The World Bank Central African Republic - LONDO Project (P152512) REPORT NO.: RES34401 DOCUMENT OF THE WORLD BANK RESTRUCTURING PAPER ON A PROPOSED PROJECT RESTRUCTURING OF CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC - LONDO PROJECT APPROVED ON JULY 30, 2015 TO MINISTRY OF ECONOMY, PLANNING, AND COOPERATION SOCIAL, URBAN, RURAL AND RESILIENCE GLOBAL PRACTICE AFRICA Regional Vice President: Hafez M. H. Ghanem Country Director: Jean-Christophe Carret Senior Global Practice Director: Ede Jorge Ijjasz-Vasquez Practice Manager/Manager: Robin Mearns Task Team Leader: Paul G. A. Bance, Sophie Christelle Grumelard The World Bank Central African Republic - LONDO Project (P152512) I. BASIC DATA Product Information Project ID Financing Instrument P152512 Investment Project Financing Original EA Category Current EA Category Partial Assessment (B) Partial Assessment (B) Approval Date Current Closing Date 30-Jul-2015 31-Dec-2018 Organizations Borrower Responsible Agency Agence d'Execution des Travaux d'Interet Public en Ministry of Economy, Planning, and Cooperation Centrafrique (AGETIP-CAF) Project Development Objective (PDO) Original PDO To provide temporary employment to vulnerable people throughout the entire territory of the country. Summary Status of Financing Net Ln/Cr/Tf Approval Signing Effectiveness Closing Commitment Disbursed Undisbursed IDA-D0800 30-Jul-2015 26-Aug-2015 29-Sep-2015 31-Dec-2018 20.00 15.98 3.95 Policy Waiver(s) Does this restructuring trigger the need for any policy waiver(s)? No II. SUMMARY OF PROJECT STATUS AND PROPOSED CHANGES The World Bank Central African Republic - LONDO Project (P152512) Summary of Proposed Changes This restructuring proposes to (i) extend the project’s Closing Date by nine months, from December 31, 2018 to September 30, 2019 and (ii) reallocate the balance of the refund of the preparation advance to disbursement categories for operational activities and project management. Implementation Status LONDO (“Stand up” in the local language) is a US$20 million peacebuilding project that uses labor-intensive public works as a means to promote social cohesion, economic recovery, and local governance. Across all regions of the country, 29,000 direct beneficiaries--36 percent of which women--have maintained more than 1,800 kilometers of roads to reconnect their communities to essential socio-economic services and join hands to rebuild the social contract in the Central African Republic (CAR). The progress of the project towards the achievement its development objective is rated highly satisfactory and the implementation progress is rated satisfactory (ISR). The project’s aggregated execution rate and disbursement rate are 82 percent and 80 percent respectively. Under the leadership of the Minister of Economy, Planning and Cooperation (IDA Governor), and with the technical assistance of the national public works agency (AGETIP), more than a million days of works have already been completed, making LONDO the largest cash-for-work program in the Central African Republic in both scale and reach. LONDO is also supported by MINUSCA, the relevant humanitarian clusters, and other multilateral and bilateral partners. The fifth phase of public works is ongoing. Pending the improvement of security conditions in the southeast region, the project team has prepared a deployment strategy for a sixth phase, which would rapidly provide temporary jobs to 3,000 beneficiaries in six districts. There is no fiduciary or safeguards issue. Reporting is diligent: every week for operational matters; every quarter for financial management; and the procurement plan is updated every six months. There is no outstanding audit report. In addition, the projet has set up a national hotline (#4000) for request and grievances. A rigorous impact evaluation led by the AFR Gender Lab is on-going to evaluate the impact of the project. The only disappointment of the project has been in setting up local governance systems for road maintenance. Following two successful pilots, the mid-term review recommended to stop this investment as municipalities had not yet the fiscal capacity to sustain these systems beyond project financing. A US$30.0 million additional financing to the project with a Board date in Q4FY19 is under preparation to maintain the national reach of the projet and expand its scope. Extension of Closing Date The extension of the Closing Date will allow to bridge with the Additional Financing (effectiveness by September 30, 2019). By then, it is also expected that the project will be able to access the remaining sous-prefectures, which are especially hard-to-reach because of poor infrastructure and insecurity. The World Bank Central African Republic - LONDO Project (P152512) The Client has requested a 12-month extension, but the CMU has advised the team that 9 months would be enough as the Additional Financing Board Date is confirmed for Fiscal Year 2019. Reallocation of Funds Between Disbursement Categories Category 4: Refund of the Preparation Advance has a positive balance of about US$1.6 million. It is proposed to reallocate these resources to operational activities (Category 1) and project management (Category 3) to allow the project team to (i) continue operating for up to an additional year, (ii) prepare and pilot activities of the additional financing, and (iii) ensure the operational connection between the current financing and the forthcoming additional one. III. DETAILED CHANGES LOAN CLOSING DATE(S) Original Revised Proposed Proposed Deadline Ln/Cr/Tf Status Closing Closing(s) Closing for Withdrawal Applications IDA-D0800 Effective 31-Dec-2018 30-Sep-2019 30-Jan-2020 REALLOCATION BETWEEN DISBURSEMENT CATEGORIES Current Current Actuals + Proposed Disbursement % Ln/Cr/TF Expenditure Allocation Committed Allocation (Type Total) Category Current Proposed IDA-D0800- GD,WK,NCS,CS, 6,960,000.00 5,100,019.56 7,082,450.29 100.00 100.00 001 OC Pt 1,2,3 Currency: Stipends for Elig. XDR 3,060,000.00 1,877,863.97 3,060,000.00 100.00 100.00 Benef. Pt 3(a) GD,WK,NCS,CS, 2,140,000.00 2,523,112.41 3,140,000.00 100.00 100.00 OC Pt 4 PPF 2,140,000.00 1,017,549.71 1,017,549.71 REFINANCING Total 14,300,000.00 10,518,545.65 14,300,000.00 The World Bank Central African Republic - LONDO Project (P152512)