Document of The World Bank FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY Report No: ICR00006442 IMPLEMENTATION COMPLETION AND RESULTS REPORT IDA No 6244 -CI ON AN IDA LOAN IN THE AMOUNT OF EUR 56,800,000 MILLION (US$ 70 MILLION EQUIVALENT) TO THE Republic of Cote d'Ivoire FOR THE CI: Cote d'Ivoire E-Agriculture Project June 5, 2024 Digital Development Global Practice Western And Central Africa Region CURRENCY EQUIVALENTS (Exchange Rate Effective {February 26, 2024}) West African CFA Currency Unit = franc (XOF) US$ = 604.346 XOF FISCAL YEAR July 1 - June 30 Regional Vice President: Ousmane Diagana Country Director: Marie-Chantal Uwanyiligira Regional Director: Zhenwei Qiang Practice Manager: Jana Kunicova Xavier Stephane Decoster, Jean-Philippe Tre, Gloodiey Task Team Leader(s): Rita Armelle Oulai ICR Main Contributor: Tata Dinyuy Bolivian ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS Acronym Full meaning ADERIZ L'Agence pour le Développement de la filière RIZ en Côte d'Ivoire AGEROUTE Agency for the Management of Roads. ANADER National Rural Development Agency ANSUT Universal Service National Agency ARTCI Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Côte d'Ivoire ESIA Environmental and social impact assessments CIV Cote d'Ivoire CMU Country management units CPF Country Partnership Framework ECOWAS Economic Community of West African States ESF Environmental and Social Framework ESMF The Environmental and Social Management Framework FM Financial management GDP Gross Domestic Product GRM Grievance Redress Mechanisms ICR Implementation Completion and Results Report ICT Information and Communication technologies IGF Inspectorate General of Finance IPRAVI Ivorian Interprofessional Association of Poultry IRIs Intermediate Results Indicators ISR Implementation Status Report M&E Monitoring and Evaluation MICENUP Ministry of Communication, Digital Economy, and Post MeMINADER Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development OCPV Office of Assistance for the Marketing of Food Products OPEX Operational expenditure PAD Project Appraisal Document RAP Resettlement Action Plan PCM Private Capital Mobilization PDO Project Development Objective PIU Project Implementation Unit PNIA National Plan for the Agricultural Development PPA Project Preparation Advance RF Results Framework RPF Resettlement Policy Framework SORT Systematic Operations Risk Rating Tool ToC Theory of Change TTL Task Team Leader USF Universal Service Fund TABLE OF CONTENTS DATA SHEET .......................................................................................................................... 1 I. PROJECT CONTEXT AND DEVELOPMENT OBJECTIVES ....................................................... 1 A. CONTEXT AT APPRAISAL .........................................................................................................1 II. OUTCOME ...................................................................................................................... 5 A. RELEVANCE OF PDOs ..............................................................................................................5 B. ACHIEVEMENT OF PDOs (EFFICACY) ........................................................................................6 C. EFFICIENCY .............................................................................................................................8 D. JUSTIFICATION OF OVERALL OUTCOME RATING ......................................................................9 E. OTHER OUTCOMES AND IMPACTS ...........................................................................................9 III. KEY FACTORS THAT AFFECTED IMPLEMENTATION AND OUTCOME ................................ 11 A. KEY FACTORS DURING PREPARATION ................................................................................... 11 B. KEY FACTORS DURING IMPLEMENTATION ............................................................................. 11 IV. BANK PERFORMANCE, COMPLIANCE ISSUES, AND RISK TO DEVELOPMENT OUTCOME .. 12 A. QUALITY OF MONITORING AND EVALUATION (M&E) ............................................................ 12 B. ENVIRONMENTAL, SOCIAL, AND FIDUCIARY COMPLIANCE ..................................................... 13 C. BANK PERFORMANCE ........................................................................................................... 13 D. RISK TO DEVELOPMENT OUTCOME ....................................................................................... 14 V. LESSONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS ............................................................................. 14 ANNEX 1. RESULTS FRAMEWORK AND KEY OUTPUTS ........................................................... 16 ANNEX 2. BANK LENDING AND IMPLEMENTATION SUPPORT/SUPERVISION ......................... 25 ANNEX 3. PROJECT COST BY COMPONENT ........................................................................... 28 ANNEX 4. EFFICIENCY ANALYSIS ........................................................................................... 29 ANNEX 5. BORROWER, CO-FINANCIER AND OTHER PARTNER/STAKEHOLDER COMMENTS ... 31 ANNEX 6. KEY CHANGES IN PROJECT COMPONENTS AFTER THE FIRST RESTRUCTURING ....... 32 ANNEX 7. UPDATED THEORY OF CHANGE AFTER THE FIRST RESTRUCTURING ....................... 35 The World Bank CI: Cote d'Ivoire E-Agriculture Project (P160418) DATA SHEET BASIC INFORMATION Product Information Project ID Project Name P160418 CI: Cote d'Ivoire E-Agriculture Project Country Financing Instrument Cote d'Ivoire Investment Project Financing Original EA Category Revised EA Category Partial Assessment (B) Partial Assessment (B) Organizations Borrower Implementing Agency Ministry of Finance Ministry of Communication and Digital Economy Project Development Objective (PDO) Original PDO The Project Development Objective is to increase access to digital services and leverage digital platforms to improve farm productivity and access to markets. Revised PDO The Project Development Objective is to increase access to digital services and farmer's access to markets through digital platforms and roads, and mitigate the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on the agriculture sector. The World Bank CI: Cote d'Ivoire E-Agriculture Project (P160418) FINANCING Original Amount (US$) Revised Amount (US$) Actual Disbursed (US$) World Bank Financing 70,000,000 65,069,652 56,900,757 IDA-62440 Total 70,000,000 65,069,652 56,900,757 Non-World Bank Financing 0 0 0 Total 0 0 0 Total Project Cost 70,000,000 65,069,652 56,900,757 KEY DATES Approval Effectiveness MTR Review Original Closing Actual Closing 25-May-2018 14-Nov-2018 12-Jul-2021 30-Jun-2023 31-Oct-2023 RESTRUCTURING AND/OR ADDITIONAL FINANCING Date(s) Amount Disbursed (US$M) Key Revisions 26-Apr-2021 17.24 Change in Project Development Objectives Change in Results Framework Change in Components and Cost Reallocation between Disbursement Categories Change in Institutional Arrangements Change in Implementation Schedule 23-Jun-2023 45.92 Change in Loan Closing Date(s) Cancellation of Financing 05-Oct-2023 47.76 Change in Components and Cost Cancellation of Financing Reallocation between Disbursement Categories KEY RATINGS Outcome Bank Performance M&E Quality Moderately Satisfactory Satisfactory Modest The World Bank CI: Cote d'Ivoire E-Agriculture Project (P160418) RATINGS OF PROJECT PERFORMANCE IN ISRs Actual No. Date ISR Archived DO Rating IP Rating Disbursements (US$M) 01 13-Nov-2018 Satisfactory Satisfactory 1.94 02 16-Jun-2019 Satisfactory Satisfactory 6.57 03 13-Feb-2020 Satisfactory Moderately Satisfactory 13.56 04 17-Aug-2020 Moderately Satisfactory Moderately Unsatisfactory 14.61 05 13-Apr-2021 Moderately Satisfactory Moderately Unsatisfactory 16.72 06 22-Oct-2021 Moderately Satisfactory Moderately Unsatisfactory 18.03 07 21-Apr-2022 Moderately Satisfactory Moderately Satisfactory 22.74 08 04-Nov-2022 Moderately Satisfactory Moderately Satisfactory 32.00 09 03-Mar-2023 Satisfactory Moderately Satisfactory 35.14 10 31-Oct-2023 Satisfactory Moderately Satisfactory 48.47 SECTORS AND THEMES Sectors Major Sector/Sector (%) Agriculture, Fishing and Forestry 22 Agricultural Extension, Research, and Other Support 9 Activities Public Administration - Agriculture, Fishing & Forestry 13 Information and Communications Technologies 50 ICT Infrastructure 30 ICT Services 20 Transportation 28 Rural and Inter-Urban Roads 28 The World Bank CI: Cote d'Ivoire E-Agriculture Project (P160418) Themes Major Theme/ Theme (Level 2)/ Theme (Level 3) (%) Private Sector Development 72 Public Private Partnerships 50 ICT 72 ICT Solutions 72 Human Development and Gender 11 Gender 11 Urban and Rural Development 100 Rural Development 100 Rural Markets 55 Rural Infrastructure and service delivery 82 Disaster Risk Management 33 Flood and Drought Risk Management 33 Environment and Natural Resource Management 33 Climate change 33 Adaptation 33 ADM STAFF Role At Approval At ICR Regional Vice President: Makhtar Diop Ousmane Diagana Country Director: Pierre Frank Laporte Marie-Chantal Uwanyiligira Director: Jose Luis Irigoyen Zhenwei Qiang Practice Manager: Boutheina Guermazi Jana Kunicova Xavier Stephane Decoster, Marc Jean Yves Lixi, Jean-Philippe Task Team Leader(s): Jean-Philippe Tre, Gloodiey Rita Tre Armelle Oulai ICR Contributing Author: Bolivian Dinyuy Tata The World Bank CI: Cote d'Ivoire E-Agriculture Project (P160418) I. PROJECT CONTEXT AND DEVELOPMENT OBJECTIVES A. CONTEXT AT APPRAISAL Context 1. At appraisal (2018), Cote d’Ivoire was a lower-middle income economy of 23.7 million people marked by a widening urban-rural gap, with 54 percent of the population living in urban areas. The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth rate averaged 8.2 percent between 2012—2019, with a GDP per capita in 2018 of US$ 2276, but with a high poverty rate of 57 percent (population living under the poverty line). The country faced significant infrastructure challenges with urban-rural gaps, including for internet access. Poor road networks hindered the transport of goods. Agricultural productivity was low due to high input costs, post-harvest losses, and limited modern farming techniques. 2. The Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) sector in Cote d’Ivoire was rapidly progressing thanks to several reforms put in place by the government to improve competition. Since the passing of the 2012 Telecom law1 the government – through the Ministry of digital economy2 – engaged in multiple reforms to improve the legal and regulatory framework and enhance competition. In 2018, the mobile market was (and is now still) made of three mobile operators (Orange, MTN, and Moov) with a mobile broadband penetration rate of 26.9 percent (measured by the number of unique mobile subscribers), above the regional average of 23 percent. Coverage was patchy as the regulator had identified that around half of the localities in the country were not covered by any mobile service, representing 23 percent of the total population. Mobile operators confirmed that they had reached the profitability frontier, and extending their coverage would not be sufficiently profitable. 3. The Government – through the Ministry of Communication and Digital Economy and Post (MICENUP) – expressed its willingness to accelerate the digital development of the country and support the country’s agricultural strategy, which was also financed through the West Africa Agricultural Productivity Program (WAAPP, P129565), implemented in The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) countries and supported by multiple donors. The WAAPP project contributed to the first phase of digitalizing the agricultural sector in Cote d’Ivoire. Given the strong role agriculture plays in the economy, and with the ambition to also improve the use of digital usage, the e-Agriculture Project (the “Project”) sought to improve internet coverage and adoption in the country, and to foster the use of large-scale digital platforms and adoption of sustainable digital services for e-Agriculture. The project was aligned with the FY16-19 Cote d’Ivoire Country Partnership Framework (CPF) – particularly on the agriculture and infrastructure pillars –and with the National Development Plan of Cote d’Ivoire (PND 2016-2020). Theory of Change (Results Chain) 4. The appraisal PAD did not have a Theory of Change3, but the below theory of change (ToC) has been developed for the project based on the results chain and discussions with the project team, including the assumptions. 