rise by 30 percent, and laborers He started in 2014 with rice, maize, and vegetables to and local artisans beyond Guinea’s borders have meet high demand, but poor seed quality led to poor benefitted from increased employment opportunities. harvests. He was able to turn to the World Bank-financed Rice marketing operations are estimated to have West Africa Agricultural Productivity Program (WAAPP) generated about GNF 10 billion ($1.1 million). The use for support, and today, Diallo can produce two tons of of improved seeds has created a surplus of more than rice per hectare, compared to less than half of that (800 85,000 tons of unhusked paddy rice worth $14 million, kilograms) four years ago. equivalent to 10 percent of Guinea’s annual rice imports. Improving rice seeds Cultivating wealth Guinea is among 13 West African countries participating With the revenue he has gained from agriculture, Diallo in WAAPP, a regional project that aims to generate and has diversified. He obtained a loan for GNF 26 million disseminate improved agricultural technologies and ($2,800) to buy a water packaging machine and, now, intensify their adoption in sectors considered a priority. supplies drinking water to several mining companies. For Guinea, that is rice. He employs dozens of people full time and seasonally. Since 2011, WAAPP has helped Guineans adopt new “People thought I was crazy for getting involved in crop varieties, improve crop management practices, and agriculture, but now I am proving them wrong. My modernize small-scale food processing technologies. objective is to inspire and train other young people,” It has also strengthened national seed production and says Diallo, who plans to industrialize his operations and distribution systems to ensure the availability and use of expand into livestock breeding. good quality, certified seeds. Guinea is consolidating its gains in the rice sector and is Through an initial IDA grant of $9 million, the program in now turning its attention to other agricultural sectors. Guinea has contributed to improving the living conditions The World Bank has provided additional funding of of seed producers, who have been able to realize an $23 million from IDA18 to support innovations in cassava, additional GNF 4 million ($440) in income per hectare of soybeans, and other vegetable crops, as well as goat and rice each season. This represents a significant amount poultry breeding and fish farming. given the fact that the minimum monthly wage is GNF 440,000 ($45). T RANS FORMING AFRICA | ST RENGTHENING M AR K E TS 47 LESOTHO Championing agricultural entrepreneurs ■ M alisema Masheane More than half of Lesotho’s citizens live in rural is the proud owner of areas, and the majority engage in subsistence Serumula Pig Farm, which she launched agriculture. Because the urban economy with a grant from the Smallholder Agriculture has limited ability to absorb new entrants Development Project. to its labor market, expanding agricultural ©  Elita Banda / World productivity and profitability is essential. Bank 48 Ntuba Masena is the owner of a thriving vegetable and fruit drying company in the market town of Hlotse in A lot of people—men and women— northern Lesotho. Faced with retirement from nursing, are very impressed by this work… and looking for additional sources of income, she learned about produce drying at a farming workshop she I always encourage them to find attended. The idea of starting a value-added business opportunities along the value chain. appealed to her, so she bought a few bags of apples, a fruit slicer, and began her journey into entrepreneurship. Malisema Masheane, owner and operator of Serumula Pig Farm At first, Masena was sun drying her produce, but adverse weather patterns hindered her work and business suffered. She applied for and received a grant from “A lot of people—men and women—are very impressed by the World Bank-supported Smallholder Agriculture this work and would like to own pig farms of their own. Development Project (SADP), which she used to buy a I always encourage them to find opportunities along dehydrator. With the new equipment, drying times are the value chain so we can all benefit from the industry,” down—apples take just four hours to dry rather than a she says. day and half—and profits are up. Expanding support to more districts Improving productivity, marketability Agriculture is an important source of employment and Since 2012, SADP has provided a combination of food in Lesotho. More than half of Lesotho’s citizens live competitive grants and technical assistance to help in rural areas, and the majority engages in smallholder smallholder farmers and agricultural entrepreneurs like subsistence agriculture. Because the urban economy Masena increase productivity and market opportunities. has a limited ability to absorb new entrants to its labor Over 55,000 people across four of Lesotho’s ten districts market, agriculture plays a major role in Lesotho‘s have benefitted from the project. This includes over development strategy. 16,800 grant recipients, half of whom are women who have ventured into pig and poultry breeding, climate- SADP has shown that opportunities exist for developing smart vegetable production, and other smallholder commercially viable smallholder agriculture, especially as agricultural activities. urbanization, climate change vulnerability, and changes in consumption patterns force the agricultural sector Malisema Masheane is one of them. A long-held love to adapt. In 2018, the $24.5 million project received for pig farming was always thwarted by a lack of funds an additional $10 million in IDA financing to expand its and time as she juggled two jobs to make ends meet. In support to three more districts and add new focuses on 2016, she heard about SADP and successfully applied climate-smart production and agribusiness initiatives. for grant support. With the $21,000 she received from the project, she bought 10 sows and one boar, built a Molapo Mahala, Lesotho’s Minister of Agriculture barn, and installed a water system linked to a borehole. and Food Security, agrees that promoting the With her dream realized, Masheane plans to expand and commercialization of smallholder agriculture has gained encourages others to follow her lead. a great deal of traction, and “these added funds will focus on continuing to increase the capacity of farmers in Lesotho to build more productive, climate resilient, commercial agriculture systems.” T RANS FORMING AFRICA | ST RENGTHENING M AR K E TS 49 MALAWI Investing in irrigation to realize farming potential The largest IDA investment ever made in Malawi is helping to transform agricultural productivity through irrigation, lay the foundations for commercialization, and improve the management of natural resources in the Shire Valley. ■ O ver 48,000 households comprising around 220,000 people in Malawi’s Shire Valley are expected to benefit from new and improved irrigation and agricultural services. © ILRI / Mann 50 Malawi is home to 17.6 million people, 85 percent of whom live in rural areas and mostly engage in low productivity, The valley can finally be transformed rain-fed subsistence agriculture. Smallholder farmers into the most productive agricultural produce 75 percent of Malawi’s agricultural output—a sector that represents 30 percent of GDP. region of the country. Paramount Chief Lundu of Chikwawa Lives and livelihoods are hinged on the short rainy season from November to March. When the rains come late, fall too hard, or stop early, agricultural output and food security River. It will increase agricultural production, provide suffer nationwide. Even with its rivers and Lake Malawi, drinking water services, and improve the sustainable the second largest lake in Africa, the availability and management of natural resources, including wetlands and reliability of surface water in Malawi varies both between protected areas, while enhancing tourism potential.  wet and dry seasons and from year to year. Infrastructure for water storage is low even by regional standards. “We have waited all our lives for this project… the valley can finally be transformed into the most productive Overcoming the economic impacts of climate and water agricultural region of the country and provide better shocks is especially important in the disaster-prone livelihoods to the 48,000 benefitting households,” says districts of the Shire Valley in southern Malawi, where Paramount Chief Lundu of Chikwawa. over 80 percent of the population lives below the national poverty line, and frequent floods and droughts pose the threat of famine. Beyond subsistence farming With more reliable access to water and support, Malawi Unlocking the Shire Valley’s development hopes to take agriculture beyond the food security agenda to commercial agricultural investments that will Yet, the Shire Valley’s fertile soils have potential—one sustainably pull people out of poverty. that large scale commercial sugar estates are realizing thanks to commercial irrigation. The Government of “The beauty of the whole program is that it will engage Malawi seeks to unlock development in the area and take the smallholder farmers to modernize and commercialize better advantage of the private sector’s presence and the agriculture. We ultimately anticipate a half billion-dollar area’s proximity to Malawi’s commercial hubs of Blantyre benefit to the economy,” says Joseph Mwanamvekha, and Tete, and the Nacala railroad in Mozambique. Malawi’s Minister of Agriculture, Irrigation, and Water Development.  