INTEGRATED SAFEGUARDS DATA SHEET CONCEPT STAGE Public Disclosure Copy Report No.: ISDSC3063 Date ISDS Prepared/Updated: 14-May-2013 Date ISDS Approved/Disclosed: 13-Jun-2013 I. BASIC INFORMATION A. Basic Project Data Country: Burkina Faso Project ID: P124015 Project Name: Social Safety Net Project (P124015) Task Team Azedine Ouerghi Leader: Estimated 13-Dec-2013 Estimated 17-Mar-2014 Appraisal Date: Board Date: Managing Unit: AFTSW Lending Specific Investment Loan Instrument: Sector(s): Other social services (100%) Theme(s): Social safety nets (70%), Other social protection and risk management (10%), Education for all (10%), Nutrition and food security (1 0%) Financing (In USD Million) Total Project Cost: 30.00 Total Bank Financing: 30.00 Public Disclosure Copy Total Cofinancing: Financing Gap: 0.00 Financing Source Amount BORROWER/RECIPIENT 0.00 International Development Association (IDA) 30.00 Total 30.00 Environmental C - Not Required Category: Is this a No Repeater project? B. Project Objectives The project development objective (PDO) is to provide income support to poor and vulnerable groups and to lay the foundations for a basic safety net system in Burkina Faso. C. Project Description The proposed project will be implemented using a Specific Investment Loan (SIL) for a period of 5 years starting in FY14. The project is expected to be financed by an IDA credit of US$30.00 million. Specifically, the project will implement a cash transfer program to poor and vulnerable households in order to contribute to poverty reduction, improved household consumption, and support the development of the basic building blocks for a national safety net system. Based on the existing Public Disclosure Copy evidence and on-going activities, the project will achieve the PDO by: i) designing and implementing a cash transfer program as one of the building blocks of an national safety net system, and ii) assist the country in establishing mechanisms for coordinating existing safety net programs. The design of the proposed operation reflects the extensive analytical work carried out by the government, the Bank, and other development partners on safety nets in Burkina Faso (including the safety net assessment, poverty analysis, and the recent impact evaluations of pilot transfer programs). The key recommendations of the safety net assessment was that the objectives of the social safety nets should be to directly support the consumption of the chronically poor and vulnerable populations and ensure access to basic social services to poor and vulnerable populations, in order to promote human investment. Key conclusions of the impact evaluations note that transfer programs can increase food consumption both in quantity and quality. Therefore, the priority principle of the social safety net system is to ensure poor and vulnerable populations receive regular and predictable support along with complementary programs to ease demand side constraints preventing them from accessing to basic social services. This project will support transfers to poor and vulnerable households to help them stabilize and protect their consumption and reducing financial barriers (demand side constraints) for access services such as nutrition, health care and education for their children. The Bank is already engaged in strengthening safety nets in Burkina Faso through on-going dialogue as well as the parallel support to establish a public works program as part of a youth employment project. The Bank’s social protection team has been engaged in dialogue with the government for more than 2 years and has established a strong relationship with the government and other partners on the safety net agenda. And given the parallel skills building project, the proposed safety net project will help coordinate the objectives, implementation, and outcomes of the public work program with the cash transfer program so as to establish a coordinated safety net system in Burkina Public Disclosure Copy Faso with these two programs functioning as the main cornerstones. For instance, during discussions with the government it was proposed that the cash transfer program of the safety net project would be implemented in the same disadvantaged geographic zones as the public works program of the youth employment project in order to concentrate the efforts in the fight against food insecurity, exploit synergies, and maximize impact. The project will have 3 components: Component 1: Cash transfers to poor and vulnerable households (US$24 million). This component will support the development and implementation of a cash transfer program to serve as one of the cornerstones of the social safety net. The cash transfers will help poor and vulnerable households (target group) by increasing household income. Targeting methods may include proxy means testing (PMT), community-based targeting and geographic targeting in order to identify the poorest and most vulnerable households. Cash transfers to the beneficiaries will be made by payment agencies based on a list of selected beneficiaries. The transfers will be provided publicly to a household representative once they present their beneficiary ID cards. The payments will be made on a regular basis and ensure good timing to allow beneficiaries to use the transfers to stabilize their consumption and afford regular expenditures related to investments and productive activities (such as the schooling and health care of their children) and to reduce transaction cost. The exact transfer level will be determined during project preparation based on careful analysis of household level data and existing impact evaluations findings. In other African countries , a level equivalent to around 20 percent of household expenditures has been shown to be sufficient to allow households to improve their consumption yet lowenough not to create any work disincentives. Public Disclosure Copy The program will operate in the most disadvantages regions of the country - where poverty and