09 April 2014, Abuja – The World Bank has approved $140 million additional support for community development in Nigeria.
A total of 26 states are to benefit from the project which will focus on the most vulnerable households in the country.
This was contained in a statement by the Communication Associate, External Affairs, Africa Region of the World Bank, Mr. Bamidele Oladokun Tuesday.
The additional financing, according to the multilateral institution is expected to fund micro-project such as rehabilitation and construction of school class rooms, skills acquisition, environment, health, rural electrification, transport, water, rural market infrastructure to mention but a few.
Vulnerable groups that would benefit from grants include internally displaced poor persons, marginalised or chronically poor households, widows and the physically challenged.
“This project will not only help vulnerable people in the short term, including those in conflict-affected areas, but will also help build long-lasting partnership between local governments and communities. In addition, it will help integrate communities as well as make smart investments in people for the future,” the World Bank Task Team Leader for the project, Foluso Okunmadewa said.
The first phase of the Community Social Development Project (CSDP) which benefited over 5,600 communities and about two million people in 26 states of the federation is to close in December 2014.
“A recent assessment of the project shows that school enrollment, immunisation, and access to electricity and safe water have all increased in communities that benefited from CSDP,” the World Bank Country Director for Nigeria, Marie Francoise Marie-Nelly added.
“In this new phase, the project will focus mainly on the most vulnerable people, in line with the World Bank’s mission to end extreme poverty and boost shared prosperity,” she added. The new phase of the CSDP will end on December 31, 2017.
The World Bank’s International Development Association (IDA), established in 1960, helps the world’s poorest countries by providing loans and grants for projects and programs that boost economic growth, reduce poverty, and improve poor people’s lives.
IDA is one of the largest sources of assistance for the world’s 81 poorest countries, 39 of which are in Africa.
Resources from IDA bring positive change for 2.5 billion people living on less than $2 a day. Since 1960, IDA has supported development work in 108 countries. Annual commitments have increased steadily and averaged about $15 billion over the last three years, with about 50 per cent of commitments going to Africa.
– This Day
