Socio-economic Inclusion of Refugees & Host Communities in Rwanda Project Phase II

active

Prospective

The project will support access to basic services and economic opportunity for refugees and the communities hosting them and support environmental management in the target areas in Rwanda. Activities will be organized around five components.Component 1: Access to Services and Socio-economic Investments (US$41.1 m). This will support infrastructure construction, rehabilitation and upgrading to help address the impact of the refugee presence on basic services (education - primary, secondary and TVET; health; and water and sanitation). Infrastructure investments will also support the government's policy to integrate refugees into national service delivery systems and move away from expensive, parallel camp-based systems. This component will also support economic infrastructure to promote economic activity, trade and access to markets. Component activities will be implemented in the five refugee-hosting districts (RHDs) in Rwanda - Gatsibo, Gisagara, Karongi, Kirehe and Nyamagabe - and in the transit district of Rubavu. There will be three sub-components: (i) Sub-component 1(a): Access to Basic Services ($US6.17 m). Investments will include schools, TVET centers, health facilities and water supply systems; (ii) Sub-component 1(b): Socio-economic Investments (US$30.7 m). This sub-component will finance investments to promote economic opportunity. This will include: (a) upgrading of roads connecting refugee camps to economic centers; (b) construction and/or upgrading of market facilities; and (c) construction or upgrading of Integrated Craft Production Centers (ICPCs), known in Kinyarwanda as Agakiriro, to provide opportunities for job skills and trade for refugees and hosts; and (iii) Sub-component 1(c), which will fund land acquisition and resettlement costs (US$4.23 million) related to component 1 subprojects.Component 2: Economic Opportunity & Self-reliance (US$16.25 m). The project will support host community and refugee businesses with a combination of capacity-building on financial literacy, business planning and business management and access to finance through participating financial institutions. A credit guarantee scheme will be introduced to support people without collateral. Component assistance will be available to host communities in the five RHDs and to refugees nationwide. In addition, the project will support graduation-style programming to help beneficiaries graduate from humanitarian assistance. There will be four sub-components: (i) Sub-component 2(a): Capacity-building for enterprise development (US$3.19 million); (ii) Sub-component 2(b): Access to finance for refugees and Rwandan entrepreneurs (U$5.7 million); (iii) Credit Guarantee Scheme (US$0.86 million); and (iv) Sub-component 2(d): Graduation for vulnerable groups (US$6.5 million).Component 3: Environmental Management & Climate Resilience (US$5.33 million). This component will support drainage management, and septage management in the five refugee camps and surrounding sectors to address the environmental impact of the establishment of the camps.Component 4: Project Management, M&E, Capacity-Building, Research and Learning (US$4.02 million). This component will finance the cost of project management, M&E and capacity-building for the implementing agencies.Component 5: Contingent Emergency Response Component (CERC) (US$0m). In the event of an eligible natural hazard or emergency crisis, funds may be reallocated from other components to the CERC. If activated, this component would finance rapid response measures and early recovery activities to address disaster, emergency and/or catastrophic events.The project will be implemented by the Ministry in Charge of Emergency Management (MINEMA), the Development Bank of Rwanda (BRD), the Rwanda Transport Development Agency (RTDA) and the six participating districts.The project will run from 2025 to 2030.

World Bank Group

Project

Road, Water Supply and Storage, Biomass, Commercial, Waste Processing and Treatment, Government, Education