childhood malnutrition are the highest and access to schooling is the lowest. These regions may include the Est, Nord, Sud-Ouest, Plateau Central and Centre-Est. The focus will be on rural areas but the program may also operate in some urban areas. The specific locations will be determined during project preparation based on recently available data on the regional and socio-economic distribution of educational outcomes and malnutrition indicators. This component will finance cash transfers to beneficiary households as well as technical assistance and administrative costs for developing and implementing the program. The component may also include accompanying measures for beneficiary household to improve the awareness and behavior of households in the areas of human development. These activities may include training activities and other communication on essential family practices (such as proper nutrition, hand-washing, keeping a clean and safe home, sanitation and waste disposal, breast feeding, etc.) especially if resources and know-how from other development partners operating in Burkina Faso are available. Component 2: Laying the foundations to a basic national safety net system (US$3 million). This component will assist the country in developing the capacity and sound mechanisms for coordinating existing safety net programs and designing operational building blocks that can be used for making safety net programs better targeted to the poor and vulnerable. The objective is to contribute to the establishment of a long-term effective and sustainable (institutionally, politically and financially) system of safety nets anchored in the national social protection strategy. Some of the most important building blocks for coordinating and operating safety net programs are a) an effective targeting system for identifying beneficiary households; b) a managing information system for keeping track of registered and non-registered households, coordinate benefits and beneficiaries between programs, and producing regular monitoring reports; c) a secure and efficient payment system for making and Public Disclosure Copy validating payments; d) a monitoring and evaluation system to allow evidence based policy making and addressing system functioning over time; and e) a grievance and appeals mechanism. This component will support the development of some of these building blocks. The specific building blocks to be supported will be determined during preparation in consultation with the government. The component would finance technical assistance, capacity building (such as training for government staff), and inputs geared at developing and the key building blocks of a national safety net system. Component 3: Project management and evaluation (US$3 million). This component will support the management and evaluation of the overall project. It will finance project management, coordination, and monitoring and evaluation activities related to the first two project components. In particular, this component would support impact evaluation of the cash transfer program for learning more about what particular aspects of cash transfer programs and other accompanying measures are important for reducing poverty and improving and sustaining human development outcomes in low-income countries such as Burkina Faso. D. Project location and salient physical characteristics relevant to the safeguard analysis (if known) This project is classified as Category C (Not Required) because no civil works or other project activities will be undertaken that have adverse environmental or social impacts. The project does not require any land acquisition leading to involuntary resettlement and/or restrictions of access to resources and livelihood. Public Disclosure Copy The program will operate in the most disadvantages regions of the country - where poverty and childhood malnutrition are the highest and access to schooling is the lowest. These regions may include the Est, Nord, Sud-Ouest, Plateau Central and Centre-Est. The specific locations will be determined during project preparation based on recently available data on the regional and socio- economic distribution of educational outcomes and malnutrition indicators. E. Borrowers Institutional Capacity for Safeguard Policies The country has continued to build its capacity on safeguards management during the implementation of several World Bank financed projects. The Ministry of Finance which will be in charge of implementing the project is familiar with World Bank safeguards policies. An institutional capacity assessment will be carried out during project preparation if needed. F. Environmental and Social Safeguards Specialists on the Team Liba C. Strengerowski-Feldblyum (AFTN2) Paivi Koskinen-Lewis (AFTCS) II. SAFEGUARD POLICIES THAT MIGHT APPLY Safeguard Policies Triggered? Explanation (Optional) Environmental Assessment OP/ No BP 4.01 Natural Habitats OP/BP 4.04 No Forests OP/BP 4.36 No Public Disclosure Copy Pest Management OP 4.09 No Physical Cultural Resources OP/ No BP 4.11 Indigenous Peoples OP/BP 4.10 No Involuntary Resettlement OP/BP No 4.12 Safety of Dams OP/BP 4.37 No Projects on International No Waterways OP/BP 7.50 Projects in Disputed Areas OP/BP No 7.60 III. SAFEGUARD PREPARATION PLAN A. Tentative target date for preparing the PAD Stage ISDS: 31-Oct-2013 B. Time frame for launching and completing the safeguard-related studies that may be needed. The specific studies and their timing1 should be specified in the PAD-stage ISDS: 1 Reminder: The Bank's Disclosure Policy requires that safeguard-related documents be disclosed before appraisal (i) at the InfoShop and (ii) in country, at publicly accessible locations and in a form and language that are accessible to potentially affected persons. NA IV. APPROVALS Public Disclosure Copy Task Team Leader: Name: Azedine Ouerghi Approved By: Regional Safeguards Name: Date: Coordinator: Sector Manager: Name: Stefano Paternostro (SM) Date: 13-Jun-2013 Public Disclosure Copy