North Macedonia Emergency COVID-19 Response Project

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This Project Appraisal Document (PAD) describes the emergency response to North Macedonia under the coronavirus disease (COVID-19). The COVID-19 Strategic Preparedness and Response Program (SPRP) using the Multiphase Programmatic Approach (MPA), was approved by the World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors on April 2, 2020 (PCBASIC0219761) with an overall Program financing envelope of up to US $6.00 billion.The project has three components: (1) Emergency COVID-19 Response; (2) Household Support to Enable Social Distancing; and (3) Project Implementation, Communications, Community Engagement, and Monitoring.Component 1 - This component would provide immediate support to the Republic of North Macedonia to limit the local transmission of COVID-19 through containment strategies. It would support enhancement of case detection capacities through the provision of technical expertise, laboratory equipment and systems to ensure prompt case finding and contact tracing, consistent with WHO guidelines in the Strategic Response Plan. It would enable North Macedonia to mobilize surge response capacity through financing the salaries of trained and well-equipped frontline health workers who were not envisioned in the state budget. Support will also be provided for limited renovations if needed to operationalize additional ICU beds, and for medical waste management and disposal systems. It is important to note that the operational and financial landscape of the response is subject to rapid change; therefore, the planned interventions will be continually assessed against ongoing and emerging needs and adjustments will be made as required to best support the country in achieving the best outcomes. Component 2 - This component will finance temporary income support to eligible individuals and households to enable them to comply with the social distancing measures the government has introduced to contain the COVID-19 pandemic. The component will finance the provision of temporary social assistance support through: (a) the financing of cash transfers to vulnerable households adversely affected by the economic consequences of COVID-19; and (b) the provision of food and basic supplies to quarantined populations and COVID-19 affected households. Additionally, it will finance the temporary unemployment insurance support through the provision of a cash benefit for those who have lost their jobs due to the crisis. Component 3 - This component will support the administrative and human resources needed to implement the project and monitor and evaluate progress. It will finance staff, consultant costs, and operating costs associated with project implementation, coordination and management, including support for procurement, financial management, environmental and social safeguards, outreach activities, communication campaigns, monitoring and evaluation, reporting and stakeholder engagement; information system maintenance; operating and administrative costs; technical assistance to strengthen the Project’s emergency response (e.g. development of testing, treatment, referral and discharge protocols, streamlining of the EA procedures); and longer-term capacity-building for pandemic response and preparedness. This component will also finance performance audits focusing on key project activities, which will be carried out by an external auditor under terms of reference acceptable to the Bank. This component will support the development of communication, outreach, and awareness-building campaigns to ensure that culturally relevant information is disseminated to properly sensitize citizens to the risks related to COVID-19 and to inform them about the cash and in-kind benefits financed under the project. Information will be disseminated through various accessible channels (e.g., radio, television, internet, printed media), and will be designed to reach even vulnerable and remote populations. The communication around both types of activities (cash transfers and in-kind support) will provide an opportunity to promote appropriate hygiene and preventive health measures, as well messaging about preventing COVID-19 infection. The information-sharing activities will initially be supported by the ongoing Social Services Improvement Project (SSIP) (P162246) through outreach mechanisms that are already in place. In addition, the project will implement a feedback mechanism on the COVID-19 response (temporary cash and in-kind benefits and health activities), to ensure communities can provide just-in-time-feedback to government to ensure that investments respond to local needs and reach vulnerable groups. This will also include a community-based monitoring mechanism and a grievance redress mechanism. These mechanisms will be detailed in the Project Operational Manual. To ensure that communities are engaged while social distancing policies are being implemented, the component will support the development of an online platform for all stages of community feedback.