December 20, 2022 (MLN): The World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors has approved $1.692 billion in financing for five projects to support people living in flood-affected areas of Sindh Province in Pakistan, said a press release issued by the bank on Monday.
Three projects support rehabilitation and housing reconstruction and the restoration of crop production for vulnerable communities, while another two projects support health services for mothers and children, it added.
“Sindh was the province worst affected by the 2022 floods. There was huge damage to the housing, health, and agriculture sectors and people lost their livelihoods. Beyond the rehabilitation and reconstruction of damaged houses and infrastructure, our engagement in the flood response effort is an opportunity to strengthen resilience, and reform institutions and governance structures”, said Najy Benhassine, World Bank Country Director for Pakistan.
Three projects will support rehabilitation and housing reconstruction and the restoration of crop production for vulnerable communities while the remaining two projects will support health services for mothers and children.
In addition to it, $500 million will be provided for Sindh flood emergency rehabilitation. Another $500mn will be provided for the reconstruction of houses.
The bank will also extend support of $292mn, and $200mn for the agriculture sector of the province and social protection.
The Sindh Flood Emergency Rehabilitation Project will help rehabilitate damaged infrastructure, provide short-term livelihood opportunities, and strengthen the government's capacity to respond to disasters. The project will help restore and improve critical irrigation and flood protection infrastructure, water supply schemes, roads, and related infrastructure