DECISION NOTE Virtual Review on The Southern Africa Drought Resilience Initiative (SADRI) (P173077) - Cities Pillar (P174856) core deliverables This decision note has been cleared by Holger A. Kray, Acting Regional Director, SAEDR, AFR 2 The Virtual Decision Review of the Cities Pillar of the Southern Africa Drought Initiative (SADRI) was held on Thursday, October 27, 2022. Written comments were provided by the following peer reviewers: Amal Talbi (Lead Water Resources Management Specialist, SMNWA); Federica Ranghieri (Program Leader, SMNDR); and Chloe Oliver Viola (Senior Water Supply and Sanitation Specialist, SWADR). The SADRI Cities Pillar aims to provide direction for cities, national governments, and regional institutions on proactive drought management and mitigation. There are two related written deliverables under this Pillar, attached here, namely 1) an Urban Drought Risk Management Toolkit for Task Team Leaders in the Southern African Development Community; and b) a Regional Guidance Note for clients. The SADRI-Cities Pillar (P174856) has been a joint activity of the Water Global Practice and the Urban, Disaster Risk Management, Resilience and Land Global Practice. With this cross-sector background, the SADRI Cities approach drew on the Integrated Drought Management Program (IDMP) framework agreed to by 93 nations in 2013, built around a three-pillar approach of: 1) Monitoring & Early Warning Systems; 2) Vulnerability & Impact Assessments; and 3) Preparedness, Response and Mitigation. Areas of Endorsement Overall, the deliverables received positive feedback. The peer reviewers recognized the quality, importance and usefulness of the Toolkit and the Guidance Note, describing the narrative as clear, coherent, and practical. The team thanks the Peer Reviewers for their useful comments and feedback, which are summarized in Annex 1, together with the team’s responses. Verbatim comments by reviewers are shown in Annex 2. Next steps in finalizing the activity and dissiminating the deliverables A. Refining the deliverables in four key areas by mid-December 2022: 1. Shortening the Executive Summary of the Regional Guidance Note, accentuating messages on preparing for drought 2. Addressing repetition in the Regional Guidance Note 3. Adding references to other relevant World Bank iniviatives and publications to strengthen the case for drought risk management 4. More highlighting and disseminating of practical, specific lessons per city in case studies summaries 5. Briefly describing how these deliverables align with and/or are add value to the EPIC framework. B. Dissemination (FY23): 1. Publishing the Toolkit and the Regional Guidance Note online. 2. Participating in the dialogue on the wider SADRI initiative, externally and within the World Bank. 3. Coordinating with the overall SADRI TTLs on targeted dissemination of the deliverables in the region and beyond. 1 Matrix of Comments and Team Responses Decision Review: SADRI Pillar 1: Cities on 27 October 2022 (Southern Africa Drought-Resilient Cities - P174856) Virtual meeting chaired by Ayat Soliman: Regional Director: SAEDR Peer Reviewers: Amal Talbi (AT), Amal Talbi (Lead Water Resources Management Specialist, SMNWA); Federica Ranghieri (FR) (Program Leader, SMNDR); Chloe Oliver Viola (COV) (Senior Water Supply and Sanitation Specialist, SWADR (10060). Question Comments Team response 1. Is the narrative logical, Amal Talbi coherent and practical, and The TTL toolkit is well-detailed and supports TTLs regardless Thank you for the positive and constructive comments. The are there critical areas that of their prior knowledge of urban drought. team will look into publishing the case studies along with the need to be added or be toolkit and guidance notes. We also return to the issue under more amplified to optimize The case for the focus on urban drought is robust, and I point 3 below. its relevance within the commend the approach at the SADC level so countries can World Bank and among learn from each other. client? a. Also attached – as The approach is sound. The documents look at people- background – is an centered risk management, and the pillars are well- annexure with detailed presented and explained. case studies. Any suggestions on whether The documents look at monetizing impact, and I like that and how to disseminate there is this lens of who are the ones paying when drought these longer case occurs, and there is no or limited preparedness. For studies would be example, Box 11 tables are a good illustration to open this welcome. discussion on understanding the dynamic of which segments of society bear the higher cost. One aspect that I often wonder about is how utility managers and water institutions can get credit for not having day zero. I agree with the documents that the financial impact on water utilities is a concern. These elements are not to be added in the documents but more as we go forward in the GSG to continue also working on these aspects under the drought workstream. The documents also look at informal institutions at civil society and the community level in the governance discussion. The informal institutions are indeed essential players in the drought. 