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ISLAMABAD, Dec 5: The World Bank (WB) has approved a $27.153 million project to assist Azad Jammu and Kashmir government to restore vital economic and social infrastructure damaged or destroyed by the October-8 earthquake. The AJK-Community Infrastructure and Services Project (AJK- CISP) and Additional Financing Earthquake Recovery Project (ERP) would be implemented by the AJK government.
The objective of the proposed AJK CISP project is to improve the well-being of unserved and underserved low income communities through the delivery of cost effective and sustainable community development schemes, and basic infrastructure and services, using participatory community-based approaches.
The objective would be achieved by strengthening the role and capabilities of local governments at the district and lower levels to extend technical, financial, and management support to community-based organizations (CBOs).
The CBOs would be mobilized and their capacity would be built to increase their participation in development activities and effective governance.
It will try to achieve transparency and accountability through improvements in operational, monitoring and evaluation, and financial and budgetary procedures for project implementation.
The project will support the development of a participative development framework to be implemented by the district and other lower levels of government working closely with communities and their community-based organizations (CBOs).
PROJECT COMPONENTS: The project will have three complementary components.
The first component is the decentralized planning and implementation assistance ($3.08 million). This component will develop the capacity of the state, district, communities/CBOs through specialized services and training assistance in institutional strengthening through improved procedures for project implementation, monitoring and evaluation, and training and capacity building activities.
This component will finance capacity-building activities and services by consultants and other service providers such as local consulting groups, private sector firms, NGOs, training and academic institutions.
The community development ($2.133 million) component will include mobilization, organization, and capacity building through training and technical assistance in the development of Community Action Plans (CAP) as the basis for the active participation of communities in the planning, implementation, and management of their development programmes.
The programmes will include systematic training on various parts of the scheme cycle including survey design, construction technologies and community initiatives, and field support activities.
This component will also include health and environmental sanitation awareness (HESA) programme to reduce morbidity by generating demand for safe water, sanitation, and other basic infrastructure, and for the improvement of the overall environment. Similarly, support to women and children (SWC) in areas of health, skills and management training, economic/functional literacy, and livelihood improvement through linkages with economic and micro-credit facilities will also be carried out under this component.
A complementary economic literacy (or functional literacy) assistance will be provided for 10 to 15 per cent of participating community households; emphasis will be on adult literacy and in activities to help combat other urban pathologies (youth violence) emerging in many urban low income areas.
This component will finance mostly capacity building and training activities for the CBOs and their members, and related equipment as needed.
