Washington — The World Bank has approved $100 million in International Development Association (IDA)* financing for Chad, with additional support of $20 million from the Sahel Adaptive Social Protection Program, a multi-donor trust fund. The financing package is designed to help Chad increase access to social safety nets for poor and vulnerable populations and refugees, and to strengthen Chad's social protection system.
The Adaptive and Productive Social Safety Nets Project will build on strengthening the technical and institutional capacity of the government to plan, implement, and coordinate various social protection instruments and interventions, and ensure that the expected project outcomes will be achieved over the long term. The project will include the implementation of a package of integrated measures over a three-year period that will focus on enhancing the productivity of extremely poor and vulnerable households, including refugee and host community households.
It will also finance emergency cash transfers to help people cope with various shocks. Thus, in response to the major hardships experienced during the lean season, 40,000 acutely food-insecure households will receive a one-time emergency cash transfer to compensate for climate shocks, especially droughts. And in the event of flooding or a large influx of refugees, 25,000 households will be targeted as beneficiaries of a single emergency cash transfer.
"This new project demonstrates the World Bank's commitment to supporting the government's efforts to address the influx of refugees; it will also help to design a system of national solidarity for populations experiencing the effects of poverty," said Clara de Sousa, World Bank Country Director for Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, and Niger.
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"A key feature in the design of this project is its promotion of strong partnerships among various technical and financial partners. Determined to ensure the success of the joint policy dialogue with the government on areas related to adaptive social protection in Chad, these partners have demonstrated their willingness to support the strengthening of Chad's social protection system and shock response mechanism and to advance the implementation of the country's payment platform," said Rasit Pertev, World Bank Country Manager in Chad.
With some 781,200 people expected to benefit directly, the project is targeting 62,200 households living in extreme poverty and vulnerable to climate shocks, including 12,090 refugee households and 28,210 households located in refugee-hosting communities. The Adaptive Social Safety Net Project covers nine provinces based on their levels of poverty, exposure to climate shocks, food insecurity, and number of refugees: Batha, Ennedi-Est, Kanem, Logone Oriental, Mayo-Kebbi Ouest, Ouaddai, Salamat, Sila, and Wadi Fira.
* Established in 1960, The International Development Association (IDA) is the arm of the World Bank that helps low-income countries, by providing grants and low to zero-interest loans for projects and programs that boost economic growth, reduce poverty, and improve people's lives. IDA is one of the largest sources of assistance for its 75 clients, 39 of which are in Africa. Since 1960, IDA has provided $552 billion to 115 countries. Annual commitments have averaged $36 billion over the past three years (FY21-FY23), about 75 percent of which went to Africa. For more information online: IDA.worldbank.org #IDAWORKS