2 On the guidance note, the document can be further Thank you for your suggestion. The team will review the reduced in length based on the audience. The executive document and the executive summary to ensure that the key summary could be more focused on messages. For example, messages are conveyed more cogently and strongly. the first two paragraphs have a strong message, and a few follow-up paragraphs are more descriptive. A lot of the While an assessment of the 2022 drought events in Europe and elements in Box 10 could be the executive summary. I China resonates with the subject matter of the SADRI assignment, suggest using the droughts in 2022 with significant impacts undertaking a case study falls beyond the scope of our task. in China, in Europe to strengthen further the argument on Instead, in updating the document on the basis of the decision the importance of preparing for droughts. This year's review, the team may include brief cross-references to droughts showed that coping with drought is challenging experiences on other regions, as full assessment of those case even in more advanced economies and systems. Urban studies falls beyond the Southern African scope of the SADRI droughts are of particular concern in countries where project, and cannot be completed done justice within the economic activities contributing to the GDP are located in timeframe. cities. There is an urgency with climate change and the societal changes in the continent. A projected 70% of the population will live in the cities by 2050 can be conveyed more forcefully. Editorial comment: Box 8 :"Considerations of the SADC Thank you. The team will work on improving Box 8 and Context in Defining Supply- and Demand-Side Mitigation welcomes your offer to provide further support, within our Measures" could be further aligned with definitions of timeframe. supply and demand measures. For example, within the regional context, many cities have used groundwater as a supply measure (local source) with wastewater recharge of GW to increase the potential, or what are the experiences of reduction of demand (behavior change of users). I would be available to work with the team on the box. Federica Ranghieri As already stated in the previous round of comments, this is Thank you. We return to the comments on publicizing the a very good report that is covering an important niche – as Regional Guidance Notes under point 3, as it relates to the urban drought has not been studied and addressed as much guidance that we have sought on dissemination as needed. This initiative is likely to sparkle new interest and new engagement in the field. I think the narrative is clear, coherent, and focuses on practical actions. I see that gender, community engagement and inclusion has been strengthened in the report, as well 3 as the linkages of disasters, fragility and conflict have been incorporated. I appreciate the extra effort the team put to add the suggestions at QER in the new version. I like very much the focus on main clients at urban and national level in the Regional Guidance Notes, which provide the city water utilities, city governments, and National Water Agencies with practical and short overview of the Framework as well as practical recommendations for addressing urban drought before, during and after its impact. This approach focuses on clients’ demand, provides practical solutions and easy to understand outputs, including a summary of the case studies and the toolkit boxes. Chloe Oliver Viola I found both documents to be logical and coherent. The Thank you for the positive assessment. If you have a marked Toolkit for Task Team Leaders in particular seemed very version with suggestions available, the team would certainly practical for TTLs. A few comments for the team to consider benefit from receiving it, or to talk through the key points with as they finalize the documents: you. In principle though, we proposes to respond in the following ways: • The Guidance Note could be reviewed to shorten and • In the Guidance Note, fresh editing to avoid repetition avoid repetition. I can provide more details in a and convey stronger messages marked-up version if the team think this would be • Revising and strengthening the executive summary in useful. line with your comments. • Some very small suggestions below the team might • Further references will be incorporated to strengthen consider: the evidence and the opening message, to – as you ➢ In the opening, do we have enough evidence to suggest – “sell the reader on the concept� ahead of the state: “Droughts are far more costly than the steps that need to be taken, rather than including this policies and infrastructure required to build water pitch at the end. resilience, and they have the potential to reduce a • Reviewing and adjusting the structure of the guidance city’s economic growth�? Many of the reports you note, we will explore the idea of moving the section 5.. mention in these papers make a strong case about the impact of drought and dry shocks on economic growth that can be used