1 Ordinance n ° 2012 293 of March 21st, 2012, on Telecommunications and Information Technologies 2 The latest official name of the Ministry in charge of digital economy is the Ministry of Digital Transformation and Digitalization (MDTD). The sector regulator is the Telecoms Regulatory Authority of Cote d’Ivoire (ARTCI). The agency in charge of the Universal Service Fund (USF) is the National Universal Service Agency (ANSUT). 3 As per OPCS guidelines, including a Theory of Change became mandatory for PADs as of May 2018. Page 1 The World Bank CI: Cote d'Ivoire E-Agriculture Project (P160418) Project Development Objectives (PDOs) 5. The original PDO of the project was “to increase access to digital services in rural communities and leverage digital platforms to improve farm productivity and access to markets.” Key Expected Outcomes and Outcome Indicators 6. At appraisal, progress towards achievement of the PDO was measured by the PDO-level indicators below: i. People provided with access to the Internet, of which people who benefitted from an improved access to internet, of which people who benefitted from a new access to internet, disaggregated by gender; ii. Farmers reached with agricultural assets or services, of which women; iii. Percentage of increase in revenues for the targeted beneficiaries; iv. Beneficiaries that feel project investments reflected their needs (%). Components 7. At appraisal, the e-Agriculture Project (the “Project”) had 3 main components as presented below4: a. Component 1 Extending digital connectivity in targeted rural and remote areas (US$31.50 million representing around 50% of the Project financing) – This component supported the improvement of the digital environment through technical assistance and capacity-building and financed the extension of digital infrastructure in rural areas through catalytic public subsidies to unlock private capital investment. 4 This does not include the fourth Component for Project Management (around US$6.5 million equivalent). Page 2 The World Bank CI: Cote d'Ivoire E-Agriculture Project (P160418) b. Component 2 Digital services for sustainable agricultural development (US$12.50 million, 20%) – This component strengthened the capacity of farmers in climate-smart production management and marketing and facilitated the creation or consolidation of farmer groups into more formal structures. It strengthened the capacities of related agricultural agencies, financed the digital platform for the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MeMINADER) and the development of local content, e‐Agriculture applications, and services, and supported the digital ecosystem. c. Component 3 Rehabilitation and maintenance of rural access roads (US$19.50 million, 30%) – This component sought to finance the technical feasibility studies, environmental and social assessments and works related to the rehabilitation of about 560km rural roads and the maintenance of 2,240km of rural roads over four years. The total distance of rural roads maintained would be about 2,800 km (560 km/year). Significant changes during implementation 8. The Project was approved on May 25, 2018, and became effective on November 14, 2018. It was restructured three times. a. The First Restructuring (effective May 31, 2021; Level-2 with RVP Decision due to change in PDO): (i) added a new “Component 5” (US$20.00 million equivalent reallocated from existing components) for COVID -19 Related Support to Farmers (this was an emergency measure requested by the Government as the country was facing serious effects due to the COVID-19 crisis); (ii) adjusted the PDO; (iii) adjusted and streamlined the existing components (see Annex 6 for details); (iv) adjusted the Project's Results Framework (RF); (v) modified implementation arrangements; and (vi) adjusted the social and environmental analysis. b. The Second Restructuring (effective June 27, 2023) extended the closing date by 4 months (from June 30, 2023, to October 31, 2023). This was the only closing date extension. No other change was introduced. c. The Third and last Restructuring (effective October 9, 2023) was for a partial cancellation of EUR4.629 million (equivalent of about US$5.0 million), bringing the total Credit amount from EUR56.800 million to EUR52.171 million. The savings were mainly from economic gains realized from activities where actual costs were below the forecasted values. No other change was introduced. Revised PDOs and Outcome Targets 9. The first restructuring changed the original PDO to: “increase access to digital services and farmers’ access to markets through digital platforms and rural roads and mitigate the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on the agriculture sector”. This also led to the revision of some PDO targets explained by: (i) the reduction of the financing envelope for dedicated Components (38% reduction for Component 1 and 26% for Component 2); (ii) the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on the ability of all stakeholders to implement activities; and (iii) additional data/surveys that were made available after the approval of the Project that indicated that initial targets may have been overestimated. End Revised target Value at Project PDO indicator Unit Baseline Target at after First closing date approval Restructuring Increase access to digital services in rural areas People provided with access to the Internet Number 5,000,000 6,000,000 5,200,000 5,221,267 → Of which Female Number 400,000 500,000 440,000 440,935 Number of people that benefitted from new access to Number 0.0 1,000,000 200,000 221,267 Internet service. Number of people that benefitted from the improved Number 0.0 1,000,000 Internet service. [removed] Leverage digital platforms to improve farm productivity and access to markets Farmers reached with agricultural assets or services Number 0.0 1,000,000 200,000 401,931 → Of which Female Number 0.0 700,000 120,000 236,902 Page 3 The World Bank CI: Cote d'Ivoire E-Agriculture Project (P160418) Beneficiaries that feel Project investments reflected % 0.0 80% 80% 91% their needs (%) Percentage increase in revenues of the targeted % 0.0 10.00 beneficiaries [removed] Revised PDOs and Outcome Targets Revised Components 10. Original Project components were reduced in scale and scope after the First Restructuring (specific details in Annex 6) to free up US$20 million equivalent5 for a new “Component 5” aimed at supporting the COVID- 19 Emergency Program to mitigate the impacts of COVID-19 on priority agricultural sectors. It consisted of: a. Sub-Component 5.1 (support to poultry sector, US$14.0 million equivalent) to provide: (a) Non-Cash Subsidies for cold rooms storage for excess poultry production, affected poultry farmers and poultry breeding farms, and poultry slaughtering; (b) farm disinfection; (c) sero-monitoring in the context of vaccination against low pathogenic avian influenza/H9N2; (d) supervision of poultry producers; (e) acquisition of disinfection equipment for processing infrastructures; and (f) Cash Subsidies for consumer price support for frozen and preserved poultry. b. Sub-Component 5.2 (support to rice/paddy sector, US$4.0 million equivalent) to: (a) acquire and distribute inputs (urea and NPK6 fertilizers); (b) improve paddy processing; and (c) improve the distribution of milled rice. c. Sub-Component 5.3 (support to staple food sector, US$2.0 million equivalent) to enhance: (i) the collection and grouping centers for food products; and (ii) the system for collecting information and data on the marketing chain for food products. Revised Intermediate Results Indicators (IRIs) 11. Several IRIs were revised after the First Restructuring to account for updates in Components - changes are provided in the table below. Several IRIs were kept as part of the original Project, but in the end the related planned activities were no longer relevant7. The indicator for Component 3 was reduced from 2,800 km of rehabilitated roads to 256 km as a result of: (i) the 45% reduction of the financing envelope for Component 3; (ii) the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on the ability of all stakeholders to implement activities; and (iii) additional data/surveys that were made available after the approval of the Project that indicated that initial targets may have been overestimated. PDO indicator Unit Baseline End Target Revised target Value at Project at approval after First closing (Oct. 31, Restructuring 2023) Component 3 ‐ Rehabilitation and maintenance of rural access roads to access production areas Roads rehabilitated Km 0.00 2,800 256.40 218.5 Roads rehabilitated ‐ rural Km 0.00 2,800 256.40 218.5 Roads maintained Km 0.00 N/A 256.40 0.0 Component 5 - Support for the COVID-19 Emergency Program in the Agriculture Sector [New] Poultry stored in cold rooms [new] Metric ton 0.00 N/A 1,400 1,282 Number of one-day old chicks distributed [new] Number 0.00 N/A 4,700,000 5,190,617 Number of poultry farms disinfected [new] Number 0.00 N/A 1,068 0.00 5 Without considering the fourth Component on project management, the weight of each Component as measured by its financial allocation was revised as follow: Component 1 decreased from 50% to 32% of the total financing, Component 2 decreased from 20% to 15%, Component 3 decreased from 30% to 18%, and the new Component 5 represented 35%. 6 NPK refers to the Nitrogen, Phosphorus, and Potassium that are the ingredients of the NPK fertilizer. 7 Three IRIs for Component 2 were no longer relevant after the restructuring: (i) Beneficiaries of job‐focused interventions, (ii) Share of women within the newly established cooperatives/producer organizations (led by women), (iii) Increase in share of women in leadership roles (among the targeted beneficiaries). Page 4 The World Bank CI: Cote d'Ivoire E-Agriculture Project (P160418) Tons of urea distributed [new] Metric ton 0.00 N/A 2,000 900 Tons of paddy collected from farmers [new] Metric ton 0.00 N/A 100,000 0.00 Tons of NPK distributed [new] Metric ton 0.00 N/A 3,000 1,350 Rationale for Changes and Their Implication on the Original Theory of Change 12. The main rationale for the changes in the First Restructuring was to support the Government of Côte d’Ivoire in mitigating the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the agriculture sector and streamline the other activities in the Project. Annex 7 shows an updated ToC based on the first Restructuring, with the main changes from the Appraisal ToC being the following: a. Activities – additional activities for Component 5 (5.1 Support to the Poultry sector; 5.2 Support to the Rice/Paddy sector and 5.3 Support to the staple food sector) b. Main changes on Outputs – Component 1: Deploy 160 mobile sites (instead of 333) and connect 175 rural areas; Component 2: Deliver agriculture assets or services to 200,000 actors in the project regions; Component 3: Rehabilitate 256.4km of rural roads; Component 5: Increase availability of chicken, paddy rice and staple foods. c. Main changes on Outcomes – The initial outcomes “Increased agricultural access or services by farmers” and “Increased revenues for the beneficiaries” were replaced by “Increased farmers’ access to markets through digital platforms”, “Increased farmers’ to markets through rural roads” and “Mitigate the impact of Covid-19 on the agricultural sector.” II. OUTCOME A. RELEVANCE OF PDOs Assessment of Relevance of PDOs and Rating 13. The relevance of the PDO is rated as High. 14. The Project was aligned with the national development policies. At appraisal, the PDO articulated CIV’s critical needs and was fully aligned with the PND 2016-2020 on the pillars related to agricultural development, infrastructure and digital development8, and the National Plan for the Agricultural Development (PNIA). Throughout implementation, the PDO remained aligned with the government’s development priorities, such as the Emergency Program to Support Agricultural Sectors Impacted by Covid-19 (PURGA)9 and the new National Development Plan (PND 2021-2025). 