The World Bank Solomon Islands Community Governance and Grievance Management Project (P147005) REPORT NO.: RES42498 PROJECT PAPER ON A PROPOSED PROJECT RESTRUCTURING AND AUSTRALIAN-PACIFIC ISLANDS PARTNERSHIP ADDITIONAL GRANT IN THE AMOUNT OF US$ 350,467 TO SOLOMON ISLANDS FOR THE COMMUNITY GOVERNANCE AND GRIEVANCE MANAGEMENT PROJECT APPROVED ON SEPTEMBER 29, 2014 GOVERNANCE EAST ASIA AND PACIFIC Regional Vice President: Victoria Kwakwa Country Director: Michel Kerf Regional Director: Hassan Zaman Practice Manager/Manager: Fily Sissoko Task Team Leader(s): Virginia Ann Horscroft The World Bank Solomon Islands Community Governance and Grievance Management Project (P147005) ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS APIP TF Australian-Pacific Islands Partnership Trust Fund CD Country Director CGGM Community Governance and Grievance Management CO Community Officer EA Environmental Assessment MPGIS Ministry of Provincial Government and Institutional Strengthening MTR Mid-Term Review PDO Project Development Objective PMU Project Management Unit POM Project Operations Manual PRAB Australia-Pacific Islands Partnership Trust Fund PSC Project Steering Committee TF Trust Fund USD United States Dollar BASIC DATA Product Information Project ID Financing Instrument P147005 Investment Project Financing Original EA Category Current EA Category Approval Date Current Closing Date 29-Sep-2014 31-Oct-2020 Organizations Borrower Responsible Agency Ministry of Provincial Government and Institutional Solomon Islands Strengthening The World Bank Solomon Islands Community Governance and Grievance Management Project (P147005) Financing (in USD Million) FIN_SUMM_PUB_TBL SUMMARY Total Project Cost 0 Total Financing 0 Financing Gap 0 DETAILS -NewFin3 Project Development Objective (PDO) Original PDO The development objective of the project is to strengthen community grievance management capabilities and enhance the effectiveness of linkages with government in targeted communities. OPS_TABLE_PDO_CURRENTPDO Summary Status of Financing (US$, Millions) Net TF Approval Signing Effectiveness Closing Commitment Disbursed Undisbursed TF-B0043 28-Mar-2019 09-May-2019 09-May-2019 31-Oct-2020 .93 .91 .02 TF-18206 04-Nov-2014 05-Nov-2014 05-Nov-2014 30-Apr-2019 2.55 2.55 0 Policy Waiver(s) Does this restructuring trigger the need for any policy waiver(s)? No I. PROJECT STATUS AND RATIONALE FOR RESTRUCTURING 1. This restructuring paper is to restructure the Solomon Islands Community Governance and Grievance Management (CGGM) Project for: (i) extension of the project closing date from October 31, 2020 to April 29, 2021 due to COVID-19- related restrictions preventing the end-of-project beneficiary survey from being carried out prior to the existing closing date; (ii) the provision of additional financing of US$350,467 from the existing Australia-Pacific Islands Partnership Trust Fund (APIP TF) to fill the financing gap created by the need to extend the closing date,; and (iii) changes to the grant The World Bank Solomon Islands Community Governance and Grievance Management Project (P147005) disbursement estimates to take into account the proposed additional financing and extended period of implementation. This is the second restructuring of this project.1 No changes are proposed to the Project Development Objective (PDO). The Recipient is in compliance with all legal covenants. 2. The PDO of the CGGM Project is to strengthen community grievance management capabilities and enhance the effectiveness of linkages with government in targeted communities. The project supports participating provincial governments to fulfill key responsibilities associated with the selection, contracting, coordination, reporting, performance management and supervision of Community Officers (COs). COs are people with knowledge of local custom and law who enjoy the confidence of all sectors of their communities. They are recruited by participating provincial governments in selected communities, in consultation with communities, and tasked with supporting local authorities to mediate and resolve disputes or grievances, liaise with provincial authorities and the police, and support the sharing of information between communities and national and provincial governments. The project also supports the implementing agency, the Ministry of Provincial Government and Institutional Strengthening (MPGIS), to coordinate project plans, monitor and evaluate project implementation, and manage project funds. 3. According to the latest ISR archived on June 1, 2020, Progress towards achievement of PDO and Implementation Progress are both rated Moderately Satisfactory. Grant disbursement is at 93.4 percent to date. The achievements of the project, evidenced by the beneficiary survey conducted during the Mid-Term Review (MTR) of May 2017, includes:  Improved coverage of the project beneficiaries (measured by the first PDO-level results indicator) – 76 percent of citizens in the communities covered reported direct benefits from the project, with relative gender equity (80 percent for males, 71 percent for females).  Strengthened accessibility and effectiveness of community grievance management mechanisms (measured by the second PDO-level results indicator) – 59 percent of citizens experienced improvements in the accessibility of community grievance management mechanisms, and 77 percent experienced improvements in their effectiveness.  