as reference. Some recent work by the Water, Economics, and Climate Change GSG further confirmed that water security is crucial to eradicating poverty, creating jobs, and building more equitable societies. On jobs, for example, our 4 recent research shows that employment is reduced by 2.5 percentage points during extremely dry years; in Sub-Saharan Africa, this implies that every year 300,000 individuals are jobless due to extreme drought. ➢ The Executive Summary could be strengthened. The team could consider removing paragraphs 1 and 2 (these can go in the Introduction), begin with paragraph four (problem statement), followed by paragraph three (goal of the Toolkit). Paragraph 6 then explains what the Toolkit can do, and could then move straight into the six sections. But rather than list them, I think it would be important to summarize what the reader will get out of each section. ➢ The team could consider moving the Section 5 “Benefits of Urban Drought Risk Management� to the front of the document (between the Section on Urban Drought in SADC and Urban Drought Risk Management Framework). In fact, the benefits could go as an introduction section to the Urban Drought Risk Management Framework. This could sell the reader on the concept ahead of the steps that need to be taken, rather than including this pitch at the end. 1.a. Also attached – as Amal Talbi background – is an annexure While the case studies are well integrated into the toolkit Thank you, we will look into publishing the case studies along with detailed case studies. and guidance note, I agree with the team that finding other with the toolkit and guidance notes. Any suggestions on whether ways to disseminate would be helpful. My initial thought and how to disseminate these would be if they can be published with the toolkit and longer case studies would be guidance note. At the Bank, we tend not to disseminate welcome. background notes, while there is a lot of curated knowledge that does not benefit the audience. 5 Chloe Oliver Viola The case studies are full of useful information that would be Thank you. It is viable to reference the suggested California a shame to lose/not disseminate. Suggest the team reach resources out to the Knowledge Management team in WTR GP for recommendations on how to be present and disseminate. For your information, the California Urban Drought Guidebook referenced, from 2008, California released a new Water Supply Strategy: Adapting to a Hotter, Drier Future in August 2022 which the team may also like to make reference to. 2. Are there any other WB Amal Talbi publications or strategies I recommend adding Uncharted water; Water Scarce Cities, Agree. Thank you that needs to be and Ebb and Flow reports. mentioned and the document needs to align with. Chloe Oliver Viola The report mentions the EPIC Response Framework—a Thank you. We agree on the comment to highlight the value general framework for drought and flood actions. The added by the Toolkit and Guidance Notes to the earlier work on report is aligned with EPIC, but I am less clear what value is the EPIC approach, and will revise the text accordingly. added by Figure 3.7 which tries to visually link the two frameworks. In my view, where this framework adds value is where it differs from the EPIC Framework—particularly Pillar 2: the impacts and vulnerability risk assessments within the urban areas (hugely important in terms of social inclusion and to identify who is most vulnerable drought within an urban areas, to then make targeted efforts to ensure that these same people benefit from drought management processes and policies). In fact, I went back to the EPIC report and note that it only mentions urban droughts twice, and then to link the importance or urban drought management to basin planning. In Figure 3.7, for instance, Pillar 2 (assessment) is linked to the “Investment� pillar of EPIC, and I’m not sure how these are related. It may make sense for the team to, rather, introduce the EPIC framework briefly upfront, point the reader to the relevant materials which cover drought and floods much more broadly, and then briefly explain what is new/different 6 about this work (geographical and urban focus, and only droughts). In terms of other reports developed by the Bank, several Thank you providing such a range of suggestions. We will relevant reports are already referenced in this work, indeed reference the publications suggested, and very briefly including: High and Dry: Climate Change, Water, and the highlight this in the narrative, whilst taking care not to lengthen Economy and Ebb and Flow: Water, Migration, and the documents much. Development. The team may also like to reference (1) Unchartered Waters: The New Economics of Water Scarcity and Variability (which recommends constructing new water storage and management infrastructure paired with policies that control the demand for water), (2) A Catalogue of Nature Based Solutions for Urban Resilience, and (3) Water Scarce Cities: Thriving in a Finite World (that also includes a detailed case study of Windhoek). The team may also like to link Task Teams using the