The World Bank Harmonizing and Improving Statistics in West Africa (P169265) Combined Project Information Documents / Integrated Safeguards Datasheet (PID/ISDS) Appraisal Stage | Date Prepared/Updated: 20-Dec-2019 | Report No: PIDISDSA26032 Nov 12, 2019 Page 1 of 19 The World Bank Harmonizing and Improving Statistics in West Africa (P169265) BASIC INFORMATION OPS_TABLE_BASIC_DATA A. Basic Project Data Country Project ID Project Name Parent Project ID (if any) Western Africa P169265 Harmonizing and Improving Statistics in West Africa Region Estimated Appraisal Date Estimated Board Date Practice Area (Lead) AFRICA 16-Dec-2019 26-Mar-2020 Poverty and Equity Financing Instrument Borrower(s) Implementing Agency Investment Project Financing Ministry of Finance - Sierra Ghana Statistical Service, Leone, Ministry of Finance Liberia Institute of - Ghana, Ministry of Statistics and Geo- Finance & Development Information Services Planning - Liberia, Ministry (LISGIS), Statistics Sierra of Economy and Finance - Leone (Stats SL), Institut Cote d'Ivoire, Ministry of National de la Statistique Economy and Finance - et des Etudes Togo, Economic Economiques et Community of West Démographiques African States, Ministry of (INSEED), L'Institut Economy and Finance - national de la statistique Burkina Faso, Ministry of (INS), Institut National de Finance - Cabo Verde, la Statistique et de la African Union Commission Démographie (INSD), Instituto Nacional de Estatistica (INE) Proposed Development Objective(s) Strengthen the statistical systems of participating countries and regional bodies in Africa to harmonize, produce, disseminate and enhance the use of core economic and social statistics. Components Regional component: Harmonization, Data Collection, Quality Improvement, Dissemination and Use of Core Social and Economic Statistics Country-Specific Component: Improving and modernizing physical and statistical infrastructure Project Management and Monitoring and Evaluation PROJECT FINANCING DATA (US$, Millions) Nov 12, 2019 Page 2 of 19 The World Bank Harmonizing and Improving Statistics in West Africa (P169265) SUMMARY -NewFin1 Total Project Cost 350.00 Total Financing 350.00 of which IBRD/IDA 350.00 Financing Gap 0.00 DETAILS -NewFinEnh1 World Bank Group Financing International Development Association (IDA) 350.00 IDA Credit 250.00 IDA Grant 100.00 Environmental Assessment Category B-Partial Assessment Decision The review did authorize the team to appraise and negotiate Other Decision (as needed) Nov 12, 2019 Page 3 of 19 The World Bank Harmonizing and Improving Statistics in West Africa (P169265) B. Introduction and Context Country Context 1. Although Africa1 has made significant progress in the past decades, substantial challenges remain. The poverty rate declined from 54 percent in 1990 to 41 percent in 2015, but due to rapid population growth, the number of people living in poverty increased to 413 million in 2015 from 278 million in 1990 (World Bank, 2019)2. The region has struggled to improve shared prosperity. Natural disasters, conflict and displacement continue to ravage large fractions of the population. Good economic performances in many African countries are still driven by high commodity prices of oil, mineral and agriculture. Economic diversification remains a necessary condition for inclusive growth and poverty reduction, but the region faces many challenges in diversifying their economies, including low levels to infrastructure and access to energy, human capital and governance. 2. These regional trends are also seen in the seven initial countries targeted by this project. All of these countries have seen a significant decrease in poverty since 2000, but four of them have seen an increase in the number of poor. In all of these countries, poverty rates are higher in rural areas, and agriculture accounts for a significant share of GDP and a larger share of the labor force. Most of these countries rely on a few key commodities for export earnings (cotton and gold in Burkina Faso, iron and rubber in Liberia, cocoa in Cote d'Ivoire, oil, gold and cocoa Ghana, iron in Sierra Leone, and oil in Togo). Cabo Verde is heavily dependent on tourism. Sierra Leone and Liberia were hard hit by the Ebola epidemic of 2014/2015. High inflation and low growth plague both Sierra Leone and Liberia. Burkina Faso faces a challenging security situation with increasing terrorist attacks. Cote d'Ivoire is experiencing political tensions ahead of planned elections in 2020. These countries also face significant gender gaps in both social and economic dimensions; however, the nature and magnitude of gender inequality varies across countries. Gender equality in Burkina Faso, Cote d’Ivoire and Togo ranks at the bottom 10 percent of the world, according to the Global Gender Gap Indicator by the World Economic Forum (at 129th, 131st, and 134th place respectively). While other countries in this group do not perform. 3. Good data is essential to tackle the challenges facing the region in general, and the seven countries in this project in particular. Good statistics can inform policy making and enable the efficient allocation of scarce resources by governments facing numerous challenges, they are also necessary to track progress and assess the impact of different policies. Good statistics improve the transparency and accountability of policymaking, both of which are essential for good governance. Quality and harmonized statistics can also support closer regional integration, such as the adoption of a single currency by the English-speaking states of ECOWAS, as a means to tackle some of the challenges facing countries in the region. The availability of more disaggregated data will also improve the understanding of the exclusion of specific groups to support formulation of inclusive policies and development interventions. 