The World Bank Accelerating Impacts of CGIAR Climate Research for Africa Additional Financing (P181150) Project Information Document (PID) Appraisal Stage | Date Prepared/Updated: 08-Jan-2024 | Report No: PIDA36889 Dec 06, 2023 Page 1 of 7 The World Bank Accelerating Impacts of CGIAR Climate Research for Africa Additional Financing (P181150) BASIC INFORMATION OPS_TABLE_BASIC_DATA A. Basic Project Data Country Project ID Project Name Parent Project ID (if any) Western and Central Africa P181150 Accelerating Impacts of P173398 CGIAR Climate Research for Africa Additional Financing Parent Project Name Region Estimated Appraisal Date Estimated Board Date Accelerating Impacts of CGIAR WESTERN AND CENTRAL 22-Jan-2024 05-Mar-2024 Climate Research for Africa AFRICA (AICCRA) Practice Area (Lead) Financing Instrument Borrower(s) Implementing Agency Agriculture and Food Investment Project International Center for Financing Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) Proposed Development Objective(s) Parent The Project Development Objective is to strengthen the capacity of targeted CCAFS (CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security) partners and stakeholders, and to enhance access to climate information services and validated climate-smart agriculture technologies in IDA-eligible countries in Africa. Proposed Development Objective(s) Additional Financing The Project Development Objective is to strengthen the capacity of governments, regional organizations, farmers and other (relevant) stakeholders and enhance access to—and use of—climate information services and validated climate- smart agriculture technologies in IDA- eligible countries in Africa Components Knowledge Generation and Sharing Strengthening Partnerships for Delivery Validating Climate-Smart Agriculture Innovations through Piloting Project Management PROJECT FINANCING DATA (US$, Millions) SUMMARY -NewFin1 Total Project Cost 40.00 Total Financing 40.00 Dec 06, 2023 Page 2 of 7 The World Bank Accelerating Impacts of CGIAR Climate Research for Africa Additional Financing (P181150) of which IBRD/IDA 40.00 Financing Gap 0.00 DETAILS -NewFinEnh1 World Bank Group Financing International Development Association (IDA) 40.00 IDA Grant 40.00 Environmental and Social Risk Classification Moderate B. Introduction and Context Context 1. Agriculture is and will continue being of utmost importance in Africa due to its significant impact on food security, economic development, and poverty reduction. Yet performance of the sector continues to be sub-optimal. For example, partly due to limited production and productivity, the number of people in need of food and nutritional assistance on the continent has risen from around 53.2 million in 2019 to over 100 million people in 2023. In West Africa alone, during the lean season of June-August 2023, about 42.5 million people were estimated to be in food crisis or emergency (i.e., Integrated Food Security Phase Classification 3+). Climate change has now emerged as a serious threat to crop productivity in many countries in the region that are already food insecure thus exerting additional pressures on food security. Significant climate change- induced productivity losses are projected across Africa, hitting West Africa the most and affecting the most important crops for smallholders. Climate change it is projected, will reduce crop yields by 8 percent on average for all of Africa by 2050, including reductions of 11 to 15 percent on average for West, Central and Southern Africa. The impact is projected to be highest in maize, millet, sorghum, and wheat, which are key food security crops in many countries. Climate change will also affect productivity in Africa’s livestock sector. Depending on the location and prevailing production systems, water scarcity will lower the productivity of pastures, reduce yields of milk and meat, and increase the incidence of diseases. 2. Addressing these climate change-induced challenges and strengthening the resilience of African agriculture will depend critically on the ability of governments and their partners to scale-up actions to improve climate adaptation of Africa’s food systems. Key among these actions will be the generation of appropriate technologies and innovations - as public goods - and facilitating their adoption across relevant segments of agriculture value chains. The proposed project will finance the innovation, generation, validation, and use of climate-smart agriculture and climate information services by relevant stakeholders in sub-Saharan Africa. Dec 06, 2023 Page 3 of 7 The World Bank Accelerating Impacts of CGIAR Climate Research for Africa Additional Financing (P181150) C. Proposed Development Objective(s) Original PDO The Project Development Objective is to strengthen the capacity of targeted CGIAR partners and stakeholders, and to enhance access to climate information services and validated climate-smart agriculture technologies in IDA-eligible countries in Africa. Current PDO The Project Development Objective is “to strengthen the capacity of governments, regional organizations, farmers and other (relevant) stakeholders and enhance access to—and use of—climate information services and validated climate-smart agriculture technologies in IDA- eligible countries in Africa�. Key Results 4. Key expected results include: (i) partners and stakeholders in the project area increasingly accessing enhanced climate information services and/or validated climate-smart agriculture indicators; (ii) beneficiaries in the project area are increasingly accessing enhanced climate information services and/or validated climate-smart agriculture technologies; and (iii) beneficiaries in the project area are using enhanced climate information services and/or validated climate-smart agriculture technologies. D. Project Description 5. The proposed investment is additional financing (AF) to the Accelerating Impacts of CGIAR Climate Research for Africa (AICCRA) project. The AF will finance the scaling-up of parent project activities as well the establishment of a Regional Hub for Fertilizer and Soil Health in West Africa as a mechanism to improve long-term soil health and climate resilience in the subregion. The project is organized around the following components: - Component 1: Knowledge Generation and Sharing (US$13.2 million). This component supports generation and sharing of knowledge products and tools designed to address critical gaps in the design and provision of agricultural climate services, enables climate-informed investment planning, and contributes to the design of policies to promote uptake of CSA practices at the regional, sub-regional and national levels. Under this component, the project will focus on gender- responsive climate agro-climatic services and based on requests from national partners and key stakeholders, on just-in-time