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

dropped

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$41.1m). This will support infrastructure construction, rehabilitation and upgrading to help address the impact of the refugee presence on basic services (education - primary, secondary and TVET; health; and water and sanitation). Infrastructure investments will also support the government's policy to integrate refugees into national service delivery systems and move away from expensive, parallel camp-based systems. This component will also support economic infrastructure to promote economic activity, trade and access to markets. Component activities will be implemented in the five refugee-hosting districts (RHDs) in Rwanda - Gatsibo, Gisagara, Karongi, Kirehe and Nyamagabe - and possibly in two transit districts of Rubavu and Bugesera. There will be two sub-components: (i) Sub-component 1(a): Access to Basic Services ($US.7.8m). Investments will include schools, health facilities and water supply systems; and (ii) Sub-component 1(b): Socio-economic Investments (US$33.3m). This sub-component will finance investments to promote economic opportunity. It is envisaged that 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 TVET centers and Integrated Craft Production Centers (ICPCs), known in Kinyarwanda as Agakirio, to provide opportunities for job skills and trade for refugees and hosts. Component 2: Self-reliance for Refugees & Host Communities (US$15.4m). 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 grassroots livelihood/graduation programming to help beneficiaries graduate from humanitarian assistance. There will be three sub-components: (i) Sub-component 2(a): Capacity-building for enterprise development (US$1.5 million; (ii) Sub-component 2(b): Access to finance for refugees and Rwandan entrepreneurs (U$7.4 million); and (iii) Sub-component 2(c): Rural livelihood and self-reliance (US$6.5 million).Component 3: Environmental Management & Climate Resilience (US$4.6 million). This component will support drainage management, solid waste management and re-greening in the five refugee camps and surrounding sectors. Component 4: Project Management, M&E, Capacity-Building, Research and Learning. 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 is expected to run from 2025 to 2030.