Press Release No:2009/ 360/AFR
WASHINGTON, D.C., May 28, 2009 -- The World Bank Board of Executive Directors today approved a $100 million International Development Association (IDA) credit* to support the Peace, Recovery and Development Plan for Northern Uganda (PRDP). A follow-up to the US$100 million Northern Uganda Social Action Fund, the new credit will use the Community Driven Development (CDD) approach, through local governments, to improve access of beneficiary households to income-earning opportunities and better basic socio-economic services.
"This new investment is critical in helping to reduce the development gap between the Northern Uganda and the rest of the country. It also consolidates the return to peace in the region by serving the immediate needs of the large numbers of previously displaced persons returning to their homelands and seeking to rebuild their communities," said Suleiman Namara, World Bank Senior Social Protection Specialist and Task Team Leader for the project.
Northern Uganda remains the poorest region in Uganda following more than two decades of insurgency that resulted in severe economic stagnation and some of the worst human development indicators in the country. The North has the largest proportion of people living in poverty, estimated at 61 percent, almost twice the national poverty level of 31 percent.
"The Bank has been engaged in supporting reconstruction of the North since 1992 and now it's time to consolidate human development following the return to peace and the groundwork laid by NUSAF 1. This new operation will assist in the critical period of transition from predominantly humanitarian assistance towards a broader and more sustainable government-led development effort," said Kundhavi Kadiresan, World Bank Uganda Country Manager.
The first Northern Uganda Social Action Fund (NUSAF 1), also a CDD project, started in 2003 and closed in March 2009. As part of the Government of Uganda's broader Northern Uganda Reconstruction Program, the project empowered communities in the 18 (now 29) districts of Northern Uganda by enhancing their capacity to systematically identify, prioritize and plan for their needs within their own value systems and, ultimately, to improve economic livelihoods and social cohesion. For example, under NUSAF 1 over 3 million people or 47 percent of the population in Northern Uganda were supported to access improved social services; 67,000 households (336,200 people) got access to safe drinking water and close to 4,000 households (19,075 people) got access to improved sanitation facilities.
The new 5-year operation builds on the lessons learnt over implementation of NUSAF 1 and uses the same approach that allows community groups in 40 districts of northern Uganda to organize themselves, identify and prioritize their needs and develop funding proposals. The project will have three major components:
The Livelihood Investment Support Component (US$60 Million) will have a Public Works Program (US$20 million) which will enable the beneficiaries to access temporary employment and increase community socio-economic assets. It will also have a sub-component on Household Income Support Program (US$40 million) to improve incomes of targeted poor households in Northern Uganda, especially poor and vulnerable groups such as female-headed households, people with disabilities, former abductees and vulnerable youth, among others.
The Community Infrastructure Rehabilitation Component (US$30 million) will improve access to basic socio-economic services through rehabilitation and improvement of existing community infrastructure.
The Institutional Development Component (US$10 million) will finance activities at the national, district, sub-county and community levels aimed at improving accountability and transparency in the use of project resources.
For more information about World Bank's activities in Uganda visit: http://www.worldbank.org/uganda
For more information on the World Bank's work in sub-Saharan Africa visit: http://www.worldbank.org/afr
Contacts
In Kampala: Steven Shalita +256-414-302
236
sshalita@worldbank.org
In Washington: Rachel McColgan-Arnold
(202) 458 5299
rmccolgan@worldbank.org