The World Bank Cote d'Ivoire Land Policy Improvement and Implementation Project (P157206) Note to Task Teams: The following sections are system generated and can only be edited online in the Portal. For Official Use Only Project Information Document/ Integrated Safeguards Data Sheet (PID/ISDS) Concept Stage | Date Prepared/Updated: 03-Oct-2017 | Report No: PIDISDSC18852 Jan 18, 2017 Page 1 of 14 The World Bank Cote d'Ivoire Land Policy Improvement and Implementation Project (P157206) BASIC INFORMATION A. Basic Project Data OPS TABLE Country Project ID Parent Project ID (if any) Project Name Cote d'Ivoire P157206 Cote d'Ivoire Land Policy Improvement and Implementation Project (P157206) Region Estimated Appraisal Date Estimated Board Date Practice Area (Lead) AFRICA Dec 18, 2017 Mar 29, 2018 Social, Urban, Rural and Resilience Global Practice Financing Instrument Borrower(s) Implementing Agency For Official Use Only Investment Project Financing Ministère de l'Economie, des National Rural Land Agency Finances et du Budget de la (AFOR),Ministère de République de Côte d'Ivoire l'Agriculture et du Développement Rural Proposed Development Objective(s) The proposed Project Development Objective is to strengthen the Government’s capacity for the implementation of its national rural land tenure program at the national level; and to improve the land use and property rights registration system in selected rural areas. Financing (in USD Million) Finance OLD Financing Source Amount Borrower 4.00 International Development Association (IDA) 50.00 Total Project Cost 54.00 Environmental Assessment Category Concept Review Decision A-Full Assessment Track II-The review did authorize the preparation to continue SAFEGUARDS_TABLE_OPS Have the Safeguards oversight and clearance functions been transferred to the Practice Manager? (Will not be disclosed) No Jan 18, 2017 Page 2 of 14 The World Bank Cote d'Ivoire Land Policy Improvement and Implementation Project (P157206) Note to Task Teams: End of system generated content, document is editable from here. Other Decision (as needed) B. Introduction and Context Country Context For the first two decades following its independence in 1960, Côte d’Ivoire enjoyed levels of political stability, economic growth, and poverty reduction unique within the region. Policies promoting land access and agricultural development, and in particular investments in smallholder cocoa and coffee, helped local farmers and migrants alike capitalize on the ample arable lands in the country’s southern belt. The country became the leading exporter of cocoa For Official Use Only globally by 1980 and the leading African exporter of pineapples, palm oil, rubber, and bananas, and Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew by an average 6 percent per year during this period. The agriculture sector was a primary contributor to GDP (23% in 1982) and helped Ivorian achieve the highest annual per capita income in the sub-region, surpassing even that of Nigeria. Beginning in the 1980s, however, these positive trends began to reverse as a result of rapid population growth and economic decline. As a result of falling cocoa and coffee prices and fiscal mismanagement, annual GDP growth averaged -0.2 percent during the period 1981-1992, and the country fell from middle to low income status. As the economy retracted, unemployed urban youth returned to their rural villages to seek alternative, land-based livelihoods and found that most arable land was already being cultivated, often by migrants from other parts of the country or neighboring states who different from the local communities in ethnicity and religion.1 Political tensions due in part to rural land disputes led to a period of prolonged political crises. After the death of the country’s long-serving President Houphouët-Boigny in 1993, his designated successor, President Henri Konan Bédié, introduced the concept of “Ivoirité,� which privileged indigenous people over migrants. This was a reversal of policies promoted by President Houphouët-Boigny that encouraged immigration from neighboring countries to make productive use of rural agricultural lands. This shift led to long-simmering tensions boiling over along lines of ethnicity and religion and across the increasing rural-urban divide. Building on this principle, the Rural Land Law No. 98-750 of December 23, 1998 predicated land ownership on Ivorian citizenship and further increased tensions between indigenous land owners (“autochthones�) and foreign-born farmers. Bédié was ultimately overthrown in a coup d’état in 1999, which plunged the country into a protracted crisis that included a civil war from 2002-2004 and a post-election crisis and armed conflict from late 2010 until 2011 that further deepened poverty.2 Nonetheless, Côte d’Ivoire has achieved impressive economic performance since the return of political stability in 2011. Under President Alassane Ouattara’s mandate the Government has undertaken important structural reforms to improve the business climate and introduced a supportive fiscal policy that together have enabled a strong rebound in economic activity. From 2011−2015, economic activity grew by an average of 9 percent per year, which le d to an 1 USAID. 