The team will develop a short reference to some relevant framework to ongoing operations in the World Bank that activities along the lines suggested. could contribute to implementing the framework. Since this is a living document, a simple table of operations in the 15 countries that could contribute to implementing the framework could enable Task Teams to better support client governments implementing the framework. For example, hydrometeorological (hydromet) data/services enable drought managers to zero in on potentially affected areas to better assess impacts and identify vulnerable populations. The Bank recently approved a $2.3 billion program: Food Systems Resilience Program for Eastern and Southern Africa (FSRP) that includes rolling out hydromet services in the countries covered: beginning with Ethiopia and Madagascar. This project will also include regional coordination of hydromet infrastructure modernization and data sharing. More details on active hydromet programs in Africa are available here: https://www.worldbank.org/en/programs/africa_hydromet _program. 7 3. How can the outputs best Amal Talbi be disseminated and rolled out to teams and clients? For teams, BBLs and sessions at water week are adequate to Agree. The Pillar 1 team will work closely with the Water GP to ensure that teams are aware of this knowledge. For clients, identify opportunities, such as at Water Week. We will also water experts in the region can advise on how to present at consult communications teams to explore how to optimize the regional water events and reach out to universities and messaging beyond the World Bank and consider reaching out to schools for debates and discussion. universities and other tertiary institutions. While the case studies are well integrated into the toolkit Thank you for this guidance. The formal deliverables for this and guidance note, I agree with the team that finding other activity do not include the full case studies, hence some of the ways to disseminate would be helpful. My initial thought contents were included in the two main documents. But the would be if they can be published with the toolkit and team will consider how the case studies could best be shared guidance note. At the Bank, we tend not to disseminate separately in ways that supplement the formal deliverables, i.e. background notes, while there is a lot of curated knowledge the toolkit and guidance notes. It may require further that does not benefit the audience. consultation with the respective counterparts about platforms for sharing the findings and guidance materials. Federica Ranghieri I believe the Regional Guidance Notes deserve particular Thank you! We will further explore the suggested dissemination attention when it comes to dissemination. Ad hoc mechanisms with the communications team. presentations and a dedicated website are useful when interacting with the clients, but also a series of interactive workshops to promote the effective implementation of the note can be useful. The selected case studies are well balanced and representative of many geographic and socio- economic cases. Videos like 2 min cartoons per city per lesson learned could help reaching out to a wider group of stakeholders. These videos could be projected in schools, in Events not strictly related to the framework to build awareness. The description of the lessons learned is still too general It is possible to highlight very practical lessons from cities and and too high level. I would suggest highlighting very showcase them in the summary of the case studies using the practical lessons per city and show case them in the information of the Workbook, but time is a constraint. It is summary of the case studies and possibly in the brief videos worth noting that from our search for data-based costs and proposed above. If costs and benefits (like in the Barcelona benefits assessments globally, Barcelona seemed to have case) can be added and included in the dissemination pieces documented costs and benefits most comprehensively. In per city, it would be very powerful. African cities, this has been hampered by a dearth of data. 8 One additional point on the role of the private sector. I The team will consider how the private sector could be targeted understand the private sector's role has been included in in the communication of the document. The broader SADRI the governance section. I would suggest to add the private initiative is indeed moving into the communication phase now, sector (e.g. a selection of companies supplying/treating and the Water Team will specifically seek audiences with the water or distributing energy or active in the transport sector African Water Association (AfWA), the SADC Resilience unit, and or manufacturing sector) among the clients the Regional ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability (founded in 1990 as Guidance Notes are dedicated to. It would be good to have the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives) workshops with public and private sector’s participants together and focus groups with the private sector to learn from their experience and secure more effective application of the framework. Chloe Oliver Viola • The team should reach out to the Knowledge Agree, thank you. We have been planning to do so. Management team in the Water GP for guidance on how to best disseminate and roll out these deliverables with internal team and clients. • Since we have a Water Week planned for early 2023, Agree. Water Week should be an excellent platform for the team may also consider presenting this during a highlighting the SADRI Cities work, and identify further session there for wide reach to Bank TTLs (since several opportunities for sharing the knowledge developed. aspects of this work are relevant to cities with drought risk and vulnerabilities outside of SADC). 