The World Bank Burundi North-East Region Refugee and Host Community Support Project (P169315) Project Information Document (PID) Concept Stage | Date Prepared/Updated: 03-Apr-2019 | Report No: PIDC26100 Mar 11, 2019 Page 1 of 8 The World Bank Burundi North-East Region Refugee and Host Community Support Project (P169315) BASIC INFORMATION A. Basic Project Data OPS TABLE Country Project ID Parent Project ID (if any) Project Name Burundi P169315 Burundi North-East Region Refugee and Host Community Support Project (P169315) Region Estimated Appraisal Date Estimated Board Date Practice Area (Lead) AFRICA Aug 05, 2019 Sep 24, 2019 Social, Urban, Rural and Resilience Global Practice Financing Instrument Borrower(s) Implementing Agency Investment Project Financing Ministry of Finance, Budget International Conference on and Economic Development the Great Lakes, National Cooperation Office of Protection of Refugees and Stateless Persons (ONPRA) Proposed Development Objective(s) The Project Development Objective is to improve nutrition, access to basic services and economic opportunities in the targeted areas. PROJECT FINANCING DATA (US$, Millions) SUMMARY-NewFin1 Total Project Cost 55.00 Total Financing 55.00 of which IBRD/IDA 55.00 Financing Gap 0.00 DETAILS -NewFinEnh1 World Bank Group Financing International Development Association (IDA) 55.00 IDA Grant 55.00 Mar 11, 2019 Page 2 of 8 The World Bank Burundi North-East Region Refugee and Host Community Support Project (P169315) Environmental and Social Risk Classification Concept Review Decision Substantial Track II-The review did authorize the preparation to continue B. Introduction and Context Country Context Burundi is one of the poorest countries in the world. Based on the 2014 household survey, Burundi had the fourth highest rate of extreme poverty globally. An estimated 72.9 percent of Burundians lived below the international poverty line of US$1.90 per day—nearly double the average for Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) and for low-income countries (LICs). In 2017, Burundi ranked 185th of 189 countries in terms of human development. According to the Global Hunger Index, Burundi is the most food-insecure country in the world. Burundi has the highest rate of stunting (56 percent) in the world. Dietary diversity is also well below minimum acceptable levels. Burundi’s northern and eastern regions are among the poorest parts of the country . Poverty incidence in the north- eastern provinces of Muyinga and Ruyigi is much higher than the national average. Suffering from degraded and scarce land resources, high population density and isolation from centers of economic activity, food security and nutrition challenges are most acute in the north-eastern provinces. While economic activity has rebounded somewhat since the 2015 political crisis, the situation remains difficult . After two years of decline in 2015 and 2016, GDP returned to growth in 2017. However, political instability and weak governance continue to constrain private investment. International development assistance has also been reduced, complicating Burundi’s efforts to emerge from its long-term fragility trap, revive the economy and reduce poverty. The presence of refugees adds another dimension to Burundi’s development challenges . Burundi is home to 77,000 refugees and asylum seekers. Of this number, 45,000 live in one of the five refugee camps located in four provinces in the north and east of the country. The remaining 32,000 live outside the camps, mostly in Bujumbura. Almost all the refugees originate from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The refugee presence has caused environmental damage, strained health and education services, caused depopulation of livestock and fish resources, and created competition over basic resources such as water. However, host communities have also benefitted from increased trade and employment opportunities from jobs within the camps and the refugee economy. Against this context, the government has launched an ambitious National Development Plan 2018-2027 (NDP). The NDP aims, among other things to modernize primary sector production, promote the agri-food industry, increase infrastructure investments, and protect the environment. Sectoral and Institutional Context Despite facing severe development challenges, Burundi has long been a generous host to refugees from other countries. In November 2018, the World Bank Group confirmed that Burundi has an adequate protection framework Mar 11, 2019 Page 3 of 8 The World Bank Burundi North-East Region Refugee and Host Community Support Project (P169315) for refugees for the purposes of the IDA 18 sub-window for refugees and host communities (RSW). Burundi is party to the 1951 Refugee Convention, albeit with some reservations. However, Law 1/32 of 2008 on Asylum and Protection of Refugees is consistent with the Convention and does not reflect the reservations. The law establishes refugees’ right to work, access to public education and freedom of movement. The National Office for the Protection of Refugees and Stateless Persons (Office National de Protections des Réfugiés et Apatrides, ONPRA), under the Ministry of the Interior, is responsible for refugee affairs. Refugees are hosted in a context of underlying conditions of poverty, including malnutrition. In the rural areas where the camps are located, refugees and host communities face unmet needs in terms of nutrition, livelihood and access to basic services. The underlying causes of inadequate diets in the four provinces are low incomes, an undiversified food environment, and a lack of knowledge. Stunting and malnutrition are linked to a complex set of problems, affected by factors such as drinking water, childcare and breastfeeding. At the same time, the food system inside and outside refugee camps does not provide adequate food for safe and nutritious diets. The government is now aiming to enhance the social and economic inclusion of refugees, while addressing broader development challenges in the north-eastern region. In April 2018, a government Inter-Ministerial Committee (IMC) prepared a strategy to “improve the well-being of the host communities and promote the progressive self-reliance of the refugees with a view to strengthening social cohesion between the two communities.