15. The Project was aligned World Bank strategies and operations. It was aligned with the Country Partnership Framework (FY16-19)10. The Project leveraged other WB operations such as the WAAPP-P129565, and Agriculture Sector Support Project (PSAC‐P119308). The Project supported the government resolve the challenging macroeconomic situation caused by the Covid-19 crisis and the Russia invasion of Ukraine. It contributed to stabilizing the Ivorian economy, benefiting thousands of households and cooperatives. It was aligned with the WBG COVID-19 Crisis Response Approach Paper that views digital connectivity as an enabler of the response to and recovery from the pandemic. 16. The implementation modalities adopted in the Project were relevant. In particular, the reverse auction approach was key to extend connectivity to the rural areas and mobilize private capital investment. This was the first time this approach was used in CIV and ensured a least-cost results by selecting the lowest bids. 8 Particularly related to Pillars 2 (Acceleration of human capital development and social well-being), 3 (Acceleration of the structural transformation of the economy through industrialization), and 4 (Developing infrastructures and preserving the environment). 9 https://www.gouv.ci/_grandossier.php?recordID=238 10 Especially Objectives 1 (Improve productivity in agriculture/agribusiness value chains), 2 (Strengthen economic infrastructure), and 3 (Improve the business regulatory framework and access to finance by fostering better connectivity (access roads and internet)). Page 5 The World Bank CI: Cote d'Ivoire E-Agriculture Project (P160418) B. ACHIEVEMENT OF PDOs (EFFICACY) 17. The PDO after the First Restructuring11 sought to “increase access to digital services and farmers’ access to markets through digital platforms and rural roads and mitigate the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on the agriculture sector.” This can be unpacked into four different objectives: (i) Increase access to digital services; (ii) Increase farmers’ access to markets through digital platforms; (iii) increased farmer’s access to markets through rural roads; and (iv) mitigate the impact of COVID-19 crisis on the agricultural sector. Objectives (i) and (ii) are assessed through the PDO-level indicators. However, since RF did not allow to capture the full impact of the Project, the assessment could not rely solely on the RF and, as per Bank Guidance on ICR, the Efficacy is assessed by looking beyond the RF to any other available data and evidence – both quantitative and qualitative. Assessment of Achievement of Each Objective/Outcome 18. Sub-PDO 1: Increase access to digital services is rated Substantial. The Project deployed 160 mobile sites (see Annex 8 for more details) in 175 localities12 providing mobile connectivity to over 221,267 new people (surpassing the PDO-level target of 200,000 for the “Number of people that benefitted from new access to Internet service”), increasing the PDO-level indicator target of "People provided with access to the internet” from 5,000,000 to 5,221,267 (end target 5,200,000) and “People provided with access to the internet who are female” from 400,000 to 440,935 (end target 440,000)13. More than 43,000 mobile money accounts were created in the covered areas, 187 vendors (selling SIM cards, broadband connectivity and mobile money services) established, and more than 53,000 SIM cards were bought by targeted beneficiaries (the discrepancy with the total number of 221,267 people connected comes from the fact that many more SIM cards were sold in cities close to the covered areas).14 The infrastructure was deployed by a single winning bidder (a consortium led by the operator Orange), and the overall cost of the deployed infrastructure was reasonable both from a “cost per site” and “cost per capita” perspective (see “Efficiency” section for more details). 19. At the policy level, the Project helped elaborate a set of critical digital strategies (covering the period 2021- 2025): the National Digital Development Strategy 2025, the National Cybersecurity Strategy 2025, and the National Innovation Strategy 2025. In the context of the Second Investment for Growth Development Policy Financing (DPO P179006), the Project supported preliminary legal and regulatory work (including a legal and regulatory assessment to identify bottlenecks hindering the growth of private investment in ICT) as well as stakeholders' consultations to update the 2012 Telecom Laws. This helped to draft the current Bill of Electronic Telecommunications (PA #1) adopted by the Government in November 2023 and the Parliament in April 2024.15 20. Sub-PDO 2: Increase farmers’ access to markets through digital platforms is rated Substantial. The Project delivered key technical assistance and strategic activities that offered advisory services to enhance farmers' capacity in climate-smart production management and expand markets. Some of these include: (i) capacity- building of beneficiary organizations (over 400 cooperatives and NGOs, and a total of 1,692 beneficiaries) and 70 public sector actors (including MeMINADER, the National Agricultural Agency ANADER and the Office of Assistance for the Marketing of Food Products OCPV); (ii) develop the operational model for the Agristore platform (see below), (iii) develop an e-Library in MeMINADER and establish an intranet for digital archiving 11 Even though the PDO was changed due to the First Restructuring, the ICR did not apply the “split rating” method as the overal l substance for the first three Components was kept. Also, as the scope of the Project was extended, a split rating is generally not applied as per Bank guidance on ICR. Finally, the effective disbursement rate was low (the bulk of the disbursement at that time was driven by the still unused advancements of funds made to the agency in charge of the implementation of Component 3 - AGEROUTE). 12 Deployed in 7 regions: Bagoué, Boukani, Poro, Tchologo, Marahoue, Kabadougou, Folon. 13 Based on the final report of the project in October 2023, a total of 91% were satisfied with the new connectivity services provided. 14 In addition to many other socio-economic opportunities such as jobs and revenue for many landowners and business owners. 15 The bill is pending adoption by the Senate as of May 2024. Page 6 The World Bank CI: Cote d'Ivoire E-Agriculture Project (P160418) and information exchange between the national and regional offices of MeMINADER; (iv) support ANADER to provide comprehensive e-Extension services to the beneficiary population. This strengthened activities initially supported by the WAAPP project (P129565). Through the ANADER, the project delivered digital agricultural advisory services and agro-meteorological advice to farmers through digital channels such as SMS, mobile applications, web service and telephone call center. It also supported the establishment of an agricultural observatory in ANADER and the establishment of a toll-free number for farmers. 21. The Project developed and deployed the “Agristore.Ci” platform (website and mobile app) to facilitate the marketing of agricultural products and boost trade by bringing together suppliers and buyers of products through the services offered by the platform. Over 401,931 beneficiaries were enrolled in the platform from the target regions16, of which 236,902 were female. The platform had over 160,000 visits (at Project closure) with more than 36,000 publications indicating a high usage level by targeted beneficiaries17. In view of boosting agricultural advisory and e-Extension services, over 11 million SMS, voice and MMS agriculture advisory messages were sent to beneficiaries by the agricultural observatory established at ANADER, with 44% of the messages sent to women. The platform was also gradually introduced to farmers in villages where rural connectivity sites were deployed (Sub-PDO 1). Based on the satisfaction survey realized, 91.0% of the beneficiaries confirmed that the Project investments reflected their needs, surpassing the 80% target in the PDO level indicator. The Project Implementation Unit (PIU) estimated through online surveys that the total cumulated transactions that were enabled by the platform in 2023 amounted to more than $220,000. 22. Sub-PDO 3: Increased farmers' access to markets through rural roads is rated Moderate. The Project rehabilitated 218.5 km of roads out of the 256.4 km initially intended to be rehabilitated after the First Restructuring implying an 85.2% completion rate. One of the reasons for this is that the Government later decided that 20.9 km would be included in other projects (not supported by the World Bank), leaving 235.5 km of roads to be rehabilitated by this Project (hence, the adjusted completion rate stands at 92.8%). The rehabilitation work was broken down into 13 lots, and 218.5 km (12 lots) have been delivered. The remaining 17 km of roads could not be achieved as the recruited road company was dysfunctional18. AGEROUTE was responsible for the procurement process and supervision of the contract – and lacked diligence in following up the rehabilitation works (see “Efficiency” section). However, the Final Project Report shows that the roads were impactful to the populations and the rate of usage increased with an increase in traffic recorded.19 23. Sub-PDO 4: Mitigate the impact of COVID-19 crisis on the agricultural sector is rated Substantial. To support the poultry industry, which had been devastated by the Covid-19 crisis, the Project supplied agricultural and livestock inputs that enabled breeders to renew their assets and recover economically. All businesses affiliated with the poultry industry's interprofessional agricultural organization (IPRAVI) that registered during this operation have resumed their activities, whereas they were on the verge of going bankrupt because of the pandemic. The Project successfully distributed the following under emergency procedures for the Poultry sector: (i) distribution of 5.1 million one day-old chicks, 3 tons of animal feed and veterinary products to 793 poultry farmers’ households; (ii) subsidization of 798,000 one day-old chicks and 1,578 tons of animal feed to 2 industrial poultry producers; (ii) subsidization of 1,638,107 tons of feed to 6 industrial animal feed producers; (iv) the subsidization of slaughter costs for industrial producers for about 790,000 units; and (v) the 16 Beneficiaries include producers, producer organizations, buyers, transporters, etc. mostly in the South, West and Center regions which are home to the largest production of crops and who were already covered with internet connectivity at the start of the project. 17 The discrepancy between the persons enrolled and visits to platform is because the platform only targeted a subset of the total enrolled population due to the constraints of areas with lack of device availability and digital literacy to access the platforms. In addition, the project could not target the entire agriculture workforce, and focused mainly on food crops producers and farmers. 18 It was unable to recruit workers and transport the required equipment and materials on the site due to financial challenges. 19 The PIU estimated there was a 52% increase in the number of travels and a 77%-time reduction during travel after the rehabilitations. Page 7 The World Bank CI: Cote d'Ivoire E-Agriculture Project (P160418) subsidization of conservation costs for industrial producers for about 875,000 units. This intervention impacted the entire poultry value chain and the President of IPRAVI testified that “the Project saved the poultry sector in Cote d’Ivoire,” including by saving thousands of direct and indirect jobs. 24. For the Rice sector, the Project supported 80 local cooperative factories to increase their rice production and supported 10,576 farmers with a total of 8,855 hectares of paddy rice production. This led to over 10% increase in the productivity of the cooperative factories and generated hundreds of direct and indirect jobs-with an increased average of above 4 jobs per cooperative, and the production of 31,200 tons of paddy rice per cycle. The Director General of the National Rice Development Agency (ADERIZ) confirmed “the intervention was timely to sustain national rice production, as inputs had become too expensive for their farmers.” Justification of Overall Efficacy Rating 25. The overall efficacy is rated Substantial20 as three out of four Components are rated Substantial. Only Component 3 is rated Moderate, but it represents only 18% of the total financing allocation (without considering Component 4). The Project was critical to introducing digital connectivity and digital solutions to support agricultural development in the country. All 6 sub-PDO indicators, as revised at the First Restructuring, were achieved above the expected targets and most of the expected outputs and outcomes were achieved. 