The World Bank Social Accountability for Nutrition and Early Childhood Services in Benin Project Information Document/ Identification/Concept Stage (PID) Public Disclosure Copy Concept Stage | Date Prepared/Updated: 16-Jan-2020 | Report No: PIDC201818 Jan 16, 2020 Page 1 of 7 The World Bank Social Accountability for Nutrition and Early Childhood Services in Benin BASIC INFORMATION A. Basic Project Data Environmental and Project ID Parent Project ID (if any) Social Risk Project Name Classification Low Social Accountability for P172247 Nutrition and Early Childhood Services in Benin Region Country Date PID Prepared Estimated Date of Approval AFRICA Benin 16-Jan-2020 Financing Instrument Borrower(s) Implementing Agency Public Disclosure Copy Investment Project Care International Care International Financing Benin/Togo Benin & Togo PROJECT FINANCING DATA (US$, Millions) SUMMARY -NewFin1 Total Project Cost 0.50 Total Financing 0.50 Financing Gap 0.00 DETAILS -NewFinEnh1 Non-World Bank Group Financing Trust Funds 0.50 Global Partnership for Social Accountability 0.50 B. Introduction and Context Country Context Traditional programming for malnutrition reaches only a small fraction of the population at a time. Currently, 34% of children under five in Benin are stunted – this amounts to only a 5% reduction since 1996. (UNICEF May 2018) At this rate the second strategic development goal (SDG) of improving nutrition (among others) by 2030. Malnutrition requires a multi-sectoral solution because individual nutrition interventions, no matter how effective, cannot address the pervasive and interdependent problem of stunting and malnutrition. The issue Jan 16, 2020 Page 2 of 7 The World Bank Social Accountability for Nutrition and Early Childhood Services in Benin should be addressed collaboratively, by bringing stakeholders together to work toward one mandate: to eradicate malnutrition. One critical coordination challenged to be addressed is the lack of transparency, accountability and responsiveness of municipalities to their citizens relative to nutrition and early childhood development. There is currently no mechanism that ensures the accountability of municipal authorities and other involved actors (Ministers in charge of Agriculture, Health, Social Protection, Development, Finance, Decentralization, Trade, as well as Socio professional Organizations, Food Industries Association, National Association of Municipalities, research and training institutions and civil society) to their citizens in terms of nutrition. Sectoral and Institutional Context Public Disclosure Copy Since the Guédevy workshop (2007), all stakeholders in Benin have engaged in institutional, political and strategic reform in food and nutrition sectors. These reforms whose main objective was to put nutrition at the heart of development, led to the development of National Strategic Plan (PSDAN / PANAR), which is now a reference document in the sector. On the structural level, the National Council of Food and Nutrition is a body under the supervision of the Presidency of the Republic and operational through its Permanent Secretariat (SP-CAN). The CAN has three main functions, namely (i) to define the National Policy on Food and Nutrition, (ii) to ensure the development, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of the National Action Plan for Food and Nutrition and (iii) to coordinate actions related to Food and Nutrition. At the operational level, with the support of the Japanese Government, Plan International Benin has implemented the Pedagogical Community Nutrition Project (PNC, P124191) on behalf of the SP-CAN. It is a pilot program implemented by the communities with the technical support of local NGOs. This project in its pilot phase, had taken into account only 10 communes out of 77 in the country, has been scaled up with an intervention in 40 communes through the Multisectoral Project of Food, Health and Nutrition (PMASN P143652) supported by the World Bank but ended July 2019. Currently, The World Bank funds a new project on the Early Years Nutrition and Childhood Development project in the same and additional intervention areas. Relationship to CPF This grant is fully aligned with the focus area of investing in human capital of Benin's new Country Partnership Framework (CPF) FY18-FY22. The CPF identifies investing in human capital as one of three focus areas for reversing Benin’s slow progress towards the goals of eliminating extreme poverty and boosting shared prosperity. The CPF aims at increasing the inclusion of the poorest 40 percent of the population by improving their capacity, productivity and resilience to achieve a higher level of human capital development. The CPF calls for improved education for formal sector employment (objective 5) as well as Jan 16, 2020 Page 3 of 7 The World Bank Social Accountability for Nutrition and Early Childhood Services in Benin improved social protection, health and nutrition (objective 6) to invest in human capital. The program falls under objective 6 in its support of holistic efforts for young children in beneficiary households to achieve their full physical and cogitative potential, and to communities to become more resilient and protected against all manifestations of nutrition deficiencies. The program also contributes to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) targeted by the CPF: SDG 2, end hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture; SDG 3, ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages, and SDG 5, achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls. C. Project Development Objective(s) Proposed Development Objective(s) To improve transparency, accountability and responsiveness for nutrition and early childhood services for children 0-12 Public Disclosure Copy years through collaborative social accountability mechanisms at national, regional and local levels for twelve (12) communes in Benin Key Results 1. Percentage of service delivery issues and problems identified and followed-up through the project’s social accountability mechanisms 2. Recommendations on improvements to public spending on early childhood and nutrition services taken up by target municipalities, local and central governments D. Preliminary Description Activities/Components The project will seek to foster participatory governance in the management, coordination and delivery of nutrition services. This will be achieved through the following three specific objectives, namely: (i) institution building in social accountability and citizen engagement targeting government institutions responsible for decision making and implementing interventions in the nutrition and child health sector (ii) Empowerment of the Civil Society alliance on nutrition in social accountability to foster greater collaboration within the non- state actor sphere and between the Civil Society alliance and government institutions responsible for interventions in the nutrition sector (iii) Creation of joint spaces co-owned by both the Civil Society alliance in the nutrition sector and the government