Report No. PID7253 Project Name Ethiopia-Women's Development Initiatives (@) Project (WID) Region Africa Regional Office Sector Social Sector Adjustment Project ID ETPE50342 Borrower(s) FEDERAL DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF ETHIOPIA Implementing Agency Address ACTIVITIES WILL BE IMPLEMENTED BY SELECTED INTERMEDIARIES Address: Ethiopia Contact Person: H.E Tadelech Haile-Michael, Minister in Charge of Women's Affairs, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia Tel: 251-1-118177 Environment Category C Date PID Prepared December, 1999 Projected Appraisal Date March 27, 2000 Projected Board Date April 27, 2000 1. Country and Sector Background Despite their contribution to the country's economy, mainly in the agricultural and the informal sectors, and given the importance of their social role, women in Ethiopia do not have equitable access to economic resources. The gender dimension of poverty in Ethiopia and the low levels of women's access to education and health services, employment opportunities, and participation in the political/legal activities in the country, are reflected in the welfare indicators provided in Table 1. These indicators are also validated by the participatory rural appraisals (PRAs) that have been conducted in most regions in Ethiopia. Different Socioeconomic Roles of Men and Women. Women disproportionately bear the burden of poverty in Ethiopia. Women are responsible for all household chores, in addition to support they provide in agriculture and livestock production. This is mainly a result of the gender-based division of labor, characteristic of many traditional societies, and exacerbated by the poor state of the environment and the lack of appropriate technology. Only 18 percent of the population have access to clean water. Fuelwood and cow dung remain the main sources of domestic energy for 95 percent of the Ethiopian population. Women, therefore, spend a large part of their day collecting water and searching for fuelwood. The lack of appropriate technology also results in the daily pounding and grinding of grain, a laborious task identified by women as consuming a large part of their day. Together with other activities, this results in rural women typically working 15-18 hours a day. Women have little or no opportunities and time to access training/technical assistance and credit, thus they are often unable to increase their income to overcome subsistence-level livelihoods. To assist them in their arduous activities, women keep their children, in particular girls, from school, perpetuating the vicious cycle of poverty for women. Because of these differentiated roles, the impact of development interventions is also different and, in most cases, gender-neutral development interventions fail to benefit women effectively, and in some cases even adversely affect women's access to economic resources. National Policy for Women. The Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia (FDRE) has demonstrated its commitment to addressing these issues and to the equitable socioeconomic development of women with the establishment of the National Policy for Women in 1993 and the promulgation of the new Constitution in 1994. The National Policy for Women aims to institutionalize the political and socioeconomic rights of women by creating appropriate structures in government institutions so that public policies and interventions are gender-sensitive and geared towards ensuring equitable development for all Ethiopians.Table 1. The Gender Dimension of Poverty in EthiopiaIndicatorsMalesFemalesGross primary enrollment rate, 1997 (percent)4827Gross secondary enrollment rate, 1997 (percent)1310Adult illiteracy rate (percent)597lMalnutrition (stunting, under 6 years) (percent)65.263.8Malnutrition (wasting, under 6 years) (percent)10.511.lLife expectancy (years)4952Maternal mortality (per 100,000 births)NA500-700 (450-500)*9 of Attended BirthsNA10 (34*)t of candidates during 1995 election8712.lNote: *SSA average; NA = not applicableSources: WB Genderstats, Social Sector Report (1998); WB HSDP document (1998)Implementing the National Policy for Women: As discussed in the 1998 Government/WB Report on Implementing the Ethiopian National Policy for Women: Institutional and Regulatory Constraints, the actual implementation of the Women's Policy faces immense challenges. The devolution of administrative powers to the regional authorities creates both opportunities and difficulties for the implementation of the National Policy. Opportunities arise in that interventions can now be geared to address region-specific concerns; yet difficulties arise because of the capacity constraints in administrative and service delivery at the regional and lower administrative levels. Considerable inter-regional variations further increase the complexity of designing and delivering services in a gender-sensitive fashion, as does the fact that regional development plans are largely gender-neutral. Interventions that do target women tend to be ad hoc and self-standing projects with fairly standard processes of delivery through formal institutions such as cooperatives and kebeles -- institutions that women, especially those in rural areas, tend not to actively participate in. The 1998 Government/WB report grouped the constraints to successful WID policy implementation into three main categories:(i) Relatively lower participation of women in development interventions: Women are unable to benefit equitably from existing opportunities because of a number of social, economic, and technical reasons. While a number of these constraints stem from social and cultural norms, many of them are also generated by project design and delivery mechanisms that are insensitive to gender-based constraints. Also, women are usually not part of formal groups such as cooperatives and associations. If at all, they tend to be part of informal and traditional groups; these groups are rarely involved in development activities. (ii) Gender disparity in legal literacy: Though some provisions in the 1960 Civil Code of Ethiopia are discriminatory and violate the provisions of the 1994 Ethiopian Constitution, there are a number of legal provisions that benefit women in significant ways. However, legal literacy is very low and most women are unaware of the positive provisions. This is a key reason for the non-enforcement of laws in personal disputes. Access to dispute resolution is also limited by a number of factors.