2013. Côte d’Ivoire Country Land Tenure and Property Rights Profile. 2 Ibid. Jan 18, 2017 Page 3 of 14 The World Bank Cote d'Ivoire Land Policy Improvement and Implementation Project (P157206) increase in real per capita income of more than 20 percent. Over this same period, the poverty incidence declined slightly from an estimated 51 percent to 46 percent. However, other human development indicators have been more difficult to improve and constitute significant challenges to eliminating poverty and reducing inequality across the country.3 Despite recent achievements, the root causes of the conflict remain fundamentally unaddressed and threaten to undermine the country’s fragile transition toward peace and development. Poverty continues to be overwhelmingly concentrated in rural areas and in the drier Northern regions of the country (poverty rates are 69 percent in the north compared to 25 percent in the south) and among the young (51.4 percent of those under 25 years of age are poor, compared to 35−39 percent among other age groups). Important gender disparities also remain across wealth and urban-rural groups, for example in educational attainment, labor force participation, and access to land, which remains constrained by women’s lower levels of legal awareness and conservative customary norms that preclude women from owning land independently of their male relatives.4 To achieve the ambitious National Development Plan 2016−2020, which aims to achieve both strong and inclusive growth by halving poverty and facilitating structural transformation, the Government will need to address the underlying drivers of conflict and provide an enabling environment for agriculture- For Official Use Only led economic growth and transformation. The Government recognizes that reforming the land sector will be critical to achieving both of these important objectives. Sectoral and Institutional Context Land issues have played a part in the period of instability seen in recent years and still have the potential to threaten the current stability. From the 1960s onwards, President Houphouët-Boigny promoted the development of cash crops in the forested areas of southern and western Côte d’Ivoire, encouraging the migration of farmers from the north of the country, Burkina Faso, and Mali. At the time, migrants engaged in direct, verbal negotiations with the local communities to obtain various forms of access to the land. Agreements usually included mechanisms for sharing the benefits of the land to ensure good social and economic relations. Such agreements were sometimes, witnessed, documented ( petit papiers) and approved by community leaders, but were rarely registered with local authorities. As land was abundant, coffee and cocoa plantations were able to develop and became the mainstay of economic growth until the 1990s. Migrants, depending on the area, may now represent up to 45% of rural households. Land arrangements between local people and migrants subsequently came under scrutiny for various reasons: (i) the economic success of the migrants due to the profitability of the plantations caused a degree of resentment amongst the local communities; (ii) young people returning home from the cities where they had failed to find the jobs they hoped for came into competition with migrants for land and disputed the allocations of land made by their relatives in their absence; and (iii) these tensions were exacerbated by national debates promoting Ivorian nationality as a precondition for ownership status, along with various other politically inspired manipulations. The violence in 2002 and 2010 caused massive population displacement into other rural regions, including classified forest areas, and neighboring Liberia. The return of these displaced people, along with the forcible expulsion of rural people from the protected forest areas, often incited by armed militia, could trigger further conflict. Given rising pressure on rural land due to growing interest in agriculture land for investment, population growth, and on-going migration due to drought and climate change in the Sahel, new cycles of violence may ensue if the land rights of both “autochtones� (locals) and migrants are not clarified and regularized. 3 World Bank. 2015. Côte d’Ivoire Systematic Country Diagnostic. 4 USAID. 2013. Côte d’Ivoire Country Land Tenure and Property Rights Profile. Jan 18, 2017 Page 4 of 14 The World Bank Cote d'Ivoire Land Policy Improvement and Implementation Project (P157206) Recognizing the need to secure rural land rights, the Government has enacted a new land law that provides for the regularization of customary land rights and the registration of property rights. The Government of Côte d’Ivoire has shown genuine political will to improve land governance. In 1998, the Ivorian authorities overhauled the legal framework for rural land administration by adopting Law No. 98-750 of December 23, 1998. The law aims to transform customary land rights into ownership rights across 24 million hectares (ha) of rural lands within ten years. According to the law, this transformation proceeds in two steps: (i) transitional land certificates are issued to any applicant (individual or group) that