1 Throughout this document, “Africa� refers to Sub-Saharan Africa. 2 Beegle, Kathleen and Luc Christiaensen, eds. 2019. Accelerating Poverty Reduction in Africa. Washington, DC: World Bank. Poverty in a Rising Africa (2016), Beegle et al. The World Bank Group. Nov 12, 2019 Page 4 of 19 The World Bank Harmonizing and Improving Statistics in West Africa (P169265) Sectoral and Institutional Context 4. There has been progress in the production of statistics during the last 20 years in Africa. From the early 2000s, strategic planning through National Strategies for the Development of Statistics (NSDS) has been adopted, with most African countries implementing one or more by 2015. These have helped countries improve their legal framework with new statistical laws and the status of their National Statistical Office (NSO). Since 2015, the World Bank has committed to improving the statistical capacity of low-income countries given the multiple challenges in terms of the statistics to monitor the twin goals. Initially, it targeted household surveys: supporting low income countries to conduct at least one household survey every 3-5 years. There has been significant improvement in the availability of household level data since 2015. Between 2016 and 2018, 44 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa have conducted a household survey. 5. The increase of the World Bank’s Statistical Capacity Indicator (SCI)3 confirms the overall progress in statistical capacity building in Africa, but the continent is still lagging behind other regions. The Statistical Capacity Indicator (SCI) grades all countries in the world on the quality, frequency and timeliness of core economic and social statistics. The SCI for Africa increased from 55 in 2004 to 62.4 in 2018. There have been improvements in all the three dimensions of the SCI: timeliness, public availability, and methodology. Despite the progress registered, the SCI for Africa is still the lowest among developing regions. Data deprivation, data quality, comparability over time and among countries, data accessibility and the limited use of data to inform policy are among the weaknesses of statistical systems in Africa, although there is considerable variation across countries within Africa. 6. Statistics in Africa suffers from Institutional weaknesses and inconsistency financing. The National Statistical Offices (NSOs) do not always have the autonomy needed to recruit staff, or to design their incentives. The administrative and technical coordination of the NSOs might be inadequate or even nonexistent. Financing mechanisms of NSOs are unreliable and inadequate in many African countries, leading to infrequent data collection and inadequate human resources. While all these institutional issues are different among countries, they largely explain weak performances. The Africa Union made a similar diagnostic on statistics for the region. The institution pointed out: i) institutional weaknesses, including low level of political support for statistics, low priority and inadequate funding for statistics, inadequate human resources, inadequate coordination, and insufficient use of data for policy and decision-making; ii) organizational weaknesses, namely inability to produce adequate data, poor knowledge management, data quality problems, unsatisfactory data management, data analysis and reporting, poor information dissemination and access; and iii) inability to produce data for emerging issues like HIV/AIDS, environment and climate change, gender and more recently, the food and financial crises. 7. The continent has recently pushed effort to harmonize and benchmark country statistics through the African Union’s Strategy for Harmonization of Statistics in Africa (SHaSA2) 2017-2026. This is a continent-wide initiative, adopted by the African Heads of State, which aims to address the constraints facing the African Statistical Systems identified above and promote the regional integration agenda. SHaSA2 is anchored in four strategic themes: (1) production of better-quality statistics through harmonization of statistical standards and methods (2) strengthening cooperation among institutions within the African statistical system, establishing effective coordination mechanisms, and setting statistical priorities to support the integration agenda (3) building sustainable institutional capacity through the reform of national statistical systems and establishing an effective technological environment for dissemination and use of data (4) promoting a culture of quality decision making. 8. The time to harmonize and benchmark statistics in Africa on a regional basis is also ripe within the World Bank. With Bank support, eight West African members of WAEMU have worked together to harmonize their surveys since 2016, including questionnaires and poverty methodologies. The first round of surveys has been completed now. As part of Nov 12, 2019 Page 5 of 19 The World Bank Harmonizing and Improving Statistics in West Africa (P169265) the World Bank's commitment to improving the statistical capacity of low-income countries it has been developing a guidebook based on a researched standards and field-tested best practices to implement, improve, and modernize nationally-representative multi-topic household surveys for welfare and poverty monitoring. The good results achieved in household surveys suggest expanding harmonizing to other areas of statistics and the Bank has designed the D4P initiative. 