Improved linkages with government (measured by the third PDO-level results indicator) – 68 percent of citizens perceived improvements in linkages with government, driven primarily by improvements in linkages with police, but also by improved linkages with provincial authorities. 4. In the period since the first restructuring, significant progress has been made in consolidating project activities in participating provinces, particularly in the two provinces that joined the project shortly before the original closing date. Progressive rounds of training on different skills and areas of COs’ work, building on what COs have been learning on the job, have been provided; Provincial Coordinators have visited COs and their communities for feedback and mentoring purposes; MPGIS has engaged intensively with the governments in participating provinces to strengthen their ownership of the CO program and refine how COs are operating in accordance with provincial government priorities, including emerging priorities such as provincial governments’ COVID-19-response strategies, which COs are helping to implement in the communities they work with; and the monitoring and evaluation (M&E) app and reporting framework that enables centralized data collection, analysis and feedback to policymakers from the remote communities where COs work, has been finetuned. Through this M&E app, MPGIS has been able to ascertain from COs, and share with provincial governments and relevant national government stakeholders, the level of disputes and grievances (as well as government 1 The first restructuring was to restructure the project for: (i) extension of the project closing date by 18 months from April 30, 2019 to October 31, 2020; (ii) the provision of additional financing of US$934,583 from the APIP TF to fill the financing gap created by the slower than anticipated implementation progress and the limitation of the original grant (TF018206) whereby its closing date could not be extended and unused funds were cancelled; and (iii) changes to the results framework and grant disbursement estimates to take into account the extended period of implementation and proposed additional financing. The World Bank Solomon Islands Community Governance and Grievance Management Project (P147005) linkages) their rural communities have been experiencing in the wake of the recent slowdown in economic activity due to COVID-19 and the largescale movement of people from Honiara to rural areas earlier this year. 5. All three of the PDO-level indicators for the project have to be assessed via an end-of-project beneficiary survey, which MPGIS had planned to undertake through fieldwork in July. COVID-19-related restrictions in Solomon Islands and the broader region, which began to be implemented in March, have impeded this. The sensitive nature of the questions on an array of grievances, dispute resolution processes, and linkages with the state, require face-to-face community and household engagement in rural – often remote – areas of Solomon Islands. To contain the possible spread of COVID-19 in Solomon Islands, internal travel was reduced from March. In addition, international travel was halted. Both measures impeded the carrying out of the beneficiary survey as planned by MPGIS, given that the challenges of effectively supervising high-quality field enumeration in a survey of this nature meant MPGIS expected to obtain international supervisory expertise. With plans for the undertaking of the survey postponed, a financing gap has emerged to cover the additional period required for the beneficiary survey to be undertaken. Since COVID-19 cases are confined to returning citizens in quarantine and increased internal travel is possible, it is expected to be feasible to undertake the survey in November/December 2020, or February 2021 at the latest. With additional time to prepare arrangements for the survey in the new, COVID-19 context, MPGIS expects to be able to incorporate into the survey arrangements different scenarios for international expertise to supervise the survey (depending on whether international travel is possible by the time of the fieldwork). 6. The financing gap that has emerged with respect to the additional period required for project implementation requires additional financing. The proposed additional financing from the APIP TF will be utilized to finance the ongoing operation of the project during the additional period when the end-of-project beneficiary survey is undertaken. 7. A summary of the current status for each component of the project is provided in the paragraphs below. 8. Component 1: Revitalizing Government-Community Linkages. The objective of this component is to support participating provincial governments to strengthen linkages and information flows between communities and provincial and national government agencies. Additionally, the project provides support to participating provincial governments to fulfill key responsibilities associated with the recruitment, support, supervision and performance management of COs, including taking into account gender considerations. Community awareness activities expressly elicit issues of most concern to women, by: including women in the facilitation team and training the team in how to elicit, discuss and address concerns of women, particularly gender-based violence; holding gender-segregated discussions; and clearly raising the merits of selecting female COs. To date, Makira-Ulawa, Rennell and Bellona, Malaita and Central provinces have each been assisted to recruit COs in consultation with the communities they serve, with COs working in Makira-Ulawa and Rennell and Bellona since 2015, in Malaita since late 2018, and in Central since early 2019. Sustainability considerations have been built into the project from the outset, with provincial governments paying the salaries of COs from their own budgetary resources. While this has limited the scope of the project, it supports sustainability by aligning CO numbers with the existing resources available at provincial level. 