26. The ICR recognizes that the multi-sector approach (digital connectivity, digital agriculture, rural roads, and agriculture) could have delivered even greater synergies, especially between the successful deployment of digital connectivity in new localities (Component 1) and the usage of the Agristore platform (Component 2) in these localities. The Project design established that the primary beneficiaries for the Agristore platform would be food crops producers and farmers that were in the country’s South, West and Center regions and which were already covered by mobile broadband at the start of the Project (which helped achieve Sub-PDO 2). The platform was also gradually introduced to additional beneficiaries, i.e. farmers where mobile sites were deployed under Component 1 (since these farmers now had access to mobile broadband). However, since mobile sites were deployed during the last year of the Project, there was limited time to raise public awareness for these new beneficiaries. Nevertheless, the two ongoing World-Bank supported agricultural projects will continue enrollment and digital training activities to ensure the uptake of the platform in these new areas (see section D. “Risk to Development Outcome” for more details). C. EFFICIENCY Assessment of Efficiency and Rating 27. From an economic perspective, the Project is deemed cost-effective as it relied heavily on competitive procurements. This is especially true for Component 1, where the cost of the winning bidder/operator was three times lower than the one provided by the second bidder. From a “per asset” perspective, the total capital subsidy for the 160 mobile sites was $12.1 million, and the winning bidder/operator provided an additional private capital investment of $3.4 million (representing a mark-up of 27.9%), leading to a total cost per site of around $97,000 which is in the lower range of both: (i) figures provided by international studies21; and (ii) the results of the bidding process launched simultaneously by another WB-supported project in Benin at the same time (Benin e-Agriculture P162599). From a “per capita” perspective, the subsidy per capita is around ~$5.5/capita/year (for at least ten years of coverage) which is aligned with international benchmarks. The financial amount resulting from the bidding process for digital connectivity – as well as other procurements – 20 This is in line with the last two ISRs (28th February 2023 and 30th October 2023) that had the same ratings with “Progress towards achievement of the PDO” rated Satisfactory (S) and “Overall Implementation Progress" rated Moderately Satisfactory (MS). 21 According to a 2022 World Bank Study “Simulation Model for Affordable Universal Broadband in Africa ”, the total cost per site is estimated at around 100k$, without taking into account cost of land and cost of transmission and energy. Another study by DGTL Infra builder evaluates the average cost of a mobile site for Africa as 110k$. Page 8 The World Bank CI: Cote d'Ivoire E-Agriculture Project (P160418) was lower than expected, which helped to realize some cost savings: the Third Restructuring cancelled $4.97 million equivalent thanks mainly to these cost efficiencies. 28. Similarly to Component 1, there was no evidence of inadequate costing for the other Components. For Component 5, the price of fertilizers significantly increased due to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, which explains why only 900 tons of urea and 1,350 tons of NPK (against a target of 2,000 and 3, 000 respectively) were distributed, but this does not point to a specific lack of cost-efficiency by the Project as prices were impacted on a global scale. 29. A Cost Benefit Analysis (CBA) of the efficiency of the Project’s investment shows a higher NPV and ERR, and a lower break-even point at completion than at appraisal. The CBA model for the efficiency analysis at Project completion shows that the NPV and ERR is positive and above the discount rate. (Annex 4) 30. From the perspective of design and implementation, factors outside of the control of the project led to some implementation delays. The Covid-19 crisis and Russia's invasion of Ukraine slowed down the implementation rate and the Government requested a restructuring where funds were relocated to mitigate the impact of the Covid-19 crisis. As detailed in the “Key factors for implementation” section, there were some delays in the implementation due to: (i) the slow initial implementation take-off and the political/top leadership turnover in the Ministry of Digital Economy which slowed the decision-making process during the initial two years of the project; (ii) the unilateral appointment of a new coordinator in March 2020 by the Ministry of Digital Economy that took a significant time to be resolved; (iii) poor contract management of the rehabilitation of rural roads by AGEROUTE; (iv) delays in the preparation and adoption of some Environmental and Social Framework (ESF) instruments; (v) the long processing time imposed by the Finance controller from the Ministry of Finance who took lengthy periods to approve payments - however this also enforced strict financial management oversight; and (vi) the time taken to achieve the First Restructuring (9 months) as the creation of the new Component 5 for agriculture required detailed technical, financial and safeguard studies in a context of COVID-19 lockdowns. 31. Once a new coordinator was engaged, the dialogue with the Project’s line Ministry resumed. After the First Restructuring, and the successful launch of the digital connectivity Request for Bids in October 2021, the Project was upgraded to Moderately Satisfactory (from Moderately Unsatisfactory) in April 2022. This turnaround was due to a strong and joint effort by the new Minister’s cabinet, the PIU, the Country Management Unit (CMU), and the Task Team. Justification of the Efficiency Rating 32. The overall efficiency rating is Substantial as the value-for-money and cost efficiency for the Project was achieved despite some delays and implementation challenges, and the Project team and PIU worked innovatively to ensure the Project went forward in an efficient manner. D. JUSTIFICATION OF OVERALL OUTCOME RATING 33. The overall outcome for the Project is Moderately Satisfactory based on the combination of the ratings for relevance (High), Efficacy (Substantial) and Efficiency (Substantial). The operation is highly relevant to CIV’s development priorities, the PDOs were substantially achieved, several IRIs were met, and the value-for-money was ensured. Minor shortcomings in the Project include: (i) not delivering 17 km of rehabilitated rural roads (Component 3, cf. Para. 22); (ii) the Project could have delivered greater synergies between all its Components (cf. Para. 26); and (iii) the long duration to complete the First Restructuring. E. OTHER OUTCOMES AND IMPACTS Gender 34. The Project was gender-tagged with specific indicators. As evident in the initial RF, gender representativity was an important variable in the results, and the Project was screened for gender representation, labor, and capacity. However, several gender-related indicators were removed during the First Restructuring due to the Page 9 The World Bank CI: Cote d'Ivoire E-Agriculture Project (P160418) need to reallocate funds and cancel activities in the context of the COVID-19 crisis, but the overall gender orientation was kept by targeting food crops where women represent a large share of smallholders. The gender-tagged indicator “People provided with access to the Internet – Of which female” was achieved. Additional achievements include 58% of female farmers reached with agricultural assets or services, 44% of the e-Extension messages sent to women, 2 laureates of the startup competition were female, and strong gender representation for the Component 5 beneficiaries. The Project developed gender-sensitive communication strategies for Components 1,2, and 5. Gender impact could have been better tracked with dedicated Component 2 IRIs on gender representativity. Mobilizing Private Sector Financing 35. Private capital investments were mobilized for digital connectivity. The bid was organized under 3 lots which were all won by the same bidder that mobilized private capital investment in the amount of $3.4 million (representing a mark-up of 27.9%). This excludes the site maintenance costs incurred by the operator for at least the next 10 years. As the winning bidder is also the telecommunications market leader in the country, this activity was at risk of introducing market distortion. However, such potential market distortion was mitigated by: (i) the fact that the targeted areas are rural areas with low market value due to low purchasing power; and (ii) technical specifications embedded in the tender oblige the winning bidder to activate “local roaming”, hereby allowing competing mobile operators to “lease” the infrastructure deployed so that they can connect their own subscribers in the targeted areas. Institutional Strengthening 36. Through Components 1 and 2, the Project strengthened the capacities of Ministry of Digital Economy, and the MeMINADER and some of their related agencies. For the digital economy these included technical assistances on policy development, feasibility studies22, and designing and implementing the reverse auction modality. For Component 2, the Project federated actors of the different agricultural agencies, and strengthened the collaborative relationship between the central MeMINADER and the regional agencies23. The Project permitted the signature of collaborative agreements (MOUs) with institutions such as ANADER, APRAVI, ADERIZ, OCPV and the regional MeMINADER units for different services. Poverty Reduction and Shared Prosperity 37. The Project contributed to poverty reduction and shared prosperity. It provided affordable broadband services24 to an additional 221,267 people in 175 localities in the rural areas, and the digital Agristore platform and rehabilitated rural roads facilitated economic transactions for farmers and food producers. Component 1 likely contributed to poverty reduction thanks to the positive correlation between broadband infrastructure development, poverty reduction and creation of opportunities.25 Components 2 and 5 provided subsidies to more than 10,000 farmers affected by the COVID-19 crisis, allowing them to continue their agricultural activities, which saved thousands of direct and indirect jobs. Other Unintended Outcomes and Impacts 38. The Project built trust and collaborative relationships between MeMINADER and the Ministry of Digital Economy, which have henceforth collaborated on digital agricultural initiatives, strengthened information 22 Several studies were coordinated by ANSUT and ARTCI, which also built their capacities technically and in project management. 23 The vision of MINADER in the implementation of data-driven agriculture was strengthened, as it permitted to build digital solutions currently being used (e.g., intranet, digital archiving and e-library) inciting the need to digitalize other value chains. 24 As of 2023, 2 Gigabytes of mobile broadband data represent 2% of the Gross National Income per capita, which is exactly the “2 for 2” affordability objective adopted by the United Nations Broadband Commission. Cote d’Ivoire is now the fourth most affordable country for mobile broadband in the AFW region. 25 This is highlighted in other countries such as Senegal (Masaki et al., “Broadband Internet and Household Welfare in Senegal”, 2020) and Nigeria (GSMA and WBG, "The poverty reduction effects of mobile broadband in Africa: Evidence from Nigeria", 2020). Page 10 The World Bank CI: Cote d'Ivoire E-Agriculture Project (P160418) sharing between the central MeMINADER and its regional agencies and improved the development and use of digital registries (databases) in the different interprofessional associations26 through component 5. III. KEY FACTORS THAT AFFECTED IMPLEMENTATION AND OUTCOME A. KEY FACTORS DURING PREPARATION 39. The team adequately identified diverse Project risks, and incorporated lessons learned from other projects in the Project design. Major risks identified were substantial27 and the Bank used the Systematic Operations Risk Rating Tool (SORT) to propose adequate mitigation measures drawing lessons from similar digital and agricultural World Bank projects implemented in Africa and the rest of the world28. 