9 ANNEX 2: Verbatim Comments Detailed comments by Federica Ranghieri (Program Leader, SMNDR) Dear Chris, My apologies for getting my comments this late. I will provide few input here below. As already stated in the previous round of comments, this is a very good report that is covering an important niche – as urban drought as not been studied and addressed as much as needed. This initiative is likely to sparkle new interest and new engagement in the field. I think the narrative is clear, coherent, and focuses on practical actions. I see that gender, community engagement and inclusion has been strengthened in the report, as well as the linkages of disasters, fragility and conflict have been incorporated. I appreciate the extra effort the team put to add the suggestions at QER in the new version. I like very much the focus on main clients at urban and national level in the Regional Guidance Notes, which provide the city water utilities, city governments, and National Water Agencies with practical and short overview of the Framework as well as practical recommendations for addressing urban drought before, during and after its impact. This approach focuses on clients’ demand, provides practical solutions and easy to undestand outputs, including a summary of the case studies and the toolkit boxes. I believe the Regional Guidance Notes deserve particular attention when it comes to dissemination. Ad hoc presentations and dedicated website are useful when interacting with the clients, but also a series of interactive workshops to promote the effective implementation of the note can be useful. The selected case studies are well balanced and representative of many geographic and socio-economic cases. Videos like 2 min cartoons per city per lesson learned could help reaching out to a wider group of stakeholders. These videos could be projected in schools, in Events not strictly related to the framework to build awareness. The description of the lessons learned is still too general and too high level. I would suggest to highlight very practical lessons per city and show case them in the summary of the case studies and possibly in the brief videos proposed above. If costs and benefits (like in the Barcelona case) can be added and included in the dissemination pieces per city, it would be very powerful. One additional point on the role of the private sector. I understand the private sector's role has been included in the governance section. I would suggest to add the private sector (e.g. a selection of companies supplying/treating water or distributing energy or active in the transport sector or manufacturing sector) among the clients the Regional Guidance Notes are dedicated to. It would be good to have workshops with public and private sector’s participants together and focus groups with the private sector to learn from their experience and secure more effective application of the framework. Thanks again for the opportunity and good luck with the review. All the best, Federica 10 Detailed comments by Amal Talbi (Lead Water Resources Management Specialist, SMNWA) Dear Chris, Ko, and team, Apologies for sending the comments late. Thanks for the opportunity to review the outputs of the SADRI Cities Pillar: 1) a TTL toolkit and b) Regional Guidance Notes for clients. The team has reflected well my QER comments. I like the approach of the two documents. The document will support TTLs and task teams and help having a coherent system across SADC from the Bank, and hopefully from the clients. I am providing some thoughts along the questions that the team has provided: 1. Is the narrative logical, coherent and practical, and are there critical areas that need to be added or be more amplified to optimize its relevance within the World Bank and among client? a. Also attached – as background – is an annexure with detailed case studies. Any suggestions on whether and how to disseminate these longer case studies would be welcome. The TTL toolkit is well-detailed and supports TTLs regardless of their prior knowledge of urban drought. The case for the focus on urban drought is robust, and I commend the approach at the SADC level so countries can learn from each other. The approach is sound. The documents look at people-centered risk management, and the pillars are well presented and explained. While the case studies are well integrated into the toolkit and guidance