9. The list of data that is key for policy making and in need of harmonization can become long quickly, but a core set of economic, social and administrative statistics has been identified after reviewing the type of data required for monitoring the National Development Plans, the SDGs, as well as the legal frameworks from NSOs to coordinate the national statistical systems. The Bank has designed such core set of statistics the “Data for Policy Package - D4P�. The D4P package is aligned with the SHaSA2 initiative in that it aims to help countries produce key data for policy making, but also better-quality statistics through harmonization and use of international standards. The D4P package aims at improving five core statistical systems: (1) household-based surveys (and support to population censuses), (2) firm- based surveys (and support to establishment censuses and a sufficiently complete and maintained establishment register), (3) agricultural data, (4) price data, and (5) administrative data (with a focus on health, education, and environmental sustainability). This package also contemplates two complementary systems of data: National Accounts, and Big data. The D4P package will help countries identify vulnerable groups and improve the availability of sex- disaggregated statistics towards more targeted interventions. Data from household-based surveys can be used to obtain sex and disability disaggregated and individual level information on: (i) physical and financial assets: (ii) employment/labor markets outcomes: and (iii) (selected) human capital indicators, in line with the WBG gender strategy. An effort will also be made to scale up disability data collection, guided by global standards and best practices, such as using the Washington Group’s Short Set of Questions on Disability, which is key to align with the World Bank ten commitments made on 2018 around disability inclusion. 10. The regional project will start with seven countries (Burkina Faso, Cabo Verde, Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Togo), but is expected to be scaled-up as many more have expressed interest to join in the future. The regional project will use a modular approach to introduce the D4P package; each country will introduce statistical products according to its national priorities and capacity of absorption and the interventions of other donors, avoiding overburdening low-capacity NSOs or overlapping efforts. The project's timeline will consider sequencing needs and have a phased roll-out such that the workload on institutions is distributed over time. A regional approach facilitates the introduction and scaling up of innovations, peer-to-peer reviewing and learning. Implementation of the regional program will be co-led by the project coordinating team at the AU Statistics Unit of the Commission for Economic Affairs at the AU, and the regional coordinating unit (RCU) located within the statistics unit of the Directorate of Macroeconomic Policy and Economic Research of ECOWAS. Under the continent wide and sub-regional coordination levels, Governments of the seven participating countries will implement country-level tasks. C. Proposed Development Objective(s) Development Objective(s) (From PAD) 3 The World Bank’s SCI is a composite score assessing a country’s statistical system based on a diagnostic framework assessing the following areas: methodology; data sources; and periodicity and timeliness. Countries are scored on 25 criteria in these areas, using publicly available information and/or country input. The overall SCI score is calculated as the average of all three areas scores on a scale of 0 to 100. Nov 12, 2019 Page 6 of 19 The World Bank Harmonizing and Improving Statistics in West Africa (P169265) 11. Strengthen the statistical systems of participating countries and regional bodies in Africa to harmonize , produce, disseminate and enhance the use of core economic and social statistics. Key Results 12. The project aims to achieve the following outcomes i) increased comparability of core statistics; ii) improved availability of quality and up-to-date core social, economic and administrative statistics; iii) Improved quality of CPI, national accounts; iv) Improved accessibility to statistics and data; and v) improved institutional readiness and capacity for data production, dissemination, and usage. D. Project Description 13. The project has three components: (1) A regional component to produce harmonized tools, collect a core set of social, economic and administrative statistics while improving their quality; disseminate and facilitate use of data collected both nationally and regionally through a regional platform, and institutional building at management level and improving human resource capacity, (2) A country-specific component to address shortcomings that are not necessarily common to all countries but that will enable NSOs to leverage regional activities, for instance, through improvement and modernization of physical and statistical infrastructure and software needs, and (3) A project management component to oversee and supervise activities 1-2. The World Bank’s support is planned for five years (2020–2024). 14. The resources from the regional IDA window will support most of the activities covered in the regional component (component 1). The national IDA allocations will finance some of the activities of the regional component and the country-specific component (component 2), mainly infrastructure and country-specific capacity building needs. Component 1: Regional component: Harmonization, Data Collection, Quality Improvement, Dissemination and Use of Core Social and Economic Statistics 15. This component will finance or provide most of the funds required for the implementation of a program of activities designed to support; (a) the production of harmonized methodologies; (b) the production of key economic and social statistics, including national accounts and price statistics; (c) training on methodological improvements and supplementary data collection to improve the quality and timeliness of core statistics produced by NSOs; and (d) data dissemination and use. Training will be provided at three levels, the regional level for strategic issues such as NSDS, these trainings will be organized in parallel with regional meetings, at the sub-regional level for harmonized methodologies and methodologies, and at the national level for specific issues such as academic. 