Community and Local Development in Western Côte d'Ivoire

pipeline

Although Cote d’Ivoire has emerged as one of west Africa’s leading economies and an important pillar of regional stability, endogenous and external fragility dynamics as well as historic vulnerabilities in its western regions are putting renewed stress on the country.The western regions, particularly in the Montagnes district which are home to 40 % of the nations poor, remain exposed to fragility, conflict and violence risks (irregular migration, climate change, and resource conflicts) that require urgent attention.The project seeks to improve social and economic resilience of communities in Cote d’Ivoire’s Montagnes District by targeting the following three pathways for improvement: (i) economic resources, through local investments into resilient livelihood opportunities; (ii) institutions, through local investments in public infrastructure for basic services; and (iii) social cohesion, through addressing underlying tensions between conflicting groups and strengthening the capacity of local governments to coordinate and support local development.The proposed Project is fully aligned with the World Bank Group Country Partnership Framework for Cote d’Ivoire 2023-2027. It is consistent with Cote d'Ivoire’s latest Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC, 2022) and Biennial update reports (BUR, 2024) and the World Bank’s Country Climate and Development Report for Cote d'Ivoire (CCDR, 2023). The new operation will contribute to Cote d’Ivoire’s climate commitment by financing community level climate resilient investments and building the capacity of local stakeholders in adapting to and mitigating climate change impact. In addition, the project responds to recommendations made in the 2025 Risk and Resilience Assessment. The project intends to build on the approach of the Gulf of Guinea Northern Regions Social Cohesion project (P175043), contextualizing it to the specific risks and needs of Montagnes District in Western Cote d’Ivoire. It proposes to improve the socio-economic resilience of communities in targeted areas by (i) financing local investments and income generating activities, identified and implemented with communities through a Community and Local Development (CLD) approach that prioritizes climate resilience and ensures the participation of women, youth, and other marginalized groups; (ii) supporting socio-economic development at the communal/sub-prefectural level to ensure investments made a the local level are linked to broader socio-economic development planning at the communal level and; (iii) generating knowledge and assessing ways to institutionalize a more coordinated and sustainable CLD approach in Cote d’Ivoire.The project is structured around the following components: (i) Resilient and inclusive local development at the community level ; (ii) Socio-economic development at the communal/sub-prefectural level; (iii) Knowledge Generation and Institutional Strengthening and (iv) Project Management and Coordination.