note, I agree with the team that finding other ways to disseminate would be helpful. My initial thought would be if they can be published with the toolkit and guidance note. At the Bank, we tend not to disseminate background notes, while there is a lot of curated knowledge that does not benefit the audience. The documents look at monetizing impact, and I like that there is this lens of who are the ones paying when drought occurs, and there is no or limited preparedness. For example, Box 11 tables are a good illustration to open this discussion on understanding the dynamic of which segments of society bear the higher cost. One aspect that I often wonder about is how utility managers and water institutions can get credit for not having day zero. I agree with the documents that the financial impact on water utilities is a concern. These elements are not to be added in the documents but more as we go forward in the GSG to continue also working on these aspects under the drought workstream. The documents also look at informal institutions at civil society and the community level in the governance discussion. The informal institutions are indeed essential players in the drought. On the guidance note, the document can be further reduced in length based on the audience. The executive summary could be more focused on messages. For example, the first two paragraphs have a strong message, and a few follow-up paragraphs are more descriptive. A lot of the elements in Box 10 could be the executive summary. I suggest using the droughts in 2022 with significant impacts in China, in Europe to strengthen further the argument on the importance of preparing for droughts. This year's droughts showed that coping with drought is challenging even in more advanced economies and systems. Urban droughts are of particular concern in countries where economic activities contributing to the GDP are located in cities. There is an urgency with climate change and the societal changes in the continent. A projected 70% of the population will live in the cities by 2050 can be conveyed more forcefully. Editorial comment on Box 8 "Considerations of the SADC Context in Defining Supply- and Demand-Side Mitigation Measures" could be further aligned with definitions of supply and demand measures. For example, within the regional context, many cities have used groundwater as a supply measure (local source) with wastewater recharge of GW to increase the potential, or what are the experiences of reduction of demand (behavior change of users). I would be available to work with the team on the box. 11 2. Are there any other WB publications or strategies that needs to be mentioned and the document needs to align with. I recommend adding Uncharted water, water scare cities, and ebb and flow reports. 3. How can the outputs best be disseminated and rolled out to teams and clients? For teams, BBLs and sessions at water week are adequate to ensure that teams are aware of this knowledge. For clients, water experts in the region can advise on how to present at regional water events and reach out to universities and schools for debates and discussion. Best regards, Amal 12 Detailed comments by Chloe Oliver Viola (Senior Water Supply and Sanitation Specialist, SWADR Dear Chris, Many thanks for inviting me to review this important work on an Urban Drought Risk Management Framework (UDRMF) for the Southern African Development Community (SADC). The team are to be complemented for preparing these thoughtful and well-written reports. I hope the comments below, structured around the questions posed by the team, are useful in finalizing the Toolkit for Task Team Leaders and the Regional Guidance Note. Is the narrative logical, coherent and practical, and are there critical areas that need to be added or be more amplified to optimize its relevance within the World Bank and among client? I found both documents to be logical and coherent. The Toolkit for Task Team Leaders in particular seemed very practical for TTLs. A few comments for the team to consider as they finalize the documents: The Guidance Note could be reviewed to shorten and avoid repetition. I can provide more details in a marked up version if the team think this would be useful. Some very small suggestions below the team might consider: In the opening, do we have enough evidence to state: “Droughts are far more costly than the policies and infrastructure required to build water resilience, and they have the potential to reduce a city’s economic growth�? Many of the reports you mention in these papers make a strong case about the impact of drought and dry shocks on economic growth that can be used as reference. Some recent work by the Water, Economics, and Climate Change GSG further confirmed that water security is crucial to eradicating poverty, creating jobs, and building more equitable societies. On jobs, for example, our recent research shows that employment is reduced by 2.5 percentage points during extremely dry years; in Sub-Saharan Africa, this implies that every year 300,000 individuals are jobless due to extreme drought. The Executive Summary could be