The World Bank Implementation Status & Results Report COVID-19 Relief Effort for Afghan Communities and Households (REACH) (P174119) COVID-19 Relief Effort for Afghan Communities and Households (REACH) (P174119) SOUTH ASIA | Afghanistan | Social Sustainabilty & Inclusion Global Practice | IBRD/IDA | Investment Project Financing | FY 2021 | Seq No: 1 | ARCHIVED on 21-Jan-2021 | ISR44578 | Implementing Agencies: Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development (MRRD), Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, Independent Directorate of Local Governance (IDLG), Kabul Municipality Key Dates Key Project Dates Bank Approval Date: 04-Aug-2020 Effectiveness Date: 14-Sep-2020 Planned Mid Term Review Date: 30-Apr-2021 Actual Mid-Term Review Date: Original Closing Date: 31-Dec-2021 Revised Closing Date: 31-Dec-2021 pdoTable Project Development Objectives Project Development Objective (from Project Appraisal Document) To provide emergency support to selected households through communities in project areas during the COVID-19 outbreak. Has the Project Development Objective been changed since Board Approval of the Project Objective? No Components Table Name REACH Rural: Household Support in Rural and Peri-urban Areas:(Cost $136.00 M) REACH Urban: Household Support in Provincial Capital Cities:(Cost $56.00 M) REACH Kabul: Household Support in Kabul Municipality:(Cost $80.00 M) Project Management, Communication, and Monitoring:(Cost $8.00 M) Overall Ratings Name Previous Rating Current Rating Progress towards achievement of PDO -- Moderately Unsatisfactory Overall Implementation Progress (IP) -- Moderately Unsatisfactory Overall Risk Rating -- High Implementation Status and Key Decisions REACH was approved by the World Bank Board on Aug 4, 2020, countersigned by the Ministry of Finance on Aug 27, and declared effective on Sept 14. Unfortunately, the distribution of assistance for COVID-19 relief has been seriously delayed due to political factors, and therefore, the project is rated as Moderately Unsatisfactory for Progress towards achievement of the PDO and for Overall Implementation Progress. In late August 2020, the Afghanistan Parliament expressed opposition to the Distarkhan-e-Millie (DM) program which includes the COVID-19 response under REACH and the Citizens’ Charter Afghanistan Project (CCAP), thus delaying significantly the distribution of emergency assistance to communities. Finally, on December 8, 2020, after intervention from HE President Ghani, progress was made on the release of funds first under CCAP and then with REACH. Under REACH, the Government has agreed to expedite the release of funds for the COVID-19 relief efforts in REACH areas of the 1/21/2021 Page 1 of 6 The World Bank Implementation Status & Results Report COVID-19 Relief Effort for Afghan Communities and Households (REACH) (P174119) country. Prior to the end of the Afghan FY in December, the Ministry of Finance released funds to the clearing accounts to be ready to roll-out the COVID assistance to the communities at the end of January 2021, continuing until June 2021. In the meantime, the three implementing agencies, the Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development (MRRD), the Independent Directorate of Local Governance (IDLG) and Kabul Municipality (KM) have made progress on several fronts including financial management, monitoring and evaluation, GRM, training and recruitment of new staff for REACH. Procurement is rated Moderately Unsatisfactory due to delays with signing the Facilitating Partner contracts. Those contracts are expected to be finalized in January 2021. Implementation is expected to improve this month through June 2021 with the distribution of COVID assistance finally beginning across the country. MRRD is also expected to roll out relief assistance in four Hard-to-Reach pilot districts of the country. Depending upon security factors, the project team will make a determination by March as to whether or not to expand to other Hard-to-Reach districts of the country. Risks Systematic Operations Risk-rating Tool Risk Category Rating at Approval Previous Rating Current Rating Political and Governance High -- High Macroeconomic Substantial -- Substantial Sector Strategies and Policies Substantial -- Substantial Technical Design of Project or Program Substantial -- Substantial Institutional Capacity for Implementation and Substantial -- Substantial Sustainability Fiduciary High -- High Environment and Social Substantial -- Substantial Stakeholders Substantial -- High Other Moderate -- High Overall High -- High Results PDO Indicators by Objectives / Outcomes Support to Rural and Peri-urban Households IN00926202 ►Households receiving in-kind support in rural or peri-urban areas (Number, Custom) Baseline Actual (Previous) Actual (Current) End Target Value 0.00 -- 0.00 1,760,000.00 Date 17-Aug-2020 -- 30-Nov-2020 31-Dec-2021 1/21/2021 Page 2 of 6 The World Bank Implementation Status & Results Report COVID-19 Relief Effort for Afghan Communities and Households (REACH) (P174119) A simple count of the number of households which have received at least one transfer through the Comments: REACH project, in areas covered by MRRD under Component 1. The target is set as 80% of the total listed in Component 1 so as to exclude contingency and unforeseen delays. IN00926205 Of which female-headed (Number, Custom Breakdown) Baseline Actual (Previous) Actual (Current) End Target Value 0.00 -- 0.00 176,000.00 Date 17-Aug-2020 -- 30-Nov-2020 31-Dec-2021 Support to Urban Households in Provincial Capital Cities IN00926203 ►Households receiving in-kind or cash support in provincial capital cities (Number, Custom) Baseline Actual (Previous) Actual (Current) End Target Value 0.00 -- 0.00 360,000.00 Date 17-Aug-2020 -- 30-Nov-2020 31-Dec-2021 A simple count of the number of households which