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UN SYSTEM-WIDE SPECIAL INITIATIVE ON AFRICA (UNSIA)
STATUS REPORT OF WORLD BANK ACTIVITY
March 1998
Introduction
The United Nations System-wide Special Initiative for Africa (UNSIA) was launched in March, 1996, in an effort to increase development support to the continent at a time when opportunities for development were improving. A key objective of the UNSIA is to forge stronger operational bonds within the United Nations System and with the Bretton Woods institutions. Most importantly, the UNSIA aims to reallocate resources to selected priority areas, reinforce countries’ ownership in developing and managing programs and projects, achieve increased effectiveness in aid, and provide greater coherence to Africa’s partnership with the international community.
The UNSIA is governed by a joint Secretariat, comprised of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA). The two institutions work through the Administrative Committee on Coordination (ACC), which oversees implementation of the UNSIA. The Bank is represented on the ACC Steering Committee by Callisto Madavo, Regional Vice President for Africa.
The UNSIA is structured around thirteen program clusters and two cross cutting themes. The Bank is active in six of the thirteen program clusters:
The Bank is most active (as co-lead agency) in the Education and Health clusters, and supports the UNSIA in resource mobilization for the big ticket items in the context of Sector Investment Programs (SIPs), technical assistance, and consensus building on critical issues. This report will be limited to these two areas where the Bank is co-lead agency.
Education
In education, the Bank works with UNESCO (its co-lead agency), bilateral donors, African Ministers of Education (largely through the Association for the Development of Education in Africa – ADEA), the ECA, UNICEF, and UNDP.
Under previous years’ work on the UNSIA, countries were classified according to their "readiness" to participate in the Initiative. More recently, focus in the Bank has moved to a strategic emphasis on accelerating enrolments in primary education in countries where enrolment ratios are especially low (below 60%). This focus was endorsed as a sub-program for UNSIA during the Technical Working Group meeting at UNDP in New York in September 1997. However, this extra focus on low enrolment countries does not affect negatively the Bank’s normal work program on education in African countries with enrolment ratios above this level. Lead agencies will work with other agencies and external partners to assist countries in developing wide-ranging national consensus on, and ownership of, the often challenging reforms required to attack the stagnation of primary education and adult literacy at very low levels.
The countries have been identified as Angola, Burkina Faso, Chad, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Mozambique, Niger, Rwanda, Senegal and Somalia. The strategy is first to help countries prepare sustainable education sector development programs (referred to in the World Bank as Sector Investment Programs—SIPs) with ambitious targets for progress towards Universal Primary Education (UPE); then, to mobilize resources to finance such programs once developed. The preparation of sustainable SIPs is most advanced in Ethiopia, Senegal, Burkina Faso, Mali, and Mozambique.
Activities
The action is country-specific. Government is in the lead in preparing the education sector development programs, including coordination of inputs from the different external partners. Within this framework, the two lead agencies will work with Government to identify what type of support can be provided through the UNSIA to lessen key constraints upon accelerating primary enrolments. Thus, in addition to the normal work countries and their external partners do to promote education development, the additional support provided within the framework of UNSIA aims to (i) help countries prepare ambitious education sector development programs, (ii) facilitate technical and other support required for countries to build national consensus on the policy reforms required to make these programs financially sustainable, and (iii) once such sustainable programs have been agreed upon, to mobilize external financial support in favor of these programs.
A detailed action plan for the 15 low enrolment countries has been developed. The action plan includes the following national and sub-regional activities:
Concretely, the first sub-regional workshop organized within the framework of the UNSIA was held in Dakar on January 18-21, 1998. It covered seven low enrolment countries: Burkina Faso, Chad, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Niger and Senegal. Participants included high-level officials from the ministries of education, civil service and finance (including ten ministers), representatives from the international teachers’ organization, parents organizations, France and UN agencies. The workshop was designed for these countries to share experience on ongoing efforts to find affordable ways of providing primary school teachers.
In Senegal, this sub-regional workshop was followed-up by a wide-range national consultation supported by UNDP. The outcome seems to be a consensus between the Government and teachers’ unions on a new and more affordable way of recruiting primary school teachers. While the financial implications of this reform still need to be assessed in detail, this could provide the basis for a sustainable SIP for which resources could be mobilized under the UNSIA. Other country level follow-ups to the Dakar seminar have taken place in Burkina Faso and Niger.