(iii) Institutional issues: Inadequate definition of responsibilities and roles - 2 - of women's offices, lack of institutional capacity, and insufficient budget contribute to the ineffective and inefficient use of resources, as well as to lack of adequate attention to mainstreaming gender issues.Strategy to address the above constraints. While the institutional issues will be discussed further and addressed in a holistic manner through the ongoing sector work on Regionalization/Decentralization, this pilot project will primarily tackle issues related to women's participation in development interventions at the grassroots levels, and increasing investment in human capital. The project is benefitting from the participatory/consultative workshops organized by WAO to discuss the proposed project with key stakeholders such as the regions and NGOs, as well as ongoing project preparation activities being undertaken through the Policy and Human Resource Development (PHRD) Grant. The Government-requested PHRD Grant has been instrumental in the development and pre-testing of the project manuals [organizational management, IEC (GIF promotion, health including HIV/AIDS and harmful traditional practices, nutrition, legal literacy, and environment), finance, MIS and monitoring and evaluation]. It has also supported the Ministry of Justice's activities related to a review of the Family law and improving legal literacy. In addition, WDIP is also benefiting from the Institutional Development Fund (IDF), which has been useful in providing technical assistance on capacity building assessments, technical studies to assist WAO in preparing economic profiles of the most viable economic activities of women in pilot regions as background information for GIF, and subsequent institutional strengthening activities such as workshops on community mobilization and gender-sensitization and skills development training programs; as well as study tours to China and India to learn how these countries have promoted women's income generating activities, particularly those related to handicrafts. Linkages between the activities undertaken through the PHRD Grant and IDF have been maintained through frequent consultations between WAO, PHRD and IDF staff. Moreover the IDF technical consultant is now working with the Ethiopia Resident Mission on gender issues and hopes to continue to act as the liaison between the IDF and WDIP teams to ensure effective coordination of strategies and activities. 2. Objectives Within Ethiopia's overall developmental strategy, the proposed Women's Development Initiatives Project (WDIP), a Learning and Innovation credit, aims to test methodologies to enhance the social and economic welfare of households in selected poor districts by improving and increasing women's opportunities through increased skills, productivity, and income. 3. Rationale for Bank's Involvement The Bank has been closely involved in the sector for the last three-five years. It co-authored with the Government a report on implementing the Ethiopian National Policy for Women. It assisted the Government in training a number of women's affairs staff and local consultants in the use of participatory tools and methodologies. Participatory Rural Appraisals (PRAs) were conducted in 9 out of the existing 11 regions, and they have encouraged the involvement of voices of grassroots women in the design of this WID project. The Bank provided an IDF grant to strengthen the institutional capacity of the Women's Affairs Office and the Regional Women's Affairs Bureaus. The Bank's presence in the area also made it possible for the Government to leverage significant funds from other -3 - donors. The Government of Norway also provided the Government with US $ 75,000 to undertake the PRAs and prepare the WID project. At the request of the Government, it was managed by the Bank. The Bank is also assisting the Government in a number of gender and law activities in Ethiopia as part of the Gender and Law Eastern Africa Program. Also, the Bank has assisted in designing other such decentralized arrangements for development activities and will bring this experience to bear in the design from Tanzania and Zambia, in addition to the experience gained in Ethiopia itself. The World Bank Institute has also developed a Grassroots Management Training Program for women, the experience from which will also be brought to bear in the design and implementation of this project. In conclusion, the Bank will, therefore, primarily:provide expertise to the project design and implementation given its experience in dealing with development interventions for grassroots communities in Ethiopia and in other countries in Africa; support training activities for grassroots management; andassist the government in leveraging donor financing. For example, Italy has advised the Bank team of its intention to contribute US$2.3 million to the project. 