can prove continuous and uncontested use of the land; (ii) within three years of certificate registration, individual certificate holders who are Ivorian citizens may apply for land titles, whereas lands certified to non-Ivorians must first be registered to the State, who can then issue a long-term land lease to the applicant. The 1998 Rural Land Law implementation has been complicated by the inherent inequalities in land ownership created by the law. It was hoped that Law No. 98-750 would help to modernize agriculture and mitigate land disputes and tensions between migrants and locals. However, in contrast to President Houphouët-Boigny’s dictum that “the land belongs to whoever brings it into production,� the 1998 law distinguishes the terms of land ownership according to nationality. It stipulates that “only the State, public authorities and citizens of Côte d’Ivoire are permitted to own [land].� For Official Use Only There are some who consider that this law favors the rights of local people (autochtones) to the detriment of the migrants who have nevertheless cultivated this land for decades. This unequal access to land ownership frustrates non- owner rights holders and has complicated implementation of certification by reigniting land conflicts. Migrants sometimes oppose land registration procedures by challenging boundary marks or refusing to sign records acknowledging boundaries because they feel that only the rights of autochtones are officially recognized and that their original land access agreements with the local land owners may be called into question. The 2016 Constitution confirms that the right of land ownership is restricted to Ivorian citizens, which may accentuate the doubts of migrants about the value of their land rights. In addition, many migrants are effectively stateless, having migrated to Cote d’Ivoire decades ago and lacking proper identification documents. Some of these migrants may qualify for Ivorian citizenship, while others may not. Moreover, implementation of land certification has been limited due to the complex procedures and high costs required to complete the process. Enacted 17 years ago, the law’s implementation is still confined to some 177 demarcations of village territories (out of 8,600) along with small-scale pilot land certification projects completed with donor support. By October 2016, only 3,000 land certificates had been issued throughout the country out of an estimated 1 million rural plots, meaning that only 0.30% of certifiable land has been formalized. There have been only 100 cases of certificates being transformed into title, and no rural leases have yet been formalized. These figures can be partly explained by the years of civil war, during which field work was out of the question. Nevertheless, the weakness of the results calls for a detailed review of the required procedures, which are indeed complex, lengthy, and expensive. The current procedure requiring initial land certification – which can be completed for individual, joint, or group land holders – followed by titling of rural plots – only to individuals – is particularly complex and costly. This process typically requires significant time and expenses to enable a large number of parties – including numerous civil servants from different institutions and potentially multiple land owners and renters – to come to agreement on the ownership and boundaries of individual plots. Certification currently involves more than 20 processing stages across various institutions, as well as the installation of a huge quantity of boundary markers in remote areas. As a result, the average cost of certifying a plot is around $1,230, one of the highest in the Africa Region, for a product that is accurate to within a meter, even for low- value rural lands. Most of the certificates that have been issued to date were the result of donor-funded projects, and experience suggests when funding for projects ends so does the process of certification. Jan 18, 2017 Page 5 of 14 The World Bank Cote d'Ivoire Land Policy Improvement and Implementation Project (P157206) Rural land rights therefore remain unclear, and secure land access in Côte d’Ivoire remains a constraint on investment and development. Numerous public and private development projects in various sectors, including agriculture, roads, and urban and industrial development, depend on secure access to land. In the absence of clearly recognized and recorded land rights, many projects are forced to spend time and resources attempting to resolve more or less complicated land issues prior to implementation. Importantly, by clarifying village boundaries and providing written recognition of existing rights through land certificates, the 1998 law has obvious potential to clarify land rights and to provide the enabling conditions for improving social cohesion and enhancing private agricultural investment. The Government has demonstrated its commitment to accelerate implementation of the land legal framework. The Government of Côte d'Ivoire acknowledges that land issues require a more ambitious treatment and has taken several steps recently towards implementation of a massive land rights registration operation at the national