40. The Project had complex institutional arrangements. This comprised a PIU under the MICENUP (with a co- coordinator at MeMINADER), a Technical committee chaired by MICENUP and a Steering Committee at the strategic level chaired by MICENUP (with MeMINADER as vice-Chair), and Departmental committees to be created on ad hoc basis (chaired by the Prefects- Préfet de Département).29 However, key members (and their roles) of the technical and strategic committee were not identified in the PAD, and this was later determined by a Ministerial decree.30 The structure of the institutional arrangements, relationship and reporting lines were not always adequately identified, and the PIU was set up as a new Fiduciary unit with technical capacities borrowed from MICENUP and MeMINADER. Both ministries appointed the coordinators and technical specialists. The technical specialists were civil servants appointed to support project implementation. Fiduciary and ESF specialists were recruited competitively. 41. There was slow client decision-making process during preparation. Some preparatory studies conducted to inform downstream investments and other pending studies depended on the government’s decision which took time. Namely, the deployment of mobile sites, the change of modalities of Component 1 from open access to reverse auction, and the identification of rural roads to be maintained or rehabilitated. B. KEY FACTORS DURING IMPLEMENTATION 42. Key drivers that positively affected the project implementation are the good collaboration between the PIU and the World Bank, joint missions, regular weekly meetings, and joint reflections in resolving project challenges. There were two changes of TTL-ADM (that all happened before 2020) and the Agricultural co-TTL remained the same from Project preparation to closure. 43. In March 2020, the Ministry of Digital Economy decided to unilaterally change the Project Coordinator as well as all component coordinators, without consulting the World Bank. The situation was only fully resolved in July 2020 with the new Project Coordinator fully on board. This delayed the implementation of the Project, but the upside was that the new Project coordinator was efficient in implementing the Project. 44. The CMU supported the Project to engage in dialogue with the government and resolve challenging problems. For Component 1, there was initial reluctance by the Government of Cote d’Ivoire in implementing the expected “reverse auction” model as the Government was seeking to keep the ownership of the deployed infrastructure. This required lengthy discussions with the Government to explain that the “reverse auction” model was in line with international best practices and contributed to PCM by awarding catalytic subsidies to the private sector. For Component 2, the CMU's role in facilitating the dialogue to transfer the Agristore platform from MICENUP 26 ADERIZ updated the database of thousands of farmers across the country and used it for various statistical analyses. 27 Risks identified include political and governance (substantial), macroeconomic (substantial), sector strategies and policies (moderate), technical design of project (substantial) institutional capacity for implementation and sustainability (substantial), fiduciary (moderate), environmental and social (substantial), stakeholders (moderate) 28 Nicaragua P089989, Madagascar P094103, Tanzania P111432, Uganda P069996, Papua New Guinea P107782, WAAPP P129565. 29 To mobilize and facilitate implementation in the rural level and comprised of cooperatives, Agriculture Chamber, rural agents, etc. 30 Arrêté interministériel No706/MENUP/MINADER/MEF/FEPMBPE of 31 December 2018 on the creation of the pilot committee; and Arrêté No 821/MENUTI/CA of 16 September 2021 on the designation of members of the technical committee Page 11 The World Bank CI: Cote d'Ivoire E-Agriculture Project (P160418) to MeMINADER was critical to ensure its sustainability. The CMU also facilitated the dialogue to resolve the leadership issues with the sudden unilateral change of the Project coordinator in 2020. 45. After Board approval, there were several changes of Ministers of Digital Economy that affected both the design and the implementation (Ministers had different visions and implementation strategies for the Project), hence sometimes slowing the dialogue between the Bank, PIU and Ministry on the Project vision and objectives. 46. Due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, supply chains were disrupted globally, leading to inflated costs of food crops and agricultural inputs, thus affecting the costs and time delivery of Component 5. Similarly, the deployment of mobile sites (Component 1) was slowed down due to challenging logistical issues in importing equipment. The Government, PIU and Bank team worked tirelessly to better anticipate these issues and deliver the activities despite external factors which the Project did not have control over. 47. There were slow disbursements due to inter alia: (i) the challenges in validating payments by the Financial controller from the Ministry of Finance (cf. Para. 55); and (ii) the poor contract management of the rehabilitation of rural roads by the national Road Agency (AGEROUTE) which had to be frequently reminded of the importance of following the supervision of the contracts. IV. BANK PERFORMANCE, COMPLIANCE ISSUES, AND RISK TO DEVELOPMENT OUTCOME A. QUALITY OF MONITORING AND EVALUATION (M&E) 48. The overall rating of the quality of M&E is Modest. The design of the M&E framework was inadequate to adequately capture the Project outputs, outcomes, and impact. M&E Design 49. The PDO-related indicators could have better captured key Project achievements. Component 1: there could have been an IRI focused on the uptake of mobile money services in the covered areas. Component 2: Sub-PDO indicator mentions the number of “Farmers reached with agricultural assets or service” and the volume of transactions and/or increase in revenues could have been specified to be more impactful (but that would have been harder to track). Component 3: a Sub-PDO indicator could have been added on the estimation of the population that would have benefitted from the roads. In addition, the First Restructuring did not capture a PDO-level indicator for Component 5 and kept some IRIs for Component 2 that were no longer relevant (as the activities were dropped due to the reallocation of funds). M&E Implementation 50. In general, reporting was adequate throughout the Project and confirmed by the ISRs. Data collection relied on a mix of sources from the PIU, government agencies, and service providers. The World Bank team conducted weekly meetings and regular implementation supervision missions to monitor Project progress on the ground. The field missions helped triangulate and control the quality of the data provided by the PIU for effective oversight of Project implementation. During COVID-19 crisis with the limited travel and national confinements, virtual meetings and missions were held. M&E Utilization 51. The M&E data was used to monitor performance throughout the implementation phase and to refine the Project scope during the First Restructuring. M&E findings were disseminated by the PIU to all stakeholders, and the PIU regularly updated indicators to measure progress against baselines, collaboratively highlighting issues for the attention of the World Bank team and finding solutions together. Justification of Overall Rating of Quality of M&E 52. The overall rating of the quality of M&E is Modest. The design of the M&E system was insufficient to appropriately capture all the achievements and outcomes of the Project. Multiple shortcomings should have been improved to enhance the clarity of the RF and better capture the impacts. Page 12 The World Bank CI: Cote d'Ivoire E-Agriculture Project (P160418) B. ENVIRONMENTAL, SOCIAL, AND FIDUCIARY COMPLIANCE 53. The Project was classified as Category B under the World Bank’s safeguards policies and triggered 3 safeguard policies: the Environmental and Social Management Framework (ESMF), the Resettlement Policy Framework (RPF), and the Occupational, Health and Safety (EHS/OHS). The ESMF was prepared in full compliance with the national legal and regulatory framework and was expected to be mostly site-specific and manageable. The Project hired an environmental specialist and a social safeguards specialist at the PIU. The environmental and social risks were rated Substantial. These safeguard policies were published on time and the Project was compliant with the applicable safeguards during implementation. 54. Throughout project implementation, the average performance of the environmental and social ratings was Moderately Satisfactory. A few issues arose which took lengthy periods to be resolved such as: (i) the Grievance Redress Mechanism (GRM) took a long time to be implemented (fully operationalized in December 2022, when most infrastructure works were already in progress31) – however, after being operationalized the GRM was effective in dealing with complaints; (ii) the performance of the social safeguard specialist in the PIU was poor when required to produce ESF reports as required by the FA or policies triggered by the Project ESF (e.g. the Environmental and Social Impact Assessments ESIA and Resettlement Action Plans RAP took a long time to be approved, which slowed down the implementation rate). 55. The Fiduciary risk at appraisal was Moderate. However, the fiduciary assessment of the implementation agencies at appraisal was rated Substantial due to: (i) the inexperience of the Directorate of Financial Affairs (DAF) of the MICENUP with Bank‐FM procedures; and (ii) the design of the Project which involves several sub-components as well as the multiple actors with beneficiaries based in rural areas in the country. Financial reports were submitted by the PIU on time. In addition, due to the frequent unavailability of the financial controller from the Ministry of Finance, it took lengthy periods to validate payments which slowed down financial payments to service providers. The external audits did not flag any inconsistencies. The overall performance of the financial management during implementation fluctuated between Satisfactory (S) and Moderately Satisfactory (MS) and was Satisfactory in the last ISR (October 2023). 56. At appraisal, a procurement assessment was carried for the Project Preparation Advance (PPA) and the new PIU (related to their experience in procurement filling and management, fiduciary, staff, and existence of a manual of procedures) was rated as Moderate. The Annual Work Plans and Budget were prepared following Bank procedures. Procurement went well throughout implementation, but the Project encountered two key challenges: (i) the procurement method used for component 1 (reversed auction) was employed for the first time in the country, and required capacity building for the government and the PIU; and (ii) challenges due to the Russia’s invasion of Ukraine disrupted global supply chains for some Component 5 activities, but the PIU staff managed these efficiently and innovatively. The overall performance of the Procurement during implementation fluctuated between S and MS, and was MS in the last ISR. C. BANK PERFORMANCE Quality at Entry 57. The ICR assesses the quality at entry as Moderately satisfactory. 58. The Bank inputs and processes were satisfactory. The Bank team supported the client to prepare the Project. ESF were Moderately Satisfactory, as the relevant policies were prepared and published. Similarly, the Bank assessed the fiduciary capacities of the government and took adequate measures to mitigate the potential risks. The Bank Team engagement was satisfactory. Stakeholder engagement was satisfactory, and the stakeholders showed interest in realizing the Project. This was also strengthened by a dynamic focal point at the government side, and this built trust between both parties and facilitated project preparation. Finally, 31 The GRM was considered to be fully deployed once it was deemed operational in 100% of all the targeted areas. Page 13 The World Bank CI: Cote d'Ivoire E-Agriculture Project (P160418) the risk assessment was moderately satisfactory. The Project adequately identified the risks during the design, including the technical risks such as inexperience with implementing open access projects and PPPs, and took mitigation measures to build the capacities of the stakeholders. The team could not have anticipated the magnitude of challenges related to the inexperience of service providers to respect bank procedures nor the extent of ESF requirements, as the PIU was prepared earlier to facilitate this. Quality of Supervision 59. The quality of supervision was Satisfactory. 