| Grant Profile: |
| Project Title: |
Haiti Community Driven Development Pilot Project |
| PCF/LICUS/SPF: |
PCF |
Status: |
Closed |
| File Number: |
253
| Region: |
LAC |
| Sector: |
Urban Development |
Country: |
Haiti |
| FY approved: |
2003 |
Grant Theme : |
Social dev/gender/inclusion |
| Keyword(s): |
Community-driven development;Capacity building |
Approved Amount: |
$1,015,025.00 |
 |
Grant Recipient:
Pan American Development Foundation (PADF) |
Grant Purpose:
The main purpose of the grant was to help prevent a further deterioration in living conditions in rural areas with high levels of poverty by piloting in two selected communes, one in the Southeast Department (Anse-à-Pitres) and one in the Northeast Department (Ouanaminthe), a community-driven development (CDD) methodology and techniques which supported:
(1) Improving well-being and incomes of the rural poor through better access to basic social and economic infrastructure and to support for income-generating activities;
(2) Strengthening the social cohesion and building social capital of local communities to organize collectively to better meet their own needs;
(3) Improving local governance by greater citizen participation and transparency in open-decision making process through creation and strengthening of community associations and local institutions;
(4) Fostering closer integration of development programs and projects at the local level by assisting local institutions to extend their role in seeking funding, priority-setting and decision-making over resources allocation.
More specifically, the projectl targeted community groups and associations representing the interest of the local poor, to identify and prioritize their collective needs, to develop concrete proposals based on pre-established program criteria, to directly receive grant funds, and to implement, account for, evaluate and maintain their own community development initiatives.
|
Grant Activities:
Component 1: Community Subprojects
This component provided small matching grants to rural community groups and associations (CAs), financing a total of 44 infrastructure, productive and social subprojects identified by the groups involved as priority investments that would improve their groups’ and community’s well-being.
Component 2: Capacity Building and Technical Assistance
This component financed technical assistance (TA) and training, to build the capacity of targeted implementing community groups or associations. The project included assistance as required in the areas of communication campaigns and mobilization, organization and preparation of subproject proposals, and in the operation and maintenance of grant-supported investments.
Component 3: Project Administration and Operation
This component financed incremental cost of project coordination and administration, including supervision, monitoring, impact evaluation, and an end-of-project independent evaluation.
|
Results:
• This project piloted a new development approach in Haiti that stakeholders valued highly. In particular, the focus on community participation to select community priorities was highly appreciated by the beneficiaries, as well as those directly involved in project activities.
• The project was apparently one of the first CDD-based experiences in Haiti where community-based organizations identify and decide in a participatory way priorities for their communities.
• Another innovative aspect of this pilot was that community-based organizations managed funds allocated to them to implement subprojects.
• Strong financial management - only one subproject raised claims of mismanagement of funds, and this was addressed and solved by the community itself.
• This project allowed the World Bank, as well as the implementing agency, PADF, to directly support communities despite central government’s lack of capacity during a major political crisis in 2004.
• The institutional arrangements put in place at the community level by this project for identification and selection of subprojects were effective, useful, and extremely pertinent in the Haiti context.
• This was an initial pilot and as such provided lessons that informed and paved the way for a subsequent LICUS grant and IDA-funded project that replicated the approach nationwide.
|
Lessons Learned:
• The CDD-based approach is an effective way of financing community-level development projects and can be implemented even in times of political instability and conflict and poor state performance.
• The CDD-based projects in difficult contexts are much appreciated by communities because the projects transfer resources and decision making directly to communities.
• CDD projects create spaces for dialogue between different community groups in situations where formal institutions are absent and previous mechanisms for social dialogue may be weakened by political instability. For that matter, these projects can reinforce community cohesion and resilience to risks for violence and polarization.
• The CDD-based projects should always represent the priorities of the community and not just those of committee members who might influence the selection and implementation process.
• Selected subprojects should benefit the majority of community members, after a careful technical scrutiny of potential project benefits.
• Technical quality of subprojects often hampers their impact and sustainability.
• The technical aspects of subprojects such as technical specifications, assessment of recurrent costs, revenue estimates, need to be taken into consideration prior to subprojects being recommended for approval by communities.
Key challenges:
• Some stakeholders questioned the technical quality of some infrastructure subprojects and the likely sustainability of the income-generating activities.
• On occasion, community members highlighted their discontent with selected priorities. While the institutional architecture was a major innovation in regards to previous participative development approaches in Haiti, some stakeholders raised the question whether COPRODEPs represent the needs of representatives of community-based organizations or the interests and views of community members.
• Ensuring sustainability and durability of subprojects remained a major concern and challenge.
|
|