16. Activities under this component include the following: 1.1. Monitoring of the implementation of SHaSA2 initiative by AU; support the production of harmonized methodologies by the ECOWAS Commission and improve data access at the regional level. 1.2. Household-based Surveys at the national level: the project will support the implementation of a core set of social statistics through household-based surveys - one household survey will be implemented in each country using harmonized methodologies. This subcomponent will also support Burkina Faso, Cabo Verde, Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Liberia and Togo to build a system of labor statistics by financing labor force surveys, as well as population censuses in six out of the seven countries. Cartography, data collection and analytical activities Nov 12, 2019 Page 7 of 19 The World Bank Harmonizing and Improving Statistics in West Africa (P169265) for the population censuses in all countries except Cabo Verde, where no funding is required, will be supported by the project. 1.3. Core Set of Economic Statistics at National Level using harmonized methodologies. This subcomponent of the project aims to improve the quality of enterprise statistics and agricultural statistics and to improve national accounts and allow for the adoption of the SNA 2008 standard in all countries. 1.4. Modernization of the CPI at the national level using harmonized methodologies in coordination with IMF, AFRISTAT and WAEMU. 1.5. Improvement of administrative data sources: The project will support a variety of improvements in data from administrative sources, depending on the initial conditions and the capacities in each country. Three types of activities will be implemented: i) introduction of international standards; ii) building the system of administrative statistics in the areas of education and health as a priority; iii) extending the administrative statistics to other priorities for the country. 1.6. Enhancing the use of Big data. Disruptive technologies in data collection and fieldwork monitoring are rapidly becoming more available and cost-effective. The project will work in three areas. First in all countries except Liberia and Sierra Leone, the project will support data collection (the frequency will be determined later) of rainfall, temperature, etc. at the community level. These data will be combined with household survey data to improve poverty analytical work, for example deepening our understanding of vulnerability and shocks, agricultural productivity. Second, the project will experiment with the use of high-resolution day-time satellite data and machine-learning approaches in tracking poverty between two household surveys and at possibly at lower administrative level than the region (the level where results are usually available on household surveys). This experiment will be conducted in four countries: Burkina Faso, Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana and Togo. Third, in the case of Ghana, GSS has already signed an agreement with the mobile phone companies in order to have access and utilize call record data which will be used to supplement official statistics. The call record data can also be combined with household surveys or other administrative data for analytical work. The project will also support other sources of data including the use of geospatial data 1.7. Enhanced data accessibility and dissemination. This sub-component will support improved data accessibility and dissemination, through a variety of mechanisms, including re-designing NSOs websites, creating national databases and developing applications that enable the general public to download statistics in user-friendly format in all countries. 1.8. Support institutional reforms and enhance human capital. This component will support institutional reforms in three countries (Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire and Togo). This work complements the work to be done at the regional level which will consist in evaluating the institutional environment of all the other countries. The sub- component will also support the enhancement of human capital resources through formal academic program and on-the-job trainings on statistics and advanced analytics. Component 2: Country-Specific Component: Improving and modernizing physical and statistical infrastructure 17. This component identifies activities that are specific to the seven participating countries. The activities in this component have been designed looking at the constraints and needs facing each participating country NSO, and what interventions – in physical, technological and statistical infrastructure, in human capacity, or in the legal or regulatory frameworks – will be necessary for the NSO to successfully undertake the program of activities outlined in component one. This component has following sub-components: Nov 12, 2019 Page 8 of 19 The World Bank Harmonizing and Improving Statistics in West Africa (P169265) 2.1. Burkina Faso: Modernize technological and statistical infrastructure. This sub-component will support the modernization of technological and statistical infrastructure in INSD at the headquarter and its decentralized directorates as well as the directions of statistics (DGESS) of two line ministries. 