More involvement of stakeholders in Bank operations in Yemen

In December 2009, the World Bank held two consultative meetings on the Social Welfare Fund Institutional Support Project with Yemeni civil society. 

These meetings come in the context of the Bank’s MENA Management’s Enhanced Action Plan.

The World Bank organized two meetings with civil society in Yemen in December 2009 to discuss the Social Welfare Fund Institutional Support Project. These consultative meetings are a positive step toward developing an on-going relationship with civil society and holding regular meetings with stakeholders that go beyond the private sector and the government. These notions are encouraged in the Bank’s Enhanced Action Plan, which was developed as a response to the 2009 Inspection Panel case that came out of Yemen, and which brought to light the need to improve the Bank’s framework for working with civil society.

Read the World Bank Press Release

World Bank,
December 2009

In the context of Bank’s policy to share information and consult with CSOs on its various county operations, the World Bank in Sana’a has organized several consultative meetings with CSOs to discuss the Bank’s support to the Social Safety Net in general and to the Cash Assistance Program in particular.

The discussions focused on the Social Welfare Fund Institutional Support Project (ISP).

Two consultations were dedicated to the discussion of the new project frame in its very early stage with CSOs representatives, the Bank team and beneficiaries. Possible ways of involving CSOs in observing and monitoring the implementation of the proposed project were discussed.

The proposed project has three components: Component 1- Institutional Development at the central and regional levels to strengthen service delivery at the district level, the level closest to the beneficiaries; Component 2- Strengthening SWF’s Beneficiary Development  Program to increase beneficiaries’ access to strategic capacity building and income generation/ employment opportunities; and Component 3 – Project Management Support and Impact Evaluation to support project management, as well as the implementation of an impact evaluation study.

More than 90 participants, including; H.E. the Social Affair Minister, Dr. Amat Al Razak Ali hummed, Key SWF staffs presided by the Executive Director, Mr. Mansoor Al Fayadhi, CSO Representatives, Bank Team including the Country Manager and some donor organizations such as the DFID and EU took part in the two meetings.

Afrah Al Ahmadi, TTL of the project, made a power point presentation in which she went through the objectives, components, costs and timeframe of the new project. The stimulating presentation was followed by a lively discussion during which the participants made constructive comments and suggestions.

The Minister of Social Affairs congratulated the Social Welfare Fund for the proposed World Bank support of US$10 million to build the capacity of its staff and provide equipment to its offices at the local districts and said in relation to consulting with Yemeni CSOs in particular, “I am confident that CSOs have a significant role to play in monitoring the implementation of projects.”

The second meeting, held on December 9, was dedicated to the discussion and finalization of the Concept Note of the ISP in view of the comments and ideas provided by participants during the first consultation meeting.

Mr. Mohammed Al Haimi, head of the NGOs network has emphasized on the role of the NGOs and private sector in observing and monitoring the project progress to achieve real partnership between the Bank and the CSOs. “It’s highly recommended that the Bank involves beneficiaries in the assessment of the project impacts” Mr. Al Haimi said.

Some enlightening ideas were provided by Dr. Najeeb Ghanem, head of population and health committee in the Parliament, which were highly praised. He suggested that the SWF beneficiaries training should be linked to the market needs so they can start their own business successfully. He further emphasized that the training of the target groups of the project would be more feasible and cost effective if a consultant is brought in rather than sending trainees out of the country.

“I highly recommend that the evaluation of the project shouldn’t be merely at the end but it can be  carried out within the duration of the project to be updated in time about the progress and avoid any mistakes in early stages,” Dr. Ghanem added. He also stressed on widening the communication plan of the project so as to promote government support and increase financial commitment towards the social safety net which is now receiving only 0.6 %of public budget.

Ministry of Finance representative emphasized the need for better coordination between the Funding Agencies in implementing programs to avoid duplication of work. He suggested that the project should seriously consider the poverty issue as the most important criteria in selecting the target governorates and districts.

In her response to many inquiries and misperception of the Bank role by some attendants, Ms Al Ahmadi made it clear that the Bank provides advice and technical analysis to support Yemen’s reform program, upon the request of the Government of Yemen.  The Bank provides technical as well as financial assistance to countries but does not make the decisions on reforms on behalf of governments.

“The Bank shares knowledge and experience from other developing countries and provides recommendations based on best practices to enhance economic growth and poverty reduction,” Ms. Al Ahmadi confirmed.

She pointed out that the targeting under ISP is in two components: (i) component I targets the institution as a whole and its benefits would reach all SWF beneficiaries in all Governorates; and (ii) component II would be implemented on an scalable pilot basis, and will target three Governorates and 20 – 25 Districts.  Selection criteria for these Governorates/Districts have been tentatively agreed and geographic selection for this component is under finalization.   The Project implementation period is expected to be 5 – 6 years to ensure sufficient time to materialize the institutional reform aspects of the project.