4. Description The WDIP aims to enhance women's participation in development interventions by mobilizing women at the grassroots level and capitalizing on their potential to support the development process. It will facilitate the formation of self-help women's groups, and the strengthening of existing grassroots groups, and will build women's capacity to act collectively to increase the social and economic welfare of their households. Women's groups will constitute the backbone of the project's activities, and the organizational structure is intended to provide support to these groups and to give community women increased voice in the decisions affecting their lives. There are two main project components: (a) the Grassroots Initiative Fund for Women and (b) Institutional Strengthening Program comprised of three sub-components: (i) capacity building, (ii) Information, Education, and Communication, and (iii) Monitoring and Evaluation. Grassroots Initiative Fund for Women. The Grassroots Initiatives Fund (GIF) does not identify or implement projects, but supports the efforts of intermediaries and women's groups in sub-project implementation and management by providing financial and supervisory support and by enhancing their managerial and technical capacities. The GIF is primarily a financing window and will be demand-driven. It will provide support to women's groups to organize themselves around productive activities, the nature of which will be determined by the beneficiaries themselves, and in which they are themselves willing to invest (on average, about 10% in up-front savings from women's groups will be required in order for them to qualify for project grants; at least 59 in cash and the other 5% could be in kind). Given the nature of the Fund's mandate, all activities will be relatively small, technically simple, and cost effective. The project operational manual outlines the proposed criteria on which activities will be assessed, for example: proposed activity should be one that is in line with the Fund's objectives, it must be socially acceptable, should not result in an illegal activity nor in unfair competition, and it must have no adverse environmental impact. The cost of the proposed sub-project must be within the limits of the Fund's support and its complexity level must be in line with the capacity of beneficiaries. For income generating activities, the proposal must also indicate a satisfactory assessment of - 4 - the marketability of the proposed product/service, local availability of raw materials is also an important criterion, as well as the availability of facility for production/service, where necessary. For labor-saving devices, the appropriateness of the proposed technology will also be assessed and whether or not it could be funded by other agencies and/or by the ESRDF. Sustainability will be a driving principle behind all activities and the GIF will not be involved in any way in relief or rehabilitation activities. Examples of possible activities are: handicraft production; rearing of small animals or poultry; production of food items; labor-saving devices (enset production equipment such for grinding and scraping); organization of day-care center with a nutrition training component or other such activities determined by the women's groups. In consultation with the women's groups, the local coordinating offices will select and hire appropriate intermediaries to provide the requisite technical assistance to women's groups in the coordination, design, implementation, monitoring, supervision and operation of their selected activity. Group facilitators, hired by intermediaries in consultation with women's groups/communities, will work with women's groups for a certain period of time to assist them in preparing their action plans for GIF funding, attendance records, minutes registers, cashbooks and ledgers. They might also assist intermediaries in facilitating group formation and in delivering IEC messages.A technical panel of experts will also be available to provide technical assistance to women's groups on an as needed basis. Women's groups will constitute the backbone of the project's activities. Where there are existing women's groups in selected districts, these groups will be utilized. However, in many cases, there may be no existing groups, and it would be necessary for the Fund to identify and encourage the formation of women's groups. Capacity building and training to strengthen women's group is included under this component, while capacity building at all other levels will come under the capacity building component. The capacity of women's groups to undertake and manage their activities will be strengthened through the Grassroots Management Training Program(GMTP) which could have the following core contents: human resource management (for example, group formation, dynamics); financial management (for example, bookkeeping, savings and credit schemes), management (for example, identification of business and skills requirement of the group, preparation of sub-project); and production and marketing. GMTP can be adapted to the needs of semi-illiterate or illiterate women in a variety of sectors and a range of different soci-cultural contexts. Simple skills training would also be provided to women's groups. The need for such training will be identified by the women's groups themselves, and determined in consultation with their intermediary. The intermediary will then place the request before the Regional Coordinating Unit who would then decide how and where to give such training, after compiling such requests from the different intermediaries in the region. Institutional Strengthening Component(a) Capacity building A preliminary assessment has been carried out which focuses on the capacity and intent of stakeholders likely to be involved in project implementation. Clearly, the capacity of many stakeholders is weak, and therefore capacity building will be an integral and important