The Shire Valley Transformation Program aims to boost Malawi’s agricultural productivity through irrigation, lay The program’s first phase will deliver modern, sustainable the foundations for commercialization, and improve the irrigation services and support services in agriculture, management of natural resources in the Chikwawa and aquaculture, and livestock production. It will help Nsanje districts of the Shire Valley. IDA18 funding of $160 farmers secure land and water tenure and assist them million plus $5.6 million from the Global Environment in various aspects of developing commercial farming. Facility Trust Fund are supporting the first phase of the Crop diversification away from sugarcane is expected three-phase, 14-year program, estimated at a total cost to create more opportunities for agro-processing of $560 million. enterprises and traders. The overall program will provide irrigation to over 40,000 hectares by gravity-fed water delivery, eliminating the need for electricity for pumping water from the Shire T RANS FORMING AFRICA | ST RENGTHENING M AR K E TS 51 REPUBLIC OF CONGO Building an agribusiness: One farmer’s journey from mortar to mixer ■  usty Guembo and R partner Gervais Kondo have been able to Over 360,000 Congolese farmers and livestock transform their small producers have benefited from investments in poultry venture into a flourishing agro- agricultural productivity and improved market industrial enterprise. access. New IDA funding targets 500,000 © Franck Bitemo / more farmers, promoting agribusinesses and World Bank agricultural entrepreneurs. 52 “I’ve always dreamed of being my own boss,” states Rusty Guembo, who is pursuing his ambition in a society in Our greatest pride is in developing which a career in the civil service is deemed prestigious. a vision and staying true to values At 45 years old, this Congolese engineer, a graduate of the Institut de développement rural in Brazzaville, runs that we hold dear. a cooperative of market gardeners and poultry farmers, Rusty Guembo, co-founder of Agro 4 in Agro 4, with his business partner. Brazzaville Guembo and three friends launched the venture in 2000 with a makeshift chicken coop in one room of his house. it has branches in Pointe-Noire and the departments of The early days were tough. Bouenza and Plateaux and plans to expand operations. “To be able to feed our chickens every day, we used a In 2017, Agro 4’s livestock feed production posted revenue mortar to grind the grains then filter them through of approximately CFAF 700 million (around $1.2 million). a sieve, before using a shovel to mix them with other But Guembo and Kondo say their greatest pride is in ingredients. For four years we worked without making “developing a vision and staying true to values that the slightest profit,” he explains. Two of his business we hold dear, particularly by promoting high-quality, partners gave up. affordable local production.” Guembo and remaining friend, Gervais Kondo, persevered and, between 2004 and 2006, they formalized their cooperative and received small amounts of funding to Increasing productivity responsibly increase their stock and build capacity in small-scale Along with Guembo and Kondo, over 360,000 people poultry feed production. (51 percent of them women) benefited from ADRRP, which helped double the yield of several food crops. It ran from 2008 to 2017 with $22.5 million in IDA financing A decisive boost and $28 million from the Government of the Republic of The turning point came in 2010 in the form of a grant Congo (ROC). from the World Bank-financed Agricultural Development The new Commercial Agriculture Development Support and Rural Roads Rehabilitation Project (ADRRP). It Project will build on these successful outcomes. Entirely allowed the entrepreneurs to purchase a tilting mixer financed by IDA18 for a total of $100 million over five worth CFAF 5 million (about $9,000), with a capacity of years, the project aims to improve the productivity of 1,250 kilograms per hour. agricultural sectors and market access for producer “This machine revolutionized our work!” Guembo groups and agro-industrial micro, small, and medium explains. “In four months, we had tripled our poultry feed enterprises. It targets 500,000 farmers and livestock production to 60 metric tons per month.” producers nationwide. Livestock feed production became Agro 4’s core activity Guembo recognizes the project’s potential in changing and, in 2012, they purchased a second machine to the way Congolese citizens view agriculture “so that they meet growing demand. Today, the cooperative has 10 no longer only see it as a subsistence activity, but as a livestock producers, employs dozens of day laborers, promising entrepreneurial undertaking.” and owns a fleet of vehicles for pick-ups and deliveries. Headquartered in one of the largest markets in Brazzaville, T RANS FORMING AFRICA | ST RENGTHENING M AR K E TS 53 SIERRA LEONE Bringing transparency and trust to the mining sector ■  n artisanal miner A Sierra Leone has the mineral and potential oil carefully sifts through reserves to underpin much higher GDP growth. gravel and rocks to find that illusive diamond. New policies and regulations have brought more © Roy Maconachie / transparency to the mining industry so the University of Bath government can track activities and small-scale miners can build capacity. 54 Ishmael Sesay leads Youth in Mining, a group of young artisanal miners in the diamond-rich district of Kono in You can find a big stone but if you eastern Sierra Leone. He entered the trade with friends don’t know its value, it is like giving after completing secondary school. your wealth to another person. “Eight of us came together and started mining for Ishmael Sesay, artisanal miner in Kono District diamonds. The field was crowded but we were determined to make a difference because mining was our only source of livelihood,” Sesay explains. Formalizing artisanal mining Like many other artisanal miners in Kono District, Sesay and his team lacked the skills needed to evaluate the The majority of the artisanal mining activities in Kono true worth of their finds. In 2017, they participated in a and other districts are still being carried out on an illegal Skills for Development workshop organized by the World basis, which is why organizations like the Diamond Bank, in collaboration with Sierra Leone’s Ministry of Development Initiative (DDI) Sierra Leone are coming Mines and Mineral Resources, to learn about sustainable onboard to ensure the formalization of the artisanal mining technologies and operations. mining sector. It is teaching miners how to comply with international standards governing the production and “We learned how to value our diamonds before we sell marketing of diamonds. them,” Sesay says. “You can find a big stone but if you don’t know its value, it is like giving your wealth to “We want the mining sector to be regulated so that another person.” the government can receive the requisite taxes from operations to support public administration,” explains Joseph S. Mboka, DDI Program Manager. “We also want Building the foundation for improved the diamonds to be legally mined so that people do not governance use them to fuel conflicts. Once they are regulated and the government can take note of the diamonds that are The workshop was part of World Bank-financed being extracted, we know that these will be responsibly Extractive Industries Technical Assistance Project. channeled to the external market.” During the first phase of the project (2009-2016), Sierra Leone laid the foundation for improved governance in the The project is also supporting a baseline study on mining sector. artisanal mining and miners and an airborne geophysical survey of the entire country. The goal is to develop The most notable achievement was the creation of modern geological maps of Sierra Leone to aide a more the National Minerals Agency, the sector’s regulatory strategic approach to mineral exploration. and geological survey institution. New policies and regulatory instruments were also enacted to address The people of Sierra Leone, and especially artisanal issues of transfer pricing, revenue management, mining communities, will benefit from improved dispute resolution, harmonization of land policies, skills environmental management and social protection in the development, and improved environmental management sector, as well as more equitable distribution of wealth in the sector. from mining operations, including increased access to employment. The second phase of the project now is underway, with a $20 million IDA18 grant to further strengthen legal and regulatory frameworks, increase geological knowledge, and support artisanal mining. T RANS FORMING AFRICA | ST RENGTHENING M AR K E TS 55 TANZANIA Expanding sustainable tourism to drive local development and conservation ■  anzania has one of T the highest revenue- to-tourist ratios in Tanzania is one of the most popular tourist sub-Saharan Africa. destinations for experiencing Africa’s unique © Daniel Mira-Salama / wildlife. It is developing its Southern Circuit World Bank to diversify its tourism sector, enhance conservation, and bring new economic growth to the area. 56 Tanzania has built a thriving tourism industry around its wildlife and other natural resources. The country is Among the tasks we shall undertake home to