Implementation Status Results of World Bank Assisted Projects

Please find below Implementation Status

Results reports of World

Bank assisted Urban Environmental Sanitation, Sustainable Rural Water

and Sanitation Services, Statistical Development Program, Education

Sector, Land Administration and Community Based

Rural Development

projects.

In 2010, the World Bank

launched its Policy

on Access to

Information. The new policy represents a fundamental shift in

the Banks

approach to disclosure of information moving from an approach that

spells out

what information it can disclose to one under which the Bank will

disclose any

information in its possession that is not on a list of exceptions. Now

the

public can get more information than ever before information about

projects

under preparation, projects that are being implemented, analytic and

advisory

activities, and Board proceedings. This

enhanced transparency and accountability will allow for greater

monitoring of

Bank-supported projects, thereby enabling better development results as

well as

providing an opportunity to better track the use of public funds.

Ghana

Education Sector Project

Contact; Charles Aheto-Tsegah

charlestsegah@yahoo.co.uk , Implementing Agency: Ministry of

Education

The

objectives of the Project are

to: (a) improve equitable access to and completion of basic education

in

deprived districts; and (b) improve quality of teaching and learning,

management efficiency and relevance of post-basic education

Component(s)

Component Cost

Sector Capacity Building

13.86

Pilot Programmatic Scheme

40.40

Tertiary Education Innovation

33.25

Project Preparation Facility Refinancing

0.49

Total

Amt: US$ 71.0 million Amt disbursed: US$69.9 million (As of October

2011)

Current

Rating

Progress

towards achievement of

PDO Moderately

Satisfactory

Overall Implementation Progress

(IP) Moderately

Satisfactory Implementation

Status Overview

The

project is closing on October

31, 2011 and the present Implementation Status Results Report is the

last one

also focusing on the entire project implementation period. The last

implementation support mission is being held between October 6-20 and

coincides

with a mission to start the Implementation Completion Report. The

improvements

in project implementation and disbursement that started in 2010 have

been

sustained, and they even accelerated resulting in over-commitment of

funds. A

third restructuring of the project was then requested in late September

for

reallocation of funds between project components. This restructuring

allocated

more resources to the Pilot Programmatic Scheme (PPS) work to provide

more

funds to the deprived districts. In fact, the project was restructured

three

times during the last three years. The first restructuring was a level

one and

it was based on a strategic redefinition of the project, informed by an

extensive mid-term review and a new education reform that had started

in 2008. This restructuring resulted in re-aligned project development

objectives,

indicators, and new subcomponents and expenditure categories. The

second

restructuring was originated by the Government of Ghana to allocate

resources from

the project towards other Government priorities.

Overall, project achievements and

project implementation were both strongly affected by key design

features,

including (1) the programmatic nature that was aligned both with the

Government

's evolving education sector strategic agenda and with harmonized donor

support; (2) the use of Government systems and institutions instead of

a

separate project management unit; (3) the decentralized implementation

through

grants and sub-projects by over 63 deprived districts in the case of

PPS and by

27 higher education institutions in the case of Teaching and Learning

Innovation Fund (TALIF) and; consequently (4) some bottlenecks,

constraints and

capacity issues in these decentralized beneficiary institutions

especially in

terms of financial management, procurement

and monitoring. Furthermore,

elections in 2008 and frequent Government reshuffling also weakened the

implementation, monitoring and oversight capacities thus leading to

erratic disbursement. On the more positive side, seven years of implementation through

Government

institutions led to continuously improvement of ownership, attention

and

capacity to use the project's key instruments, including: the

capitation grants

to schools; the Education Management Information System; the Annual

Programs of

Work (APOW) at district level and the Pilot Programmatic Scheme (PPS)

to

finance deprived districts; the Teaching and Learning Innovation Fund

for

higher education institutions and the Skills Development Fund for

skills

development/TVET. There is now a strong likelihood that all of these

instruments will be mainstreamed and thus, key project activities will

be

sustained. This likelihood is combined with strong Government efforts

to carry

out evaluation and bring the lessons forward to improve support to the

decentralized agencies mentioned earlier.