60. The quality of the supervision from the World Bank task team was strong. There was continuous support to the PIU, reflection, use of M&E data to effect necessary changes, strong client engagement and relationship management, joint Bank-PIU missions and participation in external meetings and events. The Bank team conducted regular supervisory missions, both in-person and virtual (particularly during the COVID-19 confinement), established a close relationship with sector agencies to ensure information sharing and provide guidance as necessary. The Project benefited from a competent extended Bank team with experience in Sub-Saharan Africa. The client appreciated the abilities of the Bank team on technical aspects, ESF and fiduciary matters, and the CMU’s convening ability on issues that were difficult to resolve. The quality of performance reporting was adequate. The Bank’s team discussed strategic and technical matters with the government openly and effectively, ensuring thought leadership and exposure to other good practices beyond Cote d’Ivoire (the Ministry of Digital Economy of Benin visited the Project to inform the WB- supported Benin e-Agriculture IPF P162599 that have similar activities). The aide-memories and ISRs were regularly and detailly prepared, and the Bank team followed-up on recommendations. Justification of Overall Rating of Bank Performance 61. Based on the points above, the ICR assesses the Bank’s overall performance as Satisfactory. D. RISK TO DEVELOPMENT OUTCOME 62. The Project supported building the capacities of the client in implementing a cross-sectoral digital Project. At the time of writing of this ICR, the Bank is preparing a new digital Project (Cote d’Ivoire Digital Acceleration Project P180059) with the support of an interim PIU (Enhancing Government Effectiveness for Improved Public Services, P164302). It is advisable to build on the experience gained through this operation and develop the required capacities to implement the second generation of digital projects in CIV. 63. The sustainability of the outcomes is ensured but will need to be closely monitored. Component 1: The sustainability of the deployed digital infrastructure is ensured as the operator now owns the infrastructure and is obliged to ensure an adequate delivery of the service for the next 10 years (this is a contractual obligation enforced by the regulator ARTCI). Component 2: The sustainability plan for the digital agriculture platform Agristore is supported by the Cashew Value Chain Sustainable Development projects (P158810 and P180040), currently active in the Northern region, as well as the Cote d'Ivoire Agri-Food Sector Development Project (PDC2V, P171613), active in the South and Center regions, as they will sustain Agristore enrollment and training efforts in the targeted areas. Component 3: AGEROUTE has confirmed that the rehabilitated roads have been added to the national road registry and are now scheduled for routine maintenance. V. LESSONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 64. Flexibility and adaptability are crucial in responding to external crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, requiring projects to reorient funds and activities to address emerging needs. The COVID-19 crisis has shown that major disruptions can occur during the lifetime of a project. Both the Client and the World Bank showed proactivity and flexibility in adapting to the new constraints and managed to restructure the Project to expand the scope and include emergency activities to mitigate Page 14 The World Bank CI: Cote d'Ivoire E-Agriculture Project (P160418) the impact of the Covid-19 crisis on farmers. As more difficult times may lie ahead, this requirement for flexibility/adaptability may become the new normal and Task Teams should be ready to implement major restructuring to respond to the new urgent needs of the Client. Collaboration (between the CMU, the Task Team, the PIU and the MICENUP and MeMINADER) facilitated the project’s ability to innovate (related to the design, strategy setting, problem solving, processes, and achievement of results). 65. An overly ambitious scope may have increased delays in implementation due to competing emergencies. After the First Restructuring, the PIU had to deal with activities related to digital infrastructure, digital agriculture platform, rural roads, and pure agriculture support. This had the effect of having “4 projects in 1”, with the additional task to ensure as much synergies as possible between Components. The whole PIU and Task Team had to deal with different issues for each Component with limited economies of scope (e.g., experience learned in managing safeguards for rural roads had limited transferability for the other activities), with sometimes competing deadlines. In hindsight, the First Restructuring could have been more drastic and could have removed the entire Component 3 on rural roads to free up even more resources (in terms of both financial resources and staff time) to deliver a greater impact for the other Components. 66. It is crucial to strengthen the design and implementation of the M&E systems in projects. A well-designed M&E system facilitates better project monitoring and helps to capture the impacts. The M&E framework should be well designed at approval with a good identification and definition of indicators, potential outputs, and outcomes. The Project could have adjusted the RF during Second Restructuring.32 67. A strong political will and good implementation arrangements can enhance coordination and implementation. The implementation arrangements could have been better prepared by being inclusive, identifying constituent members of the different organs and the relationships between them. Similarly, getting the buy-in of these institutions on the framework designed is critical to avoid competency overlaps. For future digital operations, it will be of critical importance to foster cross-Ministerial collaboration, particularly with the leading coordinating role of the Digital Economy Ministry. A key approach to successfully foster cross-Ministerial collaboration is to have ad hoc technical committees (comprising technical staff of key stakeholders) to implement and follow critical procurements. 68. The World Bank should continue familiarizing countries with the financing gap mechanisms (such as the “reverse auction” approach). As countries in Africa are facing acute budget constraints, there is an increasing interest in implementing financing gap mechanisms (such as the “reverse auction” approach) to deploy digital infrastructures. However, there are challenges related to the countries' familiarity with, understanding of, and willingness to adopt these mechanisms. Specifically, Governments are reluctant to provide catalytic subsidies to private operators as they would like to retain the ownership of the digital infrastructure deployed, even though this would significantly decrease the sustainability of the assets. To address these challenges, the World Bank should continue providing resources to improve the skills and knowledge necessary for countries to effectively implement and manage financing gap mechanisms, and encourage exchange visits between countries to share knowledge and lessons learned. . 32The ICR takes note that after the Task Team identified the shortcomings of the RF after the First Restructuring, it was struggling to adjust it as the understanding was that a formal request was needed but the Ministry of Digital Economy was not at ease to send a formal restructuring request through the Ministry of Finance for the sole objective to adjust the RF. For future operations the ICR suggests exploring more agile ways to restructure projects with shortcomings in the RF. Page 15 The World Bank CI: Cote d'Ivoire E-Agriculture Project (P160418) ANNEX 1. RESULTS FRAMEWORK AND KEY OUTPUTS A. RESULTS INDICATORS A.1 PDO Indicators Objective/Outcome: Increase access to digital services in rural areas Formally Revised Actual Achieved at Indicator Name Unit of Measure Baseline Original Target Target Completion People provided with access Number 5,000,000.00 6,000,000.00 5,200,000.00 5,221,267.00 to the Internet 28-Feb-2018 30-Jun-2023 31-Oct-2023 27-Jan-2023 Number of people that Number 0.00 1,000,000.00 200,000.00 221,267.00 benefitted from new access to Internet service. 28-Feb-2018 30-Jun-2023 31-Oct-2023 27-Feb-2024 People provided with access Number 400000.00 500,000.00 440,000.00 440,935.00 to the Internet - Female Comments (achievements against targets): Page 16 The World Bank CI: Cote d'Ivoire E-Agriculture Project (P160418) Objective/Outcome: Leverage digital platforms to improve farm productivity and access to markets Formally Revised Actual Achieved at Indicator Name Unit of Measure Baseline Original Target Target Completion Farmers reached with Number 0.00 1,000,000.00 200,000.00 401,931.00 agricultural assets or services 28-Feb-2018 27-Feb-2024 27-Feb-2024 27-Feb-2024 Farmers reached with Number 0.00 700,000.00 1,200,001.00 236,902.00 agricultural assets or services - Female Comments (achievements against targets): Formally Revised Actual Achieved at Indicator Name Unit of Measure Baseline Original Target Target Completion Beneficiaries that feel project Percentage 0.00 80.00 80.00 91.00 investments reflected their needs (%) 28-Feb-2018 27-Feb-2024 27-Feb-2024 27-Feb-2024 Comments (achievements against targets): A.2 Intermediate Results Indicators Component: Component 2 - Digital services for sustainable agricultural development Page 17 The World Bank CI: Cote d'Ivoire E-Agriculture Project (P160418) Formally Revised Actual Achieved at Indicator Name Unit of Measure Baseline Original Target Target Completion Beneficiaries of job-focused Number 0.00 10,000.00 0.00 interventions 28-Feb-2018 27-Feb-2024 31-Jan-2023 Beneficiaries of job-focused Number 0.00 7,000.00 0.00 interventions - Female Comments (achievements against targets): This indicator after restructuring #1 was kept but no longer relevant and not tracked. Formally Revised Actual Achieved at Indicator Name Unit of Measure Baseline Original Target Target Completion Share of women within the Percentage 0.00 90.00 0.00 newly established cooperatives/producers 29-Jun-2018 27-Feb-2024 31-Jan-2023 organizations (led by women) Comments (achievements against targets): This indicator after restructuring #1 was kept but no longer relevant and not tracked. Page 18 The World Bank CI: Cote d'Ivoire E-Agriculture Project (P160418) Formally Revised Actual Achieved at Indicator Name Unit of Measure Baseline Original Target Target Completion Increase in share of women Percentage 0.00 20.00 0.00 in leadership roles (among the targeted beneficiaries) 29-Jun-2018 27-Feb-2024 31-Jan-2023 Comments (achievements against targets): This indicator after restructuring #1 was kept but no longer relevant and not tracked. Component: Component 3 - Rehabilitation and maintenance of rural access roads to access production areas Formally Revised Actual Achieved at Indicator Name Unit of Measure Baseline Original Target Target Completion Roads rehablitated Kilometers 0.00 2,800.00 256.40 228,518.00 29-Jun-2018 27-Feb-2024 27-Feb-2024 27-Feb-2024 Roads rehabilitated - rural Kilometers 0.00 2,800.00 256.40 218.50 Comments (achievements against targets): Formally Revised Actual Achieved at Indicator Name Unit of Measure Baseline Original Target Target Completion Page 19 The World Bank CI: Cote d'Ivoire E-Agriculture Project (P160418) Roads maintained Kilometers 0.00 256.40 256.40 218.50 31-Dec-2019 30-Jun-2023 31-Oct-2023 27-Feb-2024 Comments (achievements against targets): This was a new indicator added after restructuring #1 Component: Component 5 - Support for the COVID-19 Emergency Program in the Agriculture Sector Formally Revised Actual Achieved at Indicator Name Unit of Measure Baseline Original