world-renowned reserves, such as the Serengeti, is to educate communities on the and other national parks and reserves for game, marine life, and forests. In 2015, it received nearly 1.2 million importance of conservation and international visitors, more than double the number the roles they must play. recorded in 2000. As a main contributor to foreign currency, tourism generated $4.8 billion in revenue, Hamisi Kigwangalla, Minister for Natural Resources and Tourism of Tanzania roughly 10 percent of GDP. But its wildlife tourism sector is concentrated around what is known as the Northern Circuit in northwest approved $150 million in IDA funding to support it, Tanzania, most notably the Serengeti and Mount involving the World Bank’s transport, ICT, agriculture, Kilimanjaro national parks and the Ngorongoro and urban sectors. conservation area. These destinations are showing signs REGROW aims to improve the management of natural of stress and limitations to their carrying-capacity, resources and tourism assets in southern Tanzania placing the government’s strategy of low-volume, high- and help communities there gain access to alternative value tourism in jeopardy. livelihoods. Some 20,000 households located near protected wildlife areas are expected to benefit. More Developing the Southern Circuit efficient irrigation and agricultural production methods will help another 20,000 farming households in the Great The government has embarked on developing tourism in Ruaha River sub-basin. the Southern Circuit to attract visitors to the area and expand its contribution to the economy. The Circuit is richly Capacity building will also support government agencies endowed with national parks, including the Ruaha National and officials working on water, agriculture, and land Park, the largest park in East Africa, and the Selous Game management, wildlife, tourism, and protected area Reserve, which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. management. Tourism operators and related businesses will benefit from increased revenue, with an emphasis on The area has much to offer but is challenged by limited providing opportunities for women and youth. infrastructure and underdeveloped roads, poaching, the mismanagement of water resources upstream of the Ruaha Hamisi Kigwangalla, Minister for Natural Resources park, and few links between tourism and local livelihoods. and Tourism, believes REGROW will not only help make Tanzania’s tourism industry more diversified and robust, Like much of the country, Tanzania’s southern region it will heighten community awareness and involvement in is seeing conflict erupt over natural resources, with an conversation efforts. expanding population highly dependent on agriculture for its livelihood. Climate change and scarce water resources “Iringa is one of the southern regions where we are facing also intensify pressure on precious ecosystems. many conservation challenges, including poaching and the poisoning of wild animals. Among the tasks we shall undertake under this project is to educate communities A project called REGROW on the importance of conservation and the roles they must play,” he explains. The government is addressing this through the Resilient Natural Resource Management for Tourism and Growth Project (REGROW). In June 2018, the World Bank T RANS FORMING AFRICA | ST RENGTHENING M AR K E TS 57 TOGO Revolutionizing Africa’s poultry industry ■ S tudents at the While egg and poultry meat production has Regional Center of experienced explosive growth worldwide Excellence in Avian Sciences (CERSA) hope over the past two decades, Africa provides their research obtains practical results that just 4 percent of global poultry products and poultry breeders and consumption rates are low. Advanced research producers can apply daily. in avian science seeks to to strengthen the © Eric Kaglan / World poultry sector. Bank 58 Africa is home to 15 percent of the world’s population, yet it has some of the lowest poultry product production We have a specialized program and consumption rates. The average African eats 45 eggs that covers the entire poultry and 3 kilograms of poultry meat each year, compared to 145 eggs and 14 kilograms throughout the rest of the farming value chain at the scientific, world. The African poultry sector suffers from inadequate technical, and technological levels. financing, a lack of high-level technical expertise, and input-related issues. Kokou Tona, Director of CERSA The Regional Center of Excellence in Avian Sciences (CERSA, Centre d’Excellence Regional sur les Sciences Poultry farmer Georges Sanvee believes this type of Aviaires ) at the University of Lomé in Togo aims to innovation can revolutionize the sector and that producers reverse that trend. Established in 2014 under the World like him “are relying heavily on CERSA’s research to Bank-financed African Centers of Excellence Project, improve our practices to help secure better outcomes.” CERSA seeks to strengthen and promote the poultry sector—and boost food security in West and Central Sanvee has benefited from CERSA short-term practical Africa—through investments in research and training training sessions that showed him how to improve his and by forging partnerships with manufacturers. chicken feed and increase his hens’ egg production. In March 2018, CERSA’s influence and quality of work Only research institute for avian science were further validated when it obtained its five-year, unconditional international accreditation from the Haut CERSA is the only institution in the region engaged in conseil de l’évaluation de la recherche et de l’enseignement the development of high-level expertise (master’s and supérieur (HCERES), an independent body tasked with doctoral degrees) and applied and basic research in assessing higher education and research institutions. avian sciences. As of June 2018, 25 doctoral students, including six women, and 76 master’s students, including 15 women, from 11 West and Central African countries Beyond academics were enrolled at CERSA. CERSA is also focused on modernizing and industrializing “We have a specialized program that covers the entire Africa’s poultry sector through strategic partnerships poultry farming value chain at the scientific, technical, with major European manufacturers. Together, they and technological levels, including production, processing, aim to identify poultry strains best suited to the region, biotechnology, genetics, and marketing. We plan to improve feed quality, and boost production systems. introduce a new sector soon to integrate the sociological CERSA is also planning collaboration with SEDIMA, a aspects,” says Professor Kokou Tona, CERSA’s Director. Senegalese industrial poultry processor, to promote South-South learning and knowledge sharing. In a bid to dispel the misconception that poultry products are a luxury in Africa, Tekando Komlan and Agblékpé This all points to potential increases in poultry Agbessi, two students from Togo, have focused their productivity, availability, and accessibility by the research on egg and poultry meat processing. poor. Additional IDA18 financing of $4 million will help CERSA enhance its impact on the sector’s development “We found that a micronutrient-poor diet was the cause across Africa. of malnutrition among many children. We focused on processing eggs into powder to help address protein- energy deficiencies,” explains Komlan. T RANS FORMING AFRICA | ST RENGTHENING M AR K E TS 59 WEST AFRICA Opening paths to homeownership for the underserved ■  s populations grow A In the eight francophone countries that make in West Africa, so too up the West African Economic and Monetary does the need for more housing at affordable Union (WAEMU), housing is scarce, demand is rates. skyrocketing, and costs are high. The World © Arne Hoel / World Bank Group is helping to expand access to Bank housing finance for lower-income groups. 60 Over the next two decades, WAEMU’s population will nearly double, mostly in urban areas. This trend is IDA financing along with the recent aggravating a large housing deficit, which mostly affects IFC investment into CRRH will lower-income groups in a region of widespread poverty. Some 800,000 new housing units are needed every strengthen our business model and year, yet WAEMU banks only issue about 15,000 new our ability to mobilize long-term mortgages annually. resources to expand affordable housing finance. Building up regional mortgage company Christian Agossa, General Manager of Caisse To expand housing finance in the region, the World Bank is Régionale de Refinancement Hypothécaire providing a suite of services and investments to support (CRRH) the Caisse Régionale de Refinancement Hypothécaire (CRRH). Founded in 2012, CRRH is a majority-private regional mortgage financing company. It issues long-term The IDA intervention is coupled with investments by the bonds in capital markets and lends these funds to financial World Bank’s International Finance Corporation (IFC). institutions that, in turn, provide long-term housing loans In 2017, with the support of the IDA18 Private Sector to consumers. Its member shareholders are 54 commercial Window, IFC invested CFAF 5 billion ($9 million) in CRRH’s banks, as well as development finance institutions CFAF 25 billion ($45 million) local currency 12-year bond. like the West African Development Bank (BOAD), its Through it, CRRH was able to lengthen the term of its largest shareholder. loans