� In the strategy, the government committed to maintain its progressive approach to refugee inclusion. It also undertook to guarantee full freedom of movement in the four provinces hosting refugee camps, as a necessary pre-condition for self-reliance. The strategy also calls for investments to boost economic livelihood and ago-pastoral production for refugees and surrounding host communities and to address service deficits in health, education, water and sanitation. Regional dynamics. Besides the refugees living in Burundi, there are currently more than 4.3 million refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) across the Great Lakes Region (GLR). To date, most interventions for the displaced in the GLR have been humanitarian in nature, financed and implemented through humanitarian agencies. However, across the region, hosting Governments are increasingly moving towards a development response to forced displacement. A development response supports displaced people to be self-reliant, integrated into wider society, and endowed with productive assets. Such a response also considers and mitigates the impacts on hosting communities. Development responses to forced displacement involve embedding that response within broader institutional systems of Government financing and public administration. Relationship to CPF The proposed project is aligned with the current Country Assistance Strategy (CAS) for FY13-16 and with key themes in the draft Country Partnership Framework (CPF) for FY19-23. The project will promote income-generation and livelihood for refugees and host communities. It will also support social and economic infrastructure in rural areas to enhance access to services and market opportunities. It will include a strong focus on food security and nutrition. Accordingly, the project activities are consistent with pillar two of the CAS, “help increase resilience by consolidating peace and social stability�. The proposed project is also consistent with the expected direction of the new CPF, which will emphasize community-based approaches that target the poorest populations. Consistent with the twin goals of the World Bank Group, the project will support the poorest region in the country and provide basic human needs including social services, livelihood and food security and nutrition. Mar 11, 2019 Page 4 of 8 The World Bank Burundi North-East Region Refugee and Host Community Support Project (P169315) C. Proposed Development Objective(s) The Project Development Objective is to improve nutrition, access to basic services and economic opportunities in the targeted areas. Key Results (From PCN) The achievement of the PDO would be measured against the following proposed key results: • Direct project beneficiaries (number), of which percent of females (percent); • Increased dietary diversity for targeted beneficiaries (measured by dietary diversity score). Disaggregated by women of reproductive age, children 6-23 months; • Beneficiaries accessing incremental economic opportunities, disaggregated by type of activity, gender, and target group, including refugees/host community members (number); • Beneficiaries with access to social and economic services and infrastructure, disaggregated by type of service and target group, including refugees/host community members (number); and • Support regional learning on development responses to forced displacement. D. Concept Description The proposed North-East Region Refugee and Host Community Support Project would help the government translate its strategy for social and economic inclusion of refugees and host communities into action. The project’s community- driven development (CDD) approach, combined with a major focus on food security and nutrition, would also have important benefits for host communities in some of the poorest provinces in the country. While relations are generally smooth between refugees and hosts, the project will strengthen social cohesion by making assistance available to both groups and by promoting joint planning, decision-making and implementation processes. The project will also support regional dialogue in the Great Lakes Region, reflecting the transnational nature of forced displacement. The project will be implemented through five components, as described below: Component 1: Access to Services/Socio-economic Investments: this component would seek to address the strain that refugee populations place on basic services, by supporting investments in education, health, water and sanitation. Project planning, implementation, monitoring and operations and maintenance will be led by joint refugee-host community groups to promote equity and social cohesion. Investments will also be possible under this component to address environmental damage caused by the refugee presence, which is a source of tension with host communities. Component 2: Economic Opportunity/Livelihood & Nutrition: two sub-components will support economic opportunity, focusing primarily on agriculture-based livelihood. Food security and nutrition activities will also be incorporated into this component: (a) knowledge/facilitation: support for group facilitation to generate locally-driven activities such as small livestock, post-harvest processing facilities and nutrition behavioral change; and (b) investment window for income-earning individual entrepreneurship (market-linked) and for consumption/nutrition (kitchen gardens), group investments (fishponds, seed banks), infrastructure – drying, storage facilities, briquette making – and larger investments, such as mixed markets. Mar 11, 2019 Page 5 of 8 The World Bank Burundi North-East Region Refugee and Host