level: (i) a Land Law Review Committee was established in 2014 to propose procedural simplifications; (ii) land certifications have lately been increasing: at the end of 2013, Côte d'Ivoire had only 306 land certificates, but this number increased ten-fold in the last three years; (iii) a Land Policy Document aiming to update the overarching objectives and guidance for the sector is being finalized following a national consultation process and will consider a land certificate as legal evidence of For Official Use Only land rights for an enhanced duration of 10 years; (iv) a Rural Land Agency (Agence Foncière Rurale - AFOR) was created in August 2016 to entrust the implementation of the legal framework to a single entity. Still, the necessary prerequisites to launch a massive national land security program have not yet been satisfied. A nation-wide land rights registration operation would require (i) a clear and fully applicable legal framework; (ii) efficient and proven procedures; (iii) strong institutions and qualified firms in the sector; (iv) human resources in sufficient quantity and quality; (v) a suitable geodetic infrastructure and an operating information system; (vi) effective dispute resolution mechanisms; and (vii) adequate budgetary resources. These prerequisites are not met yet because (i) legal ambiguities hamper the national extension of a land security program; (ii) some procedural elements remain to be determined (e.g., land certificates registries, pricing of certificates, etc.); (iii) AFOR’s procedures are not yet defined, and the 28 existing surveyor firms do not have the capacity to carry out massive land operations within a reasonable time; (iv) the lack of qualified land administration staff limits the Government’s capacity to implement a nationwide program; and (v) the lack of a recent geodetic network and appropriate technology make field works lengthy and costly. These prerequisites remain to be addressed so that Côte d'Ivoire has the capacity to meet the challenge of implementing a nationwide rural land registration program. It is an ambitious legal, technical, and institutional project for which the Government of Côte d’Ivoire has requested the support of the international community, and in particular the World Bank. Relationship to CPF Land reform is identified by the 2015 Systematic Country Diagnostic (SCD) as one of the key prerequisites for progress in all other areas proposed to foster sustainable and inclusive growth, as well as gender equity. To address the central challenge of reducing poverty and boosting shared prosperity in the short to medium term, the SCD recommends to the Government to implement an inclusive jobs strategy based on a raising productivity in agricultural and non-agricultural sectors. The SCD further notes that the current lack of tenure security constrains investment in agricultural development, agro-business, manufacturing and mining exploration and has been a root cause of conflict. As such, the Country Partnership Framework (CPF) for FY16-FY19 highlights land as a priority and a key to stability and development and notes that the Government also considers land tenure security a prerequisite for the modernization of the agriculture sector. The proposed project contributes directly to Objective 4 of Focus Area One (Accelerating Sustainable Jan 18, 2017 Page 6 of 14 The World Bank Cote d'Ivoire Land Policy Improvement and Implementation Project (P157206) Private Sector-Led Growth) of the CPF by formalizing and enhancing access to land for business and agriculture. The CPF underlines the need for clear land rights and informed land transactions as they are an incentive for investment by both smallholders and private investors and are an essential foundation for shared growth. Land rights documentation and formalization is crucial for the gradual implementation of a transparent formal land market that provides confidence to stakeholders and facilitates responsible investment. Formalization also allows for dispute resolution based on reliable documentation, which helps prevent the deterioration of minor disputes into more serious conflicts, and supports social cohesion. The CPF proposes to support improvements to the land administration system through a Land Policy Implementation Project, as well as crosscutting engagement in other operations. The CPF recommends that the operation support the completion of the land policy and national land rights registration in order to (i) avoid a return to new cycles of violence by formalizing existing land rights and land agreements between owners and occupants in a fast and cost-effective way and (ii) gradually establish the prerequisites for a formal land market based on transparent and informed transactions. In the long-term, these investments are expected to facilitate formal land leases and guarantee investments in land to catalyze a more dynamic rural economy. C. Proposed Development Objective(s) For Official Use Only Note to Task Teams: The PDO has been pre-populated from the datasheet for the first time for your convenience. Please keep it up to date whenever it is changed in the datasheet. The proposed Project Development Objective would be to strengthen