The World Bank Implementation Status & Results Report Women's Economic Empowerment Rural Development Project (P164443) Women's Economic Empowerment Rural Development Project (P164443) SOUTH ASIA | Afghanistan | Agriculture and Food Global Practice | IBRD/IDA | Investment Project Financing | FY 2019 | Seq No: 3 | ARCHIVED on 09-Sep-2019 | ISR38241 | Implementing Agencies: Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development, Islamic Republic of Afghanistan Key Dates Key Project Dates Bank Approval Date: 28-Sep-2018 Effectiveness Date: 23-Oct-2018 Planned Mid Term Review Date: 31-Mar-2021 Actual Mid-Term Review Date: Original Closing Date: 30-Jun-2023 Revised Closing Date: 30-Jun-2023 pdoTable Project Development Objectives Project Development Objective (from Project Appraisal Document) To increase social and economic empowerment of poor rural women in selected communities. Has the Project Development Objective been changed since Board Approval of the Project Objective? No Components Table Name Community Mobilization and Institution Development:(Cost $30.00 M) Access to Finance:(Cost $39.00 M) Enterprise Development and Market Linkages:(Cost $18.00 M) Project Management:(Cost $13.00 M) Overall Ratings Name Previous Rating Current Rating Progress towards achievement of PDO Satisfactory Satisfactory Overall Implementation Progress (IP) Moderately Satisfactory Satisfactory Overall Risk Rating Substantial Substantial Implementation Status and Key Decisions Overall Implementation Progress: The project has made significant progress since the first implementation support mission (ISM) held in the first week of February 2019, especially in terms of social mobilization, institution building, recruitment of project staffs and establishment of regional and district offices. Accordingly, the rating of overall implementation progress has been upgraded from Moderately Satisfactory to Satisfactory. Highlights of the some of these key implementation progresses are summarized below:  Social Mobilization & Institution Building: The pace of social mobilization under WEE-RDP has been remarkably high and more than 4080 self-help groups (SHGs) have been promoted as on 15th July 2019. WEE-RDP has promoted 3275 women SHGs during the last 8 months, which is more than what was the total number of women SHGs i.e. 2721 promoted under 8 years of its predecessor program - the Afghanistan Rural Enterprise Development Project (AREDP). Overall 78 % of all SHG members belong to poor and poorest categories as 9/9/2019 Page 1 of 9 The World Bank Implementation Status & Results Report Women's Economic Empowerment Rural Development Project (P164443) per Well Being Analysis (WBA) done by the Citizens' Charter Afghanistan Project (CCAP) which WEERDP is using. There are two key factors, which have enabled this: first, WEE-RDP has significantly benefited from organizing large scale exposure and immersion visits of village elders and potential target HHs from new project locations to older AREDP project areas. Second, most of the field staff below districts are paid based on tasks performed, deliverable based, which includes both quality and quantity of social mobilization and institution building.  Access to Finance:SHGs have cumulatively saved USD 125,000, which is over 10 times above the savings amount from the previous mission i.e. USD 12,000. These SHGs have issued over 4,500 loans to its members amounting to AFN 6.1 million (USD 76,250). Interestingly, the field data show that women SHGs tend to be doing much better (unlike general perception) in terms of efficiency of inter- loaning, revolution of capital, size of loan etc. While female SHGs have a share of 80% in the total number of SHGs, in the number of loans they have a share of 87 % of the total loans issued.  Recruitment of Project Staff: The project has also witnessed a substantial progress in the form of recruitment of project staff. As of July 2019, more than 80% positions are filled in, which is an increase of 60 percentage points since the previous mission. Out of total 1312 positions, there are 1063 project staffs are already on board and of which 54% are female staff. Most of the female staffs are at the cutting edge of field operation i.e. sub-district level. These newly recruited project staffs have been oriented on the project implementation process and trained on operational guidelines/manual before their deployment in the field.  