Page 1 PROJECT INFORMATION DOCUMENT (PID) APPRAISAL STAGE 4475 Project Name South Sudan Gender Support & Development Project Region Africa Sector Social Development Project ID P115717 Borrower(s) Government of Southern Sudan ( GoSS) Implementing Agency Ministry of Gender Social Welfare & Religious Affairs Environment Category [ ] A [X ] B [ ] C [ ] FI [ ] TBD (to be determined) Date PID Prepared March 30, 2009 Date of Appraisal Authorization March 31 st , 2009 Date of Board Approval April 15, 2009 ( Approval by Oversight Committee MDTF) 1. Country and Sector Background Decades of civil war in Sudan have had a devastating affect on human development in the south, with a particularly negative impact on women and children. The poverty rate of Southern Sudan is estimated at 90 percent for an approximate population of 9.5 million. 1 Large parts of the country are isolated and underdeveloped and access to basic services is minimal. Key development indicators are among the worst in the world, food security is a major challenge, and lack of infrastructure and absence of markets constitute significant bottlenecks to sustained increases in agricultural output. General gender statistics reveal severe gender disparity in all sectors from education, health, economic and most demographic indicators (Table 1). Poor coverage of women’s reproductive health (only 10 percent of births are attended by skilled health staff) 2 coupled with high fertility has led to a very high maternal mortality rate (2,054 out of 100,000 live births). Over 90 percent of women in Southern Sudan cannot read 3 and only 3.5 percent of girls complete primary education. 4 In contrast to the common demographic patterns around the world, there are still more elderly men than women in Southern Sudan, in spite of the negative impact of war on the male population. This, coupled with strong adherence to cultural practices, reinforces the continuation of the traditional role of men as heads of households and thus decision makers. With at least 90 percent of the population earning less than one dollar a day, Southern Sudan is among the poorest regions in the world. In view of this poverty figure, and in view of cultural practices favoring men (e.g. inheritance rights favoring men, inequitable access to formal and informal employment, restricted access, ownership and control over land), women in Southern Sudan are likely to be the poorest of the poor. 2. Objectives The project development objective is to achieve immediate peace dividends for targeted women in Southern Sudan, through the provision of: (a) improvements in access to existing economic opportunities and (b) support to the Ministry of Gender, Social Work and Religious Affairs to develop and implement gender policies and strategies. 1 Crop and Food Supply Assessment Mission, 2006; Report of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and World Food Program (WFP) of the United Nations (UN) . 2 New Sudan Centre for Statistics and Evaluation/NSCSE and UNICEF, 2004. Towards A Baseline: Best Estimates of Social Indicators for Southern Sudan 3 Sudan Household Health Survey, 2007 (FIX FOOTNOTE) 4 Statistics provided by UN-OCHA Page 2 At the completion of the project, it is expected that there will be: (i) increased livelihood opportunities and/or increased income for the targeted women; (ii) sector guidelines streamlined to mainstream gender in all sectors at GoSS, state and county levels in place; and (iii) improved capacity for more effective monitoring and supervision of gender impacts . 3. Rationale for Bank Involvement The project responds to the Government’s request for immediate peace dividends for the women of Southern Sudan and will support the MoG to develop their long-term strategy to ensure participation of women in the development efforts of GoSS. MDTF involvement is necessary for the following reasons: Gender policy framework and limited available data: As noted above, progress at the national policy level in responding to the gender-based responses outlined above, has been modest, and stakeholder participation in policy formulation has been limited. Development responses have for the most part been diffused, fragmented and uncoordinated, with, little or no direct planning, monitoring and evaluation or sector oversight by the MoG. Gender-based interventions to date in Southern Sudan do exist, however, accessing information regarding these programs or even basic disaggregated data is limited as a result in part of the absence of a distinct policy framework and of oversight guidance from the MoG. In this environment, basic knowledge sharing, assessing developmental impact of ongoing programs or even accessing basic information regarding the existing interventions has been challenging. MoGs lack of capacity to develop gender sensitive policy: This has in large measure been due to chronic weaknesses in the MoG itself. Its responsibilities include ensuring that gender perspectives are addressed in all government processes, post-conflict reconstruction, resource planning, human resource development activities, as well as developing policy, programs and strategies for addressing gender inequalities in Southern Sudan. Presently, the MoG lacks capacity and resources to fulfill its mandate. The Ministry requires significant technical assistance in developing policy guidelines to mainstream and ensure greater and more effective inclusion of women and responsiveness to their needs. Strong Donor interest and support: Towards this longer term strategic goal, Southern Sudan’s donor partners must provide much more of the needed technical expertise to support the Ministry in building its capacity to undertake analytical work, to form the basis of gender-sensitive policies and strategies and to deepen its monitoring and evaluation systems and capacities. This will be a more effective and sustainable strategy in assuring gender mainstreaming across all sectors. 