2.2. Cabo Verde: Cabo Verde–Improving ICT Data Infrastructure as well as strengthening the use of data for policy analysis. This subcomponent aims to: (i) develop and apply quality control mechanisms for administrative data, and (ii) upgrade ICT infrastructure for data exchange platforms and data access for members of the national statistical system as well as the ministry of finance and municipalities, . 2.3. Cote d’Ivoire: Support institutional reforms, modernize technological infrastructures, and improve in key statistics on specific issues. This subcomponent aims to support institutional reforms and key statistics on specific issues through: (i) human resource reforms and management framework; and (ii) physical infrastructure and equipment. 2.4. Ghana: Modernize physical and statistical infrastructure. Under this sub-component the project seeks to; i) modernize physical infrastructure and statistical infrastructure; and ii) strengthen statistical coordination and quality assurance. 2.5: Liberia - Improving Physical and Statistical infrastructure. This subcomponent aims to improve physical and statistical infrastructure within LISGIS . 2.6: Sierra Leone: Rehabilitation of Stats SL’s Physical Infrastructure. The Statistics Sierra Leone office was damaged during the war and never fully repaired; additional damage to the facility was sustained from flooding in August 2017. The project will support comprehensive renovation of the facilities, including replacing all the electrical wiring and providing systems for a smooth transition from mains power supply to back up generators, and installing a modern LAN. Combined with improved internet connectivity, this will support more efficient management of data internally and improved public dissemination of data. Essential repairs to the roof and windows will also be undertaken to provide a comfortable work environment and ensure the safe storage of IT equipment and statistical records. The project will also support the expansion of the facilities, on the existing footprint, in particular to provide space for planned internal and regional trainings and workshops. A dedicated classroom space will be constructed and equipped for ongoing trainings. The project will also provide well- equipped conference facilities to host international training workshops and conferences especially for NSOs in the Mano River Union (MRU) states of West Africa for which Stats SL will coordinate capacity building/strengthening activities. All physical works will incorporate disability designs and accessible features. 2.7. Togo: Modernizing technological, statistical and physical infrastructure. This subcomponent aims to boost the performances of the NSS through physical infrastructure and equipment. Component 3: Project Management and Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) 18. This component seeks to strengthen and develop the NSOs institutional capacity in project management, coordination, monitoring and evaluation (M&E), including preparation of all project documentation. NSOs will be the main implementing agencies (IA) of the project in each country and will be responsible for its technical management and coordination. The project management team (PMT) in each country will coordinate project activities; manage reporting and auditing activities; and ensure compliance with fiduciary policies and procedures. This component would cover costs staff related to the project and the costs related to project coordination (steering committee), operating costs and other mandatory expenses to make the project successful. The statistics unit at ECOWAS will be involved in Nov 12, 2019 Page 9 of 19 The World Bank Harmonizing and Improving Statistics in West Africa (P169265) the regional coordination. ECOWAS will support institutional strengthening activities of the NSOs, including (a) preparation of the baseline assessments of the capacity of each of the NSOs at the start of the project, (b) developing a regional training program to fill the skills gap identified, (c) building strategic knowledge partnerships with regional statistical schools that cover ECOWAS countries such as those in Cote d’Ivoire, Senegal, and Cameroon, but also extend it to other regional schools like those in Rwanda, and Tanzania, (d) developing public goods and tools of international standards that can be utilized across the countries such as statistical templates, standard national accounts and CPI tools, concepts, compendiums and definitions, (e) providing technical inputs to the capacity building and other activities under country-specific sub-projects. This component aims to strengthen the overall management and leadership skills at NSOs. A technical committee composed of members from the NSOs of each of the seven countries and the coordinating unit at ECOWAS will be formed. Coordinators for each of the NSOs will also be part of the committee. The committee will meet at least twice a year either at ECOWAS Commission or on a rotating basis in each of the countries. E. Implementation Institutional and Implementation Arrangements 19. The project will be implemented over a five-year period. Implementation of the regional program will be co- led by the project coordinating team at the AU Statistics Unit of the Commission for Economic Affairs at the AU, and the regional coordinating unit (RCU) located within the statistics unit of the Directorate of Macroeconomic Policy and Economic Research of ECOWAS. Under the continent wide and sub-regional coordination levels, Governments of the seven participating countries will implement country-level tasks. 