Hiring the Services of Facilitating Partners: Out of 76 districts, 39 districts are planned to be executed through NGOs Facilitating Partner (FPs) agencies and their procurement process are at the final stage of selection. Out of the total 16 packages of FPs: 1 is at contracting stage (contract Singed); 7 are at negotiation stage and 8 are still at the stage of evaluation of technical proposals. It is expected that most of these packages will be at the final stage of contracting by end of September 2019.  Establishment of project offices: All 7 regional offices and 76 district offices of WEE-RDP have been established and have been made fully operational; though, there are a few district offices that need to be relocated to create a better work environment for female staff. Key Decisions - Some of the key decisions agreed upon in follow-up to the July ISM were as follows: 1) Agreement to field test the seed grant transfer process and check the upgrading of the management information system (MIS) so that the disbursement condition on release of community grants can be lifted by September 15th, 2019. 2) While social mobilization has proceeded rapidly, out of 40,000 SHGs members mobilized to date, only 10,000 (25%) have been trained. Therefore, with increasing pace of social mobilization, it is equally important that the pace of trainings is also enhanced. It was agreed therefore that the training roll out should be expedited and in this regard the procurement procedures for running the logistics of the trainings were simplified. It was also agreed that all training will be documented through multiple methods to avoid any misuse of funds. 3) It was agreed that an Advisory Committee incorporating members/representatives from MISFA; AMA; MFIs and some of the commercial banks would be set up by the project to help guide its Access to Finance component. Risks Systematic Operations Risk-rating Tool Risk Category Rating at Approval Previous Rating Current Rating Political and Governance High High High Macroeconomic Substantial Substantial Substantial Sector Strategies and Policies Substantial Substantial Substantial Technical Design of Project or Program Substantial Substantial Substantial Institutional Capacity for Implementation and Sustainability Moderate Substantial Substantial Fiduciary Substantial Substantial Substantial Environment and Social Moderate Moderate Moderate Stakeholders Substantial Substantial Substantial Other Substantial Substantial Substantial Overall Substantial Substantial Substantial 9/9/2019 Page 2 of 9 The World Bank Implementation Status & Results Report Women's Economic Empowerment Rural Development Project (P164443) Results PDO Indicators by Objectives / Outcomes Social empowerment of poor rural women in selected communities IN00737973 ►Number of Direct Beneficiaries (Number, Custom) Baseline Actual (Previous) Actual (Current) End Target Value 56,128.00 -- 99,743.00 450,000.00 Date 01-Jul-2018 -- 31-Jul-2019 30-Jun-2023 Total number of beneficiaries, including all individuals who are members of an SHG and/or EG. The total number of beneficiaries will also be disaggregated into the following categories: people with disabilities, Comments: kuchis, and widows. Baseline value includes AREDP beneficiaries. IN00737895 Number of Direct Female Beneficiaries (Number, Custom Breakdown) Baseline Actual (Previous) Actual (Current) End Target Value 31,309.00 -- 65,076.00 350,000.00 Date 01-Jul-2018 -- 31-Jul-2019 30-Jun-2023 IN00737981 ►Women SHG members from poor or vulnerable households (Percentage, Custom) Baseline Actual (Previous) Actual (Current) End Target Value 0.00 -- 72.00 60.00 Date 01-Jul-2018 -- 31-Jul-2019 30-Jun-2023 The current value comes from the pilot round calculation of the percentages for the first set of newly formed SHGs done by social organizers but needs to be spot checked for accuracy against the Citizens' Comments: Charter Well-Being Analysis (WBA) Economic empowerment of poor rural women in selected communities IN00734451 ►Beneficiaries reached with financial services (Number, Corporate) Baseline Actual (Previous) Actual (Current) End Target Value 56,128.00 70,056.00 99,743.00 450,000.00 Date 01-Jul-2018 31-Jan-2019 31-Jul-2019 30-Jun-2023 The actual values are retained at baseline level until the first ISM in February 2019 when updated results Comments: indicator numbers will be available. IN00734452 ►Percentage of women EGs/PAs showing increase in real value of sales (Percentage, Custom) Baseline Actual (Previous) Actual (Current) End Target 9/9/2019 Page 3 of 9 The World Bank Implementation Status & Results Report Women's Economic Empowerment Rural Development Project (P164443) Value 0.00 0.00 0.00 60.00 Date 01-Jul-2018 24-Dec-2018 24-Dec-2018 30-Jun-2023 Total value of all sales, adjusted for inflation, to be measured annually for women EGs and PAs. This indicator will measure the year-on-year change in the value of total sales for each EG and PA. The numerator is the number of women EGs/PAs showing any increase in annual sales from the previous Comments: year. Newly formed EGs will be excluded from the calculation in the year of their formation (because their sales were zero in previous year). Since the project hasn't reached the stage of EG creation this indicator hasn't been updated yet. Intermediate Results Indicators by Components Community Mobilization and Institution Development IN00734457 ►Share of household from selected communities with at least one women in a Self-Help Group (SHG) (Percentage, Custom) Baseline Actual (Previous) Actual (Current) End Target Value 0.00 0.00 0.00 70.00 Date 01-Jul-2018 24-Dec-2018 31-Jul-2019 30-Jun-2023 The percentage of total women in each project community who join a self-help group, averaged across all project communities. Denominator is the number of adult women aged 18 to 55 residing in project community. Baseline value not available. NOTE - THIS INDICATOR WILL BE REVISED FROM BEING CALCULATED AT "INDIVIDUAL" LEVEL (AS ORIGINALLY PRESENTED IN THE PROJECT APPRAISAL DOCUMENT) TO "HOUSEHOLD" LEVEL.The reason for this a nuanced analysis of CDC wise data of all adult women received from CCAP of 76 selected districts reveals that going by that principles, targets on SHGs, VSLAs etc. will almost get doubled (from 40000 SHGs to 97000 SHGs), which is neither technically desirable nor feasible with the existing allocated resources for the project. Further, applying the 70% population target would likely Comments: require multiple women from the same family to be part of an SHG which would bias their functioning. Therefore, it has been agreed with MRRD that instead of 70% of all adult women, “70% of the total households” need to be covered under female SHGs. This would ‘in-principle’ be the revised project target and this will be formally revised in the project results framework at the time of the mid-term review (MTR) (currently scheduled for December 2020) or any restructuring that is done prior to that. The project will continue to proceed with the social mobilization accordingly and the indicator will be updated based on the Household definition. Updated data on this is not yet available, but will be ready by the next ISR. IN00734459 ►Eligible Women's SHGs federated into village-level primary federations i.e. VSLAs (Percentage, Custom) Baseline Actual (Previous) Actual (Current) End Target Value 5.00 5.00 8.00 80.00 Date 01-Jul-2018 24-Dec-2018 31-Jul-2019 30-Jun-2023 This indicator measures the proportion of women SHGs that have become eligible and have joined VSLAs. The baseline value is based on 2057 women SGs federated into VSLAs under AREDP. The Comments: denominator is 45000 (target number of SHGs under WEE-RDP). IN00734463 ►Women SHGs engaged in social activities apart from savings (Percentage, Custom) 9/9/2019 Page 4 of 9 The World Bank Implementation Status & Results Report Women's Economic Empowerment Rural Development Project (P164443) Baseline Actual (Previous) Actual (Current) End Target Value 0.00 0.00 0.00 70.00 Date 01-Jul-2018 24-Dec-2018 31-Jul-2019 30-Jun-2023 This indicator measures the non-financial activities of women SHGs. A list of eligible social activities will be developed and tracked by the project, including social gatherings, community service, etc. Comments: Data on this is not yet available. Access to Finance and Linkages with Fiancial