Mali Adaptive Secondary Cities and Integrated Rural Areas

dropped

Given dynamics of real and perceived exclusion in Mali, the proposed project will focus on bringing back/maintaining a positive presence of the State through basic social services and infrastructure to areas at risk but not in the throes of open conflict. The key project principle is an integrated territorial approach building on inclusive local-level decision-making and accountability. Project interventions will be selected from validated commune-level social, economic and cultural development plans (Plans de Developpement Economique et Socio-Culturel, PDESC), which have successfully served as the basis for the selection of interventions in the Reconstruction and Economic Project (PRRE, P144442) and other operations in the Mali portfolio. Interventions packages will be adjusted for the security situation and will be sequenced with quick wins, short-term interventions to build confidence and to create space to develop medium-term interventions that require preparation (e.g. infrastructure investments). The project will focus on the Kayes, Koulikoro, Sikasso, and Segou regions. Interventions will take place in areas at risk of conflict (prevention) with low levels of services both in secondary cities and rural areas, and in areas with low to moderate conflict (consolidation) where the will be on urban and, where possible, rural spaces. Selection of target areas for the project will be based on a Prevention and Resilience Index, which combines information about security incident dynamics in the area and neighboring ones, to identify most at-risk areas. The proposed project components are as follows:Component 1: Inclusive access to basic servicesThe specific objectives of this component are to, in the short term, alleviate poverty and vulnerability in the selected areas by smoothing and increasing household consumption and preserving options for human capital; in the medium term, to increase human capital by strengthening household risk management and community and household investments in children’s and women’s health and education. Sub-component 1a: Protecting human capitalThis sub-component will focus on community detection and treatment of acute malnutrition through the provision of lipid-based nutrient supplements, basic services for gender-based violence victims, second chance education for out-of-school children and teenagers, and emergency cash transfers to support household consumption.Sub-component 1b: Investing in the foundations of human capitalThis sub-component will focus on community prevention of stunting, extension of maternal and child health services and access to contraception, GBV prevention activities, productive inclusion activities for women including community childcare with a view to both enable women to participate in income-generation activities supported by the project (self-employment, labor intensive public works)Component 2: Socio-economic infrastructure for resilient livelihoodsThe component aims to support the consolidation and expansion of basic services and accessibility in selected priority urban and rural areas. It will finance activities, selected through a consultative mechanism, including infrastructure rehabilitation, social services delivery, and economic revitalization activities. The component will support strengthening community and household resilience to climate shocks and diversifying income. Sub-component 2a: Investing in priority activities and programsBased on existing PDESCs and “Plan triennal d' investissements” (PTI), a priority investment program will be first selected. These "no regret" activities include inter alia: water supply, drainage and sanitation, transportation and mobility, energy, communications, economic infrastructure, community, leisure and recreational infrastructure and services. Sub-component 2a will also support the development and/or a thorough update of the PDESCs and PTIs, through an expans ive inclusive participatory process that includes all potential stakeholders, including vulnerable and marginalized groupsSub-component 2b: Investing in basic services delivery. Activities financed in this sub-component will derive from the priority activities identified in the updated PDSECs and PTIs and will mainly aim to; (i) amplify the impacts of the activities selected in sub-component 2a; (ii) improve people's access to basic social infrastructure; (iii) develop economic activities in the selected priority urban and rural areas. This sub-component will finance the construction / rehabilitation of educational facilities, health and community facilities, as well as their provisioning of equipment to allow their intended optimal uses, the construction of economic infrastructure; construction of leisure and recreational areas.Sub-component 2c: Investing in economic revitalizationThis sub-component aims to strengthen ongoing economic activities carried out by local communities. These activities will be subject to expressed demand by these communities to (i) revitalize current activities; (ii) expand activities or (iii) reinforce investments already made in sub-components 2a and 2b. The eligibility criteria for these activities will be defined and detailed in the project operations manual.Component 3: Project management and management of government shock response systems This component will support project management and the strengthening of government systems to respond to shocks in the project’s areas of intervention.Sub-component 3 a: Managing project activitiesThis sub-component will ensure smooth implementation of all project activities in accordance with the Bank’s policies and guidelines. It will support the borrower in the areas of project coordination, supervision, financial management (FM), procurement, monitoring and evaluation (M&E), communication, audits, and preparation and supervision of implementation of the environmental ad social standards instruments, including through the provision of training, operating costs, goods, and services for the required purpose. Project management functions will include the recruitment of Delegated Contract Management Agencies for Components 1 and 2, preparation of work plans and budgets, preparation of regular progress reports, communication and outreach, and overall oversight over project activities.Sub-component 3b: Strengthening governance, community and citizen engagement and shock monitoring This sub‐component contributes to renewing the social contract between the State and citizens through strengthening the technical and institutional capacity of local actors for better management of the infrastructures financed by the project and supporting inclusive citizen participation of different communities. This sub-component will finance the extension of inclusive basic systems that enable the government to prevent and manage shocks including community engagement mechanisms, beneficiary feed-back and grievance redress mechanisms, information and operational systems, early warning systems and M&E. Component 4: Contingent Emergency Response ComponentA CERC will be included under the project to allow for rapid reallocation of project proceeds in the event of a natural or man‐made disaster or crisis that has caused, or is likely to imminently cause, a major adverse economic and/or social impact. A specific CERC operations manual will be prepared.