The World Bank NIGER COMMUNITY ACTION PROGRAM PHASE 3 (P132306) REPORT NO.: RES38937 DOCUMENT OF THE WORLD BANK RESTRUCTURING PAPER ON A PROPOSED PROJECT RESTRUCTURING OF NIGER COMMUNITY ACTION PROGRAM PHASE 3 APPROVED ON MAY 24, 2013 TO REPUBLIC OF NIGER AFRICA Regional Vice President: Hafez M. H. Ghanem Country Director: Soukeyna Kane Regional Director: Simeon Kacou Ehui Practice Manager/Manager: Marianne Grosclaude Task Team Leader(s): Elisee Ouedraogo The World Bank NIGER COMMUNITY ACTION PROGRAM PHASE 3 (P132306) I. BASIC DATA Product Information Project ID Financing Instrument P132306 Investment Project Financing Original EA Category Current EA Category Partial Assessment (B) Partial Assessment (B) Approval Date Current Closing Date 24-May-2013 20-Dec-2019 Organizations Borrower Responsible Agency Republic of Niger Ministry of Agriculture Project Development Objective (PDO) Original PDO The Development Objectives (PDO) of the proposed CAP3 are to strengthen the Recipient's local development planning and implementation capacities, including the capacity to respond promptly and effectively to an eligible crisis or emergency, and to improve the access of the targeted population to socio-economic services. Current PDO The PDO under the AF was slightly revised  to strengthen the Recipient s local development planning and implementation capacities, to support the targeted population in improving agriculture productivity, and to respond promptly and effectively to an eligible crisis or emergency.  Summary Status of Financing Net Ln/Cr/Tf Approval Signing Effectiveness Closing Commitment Disbursed Undisbursed IDA-D2190 29-Jun-2017 07-Aug-2017 05-Oct-2017 20-Dec-2019 20.80 19.44 1.77 IDA-H8550 24-May-2013 07-Jun-2013 07-Jun-2013 20-Dec-2019 40.00 37.89 0 TF-A7627 29-Jun-2017 28-Sep-2018 28-Sep-2018 20-Dec-2019 2.25 2.16 .09 The World Bank NIGER COMMUNITY ACTION PROGRAM PHASE 3 (P132306) TF-14700 07-Jun-2013 07-Jun-2013 07-Jun-2013 22-Dec-2017 4.09 4.09 0 Policy Waiver(s) Does this restructuring trigger the need for any policy waiver(s)? No I. SUMMARY OF PROJECT STATUS AND PROPOSED CHANGES A. SUMMARY 1. This Memorandum seeks your approval to extend the closing date for the above-mentioned Project. 2. The extension of the Closing refers to an extension by six months from December 20, 2019 to June 20, 2020 of the Third Community Action Program (CAP 3) Support Project (P132306- IDA Grants No. H 8550-NE) and its Additional Financing (P163144-D2190-NE) and associated Japanese PHRD Grant for Nutrition Sensitive Agriculture and Support to Small Farmers (TF0A7627). 3. The original closing date was on December 22, 2017 and was extended when the Additional financing was being processed to December 20, 2019. The team is seeking the RVP clearance because this extension of the closing date by six months will take the original project closing date to more than two years beyond the initial closing date. This will be the first extension of the Additional financing (P163144) and the second extension of the parent project (P132306). B. PROJECT STATUS 4. 4. Background. The total financing of the project amounts to US$67.55 million including IDA financing in an amount of US$60.8 million (US$40 million for the parent project and US$20.8 million for the Additional financing) and US$6.75 million from Trust Funds (GEF grant: US$4.5 million for the parent project; PHRD grant for the additional financing: US$2.25 million). . 5. The Project Development Objective under the Additional Financing was slightly revised to “strengthen the recipient's local development planning and implementation capacities, to support the targeted population in improving agriculture productivity, and to respond promptly and effectively to an eligible crisis or emergency”. 6. This project has four components all co-funded by IDA and PHRD Grant. 1) The first component (A), aims at building Capacity Building through targeted training and agricultural advisory services for smallholders’ farmers for the implementation of their micro-projects. The second component (B) is the centerpiece of the project and support local investment for agriculture-related micro-projects in 125 communes and has three sub-components: (a) Micro-projects to improve land and water management, including strengthening climate-resilience, funded entirely by IDA; (b) Micro- projects for income-generating activities, and (c) Micro-projects (MPs) to invest in socio-economic infrastructures including (i) development of small-scale irrigation on one thousand hectares and (ii) investment in small-scale irrigation micro-projects in five selected communes. 3) The Component (C) covers project coordination including: (a) Project coordination, planning, monitoring and evaluation (M&E); (b) administrative and financial management, The World Bank NIGER COMMUNITY ACTION PROGRAM PHASE 3 (P132306) procurement, mitigation of social and environmental impacts and organization of work; (c) Preparation of studies on agriculture sector development including studies related to preparation of future projects in the sector; and (d) Project communication and knowledge management and sharing; 4). The fourth Component (D), Contingent Emergency Response component provides an immediate response mechanism to an Eligible Crisis or Emergency. 7. 