part of project design. In fact, it is possible that the first nine months of the project may consist entirely of capacity-building activities. (i) Capacity Building for Intermediaries and Facilitators. The intermediaries that would help to implement the project will constitute a critical group in this project. In general, capacity - 5 - building efforts will focus on improving intermediary skills regarding group organization, facilitation, training of grassroots beneficiaries, project design, appraisal, monitoring, and evaluation reporting. Efforts will also focus on strengthening of indigenous and community-based organizations within poor districts. To some extent the nature of the capacity building program will also depend on the roles and the characteristics of the selected intermediaries and, therefore, more specific activities would be developed immediately after selection of intermediaries in the different regions. Group facilitators will also be given training that would help them work effectively with women's groups. (ii) Project Officers and Other Partners. Given the nature of the project, all project officers, staff and other project stakeholders at different administrative levels will be targeted to ensure that they are familiar with the project approach and objectives and armed with technical skills related to project planning, implementation, and management. Training aimed at increasing the appreciation and understanding of issues related to gender, environment, and developing community mobilization and participation skills will also be supported.(b) Information, education and communication (i) Objectives and Activities. The IEC component aims to increase awareness of men and women in a number of areas like health including HIV/AIDS and harmful traditional practices, nutrition, family planning, sanitation, education, and legal rights and obligations. Activities would be designed based on the findings of the Participatory Rural Appraisals and would aim to strengthen the positive aspects of customary laws and practices, while at the same time sensitizing the public to the adverse aspects. Key legal messages will be based on a study being financed by the PHRD grant which examines the inconsistencies between the 1995 Constitution and the 1960 Civil Code to identify Family Law revisions that would be needed to ensure the Constitutional mandate of gender equality. Campaigns would also be conducted to increase awareness on health, education, nutrition, family planning, environment and children's issues. This sub-component will also involve the promotion of some female role models, whose services will be utilized to increase awareness of the potential opportunities for women and to convince both men and women that the household will benefit on the whole if women are also able to develop and avail themselves of such opportunities. (ii) Implementation. Private sector intermediaries would be used to design and implement different types of innovative campaigns to reach women at the grassroots level. Different media will be used to reach poor households in a social context where the majority of men and women are illiterate and where conventional forms of IEC tools like radios and television are not widely used. Separate draft guidelines have been prepared for the IEC component, which are currently being tested under the PHRD grant and will be finalized in April, 2000.(c) Monitoring and evaluation Monitoring and Evaluation will be based on indicators identified in the project proposal of women's groups, financing agreement, and the list contained in the Development Credit Agreement. Regular and systematic collection of information and relevant data to monitor progress/performance of delivery mechanisms as well as the impact of the activities financed under the project will be undertaken. This is essential not only to be able to adjust the project mechanisms as necessary for effective project implementation but also for designing the expanded phase, if such a decision is made. At the beginning of the project, a simple, computerized national MIS will be in established at the central level while regions will enter data manually. Eighteen months after credit effectiveness, the - 6 - system would be jointly reviewed by the Government and the Bank, and a decision made on expansion of the computerized system to the regions; regions can then adapt it based on their needs and capacity. As part of the loan conditions, a Mid-term review will also be conducted and relevant progress reports and beneficiary assesments will be prepared in time for discussion during the MTR. The M&E Component will also finance other participatory assessments and independent evaluations periodically. 5. Financing Total ( US$m) Government 0.7 IBRD IDA 5 GOVERNMENT OF ITALY 2.3 Total Project Cost 8 6. Implementation The project period will cover five years. Management of Project Activities. Central Level. Project activities would be managed at the regional levels, supported by a small coordinating and monitoring unit at the central level. The central financing window will be kept small with 3-4 staff at the most to coordinate/monitor the project and report to WAO, as well as help them to mainstream and strengthen their coordination and monitoring responsibilities (their mandate under the National Women's Policy). The central office could include a financial officer, a procurement officer, a Grassroots coordinator and an MIS officer. There will be a Central Steering Committee that will reflect a wider range of expertise and will oversee and guide on policy and other issue (NGOs, such as CRDA and CERTWID will be included). This Steering Committee will be chaired by the Minister of Women's Affairs. Regional Levels. Regional Steering Committees will oversee