institutions responsible for interventions in the nutrition sector. Below are the detailed activities for each of three objective areas: Institution building in social accountability and citizen engagement targeting government institutions responsible for decision making and implementing interventions in the nutrition and child health sector a. Facilitate the setting up of feedback mechanisms in key government institutions responsible for interventions in the nutrition and child development sector at commune and national level. Jan 16, 2020 Page 4 of 7 The World Bank Social Accountability for Nutrition and Early Childhood Services in Benin b. Involve government agencies in the nutrition sector in the design and implementation of Community scorecards in target communities c. Build capacities of local government including municipal authorities through training, on topics such as feedback mechanisms, communication, transparency and public accountability on planning, budgeting and results of nutrition and early childhood services d. Build capacities of nutrition focal points in the National Food and Nutrition Council and other relevant government to foster and strengthen supply of quality nutrition services e. Set up the different platforms of nutrition services with the Council of Food and Nutrition Security at local and national levels f. Establish and/or strengthen LPAA at regional level to amplify local voices and facilitate vertical linkages of accountability initiatives g. Establishment and/or strengthening of LPAA at regional level to amplify local voices and facilitate vertical linkages of accountability initiatives Public Disclosure Copy Empowerment of the Civil Society alliance on nutrition in collaborative social accountability to foster greater collaboration within the non-state actor sphere and between the Civil Society alliance and government institutions responsible for interventions in the nutrition sector Build capacities of Nutrition Focal points in the Civil Society alliance for nutrition to foster demand for quality nutrition services strengthen nutrition services and promote accountability at a. local and national levels b. Fostering intra- and inter-organizational learning regarding social accountability for improved nutrition and child development outcomes through iterative programming. c. Develop citizen scorecard mechanism to measure and improve municipality performance d. Train direct beneficiaries at community level on Community Score Card and Social Analysis and Action mechanisms. e. Set up different platforms of nutrition suppliers and consumers’ services with the municipalities. f. Organize social audits with different platforms to identify needs to improve the services. g. Develop systematically in each area of nutrition, consumer platforms including all types of users (Women, Men, Youth …) h. Train the platform in using negotiation and advocacy tools to express themselves and improve the nutrition and early childhood services. i. Strengthen the capacity of existing civil society organizations to ensure their representativeness. j. Conduct social dialogue with nutrition Champions using SAA tools to boost the promotion of accountability at the level of municipalities and government. Creation of joint spaces co-owned by both the Civil Society alliance in the nutrition sector and the government institutions responsible for interventions in the nutrition sector to promote collaborative learning and improvement in the nutrition sector Jan 16, 2020 Page 5 of 7 The World Bank Social Accountability for Nutrition and Early Childhood Services in Benin a. Organize interactive community radio programs to engage citizens around key nutrition and early childhood services and behavioral changes in 12 communes b. Organize sessions between service suppliers and consumers’ platform to evaluate the quality of services, common results framework (Cadre commun de resultats), and identify areas for improvement. c. Facilitate social dialogue between platforms to improve understanding of rights and mobilize the voice of families d. Organize advocacy actions toward the Ministry of Decentralization for adopting of orders to institutionalize accountability mechanisms in communes level and that such mechanisms are supported by prefects at departmental level e. Develop a calendar of quarterly meetings on the quality of the nutrition and early childhood services. The platform will be led by the community itself so that they can discuss together. f. Foster intra- and inter-organizational learning regarding social accountability for improved nutrition Public Disclosure Copy and child development outcomes g. Document what is working, how, for who and under what circumstances h. Organize webinars internally and externally using the GPSA knowledge platform i. Organize mini-learning events in each commune to promote iterative programming among all stakeholders j. Publish newsletters and disseminate them widely Conduct an end-line evaluation to measure the major outcomes and share lessons widely Environmental and Social Standards Relevance E. Relevant Standards ESS Standards Relevance Assessment and Management of Environmental and Social ESS 1 Relevant Risks and Impacts ESS 10 Stakeholder Engagement and Information Disclosure Relevant ESS 2 Labor and Working Conditions Relevant Resource Efficiency and Pollution Prevention and ESS 3 Not Currently Relevant Management ESS 4 Community Health and Safety Not Currently Relevant Land Acquisition, Restrictions on Land Use and Involuntary ESS 5 Not Currently Relevant Resettlement Biodiversity Conservation and Sustainable Management of ESS 6 Not Currently Relevant Living Natural Resources Indigenous Peoples/Sub-Saharan African Historically ESS 7 Not Currently Relevant Underserved Traditional Local Communities Jan 16, 2020 Page 6 of 7 The World Bank Social Accountability for Nutrition and Early Childhood Services in Benin ESS 8 Cultural Heritage Not Currently Relevant ESS 9 Financial Intermediaries Not Currently Relevant Legal Operational Policies Safeguard Policies Triggered Explanation (Optional) Projects on International Waterways OP The project activities will not impact any No 7.50 international waterways Projects in Disputed Areas OP 7.60 No There is any disputed area in the project location Summary of Screening of Environmental and Social Risks and Impacts N/A Public Disclosure Copy CONTACT POINT World Bank Contact : Hirut Johnson Title : Leadership Development Special Telephone No : 458-8791 Email : Borrower/Client/Recipient Borrower : Care International Benin/Togo Contact : Joyce Sepenoo Title : Country Director Telephone No : 22921304400 Email : Joyce.sepenoo@co.care.org Implementing Agencies Implementing Care International Benin & Togo Agency : Contact : Joyce Sepenoo Title : Country Director - Care Benin Telephone No : 22921304400 Email : joyce.sepenoo@care.org FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT The World Bank 1818 H Street, NW Washington, D.C. 20433 Telephone: (202) 473-1000 Web: http://www.worldbank.org/projects Jan 16, 2020 Page 7 of 7