to financial institutions, which in turn, lengthened the maturity of mortgages and improved affordability. In 2017, IDA approved a scale-up credit of $130 million to BOAD on-lent to CRRH, marking the first use of IDA’s IFC now plans to anchor a 15-year bond to support Scale-up Facility for a regional organization. The credit CRRH’s efforts to progressively extend its bond maturity will enable CRRH to refinance mortgage loans below terms to 20 years by 2020. IFC advisory services will $26,000 and allow banks to obtain long-term funding also support CRRH member institutions in improving at below-market rates, providing incentive to serve the mortgage lending and underwriting processes. low-income segment. IDA’s assistance is also enabling CRRH to refinance Improving housing affordability small housing loans (of less than $17,000) issued by As of January 2018, CRRH had issued seven local currency micro-finance institutions that previously did not bonds of 10- or 12-year maturity in regional capital have access to CRRH funding and do not have long- markets and refinanced about 8,000 bank mortgages term funds. Microfinance institutions serve informally since inception. A model shows that extending housing employed households, who now will be able to borrow loan tenors from the current 8 to 15 years reduces for homeownership. monthly mortgage payments by 46 percent; a 20-year Another $25 million IDA grant will support housing policy loan tenor reduces payments by 72 percent. reform to expand housing supply in WAEMU countries. The World Bank expects for every $1 it invests in IDA technical assistance will help accelerate the pace strengthening CRRH, $5 of private financing will come of affordable housing production and address key through the bond market. Some 50,000 businesses and constraints for private developers. families are expected to obtain new mortgage loans, 200,000 people to get better shelter, and 250,000 housing sector jobs to be created. T RANS FORMING AFRICA | ST RENGTHENING M AR K E TS 61 WEST AFRICA Catalyzing off-grid solar markets Some 200 million West Africans—nearly half of the region’s population—do not have access ■  C harging a cell phone to electricity. Electrification rates of public is easy with solar home systems that bring institutions like schools and health centers electricity into off-grid homes. are also low. Off-grid solar technology can transform this bleak reality into one of access. © Azuri Technologies Ltd. 62 For those living without access to a modern energy source, educational and economic opportunities are Before we started using quality constrained by the number of hours of natural light. Day- verified solar, we used kerosene to-day quality of life and health are negatively impacted. Low-quality, polluting lighting sources, such as the lamps for light. We walked two kerosene lamps, emit hazardous fumes that can cause hours to the city and paid 3 or 4 birr serious health problems, while reoccurring fuel costs cut to charge our phones. Now we are deeply into scarce funds. charging our phones at home. In West Africa, about 75 percent of the rural population Tafete Belete, resident of Werota, South Gondar, is living without access to grid electricity in areas to Ethiopia, East Africa which the grid would be slow and expensive to arrive, if at all. But thanks to modern, high-quality off-grid lighting and energy products, people no longer need to wait in The Regional Off-Grid Electrification Project (ROGEP) darkness, or by the fumes of a kerosene lamp. A typical will work along several streams to kick-start the market, solar home system can now power the same services including support for an enabling economic environment that are used by grid-connected neighbors, while larger for quality-verified products, market research, educating standalone systems can power public institutions, like consumers, and support for access to finance, among schools and health centers, and even be put to productive other activities. Preparations include developing pilot use for activities like water pumping. initiatives to electrify schools, health centers, water pumps, and street lights in Niger and Nigeria. Lighting Africa goes west Since 2009, the joint International Finance Corporation– Keeping pace with technology World Bank Lighting Africa program has been enabling ROGEP seeks to replicate what worked in East Africa access to off-grid solar lighting and energy products and improve upon it. Emphasis will be on supporting in sub-Saharan Africa by catalyzing the markets that local entrepreneurs to allow them to capture the deliver them. Today, nearly 29 million people, mostly benefits of this vibrant market. Dedicated support for in East Africa, are meeting their basic electricity needs underrepresented categories of entrepreneurs, such as through products that meet the program’s quality women, will also be offered. standards. By using these products rather than fuel- based lighting and energy sources, 3.7 million metric As advancements in technology push past the boundaries tons of greenhouse gas emissions have been avoided— of what once was impossible, Lighting Africa is keeping the CO 2 equivalent of taking nearly 800,000 cars off the pace. Alongside simple, affordable solar lanterns that road for a year. already have the power to transform lives by replacing hazardous kerosene fumes, ROGEP will support larger IDA18 is contributing to this success with about standalone solar systems that can light up schools or $150 million going to projects supporting electricity run life-saving medical equipment in clinics. access through standalone solar across five countries, primarily in East Africa. It is also helping to take Lighting By enabling access to these technologies, ROGEP seeks Africa to the western part of the continent. IDA18 is to transform the lives of those currently living without preparing a program that seeks to create a unified the grid. regional market in West Africa across 19 countries. T RANS FORMING AFRICA | ST RENGTHENING M AR K E TS 63 EXPANDING INFRASTRUCTURE ■  To reduce risks of flooding and landslides brought on by extreme weather, Burundi is putting its people to work climate- proofing key transport and drainage infrastructure, including these canal works at the Nyabagere River. © World Bank BURKINA FASO Extending water supply and sanitation services to all Burkina Faso is working toward achieving ■ Access to clean water in urban areas is universal and equitable access to improved now at 90 percent but keeping up with water supply and sanitation services. A major rapid urbanization is injection of IDA18 financing—$300 million— challenging and rural areas lag behind. will boost ongoing efforts to improve service  Dominic Chavez / © delivery and ensure efficient water resources World Bank management. 66 For 40 years, Rasmané Compaoré has lived in the same mud-brick house on the outskirts of Ouagadougou. His This innovative program will leverage family had long been obliged to pay a daily fee to collect finance for the water supply and water from the communal standpipe a kilometer away. sanitation sector through the built- “At the height of the drought, my children waited in in incentives it plans to provide line for water all day in vain, sometimes with several for improved service delivery. hundred others,” he says. But now in his yard, near the kitchen, stands a shiny brass faucet. At 82 years of age, Cheick Kanté, World Bank Country Manager Compaoré is finally living in a home with running water. for Burkina Faso He is one of 50,000 customers who have signed up for a household water connection with Burkina Faso’s National cost recovery, and human capital strengthening,” Water and Sanitation Agency. It is part of an ambitious explains Cheick Kanté, World Bank Country Manager for national plan to expand the water distribution network Burkina Faso. and improve management in urban areas—and it is one of many water and sanitation sector projects supported by the World Bank. Over the past two decades, the World Universal and equitable access Bank has worked with other development partners and mobilized more than $260 million in IDA and trust fund The program will contribute to fostering inclusion and financing to bring improved water supply and sanitation shared prosperity in Burkina Faso by bringing water services to over 1.7 million people in Burkina Faso. supply and sanitation services to urban and rural areas that are particularly lagging behind in terms of access. Largest donor-financed operation Despite progress, only one in five people nationwide has access to an improved sanitation facility, and three In June 2018, the World Bank boosted its support with out of four people defecate in the open. Public latrines the largest donor-financed operation in Burkina Faso’s in rural and urban areas are few and poorly maintained history: the $300 million IDA-funded Water Supply and (if at all), leaving students at school, patients in health Sanitation Program for Results. It will benefit 1.1 million centers, and public market goers with no designated, people with improved water supply and 1.3 million people sanitary place to relieve themselves. with improved sanitation services. Over a third of the rural population does not have access To support more effective management and service to an improved water source—one protected from delivery, the program will help strengthen the sector’s outside contamination, particularly fecal