In terms of the monitoring

indicators, especially in basic education, the use of the capitation

grants and

the pilot programmatic scheme, together with other donor funds resulted

in significant

improvements in access to and completion of basic education in the

deprived

districts. Both the Government and the Development Partners have

expressed

their commitment that targeting the deprived districts, a system

developed by

the Education Sector project will

continue. These districts have taken significant steps to catch up with

the

non-deprived districts and with national averages in terms of

admissions,

enrollment rates, completion and gender parity. While with the

programmatic

approach, attribution to the project activities is limited by the fact

that IDA

and donor and Government support to the deprived districts were

harmonized, the

Government of Ghana clearly considers both the capitation grant and the

PPS as

key factors stimulating the achievements in the key performance

indicators. Furthermore, the Skills Development Fund has led to a new project. Also,

another instrument, the capitation grant has become mainstreamed via

Government

financing during the second year of the project. Finally, TALIF is now

being

considered to be an integral part of a reformed higher education

financing

system, for which the Bank was asked to provide technical assistance

following

the EdSep project closing.

The Government has engaged in

detailed evaluation of the key project instruments and has also started

to

develop a sector program to be financed through the Global Partnership

for

Education based on improvements and adjustments to be made in such

policy and

financing instruments. These Government executed evaluations are also

part of

the Sector Capacity Building component. The capitation grant, the APOW

and PPS

systems are all being considered to be part of this upcoming program,

which the

Bank was asked to serve as a supervising entity. In conclusion, the

implementation was negatively affected by erratic and sometimes very

slow

disbursements for basic education, fragmented sector capacity building

activities and lack of monitoring of higher education activities. Some

of these

were the consequences of using government agencies and systems in

implementation. At the same time, the use of these systems positively

affected

overall sustainability and capacity for future decentralized

programmatic

practices.

Key

Decisions Regarding Implementation

All

agencies responsible for

implementation of project components have been focusing on (1) final

implementation issues; (2) any last minute bottlenecks; (3) identifying

areas

where completion before closing is not possible, and Government or

other

external funding needed to complete such activities; and (4) detailed

evaluation of the project as well as recommendations for future

mainstreaming/continuation. The World Bank has started to proceed with the

Implementation

Completion

Report. The World Bank has started to proceed with project closing

procedures,

including the partial recuperation of project funds. These need to be

closely monitored

given that the project overcommitted, and decentralized agencies are

all

focused on completing all sub-projects and grant activities. The Bank

has

started its work on the preparation of the new GPE project and needs to

work

with the Government in using the district-based instruments (capitation

grant,

APOW and PPS) to continue supporting the deprived districts but with

stronger

focus on quality.

Locations

Read

here for Location and more results

Land

Administration Project - 2

Contact: Jimmy Aidoo,

jimmyaidoo@yahoo.co.uk, Implementing Agency; Ministry of

Lands

and Natural Resources

Key

Dates

Approval

Date 31-Mar-2011, Effectiveness

Date 08-Aug-2011, Closing Date 31-Mar-2016

Project

Development Objectives

To

consolidate and strengthen land

administration and management systems for efficient and transparent

land

services delivery

Components

Component Cost

Strengthening

the Policy, legal

and regulatory Framework for Land Administration 5.00

Decentralization and Improving

Business and service Delivery Processes

23.51

Improved maps and Spatial data for

land Administration

31.51

Human Resource Development and

Project management

10.78

Total

Amt: US$ 50.0 million Amt disbursed: US$0 (As of October 2011)

Current Rating

Progress towards achievement of

PDO Satisfactory

Overall Implementation Progress

(IP) Satisfactory

Overall Risk

Moderate

Implementation

Status Overview

The

project has recently become

effective and a mission is planned for September 12-30, 2011. The

mission will

provide detailed report after the mission is completed. Read

here for

more results.