In addition, the following workshops are currently planned in cooperation with several other partners which, through these activities, have been brought in to support the UNSIA:
Resource Mobilization
To support the national and sub-regional efforts to help develop SIPs, a special trust fund of approximately US$7 million made available by Norway has been established.
The first SIP for which a donor meeting has been organized to mobilize resources under the UNSIA is Ethiopia. The Bank assisted with the mobilization of the financing requirements for Ethiopia’s education SIP, estimated at US$480 million. IDA allocations constituted US$100 million of this amount.
An initiative worth highlighting was recently taken by the President of the Republic of Mauritius who made an appeal to the school children of Mauritius to donate part of their daily allowance as a gesture of solidarity towards their less fortunate brothers and sisters in Africa. US$10,000 were thus successfully raised as a national contribution to the education component of the Special Initiative. This contribution will most likely be provided to one or two small low enrolment countries at a special ceremony dedicated to UNSIA in these countries.
Issues
Seen from the Bank’s perspective, the main issue at the agency level has been the budgetary constraints faced by UNESCO which limits the level of support UNESCO can make available within the framework of the UNSIA to prepare SIPs. This constraint has been somewhat lessened since some joint activities can be supported by the Norwegian Trust Fund.
Health
The health component started well, with an understanding on an ‘implementation plan’ agreed at an inter-agency meeting in Brazzaville in 1996, chaired by Dr. Samba of the World Health Organization’s Regional Office for Africa (AFRO). The agreed theme was ‘health sector reform’, and the more specific contents, while still somewhat general, were largely responsive to be Bank’s perception of the issues.
Similar to the Education cluster, countries participating in the Health cluster were classified according to their "readiness" to participate in the Initiative. All countries are eligible to participate, but the magnitude and nature of support provided under the UNSIA will depend on the readiness of the countries to implement sector-wide reforms and investment programs.
Resource Mobilization
The Bank assisted in the mobilization of resources for the Ethiopia health SIP, which was fully subscribed at US$320 million. Donors, excluding the Bank (IDA), pledged US$187 million. IDA resources could fill the financing gap with US$133 million.
The Bank has received official approval of a Norwegian Trust Fund grant of which the African Region will have US$500,000 for health reform in Africa in 1998. A major share of these resources could support mutually agreed activities under the Initiative, on the basis of a joint Bank-WHO/AFRO Plan of Action defining priorities and objectives.
Issues
One of the conclusions of the February 9, 1998 Retreat, organized by UNDP and ECA in New York to take stock of the progress made under UNSIA, was that the two lead agencies, the Bank and WHO, needed to reinforce their collaboration in order to give new impetus to the health component. As a follow-up to this recommendation, Bank and WHO/AFRO staff had an opportunity to meet at length in Washington during the first week of March 1998. One of the issues that had limited the joint activities during 1997 was the lack of funding. This constraint has now been partly addressed through the establishment of the Norwegian Trust Fund for the health component. During the meeting, Bank procedures regarding Trust Fund management and accountability were clarified. A common understanding was reached on how to proceed for activities financed under this fund.
While in Washington, several meetings were organized with Bank Task Managers to seek their views on potential country activities under the Initiative as (i) they are in direct contact with WHO Representatives as well as WHO-AFRO, (ii) they are best placed, within the Bank, to identify key issues to be addressed within the Initiative, and (iii) their active involvement is central to the success of our joint efforts.
A set of preliminary activities have been agreed upon in a Memorandum for the Record signed on March 10, 1998 by representatives of the two agencies. It is expected that these initial collaborative efforts on the ground, coupled with a sound joint Plan of Action, can generate additional resources from the donor community.
The meetings in Washington took place in a constructive, collaborative spirit. It was mutually agreed that the renewed momentum for the Health Sector of the Initiative need to be maintained. The coordinator of the health component within the Bank is currently working with Task Managers to provide concrete input towards the first draft Plan of Action proposed by WHO-AFRO. While it is understood that the Plan of Action will remain a work in progress, to be further adjusted as new issues come to the fore, it is important that a detailed set of sub-regional and country activities be identified to move the Initiative forward.
Equally important to bother agencies is the clearly stated objective to be as inclusive, internally and externally, as possible in thinking through issues critical to the health of Africans. In this regard, WHO-AFRO is committed to involving country Representatives to facilitate communications on the ground. Furthermore, as we proceed, it is essential that all concerned stakeholders, especially all categories of civil society, be fully engaged in the process and their concerns reflected in our activities.
