Additional Financing to Togo for the Gulf of Guinea Northern Regions Social Cohesion Project

active

Prospective

The additional project financing seeks to scale-up the delivery of socio-economic infrastructure and services in support of the promotion of the medium- and long-term resilience of refugees and host communities affected by conflict and displacement. The parent project, COSO was approved on March 31, 2022, as a regional project targeting the northern regions of the Gulf of Guinea countries, namely Benin, Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, and Togo. The project development objective (PDO) is to improve regional collaboration and the socioeconomic and climate resilience of border-zone communities in the target northern regions of the Gulf of Guinea countries exposed to conflict and climate risks. For COSO in Togo, the Financing Agreement for US$60 million in IDA resources was signed on April 13, 2022, and the project became effective on June 17, 2022. The project is structured around 5 components. Component 1, on Investing in Community Resiliency and Inclusion, promotes a community-driven approach to development through a mix of complementary socioeconomic investments centered around the most vulnerable identified village clusters. Component 2, on Building Foundation and Capacity for Inclusive and Resilient Communities, finances various training and capacity-building activities that can build the capacity of local stakeholders to support or manage community-resilient and inclusive investments. Component 3, on Regional Coordination Platform and Dialogue, established a regional coordination platform through data collection and analysis, knowledge generation, and dialogue building to inform joint regional responses to shared FCV risks. Component 4 is about project management, and component 5 provides a contingent emergency funding mechanism that could be triggered in the event of a natural or man-made disaster and/or health crisis. As the crisis in the Sahel deepens with increased violence and attacks by armed terrorist groups fueling greater cross-border and internal displacement and growing insecurity in the region, coupled with Togo’s endogenous fragility factors, the COSO project is being called upon to respond with a scale up of its coverage activities, with a focus on the areas impacted by displacement. Under the additional financing, the project’s core focus will remain unchanged, directing its activities to areas with refugee populations, and adapting its implementation mechanisms to ensure the inclusion of refugee and host communities in mobilization processes. The participatory process for identifying priority local investments will be amended to ensure the adequate participation of displaced populations. Strategies for investing in local economic development will be informed by the livelihood needs of refugee populations and hosts. Capacity building activities will be guided by recent evidence on effective approaches to promote positive attitudes towards displaced communities. This additional financing will enable COSO to make a significant contribution to the government’s Emergency Program for the Strengthening of Community Resilience and Security (PURS) and is strongly aligned with Togo’s Country Partnership Framework aimed at strengthening governance and consolidating peace to promote environmental sustainability and resilience. While the project components will largely remain the same, the additional financing will introduce new activities under each component and scale up existing activities to focus on supporting refugee populations and their host communities. In Component 1, Investing in Community Resilience and Inclusion, there will be an expansion of investments in basic infrastructure and services focused on refugee populations and host communities needs and priorities through an integrated approach to further support social cohesion. In Component 2, Building foundation and capacity for inclusive and resilient communities, activities will be adjusted to ensure effective participatory mechanisms and facilitation activities for refugees and reinforce social cohesion between refugee and host populations. In Component 3, Regional Coordination Platform and Dialogue, the project will continue to make strides in digital innovations, collecting data on social cohesion and strengthening the ability to do so through the CDD App. Collaborations with local research partners will be developed to set up a mechanism for systematic data analysis, including a research agenda on the challenges that refugee and host communities face, informing recommendations for policy and sector reforms.

FY17 - Social Protection

World Bank

Project

Commercial, Government, Residential, Automotive