activities in the different regions chaired by the head of the Regional Women's Affairs Bureau. A small financing window would be managed from within the Women's Affairs Bureaus. A Regional Manager for project activities would be located within the Women's Affairs Bureau, and will report to the Steering Committee. The Unit would include a capacity-building expert, promotion expert, as well as a financial consultant. At the regional level, it would be helpful if the offices were small but staff requirements kept flexible depending on regional needs. It was also suggested that capacity building and promotion officers could be shared by regions, with these experts being rotated from one reigonal office to another as each region begins its implementation phase.Depending on the capacity within the region, such coordinating unit may be even maintained at the wereda level. This would mean that a staff of the Regional Unit could be delegated to the wereda level until necessary capacity is built.Implementation Arrangements. The project would strengthen existing local structures and linkages with grassroots entities like kebeles and development associations. There would not be a single, uniform implementation structure for all regions, given their varying capacity and different socioeconomic conditions. The goal would be to avoid creating any additional heavy institutional structures for coordination at the regional levels, and to utilize local structures to manage project activities. However as a LIL, the project can be open to testing out different models to see which one works best.Implementation by Intermediaries. Intermediaries will act as implementing agencies, -7 - providing support in social mobilization, training, capacity building and guidance in identifying the group's action plan. They will also monitor and provide implementation support to women's groups. Intermediaries can provide a range of functions based on their qualifications and on the established need of women's groups (e.g. wherever possible women's groups will maintain their own finances, but in some cases the intermediary may need to oversee the funds). The intermediaries will be chosen based on specific pre-identified criteria to be defined in the operational manual (e.g., track record, location or proximity to women's groups, language, training experience). If they are from the private sector or NGOs, they will be hired as consultants. If they are extension agents or other government agents, they will be paid only expenses for travel and per diems for such services. The financial arrangements at the grassroots level will be flexible to reflect the capacity of the groups and the intermediaries. Extent of accountability of intermediaries would need to be very clear in the manual. Where women's groups lack capacity and need to be strengthened, intermediaries may be held accountable for the women's groups' use of the funds. Annexes have been prepared with sample agreements between women and intermediaries. It was noted that differences between the rural and urban regions will need to be taken into account (for example, in terms of availability of banks and literacy rates). Capacity Building. The capacity building components will consist of two types of activities: first, those that can be designed in advance based on needs already identified across various groups (such as training women's groups and intermediaries in managing the cycle); and second, those which have to be tailor-made to meet the special needs of a group of beneficiaries, or facilitators depending on the nature of selected sub-projects. While project staff will actively identify capacity building requirements, given staffing constraints, training will be sub-contracted through a wide range of training institutions, NGOs, and consulting specialists. In the case of the Grassroots Management Component, a training-of-trainers approach in order to develop a network of skilled facilitators and specialists will be utilized. As the goal will be to create as much self-reliance at the level of the women's groups as possible, special attention will be given to these training of trainer programs. Technical Consultants. A panel of service providers would be established centrally, which regional units could tap for technical expertise. Where possible regional panels may be established, depending on the capacity available in the region. Implementation Rules and Guidelines. Implementation arrangements and responsibilities will be clearly articulated in manuals, which are listed below. The Project Implementation Manual (PIM) has been already provided to the Bank and will be finalized after negotiation. Any changes to the PIM can be made in consultation with the Bank. A simple set of guidelines for women's groups is being tested with small groups of existing women and will be finalized after negotiations. In addition, drafts have been received of the following guidelines, all of which will be retained as drafts in order to ensure flexibility of revision as warranted by cirumstances:An IEC manual would provide guidelines for the legal literacy campaign, other IEC messages, and how the role model fund would be implemented. A capacity building manual will be developed at the regional level. Regional offices will be in charge of capacity building and implementation is expected through intermediaries such as CRDA. This manual is being developed through a series of grassroots management oriented workshops; two workshops have already taken place). A detailed financial/administrative - 8 - operations manual is also being finalized for review and will be available before negotiations.An MIS manual and system is also being reviewed and will be pre-tested and finalized by May.Grant Component: In most parts of the