Country: Madagascar (AFR)
Project: Citizen Involvement in Municipal Service Improvement (CIMSI)
Organization: SAHA NGO
Sector: Municipal services (PFM)

This PPP is open for public comments until August 5, 2016. Please use the comment section below. 

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Data Sheet

I. PROJECT DEVELOPMENT OBJECTIVES

A. PDO

The Project’s objective is to improve transparency and accountability mechanisms between local governments and citizens through participative planning and budgeting to improve service delivery and tax income at the local level. The project aims to (i) strengthen participation in local consultation processes to develop municipal plans,(ii) evaluate municipal plans implementation in order to improve the accountability of local authorities, and (iii) increase the ability and willingness of citizens to pay for municipal services associated with health, education and land. To accomplish this, the CIMCI project is proposing to (1) improve transparency and accountability mechanisms between local governments and citizens through participative planning and budgeting, (2) increase the participation of communities and civil society organizations in the design of Municipal annual action plan to reflect their priorities, (3) support the institutionalization of participatory budgeting by training and mobilizing local governments and communities to implement accessible and efficient tools, and (4) ensure transparency of resource allocations to municipal areas by the Decentralized Technical Services.

B. Project Beneficiaries
The Project’s direct beneficiaries include:

• 800,000 people, of whom 70% are very poor and vulnerable
• 46 municipalities (4 urban and 42 rural)
• 476 primary schools
• 31 municipal health centers
• 36 land offices
• Local and regional institutions such as: Municipal Consultation Organs (MCOs), Public Inter-municipal Cooperation Organizations (PICOs), the Regional Topography and Land Service, as well as Financial Courts and tax centers.
• National institutions such as: the Technical Support Unit of the ‘Education for All’ program, the Health Districts Development Department, the Land Reform Coordination Unit, the Land Inspection, the National Authority for Decentralization (NAD), the Directorate-General of the Budget, the Authority for Regulation of Public Contracts (ARPC), the Parliamentary Decentralization Committee, and the Administration Reform Program (ARP).

The Project’s indirect beneficiaries include:

• All citizens of Madagascar that will benefit from the lessons learned.
• Oversight insitutions, including the national parliament that will use the information produced to ensure alignment and transparency in the allocation of resources.
• The ministries of Education, Health and Land that will benefit from better understanding the financial needs of the municipalities to improve municipal service in the area of education, health and land.

II. PROJECT DESCRIPTION

A. Project Components

Component 1: Citizen Engagement in Community Evaluation of Services
The objective of this component is to establish operational Municipal Consultative Organs (MCOs) through training and to evaluate municipal service in the areas of health, education and land. The main activities of this component include:

(a) Develop and implement communication and information strategies.
(b) Create Municipal Consultation Organs (MCOs) and train them in municipal planning, evaluation methodologies, transparency and social accountability.
(c) Adapt and pilot existing community assessment tools for community services in the areas of health, education, and land.
(d) Conduct, through MCOs, community evaluations of municipal services in the area of education, health and land.
(e) Train of Communal Council and members of Municipal Consultation Organs (MCOs) in techniques of budget and action plan analysis, and advocacy.
(f) Develop website for TASAN and support update of Radio Coalition sites
(g) Organize at least two public discussions or regional advocacy workshops on land issues.
(h) Produce and distribute radio programs with invited personalities on ‘hot topics’.

Component 2: Strengthening accountability mechanisms and transparency tools in municipal planning
The objective of this component is to contribute to increase local tax revenue by strengthening transparency in budget preparation, public procurement and municipal planning and investment in the targeted sectors (health, education, and land). The main activities of this component include:

(a) Establish cooperation agreements with PICOs on access to information and citizen engagement.
(b) Design and implement a capacity building program for PICOs in: i) transparency and social accountability; ii) budgeting, planning and development of services improvement plants; and iii) Decentralized Technical Services.
(c) Develop and implement tools to integrate citizen’s feedback into service improvement plans.
(d) Adapt and pilot existing tools in participatory planning and budgeting for conducting joint planning and budget disclosure meetings with MCOs.
(e) Develop review mechanisms of municipal plans and financial execution with the assistance of oversight bodies.