have received at least one cash or in-kind transfer Comments: through this project in an area classified as "urban", other than Kabul. "Household" defined as per Afghan Living Conditions Survey (ALCS). IN00926206 Of which female-headed (Number, Custom Breakdown) Baseline Actual (Previous) Actual (Current) End Target Value 0.00 -- 0.00 36,000.00 Date 17-Aug-2020 -- 30-Nov-2020 31-Dec-2021 Support to Households in Kabul Municipality IN00926204 ►Number of households receiving in-kind or cash support in Kabul (Number, Custom) Baseline Actual (Previous) Actual (Current) End Target Value 0.00 -- 0.00 500,000.00 Date 17-Aug-2020 -- 30-Nov-2020 31-Dec-2021 A simple count of the number of households which have received at least one cash or in-kind transfer Comments: through this project in Kabul city or surrounding area. "Household" defined as per Afghan Living Conditions Survey (ALCS). IN00926207 Of which female-headed (Number, Custom Breakdown) Baseline Actual (Previous) Actual (Current) End Target Value 0.00 -- 0.00 50,000.00 Date 17-Aug-2020 -- 30-Nov-2020 31-Dec-2021 1/21/2021 Page 3 of 6 The World Bank Implementation Status & Results Report COVID-19 Relief Effort for Afghan Communities and Households (REACH) (P174119) Intermediate Results Indicators by Components Project Effectiveness, Efficiency, and Operations Management IN00926208 ►Field staff/ Facilitators trained in COVID-19-compliant and gender-sensitive distribution of transfers to households (Number, Custom) Baseline Actual (Previous) Actual (Current) End Target Value 0.00 -- 0.00 2,000.00 Date 17-Aug-2020 -- 30-Nov-2020 31-Dec-2021 Staff involved in distribution or delivery will receive training on how to distribute transfers to households according to project Operations Manual. Training will include adherence to social distancing protocols, Comments: monitoring of worker health, and documentation of household locations, identity, and/or receipt of transfer.Training will also include gender sensitivity and actions to ensure that women or female headed households safely receive their relief support. IN00926209 ►Percent of field staff who are female (Percentage, Custom) Baseline Actual (Previous) Actual (Current) End Target Value 0.00 -- 0.00 25.00 Date 17-Aug-2020 -- 30-Nov-2020 31-Dec-2021 The proportion of social organizers and field responders engaged under the project to deliver support to Comments: communities over the duration of the project who are female. IN00926210 ►Number of communities provided with support within 6 months of project effectiveness (Number, Custom) Baseline Actual (Previous) Actual (Current) End Target Value 0.00 -- 0.00 14,000.00 Date 17-Aug-2020 -- 30-Nov-2020 31-Dec-2021 This indicator measures the number of communities (CDCs, Gozars, or GAs), starting from project effectiveness, that have received at least one tranche of support from the project. The target is to reach 75 Comments: percent of communities within 6 months. The total number of communities is estimated at 20,500 across all three components excluding contingency and HTR. IN00926211 ►Beneficiaries satisfied with support received (Percentage, Custom) Baseline Actual (Previous) Actual (Current) End Target Value 0.00 -- 0.00 80.00 Date 17-Aug-2020 -- 30-Nov-2020 31-Dec-2021 The proportion of beneficiaries reporting either moderate or high levels of satisfaction with the relief Comments: package received from the REACH project. IN00926212 ►Grievances Addressed (Percentage, Custom) 1/21/2021 Page 4 of 6 The World Bank Implementation Status & Results Report COVID-19 Relief Effort for Afghan Communities and Households (REACH) (P174119) Baseline Actual (Previous) Actual (Current) End Target Value 0.00 -- 83.00 70.00 Date 17-Aug-2020 -- 12-Jan-2021 31-Dec-2021 A Grievance Redress Mechanism is in place for the project building upon the GRM of CCAP. This indicator tracks the percentage of grievances received through any channel of the GRM that are satisfactorily addressed by the project. To date, the project has already received 36 grievances. MRRD received 35 grievances related to project Comments: management and hiring and 1 grievance related to inclusion of beneficiaries despite the fact that the implementation of activities in the field has not begun. 30 grievances have been resolved and 6 are under investigation. So 83% grievance resolution rate thus far. IN00926213 ►Households reached through the Government’s COVID-19 relief communications campaign (Number, Custom) Baseline Actual (Previous) Actual (Current) End Target Value 0.00 -- 0.00 2,800,000.00 Date 17-Aug-2020 -- 30-Nov-2020 31-Dec-2021 An estimate of the number of households the Government will reach through their TV, radio, print and Comments: social media campaigns. Set as the total of all households to be reached under all three components. Performance-Based Conditions Data on Financial Performance Disbursements (by loan) Project Loan/Credit/TF Status Currency Original Revised Cancelled Disbursed Undisbursed % Disbursed P174119 IDA-D7110 Effective USD 155.00 155.00 0.00 85.62 75.89 53% P174119 TF-B3543 Effective USD 125.00 125.00 0.00 89.38 35.62 72% Key Dates (by loan) Project Loan/Credit/TF Status Approval Date Signing Date Effectiveness Date Orig. Closing Date Rev. Closing Date P174119 IDA-D7110 Effective 04-Aug-2020 27-Aug-2020 14-Sep-2020 31-Dec-2021 31-Dec-2021 P174119 TF-B3543 Effective 04-Aug-2020 27-Aug-2020 14-Sep-2020 31-Dec-2021 31-Dec-2021 Cumulative Disbursements 1/21/2021 Page 5 of 6 The World Bank Implementation Status & Results Report COVID-19 Relief Effort for Afghan Communities and Households (REACH) (P174119) PBC Disbursement Achievement Disbursed amount in Disbursement % PBC ID PBC Type Description Coc PBC Amount Status Coc for PBC Restructuring History There has been no restructuring to date. Related Project(s) There are no related projects. 1/21/2021 Page 6 of 6