Additional Financing to the Myanmar Community Support Project

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The proposed Additional Financing (AF) to Myanmar Community Support Project will support a scaling up of the original MCSP activities to allow for an increase in the project’s development effectiveness, considering the continued crisis in Myanmar and the resulting challenges and risks facing especially vulnerable populations. Specifically, the AF will support an increase in beneficiary coverage by both implementing partners (ICRC and WFP) to an additional estimated 185,900 beneficiaries. The AF would be provided as grants to the two implementing partners roughly in proportion to their current funding under the MCSP through the existing Recipient-Executed Trust Funds (RETF) that each agency currently implements. Project design, including components, activities, and implementation agencies, under the AF will remain the same as for MCSP. No new indicators will be added to the project result framework, but targets will be updated. The current Operations Manuals will also remain the same for most of the sections, but will be updated to account for the AF scale-up. The main activities are: WFP to provide cash and in-kind food support (Component 1) and specialized nutritious foods to at-risk children and pregnant and lactating women and girls (Component 2), both in Rakhine State. ICRC will continue to provide basic livelihoods support through unconditional cash transfers, cash-for-work wage transfers, and inputs to increase households’ agricultural production (Component 3), and to finance the construction of small-scale infrastructures that support access to basic services including renovation of healthcare facilities (Component 4). WFP will implement Component 1 and 2:Component 1: Protect Human Capital, will provide food transfers and/or cash-based transfers (CBTs) to populations affected by crisis. The Bank supported activities will target internally displaced people (IDPs) and other vulnerable persons in Rakhine State with cash transfers and/or a basic food basket consisting of rice, pulses, cooking oil and salt. Most of these vulnerable, food-insecure women, men, girls, boys, the elderly and persons with disabilities are reliant on WFP’s life-saving assistance given the lack of livelihood opportunities, movement restrictions and security concerns. Exact locations will be decided closer to implementation to ensure the most vulnerable are targeted. Component 2: Improve Nutrition of Vulnerable Groups: Provide specialized nutritious foods for prevention of acute malnutrition among pregnant and lactating women and adolescent girls (PLW/Gs), and children under 5. The Bank supported activities will provide at-risk children under five and PLW/Gs with specialized nutritious foods (SNFs) to prevent acute malnutrition in Rakhine state. SNFs are Fortified Blended Foods to ensure that the nutritional status of girls, boys and women is protected and improved, contributing to the reduction of morbidity, mortality and nutritional vulnerability among the most at-risk groups. WFP nutrition interventions are undertaken in collaboration with UNICEF’s prevention and treatment of acute malnutrition wherever possible. To complement the provision of SNFs, WFP will also provide cooperating partners with technical support that promotes optimal Infant and Young Child Feeding (IYCF) practices through nutrition promotion sessions and counselling to caregivers (with children 6-59 months) and PLW/Gs. Exact locations will be decided closer to implementation to ensure the most vulnerable are targeted. WFP will either directly implement Component 1 activities in Northern and Central Rakhine State, or work with and through CPs such as Save the Children, Plan International, World Vision, and others.. Component 2 will be implemented through Cooperating Partners such as Save the Children, Action Contre La Faim, and the Myanmar Health Assistant Association.ICRC will implement Component 3 and 4:Component 3: Support Sustainable Livelihoods, will support activities that facilitate medium to long-term recovery via the provision of cash grants, agricultural inputs and productive assets. • 3.1: Unconditional cash transfers: Delivery of cash grants to populations affected by conflict, violence, or natural disasters.• 3.2: Cash-for-work: labor-intensive works to construct or repair communal infrastructure such as roads, drainage or irrigation systems that would also have a positive impact on local livelihoods.• 3.3: Support to farming communities: Provision of seed for staple crops or vegetables, tools and fertilizer to farmers affected by conflict, violence or natural disaster.Component 4: Ensure Access to Basic Services, will support investments for water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) for individual families; rural community infrastructure for water, sanitation, shelter and access; and urban and peri-urban infrastructure for water, sanitation, shelter and access. • 4.1: Short-term response: Repair, upgrade or construction of essential infrastructure (water supply pipelines, water distribution points, latrines, showers, wastewater treatment, solid waste management, temporary or semi-permanent shelter, household solar power units) for displaced households.• 4.2 Community infrastructure: Repair, upgrade or construction of communal structures (water-supply systems such as ponds and other sources, water treatment or distribution systems, permanent latrines, wastewater treatment, drainage, semi-permanent and permanent shelters, solid waste management (i.e. septic tanks), roads, jetties, bridges, community halls, schools, dormitories) for displaced communities.• 4.3 Urban and peri-urban infrastructure: Repair, upgrade or construction of communal structures (water-supply systems such as ponds and other sources, water treatment or distribution systems, permanent latrines, wastewater treatment systems, drainage, semi-permanent and permanent shelters, solid waste management systems, roads, jetties, bridges, healthcare facilities, community halls, schools, dormitories) for displaced communities in urban or peri-urban areas.Most of the works under activities 4.2 and 4.3 (for shelters, wells or simple gravity-flow systems, showers/washing facilities, latrines, small road repair, small buildings, etc.) range in value from $500 to $50,000 and would generally be completed within two to three months of identification. Some works under activity 4.3, in the range of $50,000 to $150,000 in value, would take up to nine months to implement. The states and regions targeted for support are Shan, Kachin, Chin, Kayah, Kayin, and Rakhine states as well as Magway, Mandalay, and Sagaing regions, all of which have witnessed significant conflict and displacement. The project will support WFP to provide project support in Rakhine State, while ICRC will retain the flexibility to identify the specific geographic areas based on emerging needs and access. The World Bank has agreed with ICRC on the principles and processes for determining project intervention areas and targeted beneficiaries.