War Affected Populations and CDD

1. War Affected Populations and CDD Designing demand-driven programs to serve war-affected populations

2. Objective of Study • Gain a better understanding of what design features World Bank demand-driven projects have used to best serve war affected populations (returning IDP, refugees, ex-combatants, war widows and orphans and other affected groups). • Provide a menu of options to TTLs and other partners interested in designing demand-driven projects that serve war affected populations and communities.

3. Projects Serving War-affected Populations • The World Bank external database captures 174 projects serving conflict affected areas. • Of these 34 have some elements of a demand-driven project. • 10 of these projects were analyzed for the purpose of this study.

4. Overview of Projects Serving Conflict Areas

5. Projects Serving War-affected Populations by Sector • Sector Breakdown • Demobilization and Reintegration – 5% • Community Infrastructure Reconstruction – 36% • Macroeconomic Stabilization – 17% • Employment Creation/PW Reconstruction – 3% • HIV/AIDS – 2% • Other (Mostly Sector-specific) – 37%

6. Growth in # Projects Serving War-affected Populations

7. Project Sample Analyzed • Colombia – Magdalena Medio Regional Development Project • Angola – Post Conflict Social Recovery Project • Eritrea Emergency Reconstruction Program • Rwanda – Community Reintegration and Development Project • Sierra Leone – National Social Action Project • Kosovo – Community Development Fund • Macedonia – Community Development Project • Afghanistan – National Community Empowerment Program • Sri Lanka – Northeast Irrigated Agriculture Project • East Timor – Third Community Empowerment and Local Governance Program

8. Categories of War-affected Populations • Ex-combatants (adults and children; rebels and government) • Internally Displaced People (IDPs) • Returning Refugees • Population that stayed • Vulnerable groups – widows, orphans, disabled, elderly, excluded ethnic groups

9. Characteristics of War-affected Areas/Populations Served • Destroyed or debilitated social infrastructure (Schools, Health Posts, Roads) • Agriculture stalled, due to abandonment, mines, lack of access to inputs or markets; industry • High unemployment, due to destruction or abandonment of industry • Loss of basic households assets (land, house, cooking utensils, clothes, tools, etc.)

10. Characteristics of War-affected Areas/Populations Served • Psychologically and physically traumatized population • Destroyed social fabric – lack of trust and cohesion • High levels of poverty and extreme poverty • Children and youth who have lost several years of schooling • Malnourished and in poor health

11. Types of Interventions – Community Level • Organization of democratically-elected and representative community councils • Participatory community planning – multi-sectoral plans – block grant approach (Afghanistan, Angola, Rwanda) • Socio-economic infrastructure • Social services projects targeting vulnerable groups (Kosovo and Macedonia)

12. Types of Interventions – Community Level • Productive activities (agriculture, micro-enterprise, etc.) • Capacity-building for community-level associations (needs assessment, project identification, planning, implementation and management.) • Promotion of social cohesion – within community and among communities

13. Types of Interventions – Regional and Municipal Levels • Capacity building for local government to be more responsive to demand from communities – promotion of decentralized model – often building democratic forms of local government from the bottom up (East Timor, Rwanda, Afghanistan). • Projects serving multiple communities and municipalities or districts.

14. Targeting Strategies Used • Geographic targetingof most affected regions (Angola, Rwanda)– Selection criteria included: • Security and accessibility • Presence of local government authority and willingness to participate • Extent of war damage to community infrastructure • Number of returning ex-combatants, IDPs, and refugees

15. Targeting Strategies Used • Poverty and Conflict Affected (Kosovo and Macedonia) - to ensure equity across regions • Allocations made to regions based upon following criteria: • Population size • Level and intensity of poverty • Unemployment rate • Number of persons displaced from each region • Number of damaged houses

16. Targeting Strategies Used • Allocations within regions based upon following criteria: • State of physical and social infrastructure • Presence of vulnerable or marginalized groups • Presence of ethnically mixed communities • Under-funded communities • Community capacity to plan • Community commitment level • Level of interest of municipal government in supporting recurrent costs

17. Targeting within Communities to Ensure Inclusion of more Vulnerable • Ear-marked set-aside for mixed and minority communities affected by the conflict and vulnerable groups (e.g. widows and disabled) (Kosovo) • Community Clusters of 20 families to elect representative to Community Development Council and as framework for community-wide consultations (Afghanistan) • Separate forum for women to express priorities (Afghanistan)

18. Targeting within Communities to Ensure Inclusion of more Vulnerable • At least half of the project applications must come from women’s groups (East Timor) • Targeted social mobilization and communication campaigns to vulnerable groups (Rwanda) • Increased block grant to communities that involved IDPs and returning refugees in project planning (Afghanistan)

19. Role of Community-based Organizations (CBOs) • Community needs assessment, project identification and prioritization, planning, implementation, and M&O. • In-kind and cash contributions. • Mechanism for rebuilding social cohesion – getting former enemies to identify and plan a mutually beneficial activity • Mechanism for creating demand for better services from local government.

20. Role of Local Government • Heavy emphasis on building a democratic, responsive and transparent local government through capacity-building in social mobilization, participatory needs assessment, local planning, budgeting, financial management, procurement, maintenance, etc. (Afghanistan, Rwanda, East Timor, Sierra Leone) • Projects used as a vehicle to promote decentralization.

21. Role of Central Government • National level Project Management Unit affiliated with a Ministry to coordinate activities nation-wide – in some cases projects are approved at this level (Angola, Rwanda) • National Steering Committee – nexus for involvement of other sectors • Project often includes sub-offices at a sub-national level

22. Role of NGOs • In most projects, NGOs have only a minor role. • In one case, the project management unit is an NGO, created for that purpose (Kosovo). • Most common role for NGOs – facilitators or suppliers of training, technical assistance to communities and, in some cases, local government (Afghanistan). • NGOs as intermediaries between government and community organizations due to weakness of local government (Angola).

23. How do these projects Empower War-Affected Communities/Populations? • Gives them a voice in the reconstruction of their own community. • Gives them access to rehabilitated community assets – schools, health posts, water points – that will improve their future prospects. • Revitalizes their income generating assets (e.g. Irrigation systems in NE Sri Lanka). • Builds their capacity to negotiate with high levels of government. • Stabilizes their lives and allowing for gradual recovery from their past traumas.

24. Recommendations • Target the whole community - all have been affected in one way or another, while earmarking funds for most vulnerable households including orphans, former child soldiers, widows, disabled, etc. • Use the block grant approach and finance community plans, not just projects. • Pay extra attention to building representative community committees that involve all segments of the population – these are mechanisms for rebuilding social cohesion and preventing future conflict. • Use this program to promote decentralization and build a democratic form of local government from the bottom up.

25. Recommendations – (…continued) • Give bonus points or extra money for projects that target particularly vulnerable members of the community (Afghanistan – higher per capita for communities concerned with vulnerable groups, IDPs, and returning refugees). • Invest heavily in capacity-building of communities, local government. • Be patient – participatory processes take time, especially when involving war-affected and other vulnerable groups, but the results will be more sustainable.