strengthened. The team could consider removing paragraphs 1 and 2 (these can go in the Introduction), begin with paragraph four (problem statement), followed by paragraph three (goal of the Toolkit). Paragraph 6 then explains what the Toolkit can do, and could then move straight into the six sections. But rather than list them, I think it would be important to summarize what the reader will get out of each section. The team could consider moving the Section 5 “Benefits of Urban Drought Risk Management� to the front of the document (between the Section on Urban Drought in SADC and Urban Drought Risk Management Framework). In fact, the benefits could go as an introduction section to the Urban Drought Risk Management Framework. This could sell the reader on the concept ahead of the steps that need to be taken, rather than including this pitch at the end. Also attached – as background – is an annexure with detailed case studies. Any suggestions on whether and how to disseminate these longer case studies would be welcome. The case studies are full of useful information that would be a shame to lose/not disseminate. Suggest the team reach out to the Knowledge Management team in WTR GP for recommendations on how to be present and disseminate. For your information, the California Urban Drought Guidebook referenced, from 2008, California released a new Water Supply Strategy: Adapting to a Hotter, Drier Future in August 2022 which the team may also like to make reference to. Are there any other WB publications or strategies that need to be mentioned and the document needs to align with? 13 The report mentions the EPIC Response Framework—a general framework for drought and flood actions. The report is aligned with EPIC, but I am less clear what value is added by Figure 3.7 which tries to visually link the two frameworks. In my view, where this framework adds value is where it differs from the EPIC Framework—particularly Pillar 2: the impacts and vulnerability risk assessments within the urban areas (hugely important in terms of social inclusion and to identify who is most vulnerable drought within an urban areas, to then make targeted efforts to ensure that these same people benefit from drought management processes and policies). In fact, I went back to the EPIC report and note that it only mentions urban droughts twice, and then to link the importance or urban drought management to basin planning. In Figure 3.7, for instance, Pillar 2 (assessment) is linked to the “Investment� pillar of EPIC, and I’m not sure how these are related. It may make sense for the team to, rather, introduce the EPIC framework briefly upfront, point the reader to the relevant materials which cover drought and floods much more broadly, and then briefly explain what is new/different about this work (geographical and urban focus, and only droughts). In terms of other reports developed by the Bank, several relevant reports are already referenced in this work, including: High and Dry: Climate Change, Water, and the Economy and Ebb and Flow: Water, Migration, and Development. The team may also like to reference (1) Unchartered Waters: The New Economics of Water Scarcity and Variability (which recommends constructing new water storage and management infrastructure paired with policies that control the demand for water), (2) A Catalogue of Nature Based Solutions for Urban Resilience, and (3) Water Scarce Cities: Thriving in a Finite World (that also includes a detailed case study of Windhoek). The team may also like to link Task Teams using the framework to ongoing operations in the World Bank that could contribute to implementing the framework. Since this is a living document, a simple table of operations in the 15 countries that could contribute to implementing the framework could enable Task Teams to better support client governments implementing the framework. For example, hydrometeorological (hydromet) data/services enable drought managers to zero in on potentially affected areas to better assess impacts and identify vulnerable populations. The Bank recently approved a $2.3 billion program: Food Systems Resilience Program for Eastern and Southern Africa (FSRP) that includes rolling out hydromet services in the countries covered: beginning with Ethiopia and Madagascar. This project will also include regional coordination of hydromet infrastructure modernization and data sharing. More details on active hydromet programs in Africa are available here: https://www.worldbank.org/en/programs/africa_hydromet_program. How can the outputs best be disseminated and rolled out to teams and clients? The team should reach out to the Knowledge Management team in the Water GP for guidance on how to best disseminate and roll out these deliverable with internal team and clients. Since we have a Water Week planned for early 2023, the team may also consider presenting this during a session there for wide reach to Bank TTLs (since several aspects of this work are relevant to cities with drought risk and vulnerabilities outside of SADC). Hope these comments are useful for the team as you finalize the documents. Chloe 14