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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information on Implementation Status Results Reports of other World
Bank
Assisted Projects.