9. Component 2: Strengthening the Capabilities of Community Officers and Local Authorities. The objective of this component is to ensure that COs, and the various local actors with whom they interact, are adequately equipped with the knowledge, skills and tools to perform their agreed roles. This is largely achieved by a combination of group training activities implemented by the PMU in collaboration with provincial authorities, police and local non-state (chiefly, church and women’s) authorities, and one-on-one, on-the-job mentoring led by the PMU’s Provincial Coordinators. In addition to providing training on direct conflict mediation, effective engagement with local non-state authorities, and reporting of dispute resolution and linkage activities through the M&E app, the PMU has provided training and capacity building on specific topics including gender-based violence and the implementation of the Family Protection Act. In recent The World Bank Solomon Islands Community Governance and Grievance Management Project (P147005) months, this component of the project has also focused on equipping COs with the information and tools needed to enable them to support their communities to prepare for and respond to the impact of COVID-19 on their communities. This has included having COs work with health workers to share accurate information on COVID-19 to help reduce its spread and reduce the risks that misinformation about the illness could lead to social exclusion or violence, and having COs support communities to mitigate the risk of increased disputes and grievances in communities as a result of COVID- 19-related livelihood losses and/or the influx of return migrants from Honiara. To do this, MPGIS worked with participating provincial governments to bring Provincial Coordinators into their COVID-19 response taskforces, with Provincial Coordinators then ensuring that COs were well positioned to help implement provincial response plans. 10. Component 3: Project Management, Evaluation and Learning. This component provides management support for the implementation of the project, including the establishment and operations of the PMU within MPGIS, secretarial support for the Project Steering Committee (PSC), holding of community awareness activities in provinces joining the project, all monitoring, evaluation and learning activities, and an independent external audit of the project’s accounts (conducted annually and at project completion). There are no outstanding audits of project accounts. From inception, the Project Steering Committee has been active and engaged, carefully reviewing activity and financial reports from the PMU and providing leadership and guidance to MPGIS and the PMU. Monitoring, evaluation and learning activities that have been completed have included: (i) baseline surveys in all four participating provinces; (ii) mid-term review of implementation progress and sustainability, informed by a mid-term beneficiary survey in Makira-Ulawa and Rennell and Bellona, and a Sustainability Study; (iii) preparation and roll-out of a Gender and Social Inclusion Strategy; (iv) establishment of an ongoing monitoring and evaluation system, now using a custom-designed text-based mobile phone M&E app; and (v) adoption and use of a Complaints Handling Mechanism. 11. The risk rating for the project has been upgraded to Moderate. At the time of the last ISR, the risk rating was Substantial. The key risk at that point to the achievement of the PDO was that the end-of-project beneficiary survey would not be able to take place by the closing date, without which it would not be possible to substantiate whether the PDO-level results indicators had been achieved or not. With this proposed restructuring to provide additional financing to cover the financing gap created by the need to extend the closing date, allowing the beneficiary survey to be carried out, that risk will be successfully mitigated. II. DESCRIPTION OF PROPOSED CHANGES 12. The changes proposed under this Level 2 restructuring include: (i) extension of the closing date by just under six months from October 31, 2020 to April 29, 2021, due to COVID-19-related restrictions preventing the end-of-project beneficiary survey from being carried out prior to the existing closing date; and (ii) the provision of additional financing of US$350,467 from the APIP TF to fill the financing gap created by the extension. In addition, the grant disbursement estimates will be revised to take into account the proposed additional financing and extended period of implementation. The Bank and Recipient will execute amendments to the grant agreement to effect the increase in the financing amount. 