WASHINGTON, July 6, 2018 -- The World Bank today approved an International Development Association (IDA)* grant of $40 million to support the government of Benin in its efforts to increase poor communities’ access to basic social services and social safety nets.
The new Community and Local Government Basic Social Services Project (“Appui aux Communes et Communautés pour l’expansion des services sociaux – ACCESS”) will help improve decentralized service delivery through grants provided to communes for investments in education, health, rural roads, and market infrastructures. It will also scale up the successful social safety nets pilot initiated under the Decentralized Community Driven Services project (DCDSP).
“_While progress has been made in recent years to improve access to basic infrastructures and safety nets, Benin still faces large gaps in coverage, especially in the poorest and remote areas. The new project will help the government address these challenges more efficiently to enhance social well-being,” _saidPierre Laporte, World Bank Country Director for Benin.
In addition, the project complements the Government’s Insurance for Reinforcing Human Capital initiative (“Assurance pour le Renforcement du Capital Humain -- ARCH”) by financing the development of a national social registry identifying all poor and extreme poor households in Benin. The registry will be used to identify beneficiaries by both ARCH and ACCESS, as well as other programs.
ACCESS will be implemented following the Community Driven Development (CDD) approach and will continue to empower communities to identify and implement their own development sub-projects. It is aligned with Benin’s Government Action Plan (PAG) adopted in December 2016, and with the new Country Partnership Framework 2018-2023 which was adopted by the World Bank Group on July 5, 2018.
- The World Bank’s International Development Association (IDA), established in 1960, helps the world’s poorest countries by providing grants and low to zero-interest loans for projects and programs that boost economic growth, reduce poverty, and improve poor people’s lives. IDA is one of the largest sources of assistance for the world’s 75 poorest countries, 39 of which are in Africa. Resources from IDA bring positive change to the 1.5 billion people who live in IDA countries. Since 1960, IDA has supported development work in 113 countries. Annual commitments have averaged about $18 billion over the last three years, with about 54 percent going to Africa.
For more information about the World Bank’s work in Benin, visit: www.worldbank.org/en/Benin
For more information about IDA, please visit: www.worldbank.org/ida
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PRESS RELEASE NO: 2018/171/AFR
Contacts
Washington
Ekaterina Svirina
(202) 458-1042
esvirina@worldbank.org
Cotonou
Gnona Afangbedji yafangbedji@worldbank.org
Sylvie Nenonene snenonene@worldbank.org