Contacts: Washington: Aby Toure: 202-473-8302 akonate@worldbank.org Lomé: Sylvie A. Nenonene (228) 223 33 00 snenonene@worldbank.org WASHINGTON, June 26, 2008 - The World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors today approved an emergency community development project to assist Togo with its efforts to find rapid solutions to the economic and social crisis. The Community Development Project (CDP) that has just been approved is being financed through an International Development Association (IDA) grant of US$17.2 million. Poverty reduction is the main objective sought, through the establishment and strengthening of basic socioeconomic infrastructure geared towards poor communities in Togo, mainly in the areas of health, education, water and sanitation, and revenue-generating activities. Specifically, CDP funds will be used to finance at least 350 subprojects identified by the communities themselves as priorities and which will be executed by them. The project is therefore expected to improve the overall social and economic situation of the communities targeted (in particular rural communities), which have been very hard-hit by the recent food crisis. As a result of their direct participation in the decision-making process and the implementation of subprojects, these beneficiary communities will be better positioned to contribute to improved local and regional governance. The CDP will be executed through the following three components: (i) Execution of community subprojects (US$12.5 million); (ii) Training at the community, regional, and national levels to support financial management, procurement, and the establishment of reports based on community development methodologies and operational procedures (US$1.7 million); and (iii) Management and operating costs (US$3 million). The project will build on the results achieved in the implementation of the Emergency Program for Poverty Reduction (EPPR), execution of which has been underway since October 2005 with funding from a World Bank grant. It will be implemented by Agences d’appui de développement à la Base (AGAIBs) in the five regions of Togo. It should be underscored that the CDP is in complete alignment with the priorities set forth in the Interim Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (I-PRSP) adopted by the Togolese Government in March 2008, with Togo’s decentralization policy, and is in line with the World Bank’s Interim Strategy Note for Togo covering the period May 2008 to June 2010. Giuseppe Zampaglione , Senior Operations Officer and Project Team Leader at the World Bank stated that: “In order to reduce poverty, the main development problems at the grassroots level must also be tackled. In other words, ways must be found to meet the priority needs identified by poor communities themselves in order to scale up impacts. When you visit Togo, you realize that the poorest communities have three main priorities: access to education, access to health care, and access to drinking water. Added to these is the need for access to resources to carry out revenue-generating activities. The latter is all the more important given the impact of the food crisis on the people, particularly the poorest. In fact, higher revenue generation and increased agricultural productivity and market supply could help attenuate somewhat the effects of this food crisis on the beneficiary populations. In addition, these populations will be guided and trained by the project so that they can participate more effectively in their own development.” Locally managed community development approaches have proven effective in unstable institutional situations, particularly in the case of the rebuilding of socioeconomic infrastructure. “Now that the Board of Directors has approved the CDP, there is an urgent need to meet expeditiously the conditions for its implementation so that this project can start as soon as possible, with a view to providing solutions to the most pressing priority issues of poor communities. Consequently, each party must play its respective role – the Government, project execution agencies, village development committees, beneficiary communities, and all community development stakeholders. The World Bank’s reengagement in Togo will be successful only if each actor involved makes a commitment to discharge fully its responsibilities,” concluded Zampaglione. ### For more information on the World Bank’s activities in Togo, please visit: http://www.worldbank.org/togo For more information on the World Bank’s activities in Sub-Saharan Africa, please visit: http://www.worldbank.org/afr For more information about this project visit: http://web.worldbank.org/external/projects/main?pagePK=64283627&piPK=73230&theSitePK=375265&menuPK=375299&Projectid=P110943 |
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