INTEGRATED SAFEGUARDS DATA SHEET APPRAISAL STAGE Report No.: ISDSA9016 Public Disclosure Copy Date ISDS Prepared/Updated: 08-Jul-2014 Date ISDS Approved/Disclosed: 08-Jul-2014 I. BASIC INFORMATION 1. Basic Project Data Country: Dominican Republic Project ID: P147213 Project Name: INTEGRATED SOCIAL PROTECTION AND PROMOTION PROJECT (P147213) Task Team Carine Clert Leader: Estimated 07-Jul-2014 Estimated 12-Nov-2014 Appraisal Date: Board Date: Managing Unit: GSPDR Lending Investment Project Financing Instrument: Sector(s): Other social services (80%), Public administration- Other social services (20%) Theme(s): Other social protection and risk management (40%), Social safety nets (40%), Urban services and housing for the poor (20%) Is this project processed under OP 8.50 (Emergency Recovery) or OP No 8.00 (Rapid Response to Crises and Emergencies)? Public Disclosure Copy Financing (In USD Million) Total Project Cost: 70.00 Total Bank Financing: 70.00 Financing Gap: 0.00 Financing Source Amount Borrower 0.00 International Bank for Reconstruction and Development 70.00 Total 70.00 Environmental C - Not Required Category: Is this a No Repeater project? 2. Project Development Objective(s) The proposed PDO is to improve access of poor Dominican citizens to an integrated package of social protection and promotion opportunities in selected provinces. In the context of this Project, “promotion” broadly refers to a set of services and opportunities that Page 1 of 6 contribute to increase the human capital of the poor and their livelihood opportunities, including: bridging CCT coverage gaps to increase investments in health and education, enhancing CCT users’ employability and/or access to self-employment/small entrepreneurship programs, and/or providing Public Disclosure Copy eligible CCT users with basic housing improvements. 3. Project Description The proposed Project would have three components: Component 1. Integrated Area-Based Social Protection and Pro-poor Service Delivery. Building on the PROSOLI Progresando Unidos initiative, this Component aims at improving access of poor citizens of selected provinces to an integrated package of social protection and promotion opportunities by: (i) bridging CCT coverage gaps for eligible extremely poor households; (ii) increasing access of extremely poor CCT users to housing improvements; and (iii) increasing access of extremely and moderately poor to productive opportunities, with a priority on enhancing the employability of young women and men from CCT households. Component 2. Strengthening PROSOLI and Support to Targeted Households. To ensure the success of the integrated area-based strategy based on the CCT Program described in Component 1, this Component will strengthen PROSOLI’s operative processes and its capacity to effectively link targeted households to newly available opportunities and services in selected provinces. Component 3. Enhancing Equity and Results-orientation. This Component would complement targeted interventions at the territorial level with institutional strengthening at the national policy level to sustain progress in building blocks of the social protection system. To this end, the Component would finance activities to: (i) strengthen the SIUBEN as the primary targeting instrument; and (ii) improve evidence-based policy making by the Social Cabinet and citizen oversight. 4. Project location and salient physical characteristics relevant to the safeguard Public Disclosure Copy analysis (if known) Given its integrated area-based service delivery approach, this Project is building on the Government’s Progresando Unidos strategy by selecting the following 14 provinces for implementation: ten where at least 20 percent of households have been categorized by SIUBEN as extremely poor (ICV I), and four with the highest levels of households in extreme poverty in terms of absolute numbers. The prioritized provinces are: Elias Pina, San Juan, Distrito Nacional, Bahoruco, Barahona, independencia, Pedernales, El Seibo, Santiago, Monte Cristi, Santo Domingo, Monte Plata, San Cristobal, and San Jose de Ocoa. 5. Environmental and Social Safeguards Specialists Galina Y. Sotirova (LCC3C) Robert H. Montgomery (GENDR) 6. Safeguard Policies Triggered? Explanation (Optional) Environmental Assessment OP/ No The Project has a housing component (increasing BP 4.01 access of extremely poor CCT users to housing improvements, through the financing of a pilot housing improvement scheme) that involves rehabilitation of existing housing structures, Page 2 of 6 which are small, simple structures. No new construction will be financed. If any negative environmental impacts occur they will be Public Disclosure Copy minimal. Standard measures to prevent or mitigate any minor environmental or social impacts that could be caused by Project activities will be included in the Operational Manual and will be monitored as part of overall supervision. Thus the Project environmental assessment category is C. Natural Habitats OP/BP 4.04 No The Project will not involve any works that will