Target Target Completion Poultry stored in cold rooms Metric ton 0.00 1,400.00 1,875.00 30-Jun-2020 27-Feb-2024 27-Feb-2024 Comments (achievements against targets): This was a new indicator added after restructuring #1 Formally Revised Actual Achieved at Indicator Name Unit of Measure Baseline Original Target Target Completion Number of one-day old Number 0.00 4,700,000.00 5,190,617.00 chicks distributed 30-Jun-2020 27-Feb-2024 27-Feb-2024 27-Feb-2024 Page 20 The World Bank CI: Cote d'Ivoire E-Agriculture Project (P160418) Comments (achievements against targets): This was a new indicator added after restructuring #1 Formally Revised Actual Achieved at Indicator Name Unit of Measure Baseline Original Target Target Completion Number of poultry farms Number 0.00 1,068.00 0.00 disinfected 30-Jun-2020 31-Oct-2023 31-Jan-2023 Comments (achievements against targets): This was a new indicator added after restructuring #1 Formally Revised Actual Achieved at Indicator Name Unit of Measure Baseline Original Target Target Completion Tons of urea distributed Metric ton 0.00 2,000.00 900.00 30-Jun-2020 27-Feb-2024 27-Feb-2024 Comments (achievements against targets): This was a new indicator added after restructuring #1 Indicator Name Unit of Measure Baseline Original Target Formally Revised Actual Achieved at Page 21 The World Bank CI: Cote d'Ivoire E-Agriculture Project (P160418) Target Completion Tons of paddy collected from Metric ton 0.00 100,000.00 45,000.00 farmers 30-Jun-2020 27-Feb-2024 27-Feb-2024 Comments (achievements against targets): This was a new indicator added after restructuring #1 Formally Revised Actual Achieved at Indicator Name Unit of Measure Baseline Original Target Target Completion Tons of NPK distributed Metric ton 0.00 3,000.00 1,350.00 30-Jun-2020 27-Feb-2024 27-Feb-2024 Comments (achievements against targets): This was a new indicator added after restructuring #1 Page 22 The World Bank CI: Cote d'Ivoire E-Agriculture Project (P160418) B. KEY OUTPUTS BY COMPONENT Objective/Outcome 1 Increase access to digital services 1. Number of people that benefitted from new access to Internet Outcome Indicators service. 2. People provided with access to the Internet ‐ Female Intermediate Results Indicators None 1. Study on the legal and regulatory assessments hindering the growth of private investment in ICTs 2. Study on the restructuring of the governance of the ICT sector Key Outputs by Component 3. Study on the mapping the ICT availability in the rural areas (linked to the achievement of the Objective/Outcome 1) 4.Adoption of the digital economy strategy 5. Provided internet access to 5221,267 people 6. Connected 221,267 new people to the internet (of which 440935 are women) Objective/Outcome 2 Increase farmers’ access to markets through digital platforms 1. Farmers reached with agricultural assets or services Outcome Indicators 2. Farmers reached with agricultural assets or services ‐ Female 3. Beneficiaries that feel project investments reflected their needs (%) Intermediate Results Indicators None 1.Establishment of the Agristore platform (web and mobile app) 2.Enrollment of 401,931 beneficiaries in the platform (of which 236,902 are female) Key Outputs by Component 3.Training of 1692 famers and 400 organizations on climate-smart (Linked to the achievement of the Objective/Outcome 2) production management 4.Delivery of over 11,064,167 SMS to beneficiaries on e-extension services Page 23 The World Bank CI: Cote d'Ivoire E-Agriculture Project (P160418) Objective/Outcome 3 Increased farmers' access to markets through rural roads Outcome Indicators 1. Roads rehabilitated Intermediate Results Indicators 2. Roads rehabilitated ‐ rural 3. Roads maintained Key Outputs by Component 1.Rehabilitated 218.5km of rural roads (Linked to the achievement of the Objective/Outcome 3) Objective/Outcome 4 Mitigate the impact of COVID-19 crisis on the agricultural sector Outcome Indicators 1. Poultry stored in cold rooms (Metric ton) 2. Number of one-day old chicks distributed 3. Number of poultry farms disinfected Intermediate Results Indicators 4. Tons of urea distributed 5. Tons of paddy collected from farmers 6. Tons of NPK distributed 1.Subsidization of day-old chicks, 3 tons of animal feed and veterinary products to 793 household poultry farmers 2. Subsidization of 798,000 one-day-old chicks and 1,578 tons of animal feed to 2 industrial poultry producers 3. Subsidization of 1,638,107 tons of feed to 6 industrial animal feed Key Outputs by Component producers; the subsidization of slaughter costs for industrial producers (Linked to the achievement of the Objective/Outcome 4) for about 790,000 units 4. Subsidization of conservation costs for industrial producers for about 875,000 units 5. Supported 80 local cooperative factories to increase their rice production, and supported 10,576 farmers with a total of 8855 hectares of paddy rice production Page 24 The World Bank CI: Cote d'Ivoire E-Agriculture Project (P160418) ANNEX 2. BANK LENDING AND IMPLEMENTATION SUPPORT/SUPERVISION A. TASK TEAM MEMBERS Name Role Preparation Marc Jean Yves Lixi, Jean-Philippe Tre Task Team Leader(s) Maurice Adoni Procurement Specialist(s) Jean Charles Amon Kra Financial Management Specialist Dite Eulalie Marcelle Bah Team Member Maria Joao Dos Anjos Ribeiro Cordeiro Team Member Xavier Stephane Decoster Team Member Alicia Samantha Hammond Team Member Hadiza Nyelong Eneche Team Member Issa Thiam Team Member Abdoulaye Gadiere Environmental Specialist Anne Cecile Sophie Souhaid Team Member Raman V. Krishnan Team Member Fatoumata Diallo Social Specialist Abdoul Wahabi Seini Social Specialist Krishna Pidatala Team Member Subramaniam Janakiram Team Member Supervision/ICR Xavier Stephane Decoster, Jean-Philippe Tre, Gloodiey Rita Task Team Leader(s) Armelle Oulai Page 25 The World Bank CI: Cote d'Ivoire E-Agriculture Project (P160418) Antro Kenneth Sanvi, Maurice Adoni, Anita Nugu Procurement Specialist(s) Atioumoutio Edith Kone Epse Zannou Tchoko Financial Management Specialist Bolivian Dinyuy Tata Team Member Wendsongda Patrick Kabore Team Member Mohamed Moustapha Sarr Procurement Team Adjoua Veronique Ouattara Social Specialist Paul Viet-Minh Nguyen Team Member Edichi Brigitte Andoh Epse Mobongol Environmental Specialist Dite Eulalie Marcelle Bah Team Member Klessigue Robert Dembele Team Member Souleymane Traore Procurement Team James L. Neumann Team Member Julie Nyamien Messoum Kouame Team Member Nikolai Alexei Sviedrys Wittich Procurement Team Alphonse Soh Team Member Paulette C.E. Aida Thioune Zoua Team Member Gnoleba Mathieu Meguhe Procurement Team Evelyne Huguette Madozein Team Member David Satola Team Member Mohammad Ilyas Butt Procurement Team Salamata Bal Social Specialist B. STAFF TIME AND COST Staff Time and Cost Stage of Project Cycle No. of staff weeks US$ (including travel and consultant costs) Preparation FY17 1.225 40,800.65 Page 26 The World Bank CI: Cote d'Ivoire E-Agriculture Project (P160418) FY18 21.375 221,325.81 FY19 10.650 64,173.95 FY20 .200 1,178.40 Total 33.45 327,478.81 Supervision/ICR FY18 7.950 50,568.96 FY19 25.463 189,084.79 FY20 27.527 190,254.28 FY21 34.023 200,417.03 FY22 39.134 197,236.53 FY23 31.200 164,834.90 FY24 25.775 99,599.88 Total 191.07 1,091,996.37 Page 27 The World Bank CI: Cote d'Ivoire E-Agriculture Project (P160418) ANNEX 3. PROJECT COST BY COMPONENT Amount at Approval Actual at Project Components (US$M) Closing (US$M) 1. Extending digital connectivity in rural and 31.50 17.90 remote areas 2. Digital services for sustainable agricultural 12.50 8.50 development 3. Rehabilitation and maintenance of rural access 19.50 9.90 roads 4. Program implementation 6.50 7.90 and monitoring 5. Support for the COVID-19 Emergency Program in the 0 20.00 Agriculture Sector 6. Contingent Emergency 0 0 Response Component Total 70.00 64.20 (Note: the difference between amount at approval and amount at closing date is due to the fluctuation of the EURO-US$ exchange rate ; the final last partial cancellation is not included here.) Page 28 The World Bank CI: Cote d'Ivoire E-Agriculture Project (P160418) ANNEX 4. EFFICIENCY ANALYSIS 1. The Efficiency Analysis performed at completion follows a standard incremental approach33. At appraisal, an economic analysis following the same incremental approach was prepared, which estimated that project results with public capital support yielded 13 percent Economic Rate of Return (ERR); break‐ even point after 10 years; and a Net Present Value (NPV) of US$ 10.1 million (with a discount rate of 10 percent). At completion, the same incremental approach was applied in a similar model to measure the project’s NPV, break-even point and ERR and compare the actual economic impacts of the project with those measured at appraisal and reflected in the PAD. 2. Discounted at 10 percent34, at completion the NPV reaches US$ 11.7 million, with 9 years break- even point and yields a 16.7 percent ERR. Using the actual results as recorded by the PIU in the different ISRs, the NPV, break-even point and ERR calculated at completion are slightly above the results calculated at appraisal, specifically 3.7 percentage points higher ERR, US$ 1.6 million higher NPV, and one year less break-even point. These calculations leverage the actual sites deployed (160 sites in 175 locations), the people provided with new internet access (221,267 individuals as per the latest figures from February 2024), and the actual investment figures under component 1. These results confirm the results calculated at appraisal, by which the project became acceptable for private operators, moreover, taking into consideration that the ERR is in the lower range of the expected rate of return for standard mobile telecommunications projects. 3. In addition to replicating the analysis performed at appraisal, the Efficiency Analysis performed for the ICR incorporates a standard Cost-Benefit Analysis (CBA) methodology to measure the impact of other project activities not included in the original analysis35. The additional efficiency analysis leverages an ad-hoc economic model leveraging the actual figures gathered by the PIU over a six-year period focusing on the impact of connectivity, farmers reached, Digital Financial Services (DFS) and rehabilitated roads. It is worth highlighting that these estimations are limited to economic benefits, and do not consider potential additional social benefits that are relevant to the World Bank Group mission. Investment in mobile broadband for example has the potential to improve public service levels in areas such as health, education, e-taxation or democratic participation at lower cost than would be available offline36. The novelty of several activities (particularly those related to Component 5: Support for the COVID-19 Emergency Program in the Agriculture Sector) result in limited data available today to make an accurate estimation of the expected economic and financial returns associated with related activities supported by the project. Nevertheless, based on the poultry stored in cold rooms, the number of one-day old chicks distributed or the tons of paddy collected and the tons of urea and NPK distributed, it can be implied that Component 5 emergency activities contributed to the survival of the agriculture sector in the country, improving yields in the poultry, staple food and rice chains; and increasing revenues for the farmers. 33 Also called the relevant cost approach, marginal analysis or differential analysis, the incremental approach focused only on the extra costs and revenues generated by the project and disregards any other non‐relevant sunk cost that will be incurred. 34 The same discount rate at appraisal is used at completion to make results from the incremental approach models comparable. 35 It is worth noting that the analysis at appraisal focused on the US$ 15.5 million public contribution for the incremental approach calculations. This corresponds to 23.8 percent of the total project investment (US$ 65.07 million after restructuring). 