Institutions IN00734455 ►Net aggregate savings mobilized (Amount(USD), Custom) Baseline Actual (Previous) Actual (Current) End Target Value 5,257,039.09 5,748,848.76 6,271,665.00 15,000,000.00 Date 01-Jul-2018 31-Jan-2019 31-Jul-2019 30-Jun-2023 This is defined as the net aggregate position of savings contributed by active and standby SHG members Comments: to SHGs, as of a certain date. Baseline value is based on total savings mobilized under AREDP. IN00734458 ►Number of SHGs that have received a grant (Number, Custom) Baseline Actual (Previous) Actual (Current) End Target Value 0.00 0.00 0.00 36,000.00 Date 01-Jul-2018 24-Dec-2018 31-Jul-2019 30-Jun-2023 This is the number of male and female SHGs formed under WEE-RDP that have received a seed capital grant. If one tranche is received, the group is counted. Existing SHGs formed under AREDP will not receive a grant. The end target is based on 90% of the 40,000 newly formed SHGs receiving a grant. Comments: No SHGs have yet reached the maturity level to receive grants yet. The first round of seed grant transfers are expected by early Sept 2019 after which this indicator will be updated. IN00734461 ►Number of VSLAs that have received a grant (Number, Custom) Baseline Actual (Previous) Actual (Current) End Target Value 0.00 0.00 0.00 4,500.00 Date 01-Jul-2018 24-Dec-2018 31-Jul-2019 30-Jun-2023 This indicator measures the number of VSLAs formed under WEE-RDP that have received a seed grant. If at least one tranche of the grant is received, the VSLA is counted. Existing VSLAs formed under AREDP do not count toward this indicator. The target is based on 90% of the 5000 WEE-RDP VSLAs receiving a Comments: grant. VSLA grants will be provided once the disbursement condition of the project is lifted and VSLAs have met the eligibility/maturity criteria. IN00734464 ►Number of women SHG/VSLA members taking a loan (Number, Custom) Baseline Actual (Previous) Actual (Current) End Target Value 22,571.00 23,704.00 26,888.00 150,000.00 9/9/2019 Page 5 of 9 The World Bank Implementation Status & Results Report Women's Economic Empowerment Rural Development Project (P164443) Date 01-Jul-2018 31-Jan-2019 31-Jul-2019 30-Sep-2023 This indicator measures the number of SHG or VSLA members that have taken an individual loan. Baseline value is the number of women AREDP beneficiaries who took a loan at the time of survey. This Comments: cannot be confirmed now and is therefore zero. It will be updated at the next ISM. IN00734466 ►VSLAs achieving operational self-sufficiency of 100% (Percentage, Custom) Baseline Actual (Previous) Actual (Current) End Target Value 0.00 0.00 0.00 30.00 Date 01-Jul-2018 24-Dec-2018 31-Jul-2019 30-Jun-2023 Operational Self Sufficiency of 100% measures how well the VSLA covers its direct costs through internally generated income. Baseline not available. Comments: No VSLAs are at this stage yet. IN00734468 ►VSLAs with Portfolio at risk (PAR) under 5% (Percentage, Custom) Baseline Actual (Previous) Actual (Current) End Target Value 0.00 0.00 0.00 30.00 Date 01-Jul-2018 24-Dec-2018 31-Jul-2019 30-Jun-2023 Portfolio at risk (PAR) of <5% measures the health of the portfolio after applying industry standards of asset classification and provisioning regulations. This indicator measures the proportion of VSLAs under Comments: the project with a PAR of under 5% at the time of assessment. Baseline not available. Reporting on this indicator has not yet begun. IN00734470 ►Female first-time users of formal financial services (Number, Custom) Baseline Actual (Previous) Actual (Current) End Target Value 0.00 0.00 72.00 30,000.00 Date 01-Jul-2018 24-Dec-2018 31-Jul-2019 30-Jun-2023 Number of women beneficiaries who open an account with a formal financial institution either through their VSLA or individually, plus the number of women beneficiaries who receive a loan from a formal financial Comments: institution either through their EG or individually. Current value is for those members of the 25 first VSLAs who have opened a Bank account. Enterprise Development and Market Linkages IN00734456 ►Beneficiaries of job-focused interventions (Number, Corporate) Baseline Actual (Previous) Actual (Current) End Target Value 5,455.00 5,455.00 5,455.00 30,000.00 Date 01-Jul-2018 24-Dec-2018 