20. In enhancing partnership to reinforce the development of statistics in Africa, the role of the project coordinating team at the AU Statistics division will primarily be to provide a convening platform for high level discussions, monitoring and reporting of the status of implementation of the Strategy for the Harmonization of Statistics in Africa (SHaSA2) at the continental level, and organize a session during the Committee of Directors Generals of National Statistics Office (CoDGs), supervising the activities at the sub-regional entities and monitoring the progress. AU will prepare an annual report on the implementation of SHaSA2 for the beneficiary countries during the implementation of the project. The project will also support the operationalization of the African Union Institute for Statistics in Africa (STATAFRIC) mandate to lead the coordination and promotion of harmonized and quality data statistics in the region. 21. The regional coordinating unit (RCU) at ECOWAS will provide a convening platform at the sub-regional level and support country NSOs by making available harmonization tools (protocols, standards and concepts) & platforms (i.e., data warehouses, communication tools), provide training activities and workshops to facilitate peer-learning & institutional cooperation and lead sub-regional data dissemination, communication and use. For these activities, RCU will be responsible for the safeguards, fiduciary management responsibilities (procurement, financial management). For the sub-regional activities under Component 1, RCU will carry out monitoring and reporting, and provide relevant technical assistance to country implementation units as deemed necessary, including support for trainings on leadership for the DGs and their assistants, knowledge management, dissemination, communication and use of data as well as for all other cross-cutting activities leading to necessary Nov 12, 2019 Page 10 of 19 The World Bank Harmonizing and Improving Statistics in West Africa (P169265) regional alignment/harmonization. RCU will have fiduciary responsibilities for activities under Subcomponent 1.1 only. The PIU’s of each of the seven participating countries will be responsible for the rest of the activities under component 1 and RCU will coordinate at the sub-regional level. 22. In each country, implementation and supervision will be carried out by a national PIU within the seven country NSOs which has already experience working with the Bank supported projects. The following country-specific arrangements will be put in place: 23. Burkina Faso: the coordination of the project in Burkina Faso will be under the responsibility of the Coordinator of the Budget Program Economic Management at the Ministry of Economy, Finance and Development. The technical implementation of the project falls under the responsibility of INSD. To ensure successful implementation, the project will cover operating management costs for the preparation of annual work plans and budgets, project monitoring and evaluation, preparation of progress reports, and all fiduciary responsibilities. 24. Cabo Verde: there will be two implementing agencies of the project in Cabo Verde. One part will be implemented by INE while another will be implemented by the Direcão Nacional de Planeamento (DNP) of the Ministry of Finance. INE is in charge of the coordination of the National Statistical System (NSS) and the institute is led by a President. The DNP is in charge of national planning, monitoring and evaluation. A Project Coordinator will be either hired externally or appointed by the President of INE in collaboration with DNP. Fiduciary aspects will be handled by the Unidade de Gestão de Projetos Especiais (UGPE) in the Ministry of Finance of Cabo Verde. UGPE who will hire one extra procurement/ financial management specialist co-financed with other WB projects. 25. Cote d’Ivoire: INS will be the implementation agency of the project in Cote d’Ivoire. The institute is in charge of the coordination of the National Statistical System (NSS). INS is led by a Director General (DG). A project Coordinator will be either hired externally or appointed by the Director general. The Director General of INS will be fiduciary responsible of the project. A steering committee involving INS and the other department in charge of the project will be set up. The Committee will be responsible for approval of annual work plans and budgets for project activities, and evaluation of progress. 26. Ghana: GSS will be the implementing agency and the Coordination and Program Management Directorate (CPMD) will be responsible for coordinating all project activities of beneficiary agencies, including financial and procurement management. The implementation arrangement in Ghana will follow a similar setup to a previous Bank supported statistics project. The oversight and governance of the project will be led by the project Steering Committee (SC), and the project Technical Committee tasked with reviewing the progress, address any critical issues, prepare and review the project work programs, budgets, procurement plans, financial, and M&E reports. Membership of the TC would be technical representatives from GSS and participating ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs). 27. Liberia: LISGIS as the official provider of statistics in Liberia will be the main beneficiary of the project and the implementing agency. LISGIS management headed by the Director General will oversee the Project Nov 12, 2019 Page 11 of 19 The World Bank Harmonizing and Improving Statistics in West Africa (P169265) Implementation Team (PIT) who are composed of a project coordinator, assistant project coordinator, M&E specialist, Procurement Office and Finance Officer. The PIT will periodically provide written updates to LISGIS management of ongoing and planned project activities based on the Annual Work Plan (AWP) and Results Framework. Following the fiduciary assessments particularly on procurement, LISGIS’s capacity to implement the project and reporting will benefit from intensive implementation support to guide LISGIS. The mitigating measures include: (1) the management of the fiduciary services by the PFMU, and (2) the audit of the project. Therefore, the same arrangement as the previous MDTF project will be applied, where the financial management will be carried out by the Project Financial Management Unit at the Ministry of Finance, and the Procurement undertaken by LISGIS headed by the Procurement Director. 