The World Bank Additional Financing for CAR Human Capital Project (P181574) Project Information Document (PID) Appraisal Stage | Date Prepared/Updated: 09-Feb-2024 | Report No: PIDA37125 Jan 12, 2024 Page 1 of 10 The World Bank Additional Financing for CAR Human Capital Project (P181574) BASIC INFORMATION OPS_TABLE_BASIC_DATA A. Basic Project Data Country Project ID Project Name Parent Project ID (if any) Central African Republic P181574 Human Capital and P171158 Women's and Girls' Empowerment (Maïngo) Project Additional Financing Parent Project Name Region Estimated Appraisal Date Estimated Board Date Central African Republic Human WESTERN AND CENTRAL 31-Jan-2024 18-Mar-2024 Capital and Women and Girls' AFRICA Empowerment (Maïngo) Project Practice Area (Lead) Financing Instrument Borrower(s) Implementing Agency Health, Nutrition & Population Investment Project Central African Republic Ministry of Financing Economy,Planning and Cooperation"(Ministere de l’Economie,du Plan et de la Cooperation)", Ministry of Finance and Budget Proposed Development Objective(s) Parent To enhance access to essential health services, education and employment opportunities that empower women and adolescent girls in targeted areas of the Central African Republic. Components Establishing Safe Spaces and Clubs to deliver integrated community-based programs. Increase access to systems that improve health, education and employment opportunities of women and girls. National capacity building, communication campaigns to empower women and girls and project management Contingent Emergency Response Component Payment of salaries and wages of social sector civil servants PROJECT FINANCING DATA (US$, Millions) SUMMARY -NewFin1 Total Project Cost 30.00 Total Financing 30.00 Jan 12, 2024 Page 2 of 10 The World Bank Additional Financing for CAR Human Capital Project (P181574) of which IBRD/IDA 30.00 Financing Gap 0.00 DETAILS -NewFinEnh1 World Bank Group Financing International Development Association (IDA) 30.00 IDA Grant 30.00 Environmental and Social Risk Classification High Other Decision (as needed) B. Introduction and Context Country Context 1. The Central African Republic (CAR) with a population of more than six million is one of the most fragile countries and one of the poorest countries in the world. In 2022, it ranked 188th out of 191 countries in Human development (HDI). However, the country faces multiple challenges that render it difficult to realize its potential, leaving 71.4 percent (in 2022) of its population in poverty (US$1.90 per day in terms of purchasing power parity (PPP)). Political instability and insecurity have remained the main obstacles acting as a barrier to development. Sectoral and Institutional Context 2. Empowering women and girls and building human capital in CAR will require coordination and effective planning across nearly all sectors. It will require expanding access to essential services for human development. As outlined in CAR’s Country Partnership Framework (CPF) for 2021 -2025 (Report No. 150618-CF), full multisectoral involvement of transportation and roads, social development, energy, water, and sanitation, telecommunications, and digital monitoring, in addition to key sectors for human development, is necessary to make investments that facilitate human capital formation. The proposed project aims to improve national planning and coordination within these sectors. The project will finance activities in the health, education, employment, and social protection sectors. 3. The government requested in April 2023 that the World Bank finance the salaries and wages of the civil servants working in social sector ministries for approximately 18 months, to support ongoing reforms and alleviate the effects of external shocks on CAR’s public finances. Jan 12, 2024 Page 3 of 10 The World Bank Additional Financing for CAR Human Capital Project (P181574) C. Proposed Development Objective(s) Original PDO 4. To enhance access to essential health services, education and employment opportunities that empower women and adolescent girls in targeted areas of the Central African Republic. Current PDO 5. The PDO remain the same. Key Results 6. The purpose of this additional financing (AF) to Maïngo, an IDA grant of US$30 million, is to replenish the amount allocated to the emergency financing support to protect the provision of essential social services. The reallocated US$30 million for emergency salary support is expected to be fully disbursed by end FY24. Therefore, in order for the Project to attain its full objectives, this AF is needed to fill the gap. The changes include revisions to: (a) components and costs; and (b) disbursement estimates. Replenishment of the reallocated funds will ensure that the originally intended PDO remain uncompromised. 