Component 3: Institutionalization of Project achievements and scaling up at regional and national levels
The objective of this component is to institutionalize Project achievements into sector and decentralization strategies concerning budget allocation mechanisms. The main activities of this component include:

(a) Improve the information flow between local and national government levels by establishing institutional agreements between the Project and key Ministries (Health, Education and Land) and by ensuring the participation of TASAN representatives in the Regional Health and Education Support Coordination Committees
(b) Organize workshops with Parliamentary commission on Governance and Decentralization to refine procedures and strategies.
(c) Contribute to the process of establishing the transparency of public finance during start-up of the new cycle of definition of the Madagascar Open Budget Index (MOBI).

Component 4: Knowledge management and utilization of lessons learned
The objective of this component is to identify lessons and share the knowledge generate by the project. The main activities of this component are:

(a) Produce, take up, and disseminate knowledge and learning about project’s approach and experience
(b) Training of CSO members and field officers in the techniques of writing “success stories”, “story telling” and testimonies,

B. Project Financing

The financing instrument elected for this project is a Recipient Executed Trust Fund (RETF) Grant. The source of financing for this Grant is the Global Partnership for Social Accountability (GPSA), housed within the World Bank. As per World Bank Trust Fund guidelines, given that this Trust Fund is smaller than US$5 million this Project is subject to World Bank procedures related to project preparation and supervision of Small RETF Grants. The Project cost is estimated to be US$700,000 to be financed completely by the GPSA grant. Additionally, the World Bank will commit an annual Project supervision budget in the amount of US$20,000 per year.

III. IMPLEMENTATION

A. Implementation Arrangements

Project Implementing Agency: The Project will be led and coordinated by NGO SAHA. The organization will be responsible for operational activities, project monitoring and internal evaluations. It will also ensure donor contract management, reporting and will support partners with technical, finance, logistics, Monitoring, Learning and compliance of staff.

SAHA was established as an NGO in 2011 to provide support to local governments and civil society organizations. Its experience include projects in the areas of participatory budgeting, local taxation, economic local development, inter-community planning, land management, strategic alliances with ministries and policy dialogue with the government and donors.

SAHA will establish a partnership with HELVETAS and the Civil Society Land Use Platform (LUP) to implement the project. HELVETAS, an international NGO with 50 years of experience, will provide international experience and methodological support in development of mentoring partnership management tools, knowledge management processes, and monitoring and evaluation. LUP, a specialized and nationally recognized body on land issues, will support the Project in developing land-related materials adapted to local contexts, and will facilitate discussion of land issues at regional and national levels.

The project will also develop Mentoring Partnerships, based on annual contracts, with Madagascar Transparency and Social Accountability Network (TASAN) and the Coalition of Radio Stations for Peace-building. TASAN will train citizens and LGs in all 46 municipalities on participative evaluation tools and will assist with community assessments and policy dialogue. On the other hand, the Coalition of Radio Stations for Peace-building will be responsible for disseminating information generated by the Project, eliciting and collecting citizens’ feedback, organizing and broadcasting public discussions, and disseminating lessons learned and activity evaluations.
Flow of Funds: SAHA NGO will directly draw down on the Designated Account in order to ensure smooth flow of funds for implementation of Project activities. An Indicative Schedule of Advanced Payments and Final Reimbursement will be included in the Disbursement Letter. Requests for withdrawal of Grant funds will be made in accordance with a schedule (milestones) agreed between SAHA NGO and the World Bank.

B. Results Monitoring and Evaluation

SAHA NGO and the World Bank will monitor the PDO level indicators, as well as implementation of activities supported by each Project component. Project implementation will be monitored and evaluated following an action-research approach during the whole period of implementation of the project, including focus on a baseline, mid-term and final assessments. This approach enables the project to improve its strategy and operations through adaptive learning and management as well as drawing lessons for future actions.

C. Sustainability

The Project will sustain its achievements by institutionalizing collaboration mechanisms that combine citizens’ demands for transparency and accountability with oversight responsibilities of Financial Courts and regional oversight organs. By constructively engaging with public sector insitutions and by developing the capacity of key stakeholders, the project will ensure stability beyond the duration of the grant.