DRC Urban Flood Resilience Project

active

The Operation will aim to increase flood resilience and improve climate-resilient urban management in selected cities in the Democratic Republic of Congo. It will (i) strengthen DRC’s emergency preparedness and capacity to respond to floods through institutional strengthening and the establishment of a robust Disaster Risk Management (DRM) system; and (ii) address part of the recovery and reconstruction needs following the 2023-2024 floods, building resilience through Build Back Better Recovery interventions in key affected cities. The proposed project will build on ongoing engagements in DRC.The project will adopt a combination of physical and non-physical measures along the entire disaster management cycle from risk assessment, risk reduction and preparedness, to response and recovery. In addition, the quality of infrastructure will be considered to sustain expected functions of flood risk reduction infrastructures. A risk-based approach will be adopted across the flood risk management cycle to maximize the impacts of the investment and support the PDO. Component 1: Institutional Strengthening for Improved Disaster Risk Management (US$30 million equivalent). This component will support the strengthening of institutional capacity of the government to improve DRM system at the national, provincial, and selected city levels. The planned investments build on the DRM system assessment conducted through the Kin Elenda project (P171141) and the Disaster Risk Reduction Strategy developed with support from the United Nations (UN). The needs in DRC are beyond the budget for the project, as such, activities were prioritized using the Sendai Framework and following consultations with key government agencies.Component 2: Resilient Infrastructure for Selected Cities (US$150 million equivalent). This component will finance investments in physical infrastructure in the selected cities to reduce (i) stream flooding, erosion and the destructive landslides that often accompany it; and (ii) lake flooding and erosion along Lake Tanganyika. This infrastructure investment will promote the use of nature-based solutions (NBS) to build resilience to the risks of flooding, landslides, erosion, and climate change overall, which will in turn help build resilience for the local economy and livelihoods. With solid waste being a key contributor to the challenge of flooding, solid waste management interventions will also be supported. Activities will be developed in consultation with local stakeholders to be inclusive and strengthen communities’ capacity to cope with and adapt to the hazards they face. They will be informed by and implemented in parallel with those under Component 1.Component 3: Project Management (US$20 million equivalent). This component aims to support the incremental project management costs for Project Implementation Units (PIU), such as consultant costs, audit costs, implementation of the Environmental and Social Framework (ESF), Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) (including gender-disaggregated data), and impact assessments to inform future activities and investments, stakeholder engagement, communication and knowledge exchange.