country, and particularly in the target districts for this project, the formal microfinance system is non-existent as a result of the restrictive policies of the previous regime. Steady progress is being made in relaxing these policies and in making a move towards a more market-determined system, including the entry of private banks and allowing interest rates that are positive in real terms. Small grants ranging from Birr 50 to Birr 300 per person, will be targeted to women's groups as an entity; the members will utilize these funds for purchase of raw materials and other supplies needed to increase their economic productivity. Savings by women will be a pre-requisite for receipt of the grant and the amount will be matched with savings accumulated by each group. Phased Manner of Implementation. Regional implementation will occur in a phased manner, with four regions starting during the first year, four regions during the second year and the remaining regions during the third year. Addis Ababa, Amhara, Afar, and Dire Dawa have been selected for project year (PY) I so as to provide learning in urban and rural situations, as well as in regions that are in different stages of development.Bank Supervision Plan. While the project will be closely monitored, with the support of Resident Mission staff, a mid-term review will take place after 30 months of project implementation to identify project successes and problems to be addressed, and modifications that may be needed in project procedures for the second half of the Project . The mid-term review will be preceeded by independent consultant studies of a sample of sub-projects by region and sector, utilizing beneficiary participatory assessment methods.Project Evaluation & Expansion Scope. Eighteen months before the completion of the Project , an independent evaluation will be carried out to determine (i) whether the Project has accomplished its objectives both in project terms and as part of the broader poverty reduction program; (ii) the effectiveness of project management, the institutional structure, and the operational procedures; and (iii) the value of scaling-up project activities. 7. Sustainability There are two aspects of sustainability that are important to the Project . The first is the sustainability of the financing mechanism itself; and the second is the sustainability of the improved assets, services, and micro-ventures created through the provision of support to women's groups.Sustainability of the Financing Mechanism. Although expanded to the whole country, the project will begin as a pilot by promoting the Fund among communities that have received little sustained outside support for their own developmental initiatives. The pilot characteristic also means that the project will actively pursue experimental approaches to women's management and participation in small self-help activities. Also, and perhaps most importantly, since the project is being implemented by existing intermediaries, the actual administrative apparatus that is being established is minimal and is more in the form of financing windows. If successful, this project could create an important and sustainable and relatively cheap development mechanism consistent with FDRE's poverty reduction strategy to build the capacity of women to participate in development activities. Sustainability of Assets and Services Financed by the Project. The project will incorporate a number of design and implementation mechanisms to ensure that the activities financed by the -9- project are likely to be sustainable. Critical factors for sustainability include ability to motivate women who have very little time for development activities, nature and capacity of women's groups, identification of suitable intermediaries to provide adequate technical assistance to women's groups, ability to appoint and retain qualified staff, particularly at the regional levels, and ensuring total ownership by the critical stakeholders. Thus, in order to mitigate the potential risks that project activities are unsustainable: The first nine to twelve months after credit effectiveness will be limited to: IEC and promotional activities in the various regions to create demand and awareness among targeted beneficiaries on the available benefits under the project. Training of Trainers for grassroots management groups will be undertaken and a series of training will take place. Grant money will be provided only to targeted women's groups that have come together as a group, undergone training in grassroots management, established rules and guidelines for functioning, and have collected savings according to a pre-determined plan. To the extent possible, appropriate intermediaries with roots in the locality will be selected in order to increase the likelihood that they provide the necessary mentoring until the group is sustainable on its own. There will be a rigorous monitoring and evaluation system that will continuously monitor the impact of project activities. These will include a number of participatory assessments. The project processes and procedures will be kept flexible so that it can be revised in a timely and quick fashion to ensure maximum effectiveness. 