The World Bank – Save new grants assist post-war recovery in Sudan
The World Bank Group
Press Release No:2006/256/AFR
Jan 31, 2006 (KHARTOUM) — The internationally-assisted reconstruction of Sudan’s war-torn regions is continuing with two new grants to strengthen management capacity and to support community-based infrastructure and social services-both to be implemented by the national government.
Additional projects are currently under development, and further grants are expected to be signed early this spring. Recovery efforts are furthered by a World Bank board decision to contribute $10 million of net income to Sudan’s post-conflict recovery.
The Technical Assistance Facility (TAF) and Community Development Fund (CDF) projects, both signed on January 16, are the first two projects to be launched for the Multi-Donor Trust Fund-National (MDTF-N) for the war-affected areas of Northern Sudan, including three areas badly hit by conflict– Southern Kordofan, Blue Nile, and Abyei. The TAF grant provides $5 million from the MDTF-N in addition to $0.68 million from the Government of National Unity (GONU), while the CDF grant totaled $15 million from the MDTF-N and $10 million from the GONU.
Working in collaboration with other donors and the United Nations, the World Bank is the administrator of the trust fund, which was established as part of Sudan’s Comprehensive Peace Agreement. The technical assistance and community development grants were the first extended to the national government. The Bank also has awarded grants in Southern Sudan, drawing on a separate Multi-Donor Trust Fund established for that part of the country under the peace agreement, also administered by the World Bank.
The technical assistance grant to the national government will help establish a facility within the Ministry of Finance and National Economy to strengthen central and state governments to formulate policies, programs, and projects emanating from the UN-World Bank Joint Assessment Mission (JAM) Framework for Sustained Peace, Development, and Poverty Eradication. The program is designed to help prepare the way for future investment projects in areas such as infrastructure, agriculture, and rural development. It will also facilitate preparation of programs in health, education, transport, and other priority sectors.
The second project aims to meet communities’ urgent recovery and development needs in the war-affected and underdeveloped areas of Southern Kordofan, North Kordofan, Blue Nile, and Kassala. The grants will support community-led projects providing social and economic services and infrastructure. The Community Development Fund (CDF) project will be delivered through partnerships with local governments, communities, NGOs and community-based organizations. Subprojects submitted by local communities and developed through a participatory planning process will form the basis of the CDF.
“These first commitments set the stage for the development of a fruitful partnership between the MDTF and the Government of National Unity,” said World Bank Country Director Ishac Diwan during the January 16 signing ceremony in Khartoum, “We in the international development community look forward to continuing this partnership to help rebuild and reinvigorate Sudan in the wake of the Comprehensive Peace Accord.”
In Southern Sudan, which faces urgent needs for infrastructure and basic services for the population, the trust fund recently provided a grant of $50 million for emergency transport and infrastructure programs, with another $100 million contributed from the Government of Southern Sudan.
At a donor conference in Oslo last April, countries pledged $508 million to the two MDTFs to help consolidate the peace agreement ending the conflict between the National Government of Sudan in Khartoum and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement in the South, Africa’s longest-running civil war. So far, US$484 million have been committed to the trust funds for the period 2005-2007 by the Netherlands, Norway, the EC, United Kingdom, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Iceland and Greece.
A Sudan Consortium, established through the peace agreement and the donors’ conference in Oslo, is responsible for reviewing the overall program, including humanitarian, economic, social and institutional developments. The Consortium, whose participants include representatives from the Sudanese governments, donor agencies (including the World Bank and UN agencies), and civil society groups, will meet in early March 2006.
Contacts :In Washington: Timothy Carrington (202) 473 8133, [email protected]