The World Bank Strengthening DRM Capacity in ECCAS (P166648) REPORT NO.: RES42861 RESTRUCTURING PAPER ON A PROPOSED PROJECT RESTRUCTURING OF STRENGTHENING DRM CAPACITY IN ECCAS APPROVED ON JUNE 22, 2018 TO ECONOMIC COMMUNITY OF CENTRAL AFRICAN STATES (ECCAS) URBAN, RESILIENCE AND LAND AFRICA WEST Regional Vice President: Ousmane Diagana Country Director: Deborah L. Wetzel Global Director: Sameh Naguib Wahba Tadros Practice Manager/Manager: Meskerem Brhane Task Team Leader(s): Prashant Singh The World Bank Strengthening DRM Capacity in ECCAS (P166648) ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS ACP African, Caribbean, Pacific Group of States AF Additional Financing BE Bank Executed CCA Climate Change Adaptation CBLT Commission du Bassin du Lac Tchad CICOS Commission Internationale du Bassin Congo-Oubangui-Sangha DRF Disaster Recovery Framework DRM Disaster Risk Management DRR Disaster Risk Reduction ECCAS Economic Community of Central African States ENSAF National School of Agronomy and Forestry EU European Union GFDRR Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery ICRC International Committee of the Red Cross MS ECCAS Member State NGO Non-Governmental Organization PDNA Post-Disaster Needs Assessment PDO Project Development Objective PIU Project Implementation Unit REC Regional Economic Community REPARC ECCAS Parliamentary Network for Disaster Resilience TOR Terms of Reference The World Bank Strengthening DRM Capacity in ECCAS (P166648) BASIC DATA Product Information Project ID Financing Instrument P166648 Investment Project Financing Original EA Category Current EA Category Approval Date Current Closing Date 22-Jun-2018 31-Aug-2020 Organizations Borrower Responsible Agency Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS) ECCAS DRR unit Financing (in USD Million) FIN_SUMM_PUB_TBL SUMMARY Total Project Cost 0 Total Financing 0 Financing Gap 0 DETAILS -NewFin3 The World Bank Strengthening DRM Capacity in ECCAS (P166648) Project Development Objective (PDO) Original PDO The development objective is to strengthen DRM coordination, planning and policy advisory, and technical capacity of the ECCAS and its member states. This would be achieved through regional collaboration, knowledge dissemination and capacity development of ECCAS and its member states. OPS_TABLE_PDO_CURRENTPDO Summary Status of Financing (US$, Millions) Net TF Approval Signing Effectiveness Closing Commitment Disbursed Undisbursed TF-A7508 22-Jun-2018 27-Jun-2018 17-Dec-2018 31-Aug-2020 2.50 2.06 .44 Policy Waiver(s) Does this restructuring trigger the need for any policy waiver(s)? No I. PROJECT STATUS AND RATIONALE FOR RESTRUCTURING A. Current Status 1. This activity is part of the Strengthening Disaster Resilience in Sub-Saharan Africa Program, which is an initiative of the Africa, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Group of States, financed by the European Union (EU) and implemented by the World Bank. The ACP-EU cooperation program has the overall objective to strengthen the resilience of sub-Saharan African regions, countries and communities to the impacts of natural disasters, including the potential impacts of climate change, in order to reduce poverty and promote sustainable development. This program, inter alia, supports the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS) with a grant of US$5 million (excluding 10% for supervision), which is implemented as both Bank executed (US$2.5 million) and recipient executed (US$2.5 million). The project here pertains to the recipient executed trust fund. 2. The development objective of the project is to strengthen the disaster risk reduction collaboration, coordination, planning, policy advisory and knowledge dissemination capacity of ECCAS to better serve its member states. Two of the three PDO level indicators have reached the respective targets. The third PDO level indicator (enhancement of regional knowledge on natural hazards and risk information in ECCAS region) has not been achieved yet, as the regional hazard vulnerability and risk assessment is ongoing and a regional validation workshop with national stakeholders had to be postponed due to the COVID-19 outbreak. The World Bank Strengthening DRM Capacity in ECCAS (P166648) 3. The project is defined by 5 major components: Component 1: Regional Hazards/Vulnerability Identification and Risk Mapping; Component 2: Capacity Building for Disaster Risk Reduction/Climate Change Adaptation (DRR/CCA); Component 3: Strengthening of Policy Dialogue and Legislation on DRM; Component 4: Enhance Regional Capacity for Preparedness, Response & Post Disaster Assessment and Recovery/Reconstruction Planning; and Component 5: Strengthening of Technical and Coordination Capacity at the ECCAS Secretariat. 4. Implementation is on track to achieving its objectives after initial delays. The ECCAS Secretariat, and its DRM Unit in particular, has strengthened its implementation and coordination capacity on DRM and regional DRR policy dialogue. The main results as of July 2020 are the following: (a) Under Component 1: (i) the regional hazard vulnerability and risk assessment is ongoing: the IGNFI/BRLi consortium was selected in early August 2019 by a technical subcommittee including a panel of 4 experts from the region (Commission Internationale du Bassin Congo-Oubangui-Sangha (CICOS), Commission du Bassin du Lac Tchad (CBLT), Civil Protection from CAR and Remote Sensing from Cameroon); and a Regional Disaster Risk Atlas is being developed. (b) Under Component 2: (i) 5 national Disaster Risk Management (DRM) strategies aligned with the Sendai framework are being developed by the selected consortium GLOSEC/EGIDD/ODW (Republic of Congo, Cameroon, Chad, Central Africa Republic, Sao Tomé and Principe) ; all 5 drafts have been shared with stakeholders including UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction and the African Union Commission; (ii) 10 DRM units out of 11 of the ECCAS Member States have benefited from hardware support and 6 DRM units benefited from user