Village Investment Project

closed

Closed

The overarching aim of the project is to contribute to the alleviation of rural poverty. It seeks to achieve this by pursuing three specific objectives: (a) improving governance and capacity at the local level; (b) strengthening the provision of, and access to, essential infrastructure services; and (c) supporting private small-scale group enterprise development. It does this at the grassroots level, by supporting income and employment generating investments in village infrastructure and in group-managed small and medium enterprises, and by helping communities and local authorities work together to achieve key development objectives at the local level. This approach is firmly in line with the country's policy of devolution of responsibilities. The project has the following three components: Component 1) will support local capacity building and promotes community empowerment and will, thus, directly support the Government's decentralization program. Focusing on three key groups members of participating communities and community-based organizations (CBOs), local self-government officials, and partner NGOs - it promotes capacity building in social mobilization, strategic planning, micro-project implementation, and good governance. Component 2) will support a facility and mechanisms for delivering financial and technical support for community-based initiatives around which villagers and local authorities will collaborate in an ongoing process of strategic planning, investment selection, and micro-project implementation. Eligible and participating communities will receive community grants to implement their agreed and approved community investment plans. Component 3) will support overall project management by the Community Development and Investment Agency (Agentstvo Razvitiya i Investirovaniya Soobschestv -- ARIS). The agency will not have a large cadre of technical staff. Instead, funding is provided to contract local technical expertise as needed to screen micro-project proposals for their technical and financial soundness and to facilitate and monitor their implementation.

FY17 - Public Administration

World Bank Group

Project

Commercial, Government