28. Sierra Leone: Stats SL will be the implementing Agency for the project in Sierra Leone and will coordinate with other Government Agencies and line ministers for its design and implementation. Fiduciary management will be provided by the MoFED, under the Project Financial Management Unit (PFMU). PFMU will coordinate the day to day activities and the management of reporting and auditing responsibilities. It will also be responsible for the compliance with World Bank procurement, disbursement, and financial management policies and procedures. A good working relationship between PFMU and SSL has been established with the SLIHS project. 29. Togo: INSEED will be the implementation agency of the project in Togo. The institute is in charge of the coordination of the National Statistical System (NSS) and the secretariat of the National Board of Statistics. INSEED is led by a Director General (DG). The DG oversees four central and technical Departments. To promote transparency and coordination within INSEED, a Committee of Directors, comprising of the Director General and the four departmental Directors, will oversee project implementation. This Committee is responsible for planning of activities, approval of implementation plans and budgets for project activities, and evaluation of progress and results. The DG assumes ultimate fiduciary responsibility. A “Project Coordinator� supports the Committee, serving the role of secretary to the Committee of Directors and actively monitoring whether the agreed procedures are implemented and followed. Once activities are approved by the Committee of Directors, a designated director will oversee its implementation on a day to day basis. . F. Project location and Salient physical characteristics relevant to the safeguard analysis (if known) The environmental impacts are limited in scope and can be managed through the implementation of environmental management plans. Potential impacts associated with demolitions, construction, resource utilization, health and safety of workers and community are envisaged to be temporary and limited only to the area of influence. G. Environmental and Social Safeguards Specialists on the Team Fisseha Tessema Abissa, Environmental Specialist Gloria Malia Mahama, Social Specialist Nov 12, 2019 Page 12 of 19 The World Bank Harmonizing and Improving Statistics in West Africa (P169265) SAFEGUARD POLICIES THAT MIGHT APPLY Safeguard Policies Triggered? Explanation (Optional) The policy is triggered because the project activities will involve civil works for the rehabilitation and expansion of the Sierra Leone Statistics office complex. The potential activities include the demolition of walls to pave way for expansion works, installation of water and sanitation facilities, replacement of windows and doors, doors and roofing, foundation works for building extension. Risks associated with these activities include health and safety of communities and workers, sources of borrow material, transportation risks, air water and soil pollution, waste disposal of demolished sections Environmental Assessment OP/BP 4.01 Yes amongst others. The impacts associated with these activities are expected to be moderate and limited in scope. The impacts can be managed through environmental assessment and the implementation of environmental management plans. The team has identified the structure to be renovated and the initial designs of the building are also available hence the team has started the preparation of the Environmental Social and Health Impact Assessment (ESHIA). The ESHIA will be prepared and disclosed both in country and on the Bank website prior to the appraisal of the project. Performance Standards for Private Sector There is no private sector funding involved in the No Activities OP/BP 4.03 project financing . Natural Habitats OP/BP 4.04 No The project activities do not involve Natural habitats Forests OP/BP 4.36 No Project activities do not involve forests The project activities do not involve pest Pest Management OP 4.09 No management The project activities include physical works and excavation. The ESHIA will include a chance find Physical Cultural Resources OP/BP 4.11 Yes procedure which will be applied should any items of cultural significance be uncovered during project implementation. The project activities do not involve indigenous Indigenous Peoples OP/BP 4.10 No people Nov 12, 2019 Page 13 of 19 The World Bank Harmonizing and Improving Statistics in West Africa (P169265) Project activities will include physical rehabilitation of the national statistical offices in the 3 countries. These are expected to be limited to the existing buildings with no impacts on land acquisition or Involuntary Resettlement OP/BP 4.12 No physical displacement. The team will however undertake due diligence during preparation to ensure that, project vicinity is free from any occupation including “squatters� whose livelihood could be temporarily restricted. Safety of Dams OP/BP 4.37 No The project activities do not involve Dams Projects on International Waterways The project activities will not take place No OP/BP 7.50 international water ways. The project activities will not occur in disputed Projects in Disputed Areas OP/BP 7.60 No areas. KEY SAFEGUARD POLICY ISSUES AND THEIR MANAGEMENT A. Summary of Key Safeguard Issues 1. Describe any safeguard issues and impacts associated with the proposed project. Identify and describe any potential large scale, significant and/or irreversible impacts: The project in Sierra Leone will involve civil works for the rehabilitation and expansion of the Sierra Leone Statistics office complex. The potential activities include the demolition of walls to pave way for expansion works, installation of water and sanitation facilities, replacement of windows and doors, doors and roofing, foundation works for building extension. Risks associated with these activities include health and safety of communities and workers, sources of borrow material, transportation risks, air water and soil pollution, waste disposal of demolished sections amongst others. 