7. The AF will allow Maïngo to pursue its contribution to the empowerment of women and girls, a key driver of human capital formation for CAR. The Project will support the community-based activities: establishing safe spaces and clubs for young women and young men, improving access to systems that improve health, education and employment opportunities of women and girls. D. Project Description 8. The project Components are described below: (a) Component 1: Establishing Safe Spaces and Clubs to deliver integrated community-based program (US$22 million). This component aims to: (i) increase access to integrated community- based programs that promote women’s and girls’ empowerment; (ii) generate demand for essential health services; (iii) change social norms within communities that are prohibitive to women’s and girls’ empowerment, with a particular focus on prevention of child marriage, early pregnancy, FGM, and GBV; and (iv) build social capital within communities. This component will continue to Finance: (i) the set up and operation of safe spaces for young women (ages 10-24 years) and clubs for young men (ages 15-24 years); (ii) a range of programs for safe space and club members and their wider communities; (iii) the training, incentives, and supervision of female mentors to run safe spaces and male mentors to run clubs. (b) Component 2: Increase access to systems that improve health, education and employment opportunities of women and girls (US$21 million). This includes: (i) continue to extend health Jan 12, 2024 Page 4 of 10 The World Bank Additional Financing for CAR Human Capital Project (P181574) system access through CHW by: (a) supporting the design and roll out of the government’s Community Health Strategy in project areas; (b) generate demand for and increase access to family planning and essential health services in targeted communities; (c) strengthen referrals from communities to health facilities; and (iv) increase screening for GBV survivors and referrals for multidisciplinary GBV services (subcomponent 2.1); (ii) getting and keeping girls in the education system (subcomponent 2.2); and (iii) providing skills training and economic opportunities to out-of-school youth at VETL centers (Subcomponent 2.3). (c) Component 3: National capacity building, communication campaigns to empower women and girls and project management (US$7 million). This includes: (i) national capacity building to coordinate and plan human capital investments which aims to establish a National Human Capital Observatory to coordinate and plan across sectoral investments in human capital and build capacity of government institutions in CAR (Subcomponent 3.1); (ii) national communication campaigns for women’s and girls’ empowerment to finance a national level communication campaign that will leverage radio, newspapers, social media, and relevant platforms (Subcomponent 3.2); and (iii) project management, supervision and M&E to finance a PIU to run the day-to-day project operation (Subcomponent 3.3). (d) Component 4: Contingent Emergency Response Component (US$0). A CERC is included in the project in accordance with Investment Project Financing (IPF) Policy, paragraphs 12 and 13, for Situations of Urgent Need of Assistance and Capacity Constraints. This will allow for rapid reallocation of IDA grant uncommitted funds in the event of an eligible emergency as defined in OP 8.00. A CERC Manual will guide the activation and implementation of the CERC, and an Emergency Action Plan will be prepared to confirm activities and financing for a specific event. Only IDA funds can be reallocated to the CERC. (e) Component 5: Payment of salaries and wages of social sector civil servants (US$30 million). This supports financing the salaries and wages of civil servants currently employed or to be hired for a period of 18 months. The civil servants’ wage bill is managed by the government using the Integrated Management of the Remuneration of State Employees and Civil Servants (Gestion Integrée de la Rémunération des Agents et Fonctionnaires de l’Etat, GIRAFE) payroll system. Eligible expenditures under this sub-component are the net salaries and wages paid to civil servants on the official payroll (GIRAFE) database in the ministries of: (i) National Education (Primary and secondary); (ii) Higher Education and Research; (iii) Humanitarian Action and National Reconciliation; and (iv) Promotion of Gender and Protection of Women, Family and Child. The government has put in place a system robust enough to provide assurances that these civil servants are present at their work posts and the amounts paid to them meet all applicable rules and parameters for such workers. Payments are made based on a list of eligible civil servants provided by the government and subject to appropriate controls and verifications. . Jan 12, 2024 Page 5 of 10 The World Bank Additional Financing for CAR Human Capital Project (P181574) 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 . 9. The main environmental and social risks associated with the AF are the same as for the original financing. The payment of salaries could improve the work performance of civil servants and have a positive impact on sanitation and environmental protection services and other social basic services. Better collection and management of hospital waste through the motivation of the staff assigned to these tasks and likewise healthy working conditions in all ministerial departments benefiting from this project support. Social risk for the AF remains high as during the original financing. Key social risks including those resulting from component 5 include: i) risks of exclusion of vulnerable and marginalized groups especially in rural areas where services are not available and who may as a result be excluded as project beneficiaries (for example, among civil servants: persons with disabilities, indigenous peoples, elderly, youth, including women, minorities); (ii) the lack of transparency and accountability in the delivery of project benefits in the