Bloomberg Marrakesh package

Context: Bretton Woods Institutions ahead of the upcoming Annual Meetings of the World Bank Group
and the International Monetary Fund, which will be the first to take place in Africa since 1973.

Deadline: September 15

Proposed submissions for Ghana examples:

1) World Bank funding can successfully accelerate development: Ghana Productive Safety Net
Project
a. Challenges
In the decades that preceded effectiveness of the Ghana Productive Safety Net Project (GPSNP),
Ghana experienced significant economic growth with reduced poverty rate. In aggregate,
Ghana’s overall poverty rate – measured using the national poverty line – fell from 52.7 percent
in 1991 to 23.4 percent in 2016, leading to the attainment of the Millennium Development Goal
1 target of halving poverty. However, trends in poverty and inequality indicated that the gains in
poverty alleviation were stalling and were not uniform across the country. Households that lived
in areas with poor access to electricity, markets, or severe droughts and high temperatures were
less likely to transition out of poverty. Ecological conditions were also found to impact the
likelihood of poor households moving out of poverty. In 2016/17, the poverty incidence of 2.5
percent in the Greater Accra Region was about 21 percentage points lower than the national
average. While half of the regions, namely Western, Volta, Northern, Upper East, and Upper
West, experienced worsening poverty rates between 2012/13 and 2016/17, the other five
regions the poverty incidence rates decreased. Upper West region had the highest poverty rate
among all the 10 regions in Ghana, with a rate of 70.9 percent.

b. Response and Results

In response to the slowing economic growth, widening inequality, and deepening poverty, the
Government of Ghana (GoG) established and progressively expanded its safety nets programs,
invested in systems reforms to strengthen efficiency, transparency, and objectivity of social
protection delivery and increased financing to the sector over time. Building on this increasing
political will, the GPSNP sought to contribute to attaining Ghana’s goals for poverty alleviation
by strengthening safety net systems that improve the productivity of the poor. Building on gains
and lessons learned from the predecessor project, the Ghana Social Opportunities Project
(GSOP), the project sought to benefit the poorest households in all regions of Ghana as follows:
25,000 individuals through a productive inclusion program; 30,000 beneficiaries through a
Labor-Intensive Public Works program(LIPW); and 350,000 households through a Livelihood
Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP) cash transfer program. Beneficiaries were selected from
the poorest districts and communities using the most updated data available from the Ghana
Statistical Service.

The GPSNP)has been successful in its implementation, particularly during the COVID-19
pandemic. The project was able to adapt and leverage existing systems to provide additional
financing to beneficiaries and provide short-term labor in a safe and flexible manner. This
increased the project's relevance and helped it to achieve its objectives. One of the main
 successes of the GPSNP is its ability to surpass its targets for all but one indicator. For example,
the percentage of beneficiaries who initiated or expanded a household enterprise was 89.3
percent, surpassing the target of 70 percent. The average annual earnings of unskilled workers
in Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP) public works (LIPW) was 1078.56 cedi,
surpassing the target of 600. The percentage of respondents reporting that assets created
through LIPW improved their livelihoods was 99.5 percent, against a target of 70 percent. The
percentage of beneficiaries who are identified as extremely poor according to targeting criteria
was 77.1 percent, against a target of 70 percent. The only indicator that did not meet the target
was the percentage of LIPW payments and LEAP grants made on time to beneficiaries, which
was 35 percent below the target of 75 percent.

The project has significantly progressed since the Mid-term Review Mission in October 2021.
Disbursements are now at 96 percent, and the project will close out with 100 percent
disbursement. The overall rating of the GPSNP is satisfactory, indicating that the project has
achieved its objectives and contributed to poverty reduction in Ghana.

d. Background links and material

 PAD? Result stories?

 Implementation Status Results Report. Implementation Completion Report has been
cleared for Public Disclosure
https://documents1.worldbank.org/curated/en/099345212222237307/pdf/
P1646030812d410f60a66a0fa1b7bec6d20.pdf

Social Protection Programming in Pictures

Proposed interviews:
Education PM and TTL

2) World Bank funding can fail to reach its desired results, with lessons learnt from this experience
a. Challenges
 Beginning in 2000, Ghana accelerated its strong economic growth and Accra was one of the fastest
growing metropolises in Africa with a population of 1.66 million and an annual growth rate of 4.3
percent. The built-up area in Accra had expanded from 133 km2 in 1990 to 344 km2 in 2005 without
valid urban plans, while in the same period, the population doubled, which resulted in about a 40
percent decline in population density. Urban sprawl made it more difficult for local governments to
provide the necessary basic services in urban areas. At preparation, the urban transport sector in
Accra was facing serious issues associated with rapid urbanization and motorization. Motorization in
the Accra Metropolitan area, at 90 vehicles per 1,000 people, was higher than the average in Africa.
About 65 percent of vehicular movement had the Central Business District (CBD) as the destination.
Over-reliance on low-capacity passenger vehicles, inadequate traffic management, heavy
dependence on informal public transport services, inadequate non-motorized transport (NMT)
facilities, occupation of roads by hawkers, and so on created severe traffic congestion and
contributed to aggressive situations on the roads.

b. Response and Results

The Urban Transport Project (UTP) was developed with the objective of improving mobility in areas
of participating metropolitan, municipal or district assemblies (MMDAs) through a combination of
traffic engineering measures, management improvements, regulation of the public transport
industry, and implementation of the first Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system in Sub-Saharan Africa. The
project also gave significant weight to strengthening the urban transport sector’s institutional
structure, which was a milestone considering that passenger transport was mainly self-regulated by
an informal private sector and faced quality problems.

An IEG evaluation of the project noted that: ““The relevance of objectives and design is rated
substantial. However, there were major shortcomings in implementation leading to an
unsatisfactory outcome assessment.”

According to an evaluation, the UTP contributed, to some degree, to the establishment of a basic
regulatory and institutional framework for urban transport among the MMDAs. However, the
complexity of the urban transport sector was underestimated and the development of a new urban
transport system in parallel with a full-scale sector reform was seen as too ambitious. The project
was unable to solve the fundamental problem of the fragmented institutional framework for urban
transport in Ghana. This, together with a lack of ownership over the BRT and the QBS, resulted in
limited tangible contributions of the UTP to improved mobility and promotion of more
environmentally sustainable urban transport modes by project closure.

The incomplete outcomes of the project led to analyses of lessons learned and recommendations
for future projects focused around the need for cohesion and consensus around stakeholders;
sequential implementation of urban transport sector reform and the development of an urban
transport system; a solid M&E framework supported by a capable institutional capacity; and
establishing institutional arrangements with a clear mandate and involving various local government
units before designing a new system, among others.

These lessons learned have informed…

Background links and material

 https://documents1.worldbank.org/curated/en/933711488510098083/pdf/ICR-Ghana-Urban-
Transport-Project-P100619-FINAL-01262017-01312017.pdf
 GH-Urban Transport Project SIL (FY07) (English) Implementation Completion Report Review
 Implementation Completion and Report Review
 https://documents1.worldbank.org/curated/en/693091497031730021/pdf/ICRR-Disclosable-
P100619-06-09-2017-1497031717106.pdf