Report No. PID3851
Project Name            Mali-Project to Support Grassroots Initiatives (@)
to Fight Hunger and poverty (GRIP)
Region                           Africa
Sector                           Poverty Reduction
Project ID                       MLPE35617
Borrower                         Republic of Mali
Implementing Agency              Association d'Appui aux Initiatives
de Base (AIB)
Ministry of Economy, Plan, and Integration
Date PID prepared                May 7,1996
Date PID revised                 December 23, 1997
Appraisal Date                   May 19, 1996
Projected Board Date             March 17, 1998
Background:
It has become increasingly apparent in Africa that public
sector resources alone cannot reduce poverty or hunger for its
growing population. Bordered by seven countries, with a land mass
twice the size of France, Mali's leaders recognize that their
country's development requires the active cooperation of formal and
non-formal structures to reach its widely diverse and dispersed
communities.
The proposed Project to Support Grassroots Initiatives to Fight
Hunger and Poverty has been designed with these considerations in
mind. It is based on a set of guiding principles, namely that (a)
the key objective is reducing poverty and hunger by getting results
at the community level; (b) the Malian NGO/Government partnership
and community involvement are potentially valuable contributions;
and (c) long-term poverty and hunger reduction objectives are to be
measured in terms of both performance and process indicators.
The 1993 Global Hunger Conference, sponsored by the Bank and many
NGOs, led to the notion of national hunger workshops and Mali was
chosen as the first country proto-type. In the initial planning
phase, Malian NGOs were skeptical of Government intentions, seeing
Government as wanting to impinge on NGO freedom of action and policy
independence; the Government mistrusted NGOs as wanting to pursue
political goals and operational agendas inconsistent with national
programs; and both were skeptical of the Bank's willingness and
institutional ability to relate to communities in a flexible manner,
to be patient and listen. The June 1995 Mali Hunger Workshop
concluded that more might be accomplished by each party through
cooperation rather than competition and mistrust. A Steering
Committee to Fight Hunger, in which NGOs had substantial voice, was



created to pursue the "process" of tripartite collaboration. The
proposed Project is seen as a vehicle to experiment innovative
partnership approaches in the fight against hunger and poverty.
Project Objectives:
The project's main objectives are: (i) to improve the living
conditions of rural poor communities by responding to their priority
needs; (ii) to strengthen community participation in the
identification of their priority needs and in the design and
implementation of actions that respond to those needs, in
partnership with NGOs and local authorities and in coordination with
ongoing national programs; and (iii) to strengthen institutional and
policy-making capacity at the national level in the fight against
hunger and poverty.
Project Description:
The project concept reflects an iterative dialogue with
beneficiaries, service providers, and authorities and addresses
three complementary and inter-linked processes: a community
consultation process, a sub-project implementation process, and a
Government/NGO "partnership" process. The proposed project would
support these processes with two components: (a) a community
development component comprised of multi-sectoral community-
requested infrastructures in targeted rural communities; and
accompanying local capacity-building measures to strengthen
community, NGOs, and Government capacity; and (b) policy and
institutional support to strengthen local and national decision-
making on poverty issues (poverty-related data collection,
monitoring, and analysis). Participation of communities, NGOs, and
Government is encouraged and supported at every stage of project
preparation, implementation and follow-up.
Project Implementation:
The project is community-based and would be implemented in a
phased manner, starting with the region of Mopti and expanding to
other poor regions as experience in approach and modalities is
gained. To initiate the community consultation process, a
community-needs and capacity-assessment would be conducted by NGOs
in the targeted village. The results would be verified to ensure
consistency with national programs and to avoid duplication. Sub-
project proposals would be developed by the communities with the
help of an NGO in community development (NGO-CD) and sent to the
Project Management Office. During sub-project conceptualization,
consideration would be given as to how IEC and training activities
could be incorporated to address community needs, giving special
emphasis to women's concerns.
The sub-project implementation process would begin with a technical
feasibility study. Once found technically acceptable, the sub-
project request would be submitted to the Associations aux
Initiatives de Base for possible financing. Once selected, a
contract would be entered into with qualified implementors (NGOs,
community groups, technical services) through competitive bidding,
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with the counter-signature of the community. The community would
receive training to ensure maintenance of works. At completion, a
post-evaluation would be carried out by an independent consultant,
with the participation of the community.
The NGO/Government "partnership" process is an integral part of
the project and is promoted at every stage of the project cycle --
at the central level through the Associations aux Initiatives de
Base, at the local level through the regional/local development
committees, and at the community level through NGOs and local
technical services.
Benefits:
The project would help reduce poverty in the most vulnerable
rural areas of Mali. This would be achieved in the short term by
financing sub-projects identified by the communities themselves as
having highest priority. The project would also (i) enhance the
understanding of communities in how to achieve sustainable
improvement in their living condition; (ii) strengthen and encourage
collaboration in the fight against hunger and poverty between public
and private entities at the community, regional and national levels;
and (iii) develop the capacity at central and local levels to
collect and analyze relevant poverty data, to formulate poverty
reduction policies, take decisions based on such data and policy
formulation, and to monitor and evaluate progress in achieving local
and national goals.
Risks:
The first risk is the difficulty in building community
confidence in a new relationship with Government and their capacity
to manage local activities, given past unfulfilled promises.
Creating this new trust and level of skill will be part of an
extended process, supported by the project, which will begin slowly,
accelerating with experience and demonstrated results. The second
risk is the extent to which the Government and NGOs can manage to
maintain an ongoing dialogue, and their willingness to collaborate
and compromise in order to implement programs at the community
level. The creation of the Association to Support Grassroot
Initiatives with beneficiary representatives on its Advisory Board
and the successful pilot phase of testing this partnership on the
ground both augur well for their commitment to continue this
cooperative process. Third, project implementation may be hampered
by limitations on technical competence, absorptive capacity, and
familiarity with Bank procedures by service providers. This concern
has been addressed through pre-selection criteria, inclusion of
training to the community, training in community development to the
NGO-CD, and training to intermediaries on Bank procedures and a
system to monitor and evaluate performance outcomes. Finally,
project achievements may be constrained by difficulty in reaching
communities, transferring knowledge and improved practices, and
sustaining community and NGO involvement throughout the project
period. This risk is mitigated by providing appropriate training
to respond to these needs, ensuring the presence of an NGO-CD in the
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community throughout its sub-project cycle, and assisting
communities in defining relevant IEC themes.
Contact Point:           Public Information Center
The World Bank
1818 H Street N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20433
Tel. No.: (202) 473-4654
Fax No.: (202) 473-8216
Note: This is information on an evolving project. Certain
components may not necessarily be included in the final project.
Processed by the InfoShop week ending January 9, 1998.
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