Multinational - Support to The Covid-19 Pandemic Crisis Response in Sao Tome and Principe

The proposed project is a grant of UA 0.5 million to finance implementation of Support to the COVID-19 Pandemic Crisis Response in Sao Tome and Principe. This is a regional project that will be implemented in the form of a Regional Public Good (RPG) over eighteen (18) months starting in June 2020 and closing in December 2021. The operation was appraised in April 2020 following a request from the SADC Secretariat on 8 April 2020 for the Fund to assist with the SADC COVID-19 pandemic crisis response. Sao Tome and Principe is included in this operation because it is part of the Southern African Region in the Bank’s regional configuration and will benefit directly through the equipment which will be procured through WHO. The project design followed the Bank Group's COVID-19 Pandemic Response Facility (CRF) and considered good practice principles on conditionality and the support that the Bank is already providing to Regional Member Countries (RMCs). Based on the current epidemiological profile of the COVID-19 outbreak and the technical knowledge base available, this ADF assistance will include the following components: (i) Strengthen SADC Beneficiary Countries and Sao Tome and Principe capacity to respond to COVID-19 Pandemic; (ii) Reinforce Regional Coordination of SADC Member States’ mitigation measures against the regional spread of COVID-19.