have significant impacts on natural habitats. Forests OP/BP 4.36 No The Project does not involve forests or significant impacts on forests. Pest Management OP 4.09 No The Project will not involve the purchase or use of any significant quantities of pesticides. Physical Cultural Resources OP/ No The Project will not involve works or activities BP 4.11 that would have significant impacts on physical cultural resources. Indigenous Peoples OP/BP 4.10 No The Project will not trigger this safeguard policy since there are no indigenous peoples that fulfill the characteristics of the policy in the Project areas. Involuntary Resettlement OP/BP No OP 4.12 Involuntary Resettlement is not triggered 4.12 as the rehabilitation of housing structures will not require any land acquisition or cause any involuntary resettlement as defined by the Policy. Public Disclosure Copy Safety of Dams OP/BP 4.37 No The Project will not support the construction or rehabilitation of dams nor will support other investments which rely on the services of existing dams. Projects on International No Project activities will not affect international Waterways OP/BP 7.50 waterways. Projects in Disputed Areas OP/BP No The Project will not be implemented in areas 7.60 known to involve disputed areas. II. Key Safeguard Policy Issues and Their Management A. Summary of Key Safeguard Issues 1. Describe any safeguard issues and impacts associated with the proposed project. Identify and describe any potential large scale, significant and/or irreversible impacts: This Project does not entail new construction, land purchase, or resettlement; therefore, the Involuntary Resettlement safeguard is not triggered. Housing improvements under Sub-component 1.2 focus on the replacement of dirt floors with reinforced cement floors, and eligible CCT beneficiary households must own the land or be located on public land. The housing improvement subcomponent (1.3) involves rehabilitation of existing homes, which are small, simple structures. Page 3 of 6 The addition of new puntos solidarios under subcomponent 2.2 involves the rehabilitation and upgrading of existing public spaces, which are also simple structures. No new construction will be Public Disclosure Copy financed. If any negative environmental impacts occur they will be minimal. Standard measures to prevent or mitigate any minor environmental or social impacts that could be caused by the proposed Project’s activities will be included in the Operational Manual and implemented as part of good construction practices, and will be monitored as part of overall supervision. 2. Describe any potential indirect and/or long term impacts due to anticipated future activities in the project area: No negative indirect and/or long term impacts are expected. The following examples summarizes how inclusiveness permeates the proposed Project’s objectives and expected impacts on the target population; and the Project’s implementation arrangements to address exclusion risks based on poverty and/or gender; monitoring and evaluation; and, voice and accountability. • The Project’s Objectives stress the explicit focus on poor citizens and expected social impacts are expected to be very positive as per the evidence presented in the economic analysis: increased incentives for eligible, extremely-poor families to keep children in school longer and improve health care behaviors; improved household health and living conditions linked to replacement of floors; enhanced employability for young women and men, and overall expected decrease in youth idleness. • Potential target groups. The proposed Project will use the Government’s Single Beneficiary Selection System (known as SIUBEN) to target beneficiaries and sub-component 3.1 will work on strengthening the accuracy of the instrument as a continuous process. The targeted provinces are those with the highest percentages and absolute numbers of households categorized as extremely poor. Women are expected to benefit disproportionately from expected benefits: as of May 2014, approximately 21,000 extremely-poor households would be eligible to join the CCT program in the 14 selected provinces and of these approximately 17,000 are headed by women. • Inclusive arrangements and/or measures were agreed to address the key potential barriers linked to income and gender that were identified during preparation. With regard to housing Public Disclosure Copy improvements (subcomponent 1.2), the requirement that beneficiary households participate in construction activities will be calibrated to promote women’s participation, by not requiring any hard physical labor (e.g., activities would include preparation of the site for construction, cleaning after work is completed, removing waste, and painting walls). It is noteworthy that unlike in other countries, land titling did not appear as key obstacle for female-headed households to benefit from this sub-component: 70 percent of eligible households (living on own land or public land) are headed by women according to a desk base review of the SIUBEN