8. Lessons learned from past operations in the country/sector Lessons LearnedBased on ESRDF's experience, components with community participation require more time and resources to implement because of the need for capacity building: the Project, therefore, has estimated the number of microprojects very conservatively, and estimates about nine to twelve months of promotion, capacity building activities after credit effectiveness. Simplicity in arrangements is another critical factor to effective implementation. To the extent possible, the structure and arrangements have been kept simple in this project. Increased commitment and sustainability through community participation and contribution. To receive assistance, women's groups will be asked to provide upfront savings (at least 5t of total assistance being sought). IEC and promotion measures are being undertaken to provide information to men and women of poor households in poor districts so that women's increased participation may to the extent possible be a joint decision of the household rather than being seen as one addressing solely women's concerns. The regional background studies for the 1998 WID report indicate the need for increased capacity at the center and regional government levels, especially the Women's Affairs Bureaus, to effectively supervise the implementation of the project, as well as other activities. Both IDF and PHRD Grants are being used to strengthen supervision and implementation capacity. For example, experts on capacity building, monitoring and evaluation, community mobilization are being hired to provide technical assistance in project preparation. A good monitoring system that will help to fine tune project implementation mechanisms. It is extremely important to ensure baseline data for the benefiting group before assistance is provided in order to be able to measure the impact of each intervention. A reporting format for each microproject will be ready and functional for this purpose before assistance is provided to women's - 10 - groups.Issues to be Tested before ExpansionThe project's budget for overhead takes into account the rather slow and difficult process of reaching and training diverse constituencies in communities that are generally located in remote areas. Based on experiences of The World Bank Institute, it should be expected that project administrative costs will remain high for at least the first two years. The experience of NGOs and the Ethiopian Rehabilitation Development Fund also suggest that a ceiling of 20 percent for overhead costs might be more realistic rather than the current 10 percent ceiling for administrative costs specified in the ESRDF project's operational manual. The administrative costs will need to be closely monitored.Size of women's groups. The size of the women's groups must be kept at an optimum to ensure cohesiveness and support for each other. At the same time, cost effectiveness is increased if the groups are larger. A balance has to be struck.Existing formal organizations do not have significant female membership; this particularly constrains women' s development since assistance is normally delivered through these organizations. Can the project provide incentives to such organizations, in the form of technical assistance and training support, to increase the percentage of women members and agree to activities that would also benefit women? Is there an adequate number of intermediaries to implement such a program? What are their training and capacity building needs? Capacity of women to participate in development activities will be another key issue. While this will be addressed through a planned and systematic capacity building program appropriately sequenced to maximize the impact of project funding, the costs and corresponding benefits will need to be closely monitored.Intersectoral collaboration in addressing women's issues will also be tested . Assistance to women can be successful only if it is multi-sectoral. The LIL will test out mechanisms for inter-sectoral collaboration. The majority of poor rural Ethiopian women lead a life that appears more difficult than their counterparts in Sub-Saharan countries like Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania. Cultural and traditional restraints are exacerbated by the state of the environment in Ethiopia, leaving women in most parts struggling for survival. Within this context, how can development assistance be provided in a meaningful manner? Will men be supportive of such means of enhancing household welfare?Sustainability. What are the issues related to sustainability of these grassroots activities? If the program is to be expanded, what are the potential benefits and risks involved? 9. Program of Targeted Intervention (PTI) N 10. Environment Aspects (including any public consultation) Issues The project involves no major construction. Where construction is needed, such as for a day care center, it is expected to be a small tukul or such indigenous structure, not involving any environmental damage. The proposed action plans will contain a section on possible impacts of the proposed activity(ies) on the environment and community. At the same time, the project will encourage activities that will protect and conserve the environment. Activities will include group nurseries, group wood lots, and soil erosion prevention. Activities may also involve discouraging women from depending on fuelwood sale for their livelihood and channeling them into other productive activities that do not adversely affect the environment. The project would also promote actions that could help protect the environment such as hygienic (e.g. - 11 - sanitation and waste disposal) practices that households and communities can adopt. Monitoring and evaluation, MIS will also try to have some indicators that would measure the environmental effects of the project. 11. Contact Point: Task Manager Christine Lao Pena The World Bank 1818 H Street, NW Washington D.C. 20433 Telephone: 202 473-5421 Fax: 202 473-8107 12. For information on other project related documents contact: The InfoShop The World Bank 1818 H Street, NW Washington, D.C. 20433 Telephone: (202) 458-5454 Fax: (202) 522-1500 Web: http:// www.worldbank.org/infoshop Note: This is information on an evolving project. Certain components may not be necessarily included in the final project. - 12 -