Economics & Development

Ratings of Uttar Pradesh Core Road Network Development Project for India were as follows: outcome was satisfactory, Bank performance was satisfactory, and monitoring and evaluation quality was substantial. Some of the lessons learned include: The Bank’s ability to proactively address major issues through remedial measures needs to be strengthened; When advocating reforms involving multiple stakeholders, political and agency buy-in are vital; Technical and administrative assistance for institutional components should be procured early, especially for implementing agencies with no prior experience of Bank projects; and A major lesson is the importance of integrating road safety considerations in the design and implementation of civil works to minimize safety risks after the road is opened for traffic.

Ratings for the Livestock Sector Development Support Project for Mali were as follows: outcomes were satisfactory, the Bank performance was moderately satisfactory, and the monitoring and evaluation quality was substantial. Some lessons learned included: promoting productive partnerships between livestock SMEs and financial institutions and providing the needed liquidity for fostering transformational pathways that link pastoral herders to lucrative markets. Project-supported activities, such as technical assistance to livestock SMEs to formulate bankable investment proposals and to banks to provide suitably adapted financial products to livestock SMEs, led to a significant increase in the SMEs’ turnover. These SMEs were able to purchase large numbers of animals from pastoral systems, fatten them, and sell them in lucrative markets in Mali and the subregion. This approach can be adopted for similar countries in the Sahel that have similar production systems. Effective communication, transparency, continuous sensitization, and outreach campaigns are critical to the success of matching grant schemes. Some community members not selected for matching grants expressed dissatisfaction with the project, alleging exclusion. To avoid this, one needs clear criteria, robust communication tools, inclusive and transparent sensitization strategies, and outreach campaigns on how the criteria are administered for people to understand that they are not being excluded unfairly.

Ratings for Sudan's COVID-19 Emergency Response Project were as follows: outcomes were moderately satisfactory, the Bank performance was sufficient, and the monitoring and evaluation quality was substantial. Some lessons learned included: in an FCV context, swiftly promoting a coordinated approach to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic, complemented by local and other development partners’ efforts, is critical for maximizing results. Sudan’s health system is decentralized, with the subnational level (i.e., state and lower levels) responsible for delivering health services to the population. The project strengthened health system capacity by supporting isolation and intensive care units, providing IPC materials, medicines, and medical supplies, and training medical staff. Given the focus on local capacity and the importance of maintaining service delivery, helping develop resilient state institutions and strengthen local capacity is essential to support service delivery. The project’s decentralized nature at the sub-national level was well-positioned to address subnational health challenges operationally and technically. Subnational-level health institutions have remained functional outside conflict areas. The SHARE project is expected to consolidate progress, further strengthen these institutions, and enhance essential health service delivery.

The objective of the Strengthening Health System Performance and Resilience Project is to strengthen disease surveillance and increase the quality and utilization of health and nutrition services in the targeted areas. There are four components to the project, the first component being strengthening the delivery of reproductive, maternal, newborn, child, and adolescent health and nutrition services. This component includes three subcomponents: expanding access to quality primary and secondary-level RMNCAH services and ensuring continuity of care for mothers and newborns; Supporting the availability and distribution of quality human resources and strengthening their capacity to provide quality primary healthcare; and strengthening the delivery of nutrition and early childhood development services. The second component is strengthening preparedness and responding to health emergencies. This component includes three subcomponents: strengthening the capacity to detect health emergencies, strengthening the capacity to respond to health emergencies, and maintaining essential services in public health emergencies, including insecure areas. The third component supports reforms to strengthen governance, equity, and sustainable financing in the health sector. This component includes five subcomponents: strengthening strategic purchasing of quality health and nutrition services; support for the implementation of health financing reforms, in particular, universal health insurance; strengthening the digital health ecosystem and the foundations for integrated, reliable data; strengthening health system capacities in terms of governance; and supporting project implementation, coordination, and management. Finally, the fourth component is the contingent emergency response.