13. With respect to the proposed additional financing: (i) the activities under the additional financing will follow the same safeguards arrangements as under the original grant; (ii) procurement under the additional financing will follow the World Bank’s Procurement Regulations for IPF dated July 2016, revised November 2017 and August 2018, and the provisions of the Recipient’s Procurement Plan; (iii) the institutional and financial management arrangements of the original grant will be retained for the additional financing; and (iv) the disbursement arrangements and categories of expenditures under the additional financing will also be the same as under the original grant. The World Bank Solomon Islands Community Governance and Grievance Management Project (P147005) 14. The results framework will remain the same as that agreed at the time of the first restructuring of the project, as reflected in a Supplemental Letter signed at the same time as the first additional financing. III. SUMMARY OF CHANGES Changed Not Changed Components and Cost ✔ Loan Closing Date(s) ✔ Additional Financing Proposed ✔ Disbursement Estimates ✔ Change in Overall Risk Rating ✔ Implementing Agency ✔ Project's Development Objectives ✔ Results Framework ✔ Cancellations Proposed ✔ Reallocation between Disbursement Categories ✔ Disbursements Arrangements ✔ 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 Solomon Islands Community Governance and Grievance Management Project (P147005) IV. DETAILED CHANGE(S) OPS_DETAILEDCHANGES_COMPONENTS_TABLE COMPONENTS Current Current Proposed Proposed Cost Action Component Name Component Name Cost (US$M) (US$M) Marked for 0.00 0.00 Deletion Component 1: Revitalizing 0.00 New Government-Community 1039189.00 Linkages Component 2: Strengthening 0.00 New the Capabilities of Community 1256434.00 Officers and Local Authorities Component 3: Project 0.00 New Management, Evaluation and 1535050.00 Learning TOTAL 0.00 3,830,673.00 OPS_DETAILEDCHANGES_LOANCLOSING_TABLE LOAN CLOSING DATE(S) Original Revised Proposed Proposed Deadline TF Status Closing Closing(s) Closing for Withdrawal Applications TF-18206 Closed 30-Apr-2019 23-Jan-2020 TF-B0043 Effective 31-Oct-2020 29-Apr-2021 29-Aug-2021 OPS_DETAILEDCHANGES_ADDITIONAL_FINANCING_TABLE ADDITIONAL FINANCING Source Currency Amount USD Equivalent Australia-Pacific Islands Partnership USD 350,467.00 350,467.00 Trust Fund(PRAB) Existing Net Commitment USD Amount 3,480,000.00 Total 3,830,467.00 The World Bank Solomon Islands Community Governance and Grievance Management Project (P147005) OPS_DETAILEDCHANGES_DISBURSEMENT_TABLE DISBURSEMENT ESTIMATES Change in Disbursement Estimates Yes Expected Disbursements (In US$) Fiscal Year Annual Cumulative 2015 0.00 0.00 2016 0.00 0.00 2017 0.00 0.00 2018 0.00 0.00 2019 0.00 0.00 2020 0.00 0.00 2021 0.00 0.00 2022 75,000.00 75,000.00 OPS_DETAILEDCHANGES_SORT_TABLE OVERALL RISK RATING Risk Category Rating at Approval Current Rating Overall  Moderate Detailed Changes 15. Project Operations Manual (POM). Once the Letter Agreement for the additional financing is effective, the Recipient will update the table of key project dates in the POM (such as the closing date, application deadline, and final external audit report deadline), to reflect the extension of the closing date. 16. Allocation of additional financing by project component. The allocation of the additional financing across the three components of the project is shown in the following table. (Note that there is no change to the project components under the proposed restructuring – they remain the same as at project approval. The amounts shown against each project component include the additional financing allocated to them under the proposed restructuring.) Original First Second Allocation TF Closure Remaining Restructuring Total Restructuring Total Component (TF 18206) Cancellation Allocation (TF B0043) Allocation (TF B0043) Allocation The World Bank Solomon Islands Community Governance and Grievance Management Project (P147005) 1 920,000 -230,811 689,189 +250,000 939,189 +100,000 1,039,189 2 1,210,000 -303,566 906,434 +250,000 1,156,434 +100,000 1,256,434 3 950,000 – 950,000 +434,583 1,384,583 +150,467 1,535,050 TOTAL 3,080,000 -534,377 2,545,623 +934,583 3,480,206 +350,467 3,830,673 17. Disbursement forecasts. Disbursement estimates have been updated to reflect the proposed project extension and additional financing. (Note that the total figure under ‘Additional Financing’ in Section IV of the datasheet does not match the total figure under ‘Expected Disbursements’ in Section IV, because the former figure draws automatically on a rounded figure for the ‘Existing Net Commitment USD Amount’ of US$3,480,000.00, whereas the actual figure is US$3,480,206.35.2 It is this actual figure, combined with the proposed additional financing of US$350,467, which is reflected in the figures for expected disbursements.) 18. Audited Financial Statements and Financial Management Arrangements. The audited financial statements for the period ended December 31, 2019, were received by the World Bank within the time prescribed under the Grant Agreement. The financial statements received an Unqualified Audit Opinion and were acceptable to the World Bank. There are currently no outstanding audit reports for this project (the audit report for the year ended December 31, 2020 will be due on June 30, 2021). There will be no changes to the financial management arrangements as a result of the restructure. 2 Note that the actual net commitment amount of US$3,480.206.35 consists of the original grant amount of US$3,080,000 (TF 18206) less US$534,376.65, which was cancelled upon the closing date of the original grant (the original grant could not be extended, so the part of it that remained unused at April 30, 2019 was automatically cancelled), plus US$934,583 (TF B0043), which was the additional financing provided at the first restructuring of the project, agreed May 9, 2019.