training provided by the selected firm (TCA Sarl); (iii) 6 DRM post-graduate students have completed three-month internships in the DRM unit of ECCAS; 2 reports validated by respective universities and the remaining 4 are under validation; (iv) ECCAS Gender Strategy and Action Plan for mainstreaming gender (developed under the BE Grant) has been validated during a workshop held in February 2020 in Libreville, Gabon. (c) Under Component 3: (i) 2 Regional DRR Central Africa Platforms and 1 DRM Ministerial Platform have been organized with experts from ECCAS Member States, representatives from the Parliamentary Network for Disaster Resilience in Central Africa (REPARC), national societies of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and NGOs. The 7th Regional DRR Platform in collaboration with the Government of Burundi (January 2019) in Bujumbura with 80 participants (including 14 women) and the 8th Regional Platform with 4th DRM Ministerial in collaboration with the Government of DRC (October 2019) in Kinshasa with 90 participants (including 25 women); (ii) ECCAS Parliamentary Network for Disaster Resilience (REPARC) has been strengthened and its Second annual meeting organized in January 2019 in Bujumbura, Burundi; (iii) ECCAS DRM Unit experts and ECCAS parliamentarians from REPARC have participated in major international events: the Global Platform for DRR and World Reconstruction Conference 4 in Geneva in May 2019, and the COP25 in Madrid in December 2019. The World Bank Strengthening DRM Capacity in ECCAS (P166648) (d) Under Component 4: (i) 3 national PDNA/DRF trainings were undertaken in N’Djamena, Chad (April 2019) with 65 participants (including 12 women); in Bangui, CAR (July 2019) with 50 participants (including 16 women); and in Brazzaville, Congo Republic (July 2019) with 48 participants (including 8 women). (e) Under Component 5: (i) The PIU has been fully staffed and operational, and all members trained in Bank procedures; the firm for the audit has been recruited and will start early 2021. B. Rationale for Restructuring 5. As a result of the current COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting suspension of missions, several key activities encountered difficulties in being carried out and achieving the expected results in the respective timeframes. Those affected activities are mainly the following: a. (a) the Regional Hazard Vulnerability and Risk Assessment is still ongoing and will need a regional validation workshop with different national stakeholders; b. (b) 10 countries’ DRM units out of 11 have received support on office equipment, but the delivery of training of users by the contracted firm is still pending for 5 of them; c. (c) 5 ECCAS member states will have their national DRM strategies drafted and aligned with the Sendai Framework but the firm contracted has to organize national validation workshops in each country; d. (d) a national PDNA/DRF training was planned in Yaoundé, Cameroon in April 2020. 6. To the extent that borders are closed, and confinement measures are in place, remaining activities must be deferred. 7. The project team has received the request for the no-cost extension of the Project from ECCAS on grounds of offsetting the delays caused by the COVID-19 outbreak. The GP Management and the Grant Manager (GFDRR) are agreeable to the request. The trustee TF’s End of Disbursement Date has been amended to December 31, 2021 with the approval of the designated Vice President and agreed to by the donor (European Union). The trustee has further confirmed that Development Finance (DFi) has concurred with the revised End Disbursement Date. 8. In addition, the FM Specialist of the Project has confirmed that there are no outstanding audit issues on the project at this time. The client has contracted an audit firm acceptable to the Bank for conducting the audit. However, due to the challenges caused by the pandemic, the firm is unable to travel to Libreville for conducting the audit in a satisfactory manner. The task team has obtained an audit exception from the FM Manager and WFA Manager for delayed audit report to be received by the Bank by October 31, 2020. II. DESCRIPTION OF PROPOSED CHANGES 9. The only proposed change is a 10-month extension of the Project Closing Date from current August 31, 2020 to May 31, 2021. This is the third extension of closing date since the project became effective. There are no changes to the PDOs or the geographic scope of the project, and no new safeguards policies have been triggered. In view of this, the proposal for rescheduling the Project Closing Date of the said Project to May The World Bank Strengthening DRM Capacity in ECCAS (P166648) 31, 2021 can be considered as it will more than six months prior to the End Disbursement Date for the Project. III. SUMMARY OF CHANGES Changed Not Changed Loan Closing Date(s) ✔ Disbursement Estimates ✔ Implementing Agency ✔ Project's Development Objectives ✔ Results Framework ✔ Components and Cost ✔ Cancellations Proposed ✔ Additional Financing Proposed ✔ Reallocation between Disbursement Categories ✔ Disbursements Arrangements ✔ Change in Overall Risk Rating ✔ Safeguard Policies Triggered ✔ EA category ✔ Legal Covenants ✔ Institutional Arrangements ✔ Financial Management ✔ Procurement ✔ Implementation Schedule ✔ Other Change(s) ✔ Economic and Financial Analysis ✔ Technical Analysis ✔ Social Analysis ✔ Environmental Analysis ✔ The World Bank Strengthening DRM Capacity in ECCAS (P166648) IV. DETAILED CHANGE(S) OPS_DETAILEDCHANGES_LOANCLOSING_TABLE LOAN CLOSING DATE(S) Original Revised Proposed Proposed Deadline TF Status Closing Closing(s) Closing for Withdrawal Applications 31-May-2020, 31- TF-A7508 Effective 31-Dec-2019 31-May-2021 30-Sep-2021 Aug-2020 OPS_DETAILEDCHANGES_DISBURSEMENT_TABLE DISBURSEMENT ESTIMATES Change in Disbursement Estimates Yes Expected Disbursements (In US$) Fiscal Year Annual Cumulative 2018 0.00 0.00 2019 0.00 0.00 2020 0.00 0.00 Note to Task Teams: End of system generated content, document is editable from here.