7. Current Status: The project implementation performance and progress toward achieving PDO are currently rated Satisfactory. Indeed, as of September 30, 2019, four of six PDO’s indicators were met at 100 percent and twelve of 15 intermediate indicators were also reached at 100 percent. The total direct beneficiaries reached 3,191,830 persons against 3,110,142 persons targeted at the end of the project. More than 200,000 farmers adopted improved agricultural technology compared to the target of 109,800 farmers. The area provided with new/improved irrigation of drainage reached 94 percent of the target whereas 100 percent of beneficiary communes were enabled to sustain proper operation and maintenance of local development investments. The initial IDA financing (IDA Grant H8550) has been fully disbursed while the GEF (Global Environment Facility) Grant (TF14700) closed with 90.5 percent of its resources disbursed. The Additional Financing (Grant No D219-NE) is also being implemented satisfactorily with a disbursement rate of 93.5 percent while the PHRD grant disbursement rate is 96 percent as of December 10, 2019. 8. On Component A (Capacity building), over 3,429 persons (with 771 persons under the PHRD grant) benefited from the training and capacity building activities 2,183 of whom were women representing 64 percent of the capacity building beneficiaries. The PHRD financed capacity building activities were focused on training of trainers on the topics on prevention and screening of malnutrition, best practices in managing women cooperatives and social safeguard measures including gender-based violence, inclusion of vulnerable people, citizen engagement and grievance redress mechanism. The implementation of project activities is rated Satisfactory. 9. On Component B, around 1,160 Micro-Projects (MPs) representing an investment of CFAF 23,874,276,966 (i.e. US$41.45 million) were financed for the benefit of communes and their communities and covered socio-economic Infrastructures, sustainable land and water management activities with more than 90,300 ha reclaimed and converted into productive lands against a target 60,000 ha that was expected at the end of the project. Nearly 1,200 ha were provided with new/improved irrigation and drainage services. On this component, the PHRD’s commitment was the development of 250 ha (50 ha per targeted commune) of irrigation perimeters (the largest budget of the Trust Fund) to produce horticulture products. As of December 9, 2019, the development and equipment of the 250 ha were completed and distributed to 5,000 women. Yields increased from 30 tons/ha to 42.5 tons/ha for tomatoes, 30 tons to 43 tons/ha for onions, 15 tons/ha to 28 tons/ha for peppers and 15 tons/ha to 31 tons/ha for Cassava. The planting of horticulture products is ongoing in the newly completed irrigation perimeters. 10. On Component C, activities related to the overall management of the project including M&E, procurement and administrative activities are ongoing. The PHRD’s activities are focused on communication and sensitization. Initial communication/sensitization activities reached 4,800 persons (100% women) and were focused on best practices in managing women cooperatives and on malnutrition screening techniques. As designed, the communication activities will be maximized during the horticulture production phase where horticulture products are available to impact consumption and reduction of malnutrition in the targeted communes. 11. The progress of the plantation of the Acacia senegal (Arabic gum) trees component is also rated satisfactory with the carbon sequestered estimated to 243,490 t CO2 Eq. As per the Emission Reductions Purchase Agreement, the BioCarbon Fund, which is administered by the World Bank, will purchase the carbon credits on behalf of its donor countries and private sector participants. As a result of the implementation of Agroforestry measures, the agro-sylvo- The World Bank NIGER COMMUNITY ACTION PROGRAM PHASE 3 (P132306) pastoral production is estimated to 2,400 tons for food crops and more than 200,000 tons of dry matter (DM) of forage species. 12. The Project management and the dissemination of the Emergency Response Mechanism were also rated satisfactory. 13. There are no outstanding audit reports. 14. Reason for the Restructuring: A level 2 restructuring is in response to government request for an extension to allow a successful completion of ongoing activities and full achievement of the PDO. The remaining activities to be completed are: (i) organizing farmers on horticulture production and management of irrigation infrastructures in the five targeted communes (Bangui, Kao, Bambaye, Korgon) that have just been completed but did not benefit from the attendants measures required for the management of those infrastructure through farmer’s organization and finalizing the implementation of activities on malnutrition; (ii) preparing and distributing the carbon credit to the targeted populations in the twenty-six "biocarbon" sites in the project intervention areas, and (iii) capitalizing experiences and lessons learned from the project implementation. C. PROPOSED CHANGES 15. The sole proposed change is the extension of closing date for six months from December 20, 2019 to June 20, 2020 to ensure a successful completion of the IDA and PHRD Trust Funds financed activities. 16. The extension of the closing date does not require any changes to the project development objectives, the safeguards category, the design or scope of the project, or the financing mechanisms. 17. An action plan including disbursement/payment schedule for the implementation of the extension period was prepared to ensure that remaining activities are timely implemented. II. DETAILED CHANGES LOAN CLOSING DATE(S) Original Revised Proposed Proposed Deadline Ln/Cr/Tf Status Closing Closing(s) Closing for Withdrawal Applications IDA-D2190 Effective 20-Dec-2019 20-Jun-2020 20-Oct-2020 IDA-H8550 Effective 22-Dec-2017 20-Dec-2019 20-Jun-2020 20-Oct-2020 TF-14700 Closed 22-Dec-2017 22-Aug-2018 TF-A7627 Effective 20-Dec-2019 20-Jun-2020 20-Oct-2020 The World Bank NIGER COMMUNITY ACTION PROGRAM PHASE 3 (P132306)