36 Bilbao-Osorio et al., The Global Information Technology Report 2013; Growth and Jobs in a Hyperconnected World, 2013. Page 29 The World Bank CI: Cote d'Ivoire E-Agriculture Project (P160418) 4. Discounted at 10 percent, the ad-hoc CBA NPV reaches US$ 1.77 million and yields a 13 percent ERR. Cashflows are calculated over a span of six years, and they come from four main sources (i.e. economic impact in yearly GDP growth due to broadband penetration increase37; economic impact from savings due to farmers being reached with agricultural assets or services; economic impact from people reached with DFS and the DFS agent network developed; and, savings and productivity gains due to the rehabilitation of rural roads). Overall, results from the economic analysis confirm the economic efficiency of the Project’s investment in Cote d’Ivoire, with higher NPV and ERR, and lower break-even point at completion than at appraisal. Furthermore, the ad-hoc CBA model calculations performed for the efficiency analysis at project completion also show positive NPV and ERR above the discount rate. 37 For every 10 percent increase inmobile broadband there is a 2.50 percent increase in GDP growth. Source: ITU, “Economic Contribution of Broadband, Digitization, and ICT Regulation: Econometric Modelling for Africa”, 2019. Page 30 The World Bank CI: Cote d'Ivoire E-Agriculture Project (P160418) ANNEX 5. BORROWER, CO-FINANCIER AND OTHER PARTNER/STAKEHOLDER COMMENTS Comments received by the Ministry of Digital Transformation and Digitalization The Project’s ambition was to combine the deployment of telecommunications infrastructure, the strengthening of intelligent agricultural services and the rehabilitation of rural roads. The project has resulted in the extension of digital connectivity in rural areas through the deployment of 160 mobile sites providing Internet access to 221,267 people, strengthening farmers' capacities and improving their access to markets by deploying a platform to facilitate the marketing of agricultural products, rehabilitating 218 km of rural roads, and supporting the agricultural sector during the Covid-19 crisis. The technical support of the World Bank team, and the flexibility it demonstrated throughout the project, helped to achieve these results, despite the disruptions caused by the major external crises that arose during project execution. Internal obstacles, such as delays in mobilizing counterpart funds and difficulties in managing road rehabilitation contracts, underline the need to strengthen risk management and supervision capacities. Strengthening the monitoring and evaluation system would have enabled us to better measure the real impact of the project, specifically on farmers' incomes. In fact, notwithstanding the restructuring, it would have been desirable to focus on the most relevant and appropriate indicators, in order to better monitor the impact on the beneficiary populations and the results of the actions carried out. In addition, better identification and more precise definition of the roles and relationships between stakeholders would have improved project coordination and implementation. Lastly, although the Project has brought connectivity to 221,267 people, it must be acknowledged that this figure remains low in relation to the needs in this area. This is why it's vital to continue efforts to extend connectivity to rural areas in future investments, building on the project's achievements. Page 31 The World Bank CI: Cote d'Ivoire E-Agriculture Project (P160418) ANNEX 6. KEY CHANGES IN PROJECT COMPONENTS AFTER THE FIRST RESTRUCTURING Original Components Revised Components Total Financing Available: €56.8 million (US$70.0 million Total Financing Available: €56.8 million equivalent at the time of the Project approval and US$64.2 million equivalent at the current exchange rate) Component 1. Extending digital connectivity in targeted Component 1. Extending digital connectivity in targeted rural and remote areas rural and remote areas €25.5 million (US$31.5 million equivalent at the time of the €15.8 million (US$17.9 million equivalent at the current Project approval and US$30.2 million equivalent at the current exchange rate) exchange rate) The general scope of and description in the Financing 1. Review and improvement of the digital services Agreement remains unchanged, but the reduction in the enabling environment; Provision of technical budget available has led to a reduction in: assistance (TA) to strengthen capacity of key 1. The number of TA studies to focus on the ones stakeholders in defining, enhancing and enforcing an related to achieving the PDO (the budget for TAs enabling environment conducive to providing digital decreasing from €2.7 million to €0.9 million and services in rural areas, by funding a legal review of the several studies being merged into a general study current environment and identify bottlenecks that to assist the MENUP in establishing its digital hamper private investment. strategy). 2. Supporting the extension of digital infrastructure in 2. The extent of the mobile coverage to be financed, rural areas. as the budget to subsidize mobile coverage decreases from €22.9 million to €15.0 million. Component 2. Digital services for sustainable agricultural Component 2. Digital services for sustainable development agricultural development €10.1 million (US$12.5 million equivalent at the time of the €7.5 million (US$8.5 million equivalent at the current Project approval and US$12.0 million equivalent at the current exchange rate) exchange rate) This Component is revised and streamlined as follow: Sub-Component 2.1. Smart agriculture and producer Previous Sub-Component 2.1 (“Smart agriculture and organizations producer organizations”) is kept unchanged. Strengthening capacity of farmers in climate smart production The scope of this activity remains to enlist 200,000 actors management and marketing and facilitating the formation or in the agricultural value chain in the Project regions. consolidation of farmer groups into more formal structures. Sub-Component 2.2. Capacity building in digital solutions in Previous Sub-Component 2.2 is adjusted as agriculture “Strengthening the digital capacities of the beneficiaries Strengthening the capacity of the MARD and relevant and communication actions.” agricultural agencies by providing TA to: (i) identify the various The aim of this component is now to increase the digital institutions involved in the data to decision making value chain capacities of the beneficiaries by: (i) providing training in the agricultural sector; (ii) support the capacity and sensitization of 400 organizations of Project strengthening of MARD staff and such relevant agencies in beneficiaries including informal associations on the use of digital tools and applications for data collection and digital agricultural services by non-governmental management; (iii) improve the enabling environment for organizations (NGOs) in the Project areas; (ii) creating agricultural data, including a review of current status of 1,256 relay points in 628 villages to provide permanent Page 32 The World Bank CI: Cote d'Ivoire E-Agriculture Project (P160418) policies, laws and regulations, and recommend the revision of assistance to beneficiaries in the use of the tools and laws and regulations; and (iv) review and upgrade as needed services developed; (iii) ensuring the dissemination of the current strategy and action plan for the development, agricultural messages by local radio stations; and (iv) dissemination and use of agricultural data. disseminating the digital solutions for agriculture resulting from the CivAgriHack competition. Sub-Component 2.3. Digital Platform for the Ministry of Previous Sub-Component 2.3 is adjusted as “Definition, Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) realization and operationalization of agricultural digital Strengthening the MARD communication system by platforms.” The aim of this component is now to design refurbishing it and enabling the free flow of data, information and implement an integrated agricultural digital services and knowledge throughout all Project stakeholders. platform with the objective to provide agricultural digital services to the farmers. Sub-Component 2.4. Digital ecosystem and e-agricultural Previous Sub-Component 2.4 (“Digital ecosystem and e - services agricultural services”) is kept unchanged but the scope is 1. Provision of close to real time agricultural advisory reduced. services to small-scale farmers in the Project areas for The aim of this component is now to support incubation increased productivity by (i) establishing and and acceleration of the applications identified by the operationalizing call centers and voice message CivAgriHack and establish agreements with other services for agricultural information and knowledge in agriculture agencies in Côte d’Ivoire (SODEXAM, National the selected value chains; (ii) promoting awareness Agency for Rural Development Support - Agence and information campaigns for small-scale farmers in Nationale d’Appui au Développement Rural, ANADER) to selected value chains and targeted end-users of the e- provide agro-meteorological services and agricultural agriculture services; (iii) acquiring necessary advice to farmers. equipment and materials, including computers, software and communication materials necessary for the good functioning of the e-extension platform; (iv) providing the relevant agricultural agencies with a toll-free number for a more efficient outreach from farmers 2. Promotion of digital innovation systems for agriculture through: (i) the design and operationalization of an agricultural observatory; (ii) the design and organization of app challenges to develop or enhance digital solutions for agriculture e- services; and (iii) TA and financial support to scale up and mainstream relevant digital solutions emerging for the app challenges. Component 3. Rehabilitation and maintenance of Rural Component 3. Rehabilitation and maintenance of Rural Access Roads Access Roads €15.8 million (US$19.5 million equivalent at the time of the €8.7 million (US$9.9 million equivalent at the current Project approval and US$18.7 million equivalent at the current exchange rate) exchange rate) Financing the technical feasibility studies, environmental and The general scope of and description in the Financing social assessments and works related with the rehabilitation Agreement remains unchanged, but the reduction in the and maintenance of 758 km of critical rural roads allowing budget available has led to a reduction in the length of access to targeted production zones and markets in Divo, road rehabilitated and maintained. Daloa, Gagnoa and Bouna. Page 33 The World Bank CI: Cote d'Ivoire E-Agriculture Project (P160418) The Project will rehabilitate 256.4 km of rural roads (in Divo, Daloa, Gagnoa, and Bouna) and these will be maintained each year for a total of two years. Given the reduced scope of works under Component 3, the convention of AGEROUTE will be amended with regards to the (i) internal fees; (ii) scope of activities; (iii) mission duration; and (iv) other related expenses will be accordingly revised. Component 4. Program implementation and monitoring Component 4. Program implementation and monitoring €5.3 million (US$6.5 million equivalent at the time of the €7.0 million (US$7.9 million equivalent at the current Project approval and US$6.2 million equivalent at the current exchange rate) exchange rate) Support the setting up of the Project Coordination Unit and The general scope of and description in the Financing cover the cost of Training, office equipment, Operating Costs, Agreement remains unchanged, but the budget is audits and communications as well as M&E, environmental and increased given the proposed new activities in the Project social studies and their implementation and monitoring. and the increased monitoring needs. (NEW) Component 5. COVID-19 Related Support to Farmers €17.7 million (US$20.0 million equivalent at the current exchange rate) This new component aims at supporting the agricultural sector to face the COVID-19 crisis, especially for the poultry sector, the rice/paddy sector, and the fresh food products sector. The new activities will involve (i) an extension of the geographic area of the Project by including new regions; and (ii) a change in the nature of the activities to be implemented, particularly the support in terms of subsidies or supply of production inputs (poultry, rice/paddy) to small farmers. (NEW) Component 6. Contingent Emergency Response Component (CERC) €0.00 million (US$0.00 million equivalent) This Component allowed for agile and flexible response to emerging events. Page 34 The World Bank CI: Cote d'Ivoire E-Agriculture Project (P160418) ANNEX 7. UPDATED THEORY OF CHANGE AFTER THE FIRST RESTRUCTURING Page 35