2. Describe any potential indirect and/or long term impacts due to anticipated future activities in the project area: The impacts associated with these activities are expected to be moderate and limited in scope. 3. Describe any project alternatives (if relevant) considered to help avoid or minimize adverse impacts. The impacts can be managed through environmental assessment and the implementation of environmental management plans. 4. Describe measures taken by the borrower to address safeguard policy issues. Provide an assessment of borrower capacity to plan and implement the measures described. The team has identified the structure to be renovated and the initial designs of the building are also available hence the team has started the preparation of the Environmental Social and Health Impact Assessment (ESHIA). The ESHIA will be prepared and disclosed both in country and on the Bank website prior to the appraisal of the project. 5. Identify the key stakeholders and describe the mechanisms for consultation and disclosure on safeguard policies, with an emphasis on potentially affected people. Nov 12, 2019 Page 14 of 19 The World Bank Harmonizing and Improving Statistics in West Africa (P169265) B. Disclosure Requirements OPS_EA_DISCLOSURE_TABLE Environmental Assessment/Audit/Management Plan/Other For category A projects, date of Date of receipt by the Bank Date of submission for disclosure distributing the Executive Summary of the EA to the Executive Directors 30-Oct-2019 05-Dec-2019 "In country" Disclosure Sierra Leone 05-Dec-2019 Comments C. Compliance Monitoring Indicators at the Corporate Level (to be filled in when the ISDS is finalized by the project decision meeting) OPS_EA_COMP_TABLE OP/BP/GP 4.01 - Environment Assessment Does the project require a stand-alone EA (including EMP) report? No OPS_ PCR_COM P_TABLE OP/BP 4.11 - Physical Cultural Resources Does the EA include adequate measures related to cultural property? Yes Does the credit/loan incorporate mechanisms to mitigate the potential adverse impacts on cultural property? Yes OPS_ PDI_ COMP_TAB LE The World Bank Policy on Disclosure of Information Have relevant safeguard policies documents been sent to the World Bank for disclosure? Have relevant documents been disclosed in-country in a public place in a form and language that are understandable and accessible to project-affected groups and local NGOs? Nov 12, 2019 Page 15 of 19 The World Bank Harmonizing and Improving Statistics in West Africa (P169265) All Safeguard Policies Have satisfactory calendar, budget and clear institutional responsibilities been prepared for the implementation of measures related to safeguard policies? Have costs related to safeguard policy measures been included in the project cost? Does the Monitoring and Evaluation system of the project include the monitoring of safeguard impacts and measures related to safeguard policies? Have satisfactory implementation arrangements been agreed with the borrower and the same been adequately reflected in the project legal documents? CONTACT POINT World Bank Prospere R. Backiny-Yetna Senior Economist/Statistician Alejandro De la Fuente Senior Economist Ayago Esmubancha Wambile Economist/Statistician Franck M. Adoho Senior Economist Borrower/Client/Recipient Ministry of Finance - Sierra Leone Ministry of Finance - Ghana Nov 12, 2019 Page 16 of 19 The World Bank Harmonizing and Improving Statistics in West Africa (P169265) Ministry of Finance & Development Planning - Liberia Ministry of Economy and Finance - Cote d'Ivoire Ministry of Economy and Finance - Togo Economic Community of West African States Ministry of Economy and Finance - Burkina Faso Ministry of Finance - Cabo Verde African Union Commission Implementing Agencies Ghana Statistical Service Prof. Samuel Kobina Annim Government Statistician samuel.annim@statsghana.gov.gh Liberia Institute of Statistics and Geo-Information Services (LISGIS) Prof. Francis Wreh Nov 12, 2019 Page 17 of 19 The World Bank Harmonizing and Improving Statistics in West Africa (P169265) Director General ffwreh25@gmail.com Statistics Sierra Leone (Stats SL) Prof. Osman Sankoh Director General osman.sankoh@statistics.sl Institut National de la Statistique et des Etudes Economiques et Démographiques (INSEED) Mr. Koame Kouassi Director General kokoame@yahoo.fr L'Institut national de la statistique (INS) Gabriel Doffou Nguessan Director General nguessangabriel@gmail.com Institut National de la Statistique et de la Démographie (INSD) Boureima Ouedraogo Director General boureimaoued@gmail.com Instituto Nacional de Estatistica (INE) Osvaldo Borges Presidente borges.osvaldo@ine.gov.cv FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT The World Bank 1818 H Street, NW Washington, D.C. 20433 Telephone: (202) 473-1000 Web: http://www.worldbank.org/projects APPROVAL Prospere R. Backiny-Yetna Task Team Leader(s): Alejandro De la Fuente Ayago Esmubancha Wambile Nov 12, 2019 Page 18 of 19 The World Bank Harmonizing and Improving Statistics in West Africa (P169265) Franck M. Adoho Approved By Safeguards Advisor: Practice Manager/Manager: Pierella Paci 16-Dec-2019 Country Director: Vijay Pillai 20-Dec-2019 Nov 12, 2019 Page 19 of 19