database. With regard to the PROSOLI Youth Employment Promotion Program, trainers’ curricula will adapt to the potentially low level of skills of this low-income target group. Similarly, stipends will be provided to address opportunity, including transportation, and child-care costs for low-income female participants with small children 0-5 years. PROSOLI will also encourage synergies with PROSOLI childcare centers’ activities (Centros Esperanza in some PROSOLI’s Training centers and financed outside of this project) and of forthcoming Early Childhood Education spaces of the Ministry of Education (Quisqueya Crece Contigo Initiative). • The Monitoring and Evaluation System for this Project will track gender-disaggregated data and key reports will be made accessible to the public. • In addition, users of the CCT and potential opportunities will be able to engage in monitoring the delivery of Project’s opportunities through the Community Report Cards and the mechanisms of grievance and redress set up in the Puntos Solidarios, which will be improved and scaled up as part of subcomponents 2.2. In terms of voice, it is noteworthy that all CCT PROSOLI Page 4 of 6 households are organized in small nuclei (of about 40 households) to enhance social capital and that it is largely women who are heading these nuclei. 3. Describe any project alternatives (if relevant) considered to help avoid or minimize adverse Public Disclosure Copy impacts. Given the description of social issues above, and since social inclusion and poverty reduction are integral to this Project’s objective, the decision was made at concept stage to treat social assessment (including its gender component) as an iterative approach within project design and implementation, versus carrying out a stand-alone social assessment. 4. Describe measures taken by the borrower to address safeguard policy issues. Provide an assessment of borrower capacity to plan and implement the measures described. No safeguards are triggered. The Social Cabinet would be responsible for coordination and execution of the proposed Project, through its Projects Technical Unit or Unidad Técnica de Proyectos (UTP). The UTP will manage fiduciary and safeguard issues if they would arise during implementation. 5. Identify the key stakeholders and describe the mechanisms for consultation and disclosure on safeguard policies, with an emphasis on potentially affected people. Not applicable. However, one can note the following. Project design and inclusive (including gender-friendly) arrangements have been informed by three analyses and consultations : (i) a review of secondary evidence (Regional UNDP Poverty Maps, WBG Equity Report, Gender USAID analysis, UNDP-sponsored CCT Gender Assessment, a review of Gender Issues in Housing, Key Issues highlighted in Community Scorecards reports; Impact Evaluations of the CCT Solidaridad, and the Youth Employment Project); (ii) broad-based consultations (including with Women NGOs) informing the forthcoming CPS in which this Project is included; and, (iii) project-specific consultations by the Client and Bank teams with National NGOs and regional Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) in the provinces targeted by the Progresando Unidos initiative. Furthermore, the Social Cabinet’s contribution to poverty reduction has led to the creation of the Poverty Alliance Network, which includes relevant sectoral ministries (i.e., Women, Agriculture, Public Disclosure Copy Education, Health) and NGOs). B. Disclosure Requirements If the project triggers the Pest Management and/or Physical Cultural Resources policies, the respective issues are to be addressed and disclosed as part of the Environmental Assessment/ Audit/or EMP. If in-country disclosure of any of the above documents is not expected, please explain why: N/A C. Compliance Monitoring Indicators at the Corporate Level The World Bank Policy on Disclosure of Information Have relevant safeguard policies documents been sent to the Yes [ ] No [ ] NA [ ] World Bank's Infoshop? Have relevant documents been disclosed in-country in a public Yes [ ] No [ ] NA [ ] place in a form and language that are understandable and accessible to project-affected groups and local NGOs? All Safeguard Policies Page 5 of 6 Have satisfactory calendar, budget and clear institutional Yes [ ] No [ ] NA [ ] responsibilities been prepared for the implementation of Public Disclosure Copy measures related to safeguard policies? Have costs related to safeguard policy measures been included Yes [ ] No [ ] NA [ ] in the project cost? Does the Monitoring and Evaluation system of the project Yes [ ] No [ ] NA [ ] include the monitoring of safeguard impacts and measures related to safeguard policies? Have satisfactory implementation arrangements been agreed Yes [ ] No [ ] NA [ ] with the borrower and the same been adequately reflected in the project legal documents? III. APPROVALS Task Team Leader: Name: Carine Clert Approved By Sector Manager: Name: Rafael P. Rofman (SM) Date: 08-Jul-2014 Public Disclosure Copy Page 6 of 6