31-Jul-2019 30-Jun-2023 Since no new EGs or PAs have so far been formed under the project the value of this indicator remains Comments: same as baseline. IN00734460 9/9/2019 Page 6 of 9 The World Bank Implementation Status & Results Report Women's Economic Empowerment Rural Development Project (P164443) Beneficiaries of job-focused interventions - Female (Number, Corporate Supplement) Baseline Actual (Previous) Actual (Current) End Target Value 3,864.00 3,864.00 3,864.00 25,000.00 IN00734462 ►Women supported by the project engaging in income-generating activity (Text, Custom) Baseline Actual (Previous) Actual (Current) End Target The initial results for this indicator based on member profile data are are showing very high rates of female economic activity as The project became compared to the TBD (to be an agreed effective Oct.23, 2018 Value TBD national data (e.g. %point increase from and it is still early to from the Afghanistan baseline) provide the data on this. Living Conditions Survey). Therefore, the baseline, end target, and actual values of this are still not reported. Date 01-Jul-2018 24-Dec-2018 31-Jul-2019 30-Jun-2023 This indicator measures the proportion of female project beneficiaries who are engaged in any income- generating activity. It will capture a wide range of productive activities, including own-farm or livestock Comments: work, contributing work in a family business, informal self-employment, and formal wage or self employment. The baseline figure will be measured in the first year of the project using the member profile. It will be subsequently measured in periodic surveys on a sample basis. IN00734465 ►EGs/PAs having established business partnership and linkages with private sector firms/SMEs (Percentage, Custom) Baseline Actual (Previous) Actual (Current) End Target Value 4.00 0.00 4.00 30.00 Date 01-Jul-2018 24-Dec-2018 31-Jul-2019 30-Jun-2023 This indicator measures the proportion of EGs/PAs that have established at least one business partnership or private sector linkage. Examples include forward contracts or advance purchase Comments: agreements with public or private sector entities. As no EG/PA has been formed yet value is still same as baseline. Project Management IN00734467 ►Grievances raised in the Grievance Redressal Mechanism that are addressed (Percentage, Custom) Baseline Actual (Previous) Actual (Current) End Target Value 0.00 96.00 97.00 80.00 Date 01-Jul-2018 31-Jan-2019 31-Jul-2019 30-Jun-2023 IN00734469 ►Number of Project Staff trained in various aspects of project management (Number, Custom) 9/9/2019 Page 7 of 9 The World Bank Implementation Status & Results Report Women's Economic Empowerment Rural Development Project (P164443) Baseline Actual (Previous) Actual (Current) End Target Value 0.00 6.00 8.00 200.00 Date 01-Jul-2018 31-Jan-2019 31-Jul-2019 30-Jun-2023 The project team will define the areas in which project staff will get trained. Staff members who receive multiple trainings will only be counted once. Comments: At the time of the ISM - 6 Program staff received international training of SHG while 2 others received FM and Procurement training. Overall Comments IR Overall progress on results indicators is good. It will improve further once FPs are on board and full implementation roll in all target districts begins and when the project reaches the stage of formation of EGs and PAs. Data on Financial Performance Disbursements (by loan) Project Loan/Credit/TF Status Currency Original Revised Cancelled Disbursed Undisbursed % Disbursed P164443 IDA-D3840 Effective USD 25.00 25.00 0.00 0.92 24.00 3.7% P164443 TF-A8443 Effective USD 75.00 75.00 0.00 3.02 71.98 4% Key Dates (by loan) Project Loan/Credit/TF Status Approval Date Signing Date Effectiveness Date Orig. Closing Date Rev. Closing Date P164443 IDA-D3840 Effective 28-Sep-2018 23-Oct-2018 23-Oct-2018 30-Jun-2023 30-Jun-2023 P164443 TF-A8443 Effective 02-Sep-2018 23-Oct-2018 23-Oct-2018 30-Jun-2023 30-Jun-2023 Cumulative Disbursements 9/9/2019 Page 8 of 9 The World Bank Implementation Status & Results Report Women's Economic Empowerment Rural Development Project (P164443) Restructuring History There has been no restructuring to date. Related Project(s) There are no related projects. 9/9/2019 Page 9 of 9