matter. While human capital. It will promote partnerships between the rate improves to over 90 percent in Burkina Faso’s government agencies, municipalities, universities, and cities, keeping up with rapid urbanization is difficult. research centers and support applied research and technical and vocational training, with special focus on Achieving universal access to improved water supply opportunities for women. and sanitation services is a national priority to support Burkina Faso’s continued economy growth—averaging “This innovative program will leverage finance for the 5.5 percent GDP growth annually—and that of its water supply and sanitation sector through the built-in population—estimated to reach 29 million people by incentives it plans to provide for improved sustainability 2030 from the current 18 million. of service delivery, including operation and maintenance, T RANS FORMING AFRICA | EX PANDING INFRASTRUCTUR E 67 CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC Powering up the energy sector with solar ■ W  hile informal and With one of the lowest energy access rates personal use of solar in Africa and a weak transmission network, energy has gained traction in CAR, the Central African Republic is investing in its 25 MW Danzy solar power plant will be the energy sector to stimulate growth. Its first country’s first large- utility-scale solar power plant holds the scale application of solar PV technology. promise of a brighter future.  Eskinder Debebe / UN © Photo 68 In May 2018, the highest authorities in the Central African Republic (CAR), along with development partners and It’s the first project on the African economic operators, attended a ceremony in the town of continent to install battery capacity Danzy about 20 kilometers outside the capital Bangui. There, the first stone was laid for a new 25-megawatt that matches the capacity of the (MW) grid-connected photovoltaic (PV) solar power plant solar panels. with 25 megawatt hours of battery storage. Jean-Christophe Carret, World Bank Country Central African president, Faustin Archange Touadera, Director for CAR, the Democratic Republic attended the launch ceremony. of Congo, and the Republic of Congo “The main concern for Central African economic operators is the lack of electricity, which prevents businesses from Strengthening the energy sector being able to store and process their products,” he noted. “One of the solutions recommended to mitigate this lack The Danzy solar project is a critical investment in CAR’s of electricity is solar energy. I would like to thank the stunted energy sector. According to Gontran Djono World Bank for agreeing to finance the establishment of Ahaba, Minister of Development of Energy and Hydraulic a 70-hectare solar farm.” Resources, “The recurrent politico-military crises that have peppered the history of the Central African Republic have substantially derailed all efforts undertaken to A first for CAR, a first for Africa promote economic and social development, resulting in Under IDA18, the World Bank is preparing to finance the 40 years of delayed investment in electricity production first phase of the project, which consists of building a and distribution infrastructure.” 25 MW solar PV plant with battery storage of a similar Only 8 percent of CAR’s population has access to capacity, strengthening transmission and distribution electricity, mainly in the capital. Access rates are networks, and supporting sector reforms. 2 percent in rural areas and 35 percent in Bangui, home The project also will prepare the site for the second phase to a million people. The current installed generation targeting an additional 15 MW and will help improve capacity is just 23 MW, with 19 MW coming from the the financial health of the state-owned company, Boali 1 and 2 hydroelectric plants. É nergie Centrafricaine (ENERCA). Technical assistance In addition, over a third of all electricity produced is will promote the development of solar solutions for lost along transmission lines, and bill collection stands secondary cities and rural areas, notably by assessing at 65 percent for the 30,000 subscribed households the use of solar panels for homes and public buildings. in Bangui. Clients pay a low rate for electricity, “It’s a 40 MW project with an equivalent storage $0.14 (CFAF 65) per kilowatt hour, which does not allow capacity—the first project on the African continent to ENERCA to recover its costs and forces the government install battery capacity that matches the capacity of to subsidize the company. the solar panels. In addition, the project will strengthen With the construction of the Danzy solar plant, CAR the transmission network that originates in Boali hopes to open up the solar energy market and attract and the distribution network in Bangui,” explained private investors for future expansion. Jean‑Christophe Carret, World Bank Country Director for CAR, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and the Republic of Congo. T RANS FORMING AFRICA | EX PANDING INFRASTRUCTUR E 69 ETHIOPIA Bridging gender gaps in the energy sector Ethiopia is pioneering a first-of- a-kind model for achieving gender equality in the energy sector while pursuing universal energy access by 2025. The IDA18-backed program is improving the lives of women, creating more equitable institutions, and bringing more power to citizens nationwide. ■  E LEAP is helping Ethiopian women enter the energy sector, gain better services, and have a brighter future. © Arne Hoel / World Bank  70 “I love going to school and learning but we don’t have any electricity at my house or neighborhood,” says 12-year- ELEAP is financing over one million old Melkam Tamiru, a third grader from Keya Gebriel in connections. It is the largest Ethiopia’s Amhara region. electrification-focused operation Tamiru, who dreams of being a doctor, rushes to finish her for the World Bank. after-school chores so she can do her homework before dark. She says the weak light of her mother’s cooking fire Rahul Kitchlu, World Bank ELEAP team leader “hurts my eyes when I try to read.” Despite being the fastest growing economy in Africa over the past decade, Ethiopia is hampered by an inadequate Championing gender equality and unreliable energy supply that costs 2 percent of GDP ELEAP is also unique for its focus on promoting gender annually. With over 70 million people living in the dark equality as part of overall energy sector engagements. (about 70 percent of the population), Ethiopia is among Through a sector-wide approach that included analysis the top three countries worldwide facing profound of fundamental gender gaps, stakeholder consultations, energy access deficits. Ethiopia’s numbers are also weak high-level policy advice, and mobilization of significant in another area: gender equality. It ranked 109 out of 143 financial resources from the World Bank, a first-of-a- countries in the 2016 Global Gender Gap Report. kind model has been shaped to support gender equality in the energy sector. Ambitious energy goals Gender actions being implemented through ELEAP To address these challenges and support the Government include addressing occupational sex-segregation of Ethiopia’s goal of achieving universal energy access across energy utilities with over 14,000 employees and by 2025, the World Bank supported the launch of the supporting career development of female candidates. National Electrification Program in 2017. It is the first Female entrepreneurship in the off-grid market is also electrification program in Africa to adopt a holistic being promoted. approach to universal access, establishing targets and To overcome a major impediment to female participation timetables for integrated grid and off-grid solutions, an in the work force, childcare facilities are being put in investment financing prospectus, actions to close the place in utility offices across all 11 regions of Ethiopia. gender gap in the energy sector, and a comprehensive Prevention and response to gender-based violence at menu of sector reform activities. the workplace and project sites are also receiving more To support the program’s implementation, the World resources. Bank approved $375 million in IDA funding for the ELEAP will ensure energy service provision to female- Ethiopia Electrification Program for Results (ELEAP) in headed households, as well as investigating affordability March 2018. of those services. Given that the burden of energy poverty “ELEAP is financing over one million connections. It is the falls disproportionately on women and girls in Ethiopia, largest electrification-focused operation for the World they are most likely to benefit from modern energy Bank and has set a benchmark for Africa,” says Rahul services. Girls like Tamiru will find it easier to study with reliable light, and she will be one step closer to realizing Kitchlu, who leads the World Bank ELEAP team. her dream of becoming a doctor. T RANS FORMING AFRICA | EX PANDING INFRASTRUCTUR E 71    KENYA Promoting public-private partnerships for infrastructure development ■  ilindini Harbor Port K currently handles cargo for Kenya Rapid economic and population growth has and neighboring pushed Kenya to modernize and expand its countries. The Kenyan government’s PPP infrastructure to improve the flow of people, Unit has a pipeline of over 70 projects, goods, and opportunities. Private sector including the planned development of the investment is key to meeting the potential Shimoni