Ghana

Community-Based Rural Development (P081482)

Implementing

Agency(ies): Ministry of Local Government

& Rural Development

Key

Dates

Effectiveness

Date 02-Nov-2004, Closed

on 30-Jun-2011

Project

Development Objectives

The

overall goal of the project is

to reduce poverty and enhance the quality of life of beneficiary rural

communities. The objective is to strengthen the capacity of rural

communities

to enhance their quality of life by improving their productive assets,

rural

infrastructure and access to key support services from private and

public

sources.

Component(s)

Component

Cost

Institutional Strengthening and

Capacity Building

8.12

Infrastructure for Agricultural

Development

20.16

Rural Enterprise Development and

Learning Centers 7.90

Infrastructure for Social and

Human Development

21.97

Community- Based Natural Resource

Management 4.15

Project Management

6.89

Total

Amt: US$ 69.19 million Amt disbursed: US$69.19 million (As of October

2011)

Implementation

Status Overview

The

major achievement of the project

are the completion of all the capacity building program all 10 Regional

Planning

Coordinating Units (RPCUs), all 170 District Planning Coordinating Unit

(DPCUs)

as well as users and beneficiaries such as school management

committees, Dam

management committees, water users committees. The RPCUs and DPCUs

visited by

the team were very appreciative of the support provided by the project. The

project supported the (i) National Development Planning Commission

(NDPC) in

the preparation and training of District Assemblies (DAs) in using the

guidelines

for the formulation of District Medium Term Development Plans; (ii) the

Accountant Generals Department to prepare financial manual for the

Ministries,

Departments and Agencies (MDAs); and (iii) the National Public

Procurement

Authority (NPPA) in the development a procurement manual and training

of DAs.

The regions were thus able to

support the districts to prepare their medium term development plans,

and

establish Procurement and Tender Review Boards. The District Assemblies

and

Area Councils were able to procure the services consultants and

contractors to: (i) rehabilitate a total of 1277km of feeder roads, which have

increased access

to social services and reduced the travelling time from an average of

15minutes

to cover 1km to 4minutes; (ii) construction of 458km of basic school

infrastructure providing congenial environment to 47,00 pupils reducing

the

number of bad weather disrupting school activities to zero from 15 days

and

also increased school enrollment by 29 percent; (iii) provision of 1676

borehole points providing safe water to 586,600 people in 453

communities

contributing to reduction in water borne diseases; (iv) construction of

5 dams,

two wind pumps and 1 dugout to provide water for year round farming; (v) completion

of 39 markets to facilitate marketing of rural produce; (vi) provision of micro

credit to 97 enterprises with about 27 percent

average recorded

change in value assets; (vii) nine hundred and fifty seven trainees

from the

learning centers have set up their own enterprises; Construction of 271

Community health Centers and 5 nutrition centers, creating access to

health

facility and contributed to the increase in hospital attendance; (viii) preparation

of natural resource action plans for 152 communities in

five

watershed areas, and the establishment of replanting of 1031 hectares

of

degraded areas. All 170 Districts are implementing their plans in

accordance

with Local Government Act 462. Over 469,151 people have so far also

benefited

from various Community Based Rural Development Project (CBRDP) capacity

building

activities, 60% (283,582) of these are male and 40% (185,569) are

female. Based

on the above performance, it is likely that the development objectives

of the

project will be achieved. Key

Decisions Regarding Implementation

The

entire credit of US$82million and the Agence

Franciase de Developpement (AFD)

contribution of Euro 10million have been disbursed. The project has

complied

fully with the financial covenants; and has duly submitted accepted

IFRs for

the quarter ending March 2011. The annual audited financial statement

and

management letter for the year ended 31st December 2010 was submitted

to the

Bank on 21st June 2011 in full compliance of the submission date. Overall the Financial

Management arrangement and performance of the project is rated as being

Satisfactory

(S) and there has been no adverse change in the arrangements as

documented in

the Project Appraisal Document and reviewed in earlier missions. The

financial

management risk assessment for the project is rated as Moderate.

Read

here for more results.

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here

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information on Implementation Status Results Reports of other World

Bank

Assisted Projects.