General

The Inclusive Growth and Economic Competitiveness Support Programme (PACICE) seeks to contribute to sustainable and shared economic growth by promoting efficiency, equity and transparency in public resource management, and creating conditions conducive to inclusive private sector development. The programme aims to: (i) promote reforms that ultimately lead to the institution of gender-sensitive and results-based budgeting by mainstreaming the gender dimension into public policies and factoring gender and employment indicators into public investment programmes; (ii) promote reforms that improve the business environment and develop the private sector, especially SMEs, by specifically supporting women entrepreneurship and the initiatives of young entrepreneurs. In addition, the PACICE should contribute to consolidating gains from reforms initiated under past budget support operations and also support the implementation of activities scheduled under the on-going Institutional Support Project, PAPSP. The programme has two components, namely: (i) Improvement of State efficiency, accountability, transparency and equity in public management; and (ii) Improvement of corporate governance and the business environment to ensure inclusive private sector development.

Objectives

PACICE development objective is to create appropriate conditions that guarantee sustainable and inclusive economic growth by mainstreaming the gender and job-creation dimension through improvement of economic and financial governance, and support to private sector development.

Target Groups

Although the entire population of Senegal should benefit from this programme because it focuses on inclusive and job-creating growth, women and the youth should benefit more as public service users, entrepreneurs and stakeholders in various representation structures (civil society, socio-professional organisations, dialogue frameworks such as the CPI or the National Land Reform Commission, etc.). With respect to impact and outcomes, PACICE should directly strengthen institutions responsible for reform implementation, especially those under the Ministry of Economy and Finance, the Audit Bench, APIX, the Ministry in charge of SMEs and ADEPME, and DREAT.

General

The proposed operation is for an ADB Loan of Two billion three hundred million South African Rand (2.3 billion ZAR), to the Republic of Namibia to finance the second Phase of the Governance and Economic Recovery Support Program (GERSP II). The GERSP is designed as a programmatic series of two consecutive General Budget Support (GBS) operations covering the fiscal years 2021/22-2022/23 for total indicative financing of 3.8 billion Rand. This second phase follows Board approval of the first phase on 17 March 2021 for an amount of 1.5 billion Rand and subsequent implementation of the related program measures. The processing of this second phase of the operation (GERSP II) was made possible by the satisfactory implementation of the first phase in accordance with the Bank's PBO policy. GERP-II maintains the same three mutually reinforcing and complementary components of GERP-I. Component 1, Attaining Fiscal Sustainability; Component 2, Supporting Private sector-led Agriculture and Industrial Sector Transformation; Component 3, Enhancing Economic and Social Inclusion.

Objectives

The overarching development objective of GERSP II is to continue to strengthen resilience and enhance inclusive post-pandemic economic recovery through improved governance and real sector reforms. The program will continue to support Namibia’s medium to long term development agenda, with particular emphasis on enhancing fiscal performance, revival of critical sectors of the economy, development of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), and social protection.

Target Groups

The beneficiaries of the program remain the same as in GERSP I. The direct beneficiaries are the various Ministries, Departments and Agencies whose reforms are being supported by the operation. These are the Ministry of Finance; Ministry of Industrialization and Trade; Ministry of Public Enterprises; Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Land Reform; and Ministry of Gender Equality, Poverty Eradication and Social Welfare. The private sector will benefit from improved investment opportunities in agriculture and industry (including in sustainable special economic zones), and PPP opportunities. The MSMEs will benefit from improved policy framework and access to affordable finance. Entrepreneurs in the formal and informal sectors will benefit from job opportunities as well as higher retention rates in targeted industries. The program will ultimately indirectly benefit all citizens of Namibia as enhanced fiscal performance will help to expand fiscal space for development and pro-poor spending; and climate sensitive sector reforms will help to attract private investments for green growth and job creation. The operation will contribute to strengthened policy frameworks for economic empowerment of women and is a category III on the Gender Marker System.

General

The winter-cold deserts of Central Asia are important migration areas for birds and for the last wild ungulate herds of the north, which include the rare Saiga antelopes. The grazing grounds in these areas are also an important basis for the livelihoods of the local human populations. In addition, these unique natural regions absorb large amounts of carbon from the atmosphere and slow down the ongoing process of desertification. The project helped the partner institutions with sustainable land use planning that involved the region’s populations, and also supported the establishment of protected areas and world natural heritage sites. It networked key stakeholders and supported the partner countries in implementing their international CBD and UNFCCC obligations. This was carried out by means of policy advice, scientific cooperation, training measures and the introduction of the regional desert initiative “CADI” – the Central Asian Desert Initiative.