policy-relevant knowledge products, and tailoring of knowledge products and tools, including those that can help national governments and other stakeholders track adaptation progress related to CSA/CIS implementation. It will also support the West Africa Fertilizers and Soil-Health Roadmap1 through establishment of a Regional Hub for Fertilizers and 1 In 2023, ECOWAS member countries, endorsed the “Fertilizers and Soil-Health Roadmap for West Africa and the Sahel: Investing in the Future by Nourishing the Soil� to guide soil health. One of the actions of the road map calls for implementation and coordination of subregional programs for the continuous monitoring of soil fertility and soil health with national and regional research bodies through the establishment of a regional hub. Dec 06, 2023 Page 4 of 7 The World Bank Accelerating Impacts of CGIAR Climate Research for Africa Additional Financing (P181150) Soil Health as a mechanism to strengthen soil health monitoring, research and other related services necessary to build the long-term resilience of soils in West Africa. - Component 2: Strengthening Partnerships for Delivery (US$11 million). Support under this component will go towards strengthening the capacities of key regional and national institutions in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) along the research-to-development continuum for anticipating climate effects and accelerating identification, prioritization, and uptake of best-bet adaptive measures. The project will scale-up activities of the parent project and place greater emphasis on: (i) technical assistance and capacity building to existing partners, especially key regional institutions; (ii) strengthening established data platforms, particularly with relevant CIS and CSA decision support tools; (iii) promoting use of information in decision making; (iv) training-of- trainer approaches (with support to downstream training efforts); (v) supporting curriculum development in CIS and CSA within university, research and extension networks; vi) building partner capacity in gender- and socially-inclusive approaches; and vii) supporting regional organizations around soil health and fertility agenda. - Component 3: Validating Climate-Smart Agriculture Innovations through Piloting (US$12 million). Under this component, the project supports testing and validation of CSA technologies in research stations and in farmers’ fields; linking of validated CSA technology packages to technology transfer systems; and improving access by farmers and other value chain actors to climate-informed agricultural advisory services to inform decision-making about choice of technology and enterprise management. Under this component, the AF will: (i) place a stronger focus on combined CSA/CIS bundles, (ii) further accelerate the validation of technologies, (iii) promote access and use of gender-smart CSA/CIS bundles, (iv) increase cataloging of validated CSA/CIS bundles at the continental scale, (v) place an increased focus on developing and implementing scaling strategies to go beyond validating and piloting the interventions (vi) place additional focus on informing public and private policy and investment decisions, and (vii) decrease focus on developing CSA investment plans. In line with the revised PDO, significant effort will go towards facilitating the use of CSA and CIS by the ultimate beneficiaries. - Component 4: Project Management (US$3.8 million). This component will support the day-to- day implementation, coordination, supervision and overall communication and management (including, procurement, financial management (FM), monitoring and evaluation (M&E), carrying out of audits and reporting) of project activities. . Legal Operational Policies Triggered? No Projects on International Waterways OP 7.50 No Projects in Disputed Areas OP 7.60 Summary of Assessment of Environmental and Social Risks and Impacts . Dec 06, 2023 Page 5 of 7 The World Bank Accelerating Impacts of CGIAR Climate Research for Africa Additional Financing (P181150) 6. The World Bank Environmental and Social Framework (ESF) is applicable to the project and its AF. The environmental and social risks and impacts continue to be moderate. Key risks are related to waste management, pest management, resource use (including water, soil, energy), Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) and labor issues. The project will continue to exclude all high-risk activities that involve land acquisition, impose restrictions on land use and lead to involuntary resettlement, or adversely affect biodiversity conservation, sustainable management of living resources and cultural heritage. If fact, the project will continue to follow an exclusion list of activities that cannot be financed under the project (e.g. activities involving genetically modified organisms, economic and physical displacement, adverse impacts on biodiversity and cultural heritage, unsustainable practices that may introduce invasive alien species, etc.). The project will be implemented mainly in established agricultural research stations. 7. Environmental and social issues have been managed in a highly satisfactory manner under the parent project. The same implementation arrangements will continue under the AF, with updated instruments: Environment and Social Risk Management (ESRM) Guide, Labor Management Procedures (LMP), and Stakeholder Engagement Plans (SEP) prepared for the parent project have been updated. E. Implementation Institutional and Implementation Arrangements 15. Institutional Arrangements: CIAT will be the borrower, but all operations of the project will shift to operate out of CIAT’s legally incorporated office in Kenya. In addition to the central office in Kenya, the other focus countries will host in-country offices of smaller-scale. Primary centers receiving support through Project Partnership Agreements include: (i) Africa Rice Center (AfricaRice); (ii) International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA); (iii) International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI); and (iv) and International Water Management Institute (IWMI). . CONTACT POINT World Bank Katie Kennedy Freeman Senior Agriculture Economist Borrower/Client/Recipient International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) Juan Lucas Restrepo Director General j.l.restrepo@cgiar.org Implementing Agencies Dec 06, 2023 Page 6 of 7 The World Bank Accelerating Impacts of CGIAR Climate Research for Africa Additional Financing (P181150) FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT The World Bank 1818 H Street, NW Washington, D.C. 20433 Telephone: (202) 473-1000 Web: http://www.worldbank.org/projects APPROVAL Task Team Leader(s): Katie Kennedy Freeman Approved By Practice Manager/Manager: Country Director: Boutheina Guermazi 08-Jan-2024 Dec 06, 2023 Page 7 of 7