The FINANCIAL — The World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors on September 29 approved two International Development Association (IDA) credit and grant amounting US$115 million for Côte d’Ivoire.
The first program supports the country’s long-term efforts focused on strengthening public administration and facilitating private-sector growth, improved governance and a more conducive business climate to reduce extreme poverty and promote shared prosperity. The second program is a funding for the Africa Higher Education Centers of Excellence (ACE) Project, according to the World Bank.
“Today’s approved programs come at an opportune moment to accelerate and scale up the WBG engagement. They will take advantage of Côte d’Ivoire’s current climate of renewed stability to strengthen the economy and eliminate long-standing disparities aggravated by a decade of multifaceted crisis,” said Ousmane Diagana, World Bank Country Director for Côte d’Ivoire, Burkina Faso, Togo, Benin and Guinea.
The Third Poverty Reduction Support Credit (PRSC-3) is a budget support through a single-tranche disbursement in the amount of US$100 million. Like its predecessors, PRSC-1 and PRSC-2, this third operation focuses on reform areas that reflect the country’s current context and advance its development priorities. These include: strengthening public confidence in government by improving budgetary transparency and the accountability of public officials; building investor confidence through rapid, highly visible improvements in the business climate; and boosting economic opportunity by focusing on potential sources of growth and employment, particularly labor-intensive exports.
Cocoa, cashew and cotton production are major sources of household income in rural Côte d’Ivoire. Measures included in the PRSC-3 to promote domestic cashew processing will provide much-needed employment opportunities in the country’s northern region. In addition, the implementation of the strategy for maintaining rural roads is expected to facilitate access to markets and reduce costs for farmers in the rural areas where the poorest are located.
“The PRSC-3 is expected to have positive direct impacts on both poor and non-poor households by accelerating economic growth and expanding employment and income opportunities. It will also have positive indirect effects on poverty by enhancing the government’s ability to execute pro-poor spending and implement socially beneficial policies,’’ said Samba Ba, Senior Economist and Task Team Leader of the operation.
The second financing, an IDA grant of US$15 million for the Africa Higher Education Centers of Excellence (ACE) Project will help recipient institutions to promote regional specialization among participating universities to deliver quality training and applied research.
ACE will finance the strengthening of three additional Higher Education Centers of Excellence in Côte d’Ivoire with a focus on preparing high quality graduates and applied research in the areas of climate change adaptation, statistics, and sustainable mining. It will support skills development and research capacity in these priority areas by drawing on specialized departments and faculty in higher education institutions (HEIs).
“As part of the comprehensive reform program, higher education is a priority for Côte d’Ivoire. The Government aims to make significant improvements in the employability of graduates, the governance of institutions and the quality of education. Ivorian HEIs, leaders in the region, prior to the conflict, are beginning to show signs of being able to resume a regional leading role in higher education,” said Andreas Blom, Lead Economist and Task Team Leader of the project.
More specifically, ACE will support Côte d’Ivoire’s three main academic entities: Institut National Polytechnique Felix Houphouet Boigny, based in Yamoussoukro city, to develop a center of excellence for mining and environment; University Félix Houphouet Boigny to develop a center of excellence for climate change adaption and bio-diversity, and National School of Statistics and Applied Economics to strengthen its position as a regional center of excellence for training of statisticians.
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