Port to support of infrastructure-driven growth by 2030. enhanced trade and tourism. © Kenya Ports Authority  72 Over 25 years ago, the Government of Kenya began a process of reducing its involvement in the national The potential for an infrastructure economy, opening it up to the private sector. A PPP is both exciting and innovative combination of market liberalization, initial public offers, and concessionary contracts introduced public-private and would position Kenya to be a role partnerships (PPPs) to the country’s telecommunication, model for Africa. transport, aviation, and retail sectors. Rachel Muthoga, deputy head of Public-Private Policy makers recognized the benefits of letting the Dialogue at the Kenya Private Sector Alliance private sector assume the costs and risks in big corporations and projects so that public resources could be channeled into social spending. As Kenya continued The expansion of the Nairobi–Nakuru highway is one to enact legislative and regulatory reforms to encourage of 70 projects being prepared and brought to market private investment and business ownership, its ranking by the strengthened PPP Unit, as is the development in the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business Index rose of the Shimoni Port, 80 kilometers south of Mombasa. from 136 out of 189 countries in 2014 to 80 in 2017. The role of the private sector will be to inject additional funds to improve port facilities, support associated infrastructure, and oversee port operations. Easing private investment Rachel Muthoga, deputy head of Public-Private Dialogue In 2018, Kenya unveiled its Big Four economic plan, at the Kenya Private Sector Alliance says that “the calling on development partners and the private sector potential for an infrastructure PPP is both exciting and to help realize $70 billion worth of development projects innovative and would position Kenya to be a role model and capacity building initiatives in affordable housing, for Africa.” manufacturing, education, and healthcare. The World Bank responded with $50 million in additional Connecting innovators with industry financing from IDA18 to the Kenya Infrastructure Finance Public-Private Partnership Project (IFPPP). To compliment IFPPP, Kenya is also working to build Originally launched in 2012, the project is channeling the much-needed skills within its private sector. An new funding toward technical assistance to build PPP additional $50 million in IDA18 funding is supporting frameworks and methodologies and advisory services to the Kenya Industry and Entrepreneurship Project, which support project preparation and procurement. A related aims to bridge the gulf between industry, enterprise project will work in parallel to assess and potentially innovators, and academia. provide World Bank-backed guarantees for private investment in projects prepared under IDA lending. Efforts are underway to reach out to intermediaries, such as incubation hubs and co-working spaces, and evaluate Under IFPPP, government and World Bank technicians how best to strengthen their operational base. The goal have built on Kenya’s 2013 PPP Act and fledging PPP Unit is to enhance the soft skills of innovators, entrepreneurs, to establish a sound legal, regulatory, and institutional and start-ups so they are more proficient in formulating framework that is beginning to deliver. business plans, pitching to investors, and building strong teams. Some 33,000 individuals and nearly 2,400 firms “Now we have a world class PPP framework and are expected to benefit. methodologies, a high level of skills within government, and a robust pipeline of projects,” says World Bank Senior PPP Specialist, Shyamala Shukla. T RANS FORMING AFRICA | EX PANDING INFRASTRUCTUR E 73 LIBERIA Increasing access to electricity to reenergize the economy As Liberia works to diversify its commodity-based economy and boost trade and investment, it is looking first to its energy sector. Expanding electricity services and reducing costs to businesses and households can spur economic growth, job creation, and poverty reduction. ■ L iberia Electricity Corporation technicians are working overtime to get more customers connected to the national power grid. © Ben Fomba, Jr.  74 Yassah Kpassakoi owns the Kpassakoi Trading Corporation (KTC), which operates a 15-bedroom hotel I do not have to pay so much money and entertainment and shopping center in bustling to operate generators. Our profit mid-town Monrovia, Liberia’s capital. Once dependent on expensive generators to keep the lights on and margin has increased, which will help her business open, Kpassakoi is thrilled with her new us expand our business. connection to the national power grid. Yassah Kpassakoi, owner of Kpassakoi Trading “I am happy that I do not have to pay so much money Corporation in Monrovia to operate generators. Our profit margin has increased, which will help us expand our business,” she says. The CLSG project will support the construction of Kpassakoi is among thousands of Monrovians who have 225-kilovolt transmission lines to interconnect the four gained access to cheaper, more reliable electricity thanks participating countries into the WAPP regional energy to ongoing efforts to expand electricity services and make market. This will allow Liberia to sell surplus electricity them more affordable for businesses and households. from the Mount Coffee hydropower plant on the Saint Paul River. It also will help bring future generations into the regional market and enable commercial users, such Increasing supply of affordable as large plantations and mining firms that currently electricity generate their own electricity, to buy power directly from the market. The transmission lines would also provide The Government of Liberia is committed to increasing electricity to communities located within a kilometer of it. the supply of reliable electricity while shifting away from expensive diesel-powered generation toward cheaper thermal sources, such as heavy fuel oil, and increasing Expanding the grid the share of renewable sources of electricity, mostly hydropower. Investments in generation capacity have Liberia is also investing in its national transmission dropped the electricity tariff from $0.54 to $0.39 per infrastructure to bring grid-connected power to more kilowatt hour—a significant reduction but still high by urban and rural communities. Despite progress, Liberia regional standards. still has one of the lowest access rates in Africa: 4.9 percent nationally and 20 percent in Monrovia. Liberia aims to lower costs further by importing cheaper electricity from the regional market through the Côte The ongoing Liberia Accelerated Electricity Expansion d’Ivoire, Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Guinea (CLSG) Power Project, supported by $95 million in IDA financing, aims Interconnection Project. The World Bank is supporting to expand grid connections to over 47,000 households the project, most recently with $45 million in additional and small businesses and 400 larger scale customers. So financing from IDA18, as a key component of the West far, more than 17,200 customers have been connected, Africa Power Pool (WAPP) program. It is working to mainly in Monrovia. establish a cooperative power pooling mechanism for West Africa to bring more stable and reliable electricity It is also financing the construction of 110 kilometers at affordable costs to the citizens of the Economic of 66-kilovolt transmission lines and 2,000 kilometers Community of West African States (ECOWAS). of distribution lines in Monrovia and outlying counties. Five new substations will be constructed and one rehabilitated. T RANS FORMING AFRICA | EX PANDING INFRASTRUCTUR E 75 MALI Easing rural mobility to connect people, services, and opportunity ■ C onstruction crews Isolation from markets and services is, quite are already working literally, a roadblock impeding the development on upgrades to the Blendio-Kounia road of Mali’s rural agricultural areas, where the and bridge to ensure safety and year-round majority of the poor lives. A rural mobility accessiblity. project under IDA18 aims to boost productivity © Ahmadou Bissan / by rehabilitating 1,700 kilometers of vital roads. World Bank 76 The inhabitants of Zanina, a rural commune in southern Mali some 350 kilometers (km) from the capital Bamako, We welcome these works that rejoice in the construction of not one, not two, but three allow us to transport our products concrete bridges connecting their communities to each other and regions beyond. The wide, sturdy bridges now on time to neighboring markets in bring vehicles, motorcyclists, pedestrians, shepherds any season. with their herds, and a new level of liveliness to farming villages like Débéla. Located six km from the main road, Chata Diarra, member of the Débéla village women’s association Débéla used to be difficult to enter or exit after heavy rains. Now it is accessible year-round. For Chata Diarra, a member of the Débéla village women’s “They had to remain on the other side until the water association, the new bridges mean greater financial receded, and they arrived late to sell their products. The security and peace of mind. farmers lost their perishable foodstuffs and the livestock producers had to wait for the next weekly market,” “We welcome these works that allow us to transport our he explains. products on time to neighboring markets in any season. We also no longer worry