4. Description The proposed Project has three components: Component 1: Economic Empowerment of Women The goal of this component is to assist in further empowering women through the implementation of income-generating sub-projects in five states of Southern Sudan, mainly, but not exclusively, within the agricultural, fisheries and livestock sectors. The sub-projects will be identified and selected on the basis of criteria developed through a consultative process with the technical staff of the GoSS, and state sector ministries and gender directors. Enhanced access to income is one of the priority activities proposed by the MoG on the basis of the request from its constituency. Given the lack of women in the formal labor force, the concentration of women in the poorer tiers of society, and women’s crucial role yet accentuated constraints in agriculture, offering income-generating projects for vulnerable women could translate into Page 3 rapid development impact for the women of Southern Sudan. 5 In addition, proposed activities in the agricultural sector would improve the level of food security, which is currently dire. Component 2: Construction of a Building for the MoGSW&RA The signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement, the Interim National Constitution and the Interim Constitution of Southern Sudan in 2005 constitutes the foundations for peace and the establishment of the semi-autonomous government in Southern Sudan and attendant ministries such as the Ministry of Gender, Social Work and Religious Affairs. The responsibilities of this ministry cover three substantive areas including gender development, social and child protection and religious affairs. Despite this broad mandate, the ministry has not been able to bring on board the staff required to fulfill its functions. The MoG lacks the necessary physical infrastructure required to house and coordinate the work of various directorates. Component 3: Institutional Development of the MoG The institutional development component will focus on strengthening the human and institutional capacity of the MoG and the relevant ministries of GoSS and all levels of states, counties and payams, so that it can effectively discharge its key functions of developing an efficient policy framework and formulating a strategy to implement the policy. In doing so, the Ministry will both “engender” the work of other relevant sector ministries at GoSS and state levels while managing its own specific projects. The improved capacity will make the MoG better equipped to support the continuing development of stronger capacity for the Ministry’s work in the states, on which it has already embarked. In recent years the Ministry has planned for the training of some 500 social workers (50 for each State). This training has been initiated in the University of Juba and thus far 78 social workers have graduated 5. Financing Source: Goss ................. 5.00 MDTF ............... 5.00 Total ......... US$10.00 6. Implementation The sub-projects under the Economic Empowerment Component will be implemented by NGOs & CBOs on a transparent and competitive basis. 7. Sustainability The sub-projects will be required to identify a role for the local government ministries and develop an exit strategy. 8. Safeguard Policies (including public consultation) Safeguard Policies Triggered by the Project Environmental Assessment ( OP / BP 4.01).........................Partial B Natural Habitats ( OP / BP 4.04)........................................... No Pest Management ( OP 4.09 )................................................No Physical Cultural Resources (OP/BP 4.11)....................... ..No Involuntary Resettlement ( OP / BP 4.12).......................... ...No 5 It is also of note that the involvement of women in income-generating projects is likely to translate into improved livelihoods for a wide cross- section of society, since women’s economic autonomy is critical to achieving all MDG’s, not only MDG3. Page 4 Indigenous Peoples ( OP / BP 4.10)........................................No Forests ( OP / BP 4.36)............................................................No Safety of Dams ( OP / BP 4.37)...............................................No Projects in Disputed Areas ( OP / BP 7.60) * ............................No Projects on International Waterways ( OP / BP 7.50)..............No Piloting the Use of Borrower Systems to Address Environmental and Social Safeguard Issues in Bank-Supported Projects ( OP / BP 4.00) S. Sudan has a draft ESAF which will be adapted at the sub-project level. 9. Contact point: Task Team leader – Yasmin Tayyab ytayyab@worldbank.org 202-473-8525 10. For more information contact: The InfoShop The World Bank 1818 H Street, NW Washington, D.C. 20433 Telephone: (202) 458-5454 Fax: (202) 522-1500 Web: http://www.worldbank.org/infoshop * By supporting the proposed project, the Bank does not intend to prejudice the final determination of the parties' claims on the disputed areas Page 5