current difficult economic conditions could lead to a lack of trust in the services of the various ministries and a decline in the provision of social services and other public interventions; (iii) risks of sexual exploitation and abuse and sexual harassment specific to the nature of the project, which may arise from, among other things, favor-seeking by civil servants excluded; iv) Security risks for project community workers and beneficiaries given the presence of non-State armed groups across the territory and specifically in some locations remains a pertinent risk factor during AF. 10. To address potential environmental and social risks and impacts related to Additional Financing, the PIU will updated, consulted upon, and disclosed related ESF instruments before AF appraisal. These include the ESMF, SEP and project GM, GBV assessment and action plan, SRA/SMP, IPP and related GM. Further, while the AF involves the recruitment of a high number of civil servants. These workers will not be transferred to the PIU, nonetheless, the PIU has updated the LMP and strengthened the worker Grievance Mechanism to ensure appropriate measures are in place to accommodate the increased number of civil servants associated to the project through component 5. Moreover, ESS2 will not apply to the civil servants introduced through the new component, except for the provisions of paragraphs 17 to 20 (Protecting the Work Force) and paragraphs 24 to 30 (Occupational Health and Safety). Jan 12, 2024 Page 6 of 10 The World Bank Additional Financing for CAR Human Capital Project (P181574) E. Implementation Institutional and Implementation Arrangements 11. The Minister of Economy, Planning, and International Cooperation (MEPIC) is the main line ministry for the implementation of the Project. PIU is managed by General Directorate of Economic Programming (Direction Générale de la Programmation Economique) of MEPIC. A Project Technical Committee established to ensure effective technical support and communication with line ministries. It includes Directors from the ministries identified as technical leads of the project components, as well as ministries involved in project implementation. The Project Technical Committee is placed under the Project Steering Committee and also reports to the Project Coordinator. It is responsible for overseeing and providing technical inputs for specific components and making proposals for the daily operation of the project. 12. The Component 5 is implemented by the Ministry of Finance and Budget (MFB) by the PGNSP PIU (in charge of the World Bank-funded Public Sector Digital Governance Project). The staffing and costs related to this PIU is fully funded by the PGNSP Project. Seni-Plus and Maïngo Projects only finance costs related to supervision and audit of this component. Jan 12, 2024 Page 7 of 10 The World Bank Additional Financing for CAR Human Capital Project (P181574) 13. Institutional Arrangements. Ministry of Economy, Planning, and International Cooperation MEPCI General Directorate of Economic Programming Maïngo Project Steering Committee Chair: Minister of Economy, Planning, and International Cooperation First Vice President: Minister of Promotion of Gender and Protection of Women, Family and Child Second Vice President: Minister of Finance and Budget Third Vice President: Minister of Health and Population Members: Ministers of National Education; Work, Employment, Social Protection and Professional Training; Environment and Sustainable Development; Youth and Sport; Administration, Decentralization and Local Development; Small and Medium Enterprises and Promotion of the Private Sector; Humanitarian Action and National Reconciliation New Members: Ministers of Public Service and Administrative Reform and Higher Education and Scientific Research Payments Technical Committee (for payment of Technical Committee – Existing salaries and wages in social sector Ministries) Maïngo Project components Chair: MFB Chief of Staff (no changes) Deputy-chair: MFPRA Chief of Staff Implementation Unit for Component 5 Implementation Unit for Components 1-4 Coordinator of Maïngo Project Components 1-4 Coordinator of PGNSP Financial Procureme Environment M&E Financial and Procureme Environment M&E and al, Social, nt Officer Officer Administrativ nt Officer al and Social Office Administrati Security, GBV e Specialist r ve Specialists Officer Accounta Procureme Communicatio Accountant nt nt Assistant ns Officer . Jan 12, 2024 Page 8 of 10 The World Bank Additional Financing for CAR Human Capital Project (P181574) CONTACT POINT World Bank Abdoulaye Ka Senior Health Specialist Boubakar Lompo Senior Education Specialist Heriniaina Mikaela Andrianasy Senior Public Sector Specialist Borrower/Client/Recipient Central African Republic Implementing Agencies Ministry of Economy,Planning and Cooperation"(Ministere de l’Economie,du Plan et de la Cooperation)" Irene Sabendo Chargee de Mission pounebingui@yahoo.fr Ministry of Finance and Budget Ababakar Mahamat Coordonnateur PGNSP reponsabfinancier.projetagir@gmail.com 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 Jan 12, 2024 Page 9 of 10 The World Bank Additional Financing for CAR Human Capital Project (P181574) APPROVAL Abdoulaye Ka Task Team Leader(s): Boubakar Lompo Heriniaina Mikaela Andrianasy Approved By Practice Manager/Manager: Country Director: Cheick Fantamady Kante 14-Feb-2024 Jan 12, 2024 Page 10 of 10