about the children going into the Fortunately, the Blendio-Kounia access road, an 84‑km field or taking the animals to graze. With these bridges, stretch that includes this unsafe bridge, is already they can easily return home,” she says. undergoing reconstruction along with portions of National Highway 7 in the southern Sikasso region. Reliable access to markets Better access to services, jobs These and other bridges are part of the Mali Rural Mobility and Connectivity Project, funded by $70 million from In addition to boosting agricultural productivity, IDA18. It aims to rehabilitate 1,700 km of rural roads in improving road access will increase community the Koulikoro (dryland zone) and Sikasso (southern zone) connections to basic services like schools, health regions of Mali and benefit some 650,000 people, mostly centers, and government offices. The project will also farming communities. finance small common facilities, such as water wells, small warehouses, and vegetable gardens for women, to “The engine of the Malian economy is agriculture, foster social cohesion and empowerment. and road access is part of an integrated approach to addressing the low productivity of rural farmers,” says Moreover, the rehabilitation of these roads offers Soukeyna Kane, World Bank Country Director for Chad, employment to the local workforce. Some 144,000 jobs Guinea, Mali, and Niger. will be created in five years, helping to reduce poverty in target areas. Community-level teams also will be Alou Diallo from the small commune of Blendio knows formed to ensure ongoing maintenance of improved first-hand how critical roads are to the flow of people, roads. By engaging its citizens, Mali is paving the way to goods, and services across this rural landscape. He recalls more collaborative and responsible management of its a recent event when pouring rain made their narrow, vital infrastructure. dilapidated bridge impassable, blocking market vendors. T RANS FORMING AFRICA | EX PANDING INFRASTRUCTUR E 77 SENEGAL Increasing access to water brings a flow of benefits ■ B orehole testing was More urban areas outside of Dakar—and soon a major success in the parts of rural Senegal—are gaining access to village of Ndour Ndour. modernized water and sanitation services. ©  Idrissa Sane / World Bank New boreholes dot the landscape, bringing fresh water and hope for better lives and livelihoods in affected communities. 78 Near to the entrance of Ndour-Ndour, a village some 70 kilometers south of Senegal’s capital of Dakar, Women were freed from their chains stands a new borehole. Just opposite is the Gning family during the borehole testing period. compound where Astou Ggning is busy with children and chores. For her, the borehole is a welcome sight that We had time to do other things. holds the promise of reprieve. Astou Ggning, resident of Ndour-Ndour village Women and girls are the first victims of water deficits as the duty of water collection most often falls to them. According to a study by the World Bank and the French More than water Cooperation, water is fetched with 18 to 20-liter plastic For Senegal, improving water and sanitation containers (some as large as 35 liters) several times a infrastructure is key to shared prosperity as it leads day. With an average distance of 200 meters between to reductions in water-borne diseases and associated home and water source, a woman or girl may carry absenteeism from work and school as well as reductions 200 kilograms daily. in costs associated with medical expenses and loss of Astou Ggning says that women were “freed from their income. Keeping pace with population expansion has chains” during the borehole testing period. “We had time been a challenge for Senegal’s water and sanitation to do other things. We didn’t have to rise before daybreak services. to draw water. We had water all the time. Our daughters In the commune of Nguékhokh where water infrastructure had more time to go to school,” she explains. has been expanded, the mayor Pape Songhé Diouf explains they had only one borehole built in 1984 when Targeting urban and rural areas the population was less than 1,000 people. It has since grown to 60,000 people, with 80 percent lacking access Astou Ggning and the entire community look forward to water until recently. to the permanent operation of the borehole, which is being completed as part of the World Bank-financed “The World Bank gave us life, because water is life… the Urban Water and Sanitation Project. It recently received availability of this resource is impacting other sectors of additional financing of $30 million from IDA18 to the economy,” he says. advance work on reducing the water shortage in Dakar and neighboring Petite Côte area. Communities east of Dakar also feel the impact of improved water access even though a drop has yet to Another $130 million in IDA18 funding was approved in flow. A gravel road leading to the village of Kissane June 2018 for the Rural Water Supply and Sanitation ends at the newly installed borehole after crossing the Project, which aims to provide 1.5 million Senegalese neighboring villages of Birbirame and Ndiass-Palam with access to piped water and improved sanitation where standpipes are now part of the landscape. facilities in the Groundnut Basin area in the center west of the country and home to one third of Senegal’s rural Ndiass-Palam village leader, Diama Ndoye, is looking population. forward to the standpipes being functional, but recognizes, “we are already benefiting from enhanced mobility among the villages.” T RANS FORMING AFRICA | EX PANDING INFRASTRUCTUR E 79 ZAMBIA Unlocking low cost, large scale solar power ■ C onstruction of Adding power capacity is urgent in Zambia, Zambia’s first grid- where less than a third of the population has connected solar PV power plant at access to electricity and drought has limited Bangweulu is underway. hydropower. The World Bank Group’s Scaling © NEOEN Solar Program is helping to procure privately financed solar power and enable rapid rollout. 80 In recent years, droughts in southern Africa have significantly reduced the electrical output of Zambia’s Scaling Solar is a step change for hydropower plants, leaving many Zambians in the dark. Zambia and other countries facing Power shortages and forced rationing have impacted the national economy and pushed the government to electricity shortages. mandate the procurement of 600 megawatts (MW) of Madalo Minofu, IFC Resident Representative solar photovoltaic (PV) power and to target an overall for Zambia increase in installed generation capacity to 6,000 MW by 2030. set to occur within a fraction of the time it would have With its year-round sunshine and geographical location, taken Zambia to do so following a business-as-usual Zambia is well positioned to integrate solar power into an procurement process. energy mix dominated by climate-vulnerable hydropower. The Government of Zambia partnered with the World “Scaling Solar is a step change for Zambia and other Bank in 2015 through its newly launched Scaling Solar countries facing electricity shortages,” says Madalo Program to initiate the first phase of Zambia’s national Minofu, IFC Resident Representative for Zambia. solar plan. It aims to attract independent power producers to develop up to six 50 MW solar PV power plants for a total of 300 MW of new power capacity. More power, less expense The first projects at Bangweulu (sponsored by French Scaling Solar Program company NEOEN) and Ngonye (sponsored by the multinational Enel) are now under construction with IFC “Zambia is the first country to implement the Scaling financing and letters of credit backed by IDA partial risk Solar program, which brings together World Bank Group guarantees. Zambia is planning a second round with services and instruments under a single engagement Scaling Solar to develop additional solar plants, which aimed at creating viable markets for grid-connected also envision IDA18 payment and loan guarantees to solar energy,” says Ina Ruthenberg, World Bank Country back-stop the plants, coupled with IFC financing. Manager for Zambia. Zambia’s Minister of Energy, Mathew Nkhuwa, says the Scaling Solar is an open and competitive approach that projects will not only curb power shortages and provide facilitates the rapid development of privately-owned, a source of energy that complements Zambia’s hydro- utility-scale solar PV projects in sub-Saharan Africa. It based system, they “will allow the Government of Zambia enables governments and utilities to procure solar power to reduce its electricity purchase from expensive diesel transparently and at the lowest possible cost. Through power plants.” competitive auctions organized by the program, Zambia was able to attract world class developers to its first two Based on initial assumptions, Zambia’s savings over the projects and obtain some of the lowest tariffs in Africa first 25 years would be about $163 million per 50 MW at that time ($.06 and $.078 per kilowatt hour fixed for power plant. The first two plants will increase the 25 years). country’s available generation capacity by 5 percent and will help restore water levels in its hydropower dams. Scaling Solar is also quick. Zambia has been able to assess projects and manage competitive tenders in short order. The first plants are now being built with commissioning T RANS FORMING AFRICA | EX PANDING INFRASTRUCTUR E 81 WEST AFRICA Fighting coastal erosion and waves of change ■  ishing is a way of life F Coastal communities in West Africa are losing in Saint-Louis, Senegal, ground to the ocean each year. Families are but coastal erosion is costing fishermen their losing their homes and way of life to coastal livelihoods and homes. erosion, flooding, and even breaking waves. © Ibrahima BA Sané / Countries are working together to create new World Bank solutions to protect the most vulnerable. 