the Government’s capacity needed for the implementation of its national rural land tenure program at the national level; and to implement an improved land use and property rights registration system in selected rural areas. Key Results (From PCN) Proposed key results include: 1. At the national level a. Direct project beneficiaries (Number, of which female (%)) (mandatory indicator); b. National Land Agency adequately staffed and resourced according to a defined strategy/work plan (Yes/No); c. Adjustments in the land legal framework enacted (Yes/No); d. New geodetic network implemented and operational (Yes/No); e. New qualified land professionals meeting defined standards resulting from project interventions (Number, of which female (%)); 2. At the regional level a. Local land administration institutions (CVGFR and CVGR) established, adequately staffed, and resourced according to a defined strategy/work plan (number); b. Target population with use or ownership rights recorded as a result of the project, gender disaggregated (core sector indicator); c. Land parcels with use or ownership rights recorded as a result of the project. This number will cover both land certificates issued with the support of the project and any written land document scanned and archived with the support of the project (core sector indicator). Jan 18, 2017 Page 7 of 14 The World Bank Cote d'Ivoire Land Policy Improvement and Implementation Project (P157206) d. Share of target beneficiaries with rating ‘Satisfied’ or above on project interventions (%) (mandatory citizen engagement indicator). D. Concept Description Proposed approach: As the prerequisites for a national land rights registration operation are not yet in place, the proposed overall design of the project would represent the first stage of a series of projects (SOP) that, taken together, will support the Government in delivering on its commitment to implement national land tenure reforms in close collaboration with the other donors involved in rural land (EU, AFD, AfDB). In light of the depth and scale of the challenges at hand (both in terms of corrective and preventive measures that must be undertaken), as well as the Bank’s recent re-engagement in the land sector in Cote d’Ivoire, a 5-year project with a narrowly defined land certification objective will not be sufficient to overcome the barriers that have stalled previous reform efforts and ensure a sustainable transition to a formalized rural land administration system. Instead, investments in appropriate equipment and tools, simplified procedures, and strong institutions, as well as qualified human resources, are first needed to prepare for the implementation of a nationwide land rights registration program in the medium term and a For Official Use Only transparent formal land market in the long run. In recognition of the need to phase-in reforms, the new Land Policy Document plans a 10-year sector wide program sequenced in three phases: (i) a 2-year preparation phase; (ii) followed by a 2-year scaling phase and (iii) a six-year national implementation phase. The Bank’s engagement is therefore proposed as a series of two projects, with the first 5-year project supporting the first two phases of the Government’s reform agenda and laying the foundation for future investments at scale by implementing initial field activities, and the second 5-year project supporting national-scale implementation of land registration. This first project, which is the subject of this concept note, would focus on activities at two levels:  At the national level, legal adjustments and institutional reforms and awareness-raising will provide the foundation for a National Rural Land Tenure Security Program: (i) Support the establishment of the Rural Land Agency (AFOR) and build its capacity to implement the National Rural Land Tenure Security Program; (ii) Clarify the legal and institutional framework for land rights registration and the documentation of land rights transfers; (iii) Clarify and simplify the procedures required for land certification (e.g., pre-certification step, pricing of the certificate, reducing the number of steps within the certification procedure, considering AFOR as a unique entity in charge of any land procedure); (iv) Develop a national land administration training and education plan; (v) Strengthen the geodetic infrastructure needed to support national land rights registration; and (vi) Implement a national communication campaign on rural land rights registration to prepare communities for the upcoming registration process and ensure citizen engagement and social accountability across all project activities.  