Community Support Project (P169315) Component 3: Project Management/M&E: this component would support and strengthen the technical and administrative capacity of the Project Implementation Unit to manage the project and to support the ongoing development of policy approaches to refugee inclusion. Component 4: Contingent Emergency Response Component (CERC): Under the CERC, in the event of an eligible crisis or emergency, funds may be reallocated from other components of the project. This component, if activated, would finance rapid response measures and early recovery activities to address disaster, emergency and/or catastrophic events at the community level. Component 5: Regional Dialogue: this component will support a grant to the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR) to support regional dialogue between member states on forced displacement. Legal Operational Policies Triggered? Projects on International Waterways OP 7.50 No Projects in Disputed Areas OP 7.60 No Summary of Screening of Environmental and Social Risks and Impacts Applicable social risks Involuntary resettlement—Project activities may cause limited involuntary resettlement including economic resettlement (loss of trees and crops). Given Burundi´s context of land scarcity and the community based selection of works, the project will screen proposed activities and exclude works causing land acquisition and physical diplacement of population. Indigenous peoples and disadvantaged groups—The indigenous Batwa people are on of the most discrimnated and disadvantaged groups in Burundi. The Batwa people are on of the most discrimnated and disadvantaged groups in Burundi. There are a number of Batwa communities within the 4 provinces in which the project will intervene. An IPP (or IPPF) will be prepared alongside the SEP to analyze the impacts of the project on Batwa communities and ensure their access to education and healthcare, as well as their participation in high labor intensity works. Other vulnerable groups include people with disabilities, albinos, female headed househods, child headed households, and orphans. The project´s ESA will include an analysis of the risks and impacts to vulnerable groups which will help shape specific interventions within the different activities. The SEP will include provisions for consultation with disadvantaged groups (see ESS10). Tension between refugee and host communities—The presence of refugees and refugee camps is often a source of tension with host communities over access to resources and basic services. The ESA will evaluate the existing tensions between refugees and host communities, analyze possible negative impacts of project activities, and propose specific mitigation measures to avoid fueling tensions and where possible strengthen links between the 2 groups. Labor issues—The project at this stage is unable to estimate the number of workers or labor required. With the exception of high-labor intensive activities, the footprint is expected to be small. The majority of the labor (unskilled) will come from local communities within the project intervention area. However, the recruitment of unskilled labor for project works (including high-labor intensive works) may cause tensions between refugee and host communities. The Mar 11, 2019 Page 6 of 8 The World Bank Burundi North-East Region Refugee and Host Community Support Project (P169315) ESMF will include a Labor Management Plan to establish criteria for beneficiary selection in-intensive activities. Gender based risks—Female refugees generally have lower educational attainment and have fewer income generating opportunities. Women and girls are vulnerable to Gender based Violence (GBV) between both refugees and host communities. A gender and GBV assessment will be supported during project preparation to identify a systemic approach to the mitigation of social risks with emphasis on GBV. Stakeholder Engagement—The project will ensure early, continuous and inclusive (including vulnerable/disadvantaged groups) stakeholder engagement which will be documented in a SEP (see ESS10 below). GRM—The project will analyze existing GRMs in the project intervention area (in refugee camps) and propose a comprehensive mechanism which will enable a broad range of stakeholders to channel concerns, questions, and complaints to the PIU (and where necessary to other actors at the local level). By necessity, the GRM will be multi- faceted, designed to accommodate inputs from communities, and external stakeholders; respond to issues related to a broad range of project implementation issues; harness existing and accepted systems for grievance management; forge relevant partnerships with third parties. Arrangements for establishing confidential reporting and redress mechanisms for GBV issues will also be laid out. A Grievance Mechanism will also be provided by contractors for workers to raise work place concerns. Note To view the Environmental and Social Risks and Impacts, please refer to the Concept Stage ESRS Document. CONTACT POINT World Bank Matthew Stephens, Amadou Alassane, Pierre Olivier Colleye Senior Social Development Specialist Borrower/Client/Recipient Ministry of Finance, Budget and Economic Development Cooperation Christian Kwizera Director kwizchris@yahoo.fr Implementing Agencies International Conference on the Great Lakes Tchim Tabaro Project Coordinator tchim.tabaro@icglr.org National Office of Protection of Refugees and Stateless Persons (ONPRA) Mar 11, 2019 Page 7 of 8 The World Bank Burundi North-East Region Refugee and Host Community Support Project (P169315) Jean Bosco Nduwimana Coordinator jeanduwimana@yahoo.fr FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT The World Bank 1818 H Street, NW Washington, D.C. 20433 Telephone: (202) 473-1000 Web: http://www.worldbank.org/projects APPROVAL Task Team Leader(s): Matthew Stephens, Amadou Alassane, Pierre Olivier Colleye Approved By APPROVALTBL Practice Manager/Manager: Country Director: Mar 11, 2019 Page 8 of 8