Multinational - Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) COVID-19 Response - CRF

The project is relates to an ADF-15 grant of UA 10 million and TSF-Pillar III grant of UA 10 million to the African Union to finance the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) COVID-19 Response Project. The COVID-19 pandemic will reverse Africa’ robust growth trajectory over the last decade. As a direct result of the economic recession, social gains achieved over the past decades risk being eroded. The Bank Group’s support to Africa CDC through the Regional Public Good (RPG) and the Transition Support Facility (TSF) resources is substantiated by the need to increase the scale, effectiveness and responsiveness to the current pandemic at national, regional and continental levels as well as to enhance the capacity of member countries to deal with future health emergencies. As an institution of the AU, the Africa CDC has the mandate to strengthen regional and country capacities to detect, respond to, and mitigate the health and economic impacts of COVID-19, while also building long-term capacity to manage future pandemics and outbreaks. The intervention is critical to prevent, address and mitigate the complex, multidimensional and dynamic drivers of fragility as well as their regional spill-over risks. The operation was appraised in May 2020 following a request from the Africa Union Commission (AUC) and the design followed the Bank's COVID-19 Rapid Response Facility (CRF) approved by the Boards of Directors in April 2020. It complements other COVID-19 response support that the Bank is providing through Regional Economic Communities (RECs) and directly to countries as Crisis Response Budget Support (CRBS). Given the need to reinforce the capacity of Africa CDC beyond the COVID-19 response, the project will be implemented in the form of a Regional Public Good (RPG) covering capacity building and technical assistance over a period of thirty-six (36) months starting in August 2020, covering three components with activities implemented at continental and institutional levels. The grant resources will be ring-fenced to support only the needs of ADF eligible countries to execute their COVID-19 Response plans.