82 The city of Saint-Louis, once Senegal’s shining jewel and a United Nation’s World Heritage Site, is fast losing land, Our concern is to preserve our livelihoods, homes, and infrastructure due to coastal territory and ensure that the erosion. Five meters of the Saint-Louis coastline are lost each year and 200 families have had to abandon their population of Saint-Louis, especially homes and assets. Another 1,000 families are at risk. fishermen in the Langue de Barbarie, can live and do their jobs safely. Climate change and related sea level rise contribute to this emergency, but coastal erosion is also the result of Amadou Mansour Faye, Mayor of Saint-Louis poor planning, with houses, hotels, and infrastructure and Minster of Hydraulics and Sanitation, built in now precarious coastal zones. Senegal Amadou Mansour Faye, Mayor of Saint-Louis and Minster of Hydraulics and Sanitation warns that if the sea level “This project is a collective response to the urgent need rises and the Langue de Barbarie disappears, “entire to address coastal degradation in a regional, integrated territories inside the country will be threatened. manner. It is an opportunity to strengthen the resilience of West Africa’s communities and transform their The situation in Saint-Louis is alarming, but it is not livelihoods,” says Makhtar Diop, the World Bank’s Vice unique. About 40 percent of West Africa’s GDP is President for Infrastructure. generated in coastal provinces, where almost one-third of the population resides. Communities are vulnerable to the effects of poor coastal development and climate Going grey and green change, particularly severe coastal erosion and frequent flooding. Across the region, WACA will protect against coastal erosion through traditional “grey” infrastructure, such as building seawalls, dikes, and coastal groins. It will Regional solution to regional problem also restore and preserve “green” infrastructure, such as fixing dunes, restoring wetlands and mangroves, and West African countries from Mauritania to Gabon are replenishing beaches—all of which play a critical role in working together to manage threats along their joint preserving the coastline. coastline in a more collaborative, integrated way. Led by West African governments and supported by the World Flooding will be reduced by rehabilitating lagoons Bank and other partners, the newly launched West Africa and drainage systems and by improving watershed Coastal Areas Management Program (WACA) aims to management. Interventions will also support pollution incite greater cooperation among countries and regional control through better treatment of marine litter, oil institutions. spills, and industrial and municipal waste. In April 2018, the World Bank approved $190 million in WACA will also work with WAEMU and three other IDA funding for the first WACA resilience investment regional entities to ensure information is shared and project to support six countries—Benin, Côte d’Ivoire, recurring trends are monitored and addressed at the Mauritania, São Tomé & Príncipe, Senegal, and Togo— regional level. More partners are expected to join WACA and the West Africa Economic and Monetary Union as it expands efforts to boost knowledge transfer, (WAEMU). Potentially, WACA could grow to include all mobilize additional finance, and foster political dialogue 17 countries along the West African coastline. among countries. T RANS FORMING AFRICA | EX PANDING INFRASTRUCTUR E 83 SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA Investing in hydromet for climate-smart development ■ I DA18 funding will Africa accounts for just 4 percent of global increase support for greenhouse gas emissions, but it is highly hydromet research and development in Burkina vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. Faso, where shifting weather patterns The Africa Hydromet Program provides real- are being studied time weather, water, and climate information by the Burkina Faso Meteorological Service. and services to support communities, industries, ©  Dominic Chavez / and countries continentwide. International Finance Corporation 84 Tesfaye, a grain and legume farmer in rural Ethiopia, takes a break from guiding his grazing cattle to analyze Hydromet services provide us with the skies in Chanco, north of the capital Addis Ababa. data, predictions, and information The weather is critical to his livelihood, and it is not so we can prepare for disasters and always reliable. “This year, the weather was good, but last year, there was less rain to grow teff, barley, and effectively design our long- and short- lentils on my farm,” he says. “It will be very helpful if I term climate resilience strategies. know about dangerous storms ahead of time, so I can plan for planting and harvesting.” Jerry Lengoasa, CEO of the South African Weather Service Farmers like Tesfaye could benefit from dependable weather, water, and climate information—collectively known as hydromet services. To respond to this development priority, the World Bank, the Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery, and other partners created the Africa Hydromet Program Essential information for all in 2015 to support collaborative efforts to modernize A combination of hydrology and meteorology, hydromet hydromet services across Africa. The program holistically services offer real-time weather, water, and climate addresses modernization needs at the national, sub- updates; early warnings; and climate outlooks that can regional, and regional levels. This includes upgrading help communities predict and prepare for impending observation infrastructure, interpreting data, and disasters. Hydromet services also provide the data delivering services to offer timely and reliable weather needed for weather forecasting and offer additional and climate forecasts, especially on impending disaster climate and weather-related services. Everyday people, risks. In the first phase, 15 African countries and four from students to farmers, and entire industries, including regional climate centers are being supported. aviation and energy, benefit from hydromet services. Looking ahead with IDA18 funding, the World Bank aims Less than 20 percent of sub-Saharan African countries to expand support to Burkina Faso as well as launch a provide reliable hydromet services to their people and new multi-phase regional program in West Africa and economies. African governments often juggle competing the Sahel. Starting with Mali, Chad, Togo, and regional priorities for investment: without adequate funding, meteorological entities, the program will strengthen national meteorological and hydrological services are hydromet services, information sharing, and coordination limited in their ability to contribute to climate-resilient for improved early warning, disaster response and safety development and adaptation planning. nets systems, and agricultural services. Jerry Lengoasa, CEO of the South African Weather Africa Hydromet Program Service, says citizens directly benefit from hydromet services. Improved hydromet services can save African countries from avoidable damage and loss, ensuring that past and “Hydromet services are essential to everyday life,” current investments in infrastructure, education, and Lengoasa explains. “These services provide us with development are not lost to disasters. Hydromet services data, predictions, and information so we can prepare can break the vicious cycle of damage and recovery. for disasters and effectively design our long- and short- term climate resilience strategies, which are essential to achieving our development goals.” T RANS FORMING AFRICA | EX PANDING INFRASTRUCTUR E 85 Acknowledgements This volume was a collective effort of the World Bank Africa Region External Communications and Partnerships (AFREC) team, led by Haleh Bridi and Steven Shalita. These stories about Africa transforming would not be possible without the tireless efforts of World Bank Country Directors, Country Managers, and Team Task Leaders, who support implementation of critical projects and programs in Africa; nor without the determination of communications officers, who ensure these stories are told. Special thanks to Lionel Yaro, Innocent Nsabimana, Mademba Ndiaye, Carlyn Hambuba, Edmond Dingamhoudou, Franck Bitemo, Odilia Hebga, Olufunke Olufon, Rogers Kayihura, Sheila Kulubya, Gelila Woodeneh, Sylvie Nenonene, Elita Banda, Habibatou Gologo, Vera Rosauer, Diana Styvanley, Zeria Banda, Rafael Saute, Moses Kargbo, Enoh Ndri, Kennedy Fosu, Mamadou Bah, Michael Sahr, Loy Nabeta, Benoit Cormier, Zirra Banu, Jennifer Lynch, Caroline Torres, Ryoko Wilcox, Alison Grimsland, Caroline Cerruti, and David Bontempo. Additional thanks to Leslie Ashby, Catherine Bond, Elena Queyranne, Anne Senges, Daniella Van Leggelo Padilla, Amelody Lee, Alexandre Hery, Stephanie Crockett, Selena Batchily, Ahmad Omar, Marcelle Djomo, Manuella Lea Palmioli, Greg Wlosinski, and Adam Broadfoot for their role in producing this publication. © The World Bank www.orldbank.org/africa November 2018 | 41298