Multinational - Exceptional Project to support ECOWAS Low Income Members Countries and Strengthening the Health Systems of the Gambia, Mali and Niger to combat the COVID-19 Pandemic

The proposed intervention aims at providing assistance to low-income ECOWAS member countries affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and it is an appropriate response to the COVID-19 pandemic in West Africa. This is a well-defined support to regional public goods defined according to Phases I and II criteria and is considered a priority regional need by ECOWAS on account of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on its member countries. The project is based on the elements contained in the ECOWAS request to the Bank, which are themselves drawn from a regional COVID-19 response plan amounting to a total of USD 52 million. The Bank's financing will be twenty-two million three hundred and eighty-four thousand US dollars (USD 22,384,000) (UA 16.4 million). It will be implemented over a period of eighteen (18) months, through three (3) components, namely: (i) prevention of coronavirus transmission in ECOWAS countries; (ii) strengthening and integration of national and regional systems in The Gambia, Mali and Niger; and (iii) project management. This operation provides special assistance in the form of a UA 7 million grant from the ADF-14 Regional Public Goods Envelope to ECOWAS.