At the sub-national level, along with these preparatory institutional development activities, field operations will be implemented in support of village land demarcation and rural land certification and to inform the national legal and institutional reforms under Component 1. Jan 18, 2017 Page 8 of 14 The World Bank Cote d'Ivoire Land Policy Improvement and Implementation Project (P157206) The proposed project will be financed with a US$50.0 million IDA credit financing and will establish the necessary prerequisites for the second phase in the series of projects, which will support the Government in implementing its National Rural Land Tenure Security Program. The first phase of this series of projects is the subject of this Concept Note. Project beneficiaries: The direct project beneficiaries are rural populations who currently own or cultivate agricultural land and their offspring, as land tenure security is expected to reduce the risk of new cycles of land-related violence for future generations. Commercial farming companies, small or large, will also benefit from the more transparent and reliable land transactions that land registration will enable. Land sector professionals will gain the skills needed to support the private and public land administration sectors. Finally, citizens, private investors, and the country as a whole will benefit from increased social cohesion and a business environment more conducive to investment. Proposed activities Component 1 – Strengthening rural land institutions (US$ 15 million). The specific objective of this component is to strengthen the institutional capacities required for a National Rural Land Tenure Security Program. Planned activities For Official Use Only include: a. Strengthen the capacities of the Ministry in charge of rural land (Ministère de l’Agriculture et du Développement Durable – Direction du Foncier Rural) to improve the monitoring and supervision of field operations and to support reforms to the legal framework; b. Support the new Rural Land Agency (AFOR) in charge of the implementation of the National Rural Land Tenure Security Program. This will include technical assistance to help AFOR to implement and supervise field activities outsourced to qualified private operators and to coordinate various rural land administration services/activities; c. Build local land administration capacities, namely by establishing and / or strengthening Village Land Tenure Committees (Comités Villageois de Gestion Foncière Rurale, CVGFRs) and Rural Land Tenure Committees (Commissions de Gestion Foncière Rurale, CGFRs) and local customary authorities and developing their capacity to support the archiving, improvement, and standardization of local land tenure documentation; d. Invest in appropriate equipment, satellite orthoimagery, and infrastructure to support the establishment and maintenance of a national geodetic network by setting up Continuous Operating Reference Stations (CORS) around country. This sub-component will reduce land registration processing times, increase the accuracy for survey work, and support the definitive delimitation of the boundaries of overlapping administrative areas (mapping of urban perimeters, classified forests, etc.), as well as the creation of a technology innovation hub to evaluate and advise on the use of emerging sector technologies (Unité de Veille Technologique); e. Enhance land dispute resolution mechanisms both at the community (mediation via community leaders, community courts) and local government (civil courts) levels; f. Establish a National Land Observatory to evaluate land policy performance and impacts; and g. Support civil society organizations (CSOs) involved in the land sector to monitor and evaluate land registration activities in the field and to conduct informed advocacy. Component 2 – Supporting the implementation of the National Rural Land Program (US$ 20 million ). The specific objective of this component is to undertake field operations using new, simplified procedures and operating modes to Jan 18, 2017 Page 9 of 14 The World Bank Cote d'Ivoire Land Policy Improvement and Implementation Project (P157206) contribute to the Government’s land registration targets, aiming at achieving an initial quantitative target in terms of the archiving of existing land tenure documentation, first-time certification of individual and collective land rights, and the demarcation of village boundaries. This component includes the following activities: a. Support the public institutions in charge of village boundary demarcation to record existing agreements between rural communities and map village boundaries using participatory approaches; b. Register existing land rights through simplified individual and / or collective certification procedures and pilot local land registries (part of the Land Information System) to implement a sustainable system for recording rural land transactions. This will include detailed awareness-raising phase to help villages to make informed choices about the various ways of securing their land rights and to facilitate the certification process. To the greatest extent possible, this activity will incorporate the informal land documents already used to document land rights and transactions and will preserve this informal land documentation through improved local archiving and digitized copies. The project will provide land contract templates to specify the terms of any land sharing arrangements, such as leases or other transactions. The land certification process will be streamlined under For Official Use Only AFOR, which will be responsible for the overall implementation of the process, and validated by the Préfet, which will remain responsible for signing the final certificates. AFOR will procure, monitor, and evaluate qualified private service providers to conduct the necessary field work. c. Reform the Land Information System (LIS). The objective of this sub-component will be the creation/upgrading, deployment, and maintenance of the LIS. This activity will load the databases with the spatial, legal, and other information collected from the project to improve management of secure land rights. Building on good practice in the field globally, this activity is proposed to be outsourced. A private operator will be in charge of the reform, deployment, and maintenance of the LIS and of the training of the AFOR staff who will take over the system incrementally over time through a build-operate-transfer model. Component 3 – Supporting a Land Training Plan (US$ 10 million). The implementation of a nationwide rural land tenure reform will require the deployment of a large number of land professionals in both the private and the public sectors across the country to implement and oversee the land registration procedures. These staff will need to have adequate knowledge of new technologies, relevant legal texts, and social issues related to land. Such skilled professionals are currently very rare, and a major effort will need to be made in training additional professionals to support the National Land Tenure Security Program. The specific objective of this component is to make available the qualified human resources needed for the implementation of the land policy at the national level. The aim is to promote the creation of official courses and vocational training on land within existing training institutions, in partnership with the private sector. This training program will be developed at three levels: a. Training of field-level social and technical professionals to increase the number and enhance the skills of the private or public officers in charge of the land certification procedures in the field (“commissaires-enquêteurs�); b. Training of “Rural Land Engineers�, namely multi-skilled experts in the social sciences, land law, and information systems. The National Polytechnic Institute of Yamoussoukro has expressed interest in launching a new master’s degree that meets this profile. This program could eventually be extended to build the capacity of land tenure professionals from neighboring countries, a service that is dramatically lacking in the Region; and Jan 18, 2017 Page 10 of 14 The World Bank Cote d'Ivoire Land Policy Improvement and Implementation Project (P157206) c. Training of academics specialized on land policy and vocational training for specialized professionals, in particular through the National School for Magistrates. Component 4 – Program Coordination, Monitoring and Knowledge Management (US$ 5 million). This component will facilitate: (i) administrative, technical, and financial management of the program, including effective contractual arrangements with key implementing partners and qualified consulting firms; (ii) audit, complaints, and grievance mechanisms; (iii) coordination among all institutional partners to ensure efficient flow of information across the land sector; (iv) monitoring and evaluation of the performance and the financial, environmental, and social impacts of the project, including of safeguards processes, as well as studies and assessments required under various project components; and (v) the development of communication activities to publicize and disseminate the project results, best practices, and success stories. Given the mandate of the Agence Foncière Rurale, and to avoid overlapping institutional arrangements in the land sector, project coordination and management will be conducted under the responsibility of AFOR, subject to an assessment by the World Bank. For Official Use Only Note to Task Teams: The following sections are system generated and can only be edited online in the Portal. SAFEGUARDS A. Project location and salient physical characteristics relevant to the safeguard analysis (if known) Project areas remain to be determined with the Client. The team will select project areas known to be less exposed to conflicts. B. Borrower’s Institutional Capacity for Safeguard Policies The Recipient has several years of experience in applying and implementing World Bank projects. There are considerable legal and institutional frameworks in the country to ensure compliance with World Bank safeguards policies triggered by the proposed project. In Cote d’Ivoire, the Ministry of Urban health, Environment, and Sustainable Development (MSUEDD) is responsible for setting policy guidelines on environmental issues and ensuring compliance with national environmental standards. It has different departments among which the National Agency of Environment (ANDE, Agence Nationale de l ’Environment) in charge of Environment safeguards compliance of all projects in the country. However, the project will enhance the PCU team capacity especially on social to support project implementation. The project will benefit from the experience of others partners involved on land identification and registration including the titling. The project will also receive guidance and support from the Bank’s environmental and social specialists in the Project team. C. Environmental and Social Safeguards Specialists on the Team Abdoul Wahabi Seini, Social Safeguards Specialist Abdoulaye Gadiere, Environmental Safeguards Specialist D. Policies that might apply Jan 18, 2017 Page 11 of 14 The World Bank Cote d'Ivoire Land Policy Improvement and Implementation Project (P157206) Safeguard Policies Triggered? Explanation (Optional) This operation is mainly a technical assistance. However, some activities such infrastructures construction to support the establishment and maintenance of a national geodetic network by setting up Continuous Operating Reference Stations (CORS) around country are likely to induce potential environmental adverse impacts. However the specific Environmental Assessment OP/BP 4.01 Yes areas of these civil works are not yet known and will be determined later. Therefore, to comply with the Bank and the national environmental regulation, the Borrower will prepare an Environmental and Social Management Framework (ESMF) that will be reviewed, consulted upon and disclosed in-country and at Bank Infoshop prior to the decision meeting. For Official Use Only Natural Habitats OP/BP 4.04 No The policy is not triggered under the proposed project. The proposed project is not expected to have any Forests OP/BP 4.36 No impact on forests or tree cover. The project will not purchase or use pesticides. The Pest Management OP 4.09 No project does not involve pest management. This policy is triggered because of the nature of civil works to be financed under the project, which will unquestionably induce excavation. To prevent any destruction due to excavation during civil works and to Physical Cultural Resources OP/BP 4.11 Yes make sure all precautions have been taken to safeguard physical cultural resources, a chance find procedure will be included in the ESMF and subsequently detailed in ESIAs. There are no indigenous people in Cote d’Ivoire as Indigenous Peoples OP/BP 4.10 No defined by the World bank. The policy is therefore not triggered. OP4.12 The project activities will support land registration and land titles in selected area. Based on the country current situation and post conflict background in some areas, the delineation of the project activities could potentially lead to loss of access or resources and potential impact during the delimitation these activities for some communities Involuntary Resettlement OP/BP 4.12 Yes and/or migrants who live and/or encroached in the targeted area. Therefore, the team will prepare an RPF as due diligence. The RPF will identify potential affected communities, eligibility criteria, the overall stakeholders consultation and their participation including the Grievance Redress Mechanism and the monitoring and evaluation process and it will be Jan 18, 2017 Page 12 of 14 The World Bank Cote d'Ivoire Land Policy Improvement and Implementation Project (P157206) published and disclosed prior to the project appraisal. It was agreed on the preparation of a Social Assessment through the SESA during the implementation. Safety of Dams OP/BP 4.37 No The project will not finance any dam construction. The project will not finance any activities with impacts Projects on International Waterways No on international waterways. OP/BP 7.50 The project will not finance any activities in disputed Projects in Disputed Areas OP/BP 7.60 No areas. E. Safeguard Preparation Plan Tentative target date for preparing the Appraisal Stage PID/ISDS For Official Use Only Nov 15, 2017 Time frame for launching and completing the safeguard-related studies that may be needed. The specific studies and their timing should be specified in the Appraisal Stage PID/ISDS The borrower will prepare an Environmental and Social Management Framework (ESMF) and a Resettlement Policy Framework (RPF).These instruments once prepared, will be reviewed, consulted upon and disclosed within the country by the Government of Cote d’Ivoire, and at the World Bank’s Infoshop prior to project Decision Meeting. CONTACT POINT World Bank Andre Teyssier, Meredith Mercedes Stickler Sr Land Administration Specialist Borrower/Client/Recipient Ministère de l'Economie, des Finances et du Budget de la République de Côte d'Ivoire Abdoulaye Bakayoko Coordinator of World bank project Portfolio abdoulaye.bakayoko@hotmail.com Implementing Agencies Jan 18, 2017 Page 13 of 14 The World Bank Cote d'Ivoire Land Policy Improvement and Implementation Project (P157206) National Rural Land Agency (AFOR) Cheick Daniel Bamba Director bambadaniel.afor@gmail.com Ministère de l'Agriculture et du Développement Rural Constant Delbe Directeur du Foncier Rural delbe_constant@yahoo.fr Nouhoun Coulibaly Directeur Général de la Planification, du Contrôle des Proje couln@yahoo.com For Official Use Only FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT The World Bank 1818 H Street, NW Washington, D.C. 20433 Telephone: (202) 473-1000 Web: http://www.worldbank.org/projects APPROVAL Task Team Leader(s): Andre Teyssier, Meredith Mercedes Stickler Approved By APPROVALTBL Safeguards Advisor: Practice Manager/Manager: Jorge A. Munoz 06-Oct-2017 Country Director: Note to Task Teams: End of system generated content, document is editable from here. Jan 18, 2017 Page 14 of 14