Additional Financing to the Nicaragua Eta and Iota Emergency Response Project

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The proposed Additional Financing aims to scale up the Project's impact by allocating additional funds under component 2 (Livelihood Recovery) of the Parent Project, adding subcomponent (2.2 -New activities): Agri-food Local Innovation Development Plans for Enhancing Food and Nutrition Security (US$15 million). Activities will focus on the Caribbean coast region of Nicaragua which includes some of the areas heavily affected by hurricanes Eta,Iota and Julia that caused extensive damage to agricultural production in the same areas,. The Project area has been defined as those areas suffering from the compound impacts of the hurricanes in the North Caribbean Autonomous Region (Region Autonoma de la Costa Caribe Norte - RACCN) and South Caribbean Autonomous Region (Region Autonoma de la Costa Caribe Sur - RACCS) as defined in the Project Operations Manual (POM). With the AF, the Project has three components:Component 1: Recovery, rehabilitation, and resilient reconstruction (US$69 million) Subcomponent 1.1: Emergency disaster recovery (US$1.6 million) Under this subcomponent the Project supports response to damages caused by hurricane Julia in 2022 and future similar events (as per the latest restructuring). Activities supported under the subcomponent include, among others, minor repair works, provision of construction materials, and technical assistance to affected communities.Subcomponent 1.2: Rehabilitation and reconstruction of selected critical infrastructure (US$30 million)During disasters, the continued operation of critical public infrastructure is key to efficient response and recovery. A significant number of roads, bridges, and public buildings were heavily damaged and/or destroyed after the passage of Eta and Iota. This subcomponent is financing the rehabilitation and reconstruction of selected critical infrastructure, including (a) conducting any necessary engineering assessments for these works; (b) supporting demolition and debris removal, as applicable; (c) taking measures to restore critical services and use of selected critical Infrastructure, as needed; and (d) preparing the technical specifications and acquiring the necessary equipment to resume the provision of critical public services. The Project will support investments that (a) maximize climate co-benefits; and (b) are resistant to climate-induced events such as floods, storm surges, and landslides by using design standards that increase asset resilience to higher hazard intensity levels (including the enforcing of building code legislation or updating its provisions, when necessary). Where relevant, selected investments will include appropriate energy efficiency measures. Detailed climate-resilient and inclusive design criteria are included in the POM.Subcomponent 1.3: Rehabilitation and reconstruction of selected resilient housing and community-level social infrastructure (US$37.4 million)The resilient recovery of housing and community-level social infrastructure for those affected by the hurricanes is a priority-need for the affected populations. This subcomponent is financing the rehabilitation and reconstruction of selected housing units and community-level social infrastructure in the Project area to make them safer and culturally appropriate, including, inter alia: (a) conducting required engineering assessments and designs; (b) supporting demolition and debris removal; and (c) taking measures to restore critical services and usage of said selected structures. Housing reconstruction will consider the specific and various needs of the population, traditional designs, the application of construction standards, and current and future safety conditions. It will draw on experiences from the recovery and reconstruction process after hurricane Felix. The works under this subcomponent will be complemented by functional upgrades and climate-resistant designs, including energy efficiency features where relevant, enforcing building code legislation to increase the resilience of the housing to climate-related risks.Component 2: Livelihood recovery (US$24.25 million)The AF will add to Component 2 a new subcomponent on Agri-food LIDPs after which Component 2 will consist of the following two subcomponents:(Subcomponent 2.1: Local Innovation Development Plans for Livelihood Recovery in the Artisanal Fishing Sector (US$10 million already being implemented by the parent Project). Currently under implementation, it focuses on restoring the livelihoods in the subsistence artisanal fishing sector by providing fishing equipment, supplies and training. Beneficiaries are selected based on existing LIDPs that were designed for informal and formal groups of small-scale fishermen to benefit from the GAFSP-funded PAIPSAN Project (2015-2019) and other criteria as detailed in the Project Operational Manual (POM). Beneficiaries are prioritized based on participatory approaches with affected populations as described in the parent Project’s Environmental and Social (E&S) instruments.Subcomponent 2.2 (New): Agri-food Local Innovation Development Plans for Enhancing Food and Nutrition Security (US$14.25 million from the AF Project). This is the main additional activity of the AF, and will enhance the productive and marketing capacities of family farmers (subsistence agriculture; commercial agriculture) and small-scale rural agribusiness by (a) providing technical assistance (consultancy services, goods, training, non-consultancy services, operational costs) to support the participatory (demand-driven) identification and design of climate and nutrition-smart agri-food LIDPs; and (b) grants to finance their implementation (goods, consultancy services, non-consultancy services, small works, training, and operational costs) alongside the beneficiaries. The agri-food LIDPs will support formal and informal groups of beneficiaries (i.e., cooperatives, producers' associations, farmers groups, women farmer groups, small-scale young agri-entrepreneurs, indigenous communities, afro descendants) to achieve improvements and innovations in production and processing and consolidate market opportunities. The grants will range approximately between US$1,250 and US$2,000 per beneficiary, while the beneficiaries will contribute with in-kind counterpart funding.Component 3: Monitoring, evaluation, and audit of the Project (US$1.75 million)The AF will be used to add an amount of US$0.75 million to track the new indicators introduced by the AF Project and expand the audit to also cover the AF Project. Scaling up of ongoing activities will include (a) expanding the audit of the Project; and (b) expanding the monitoring and evaluation (M&E) activities of the Project, including, inter alia, the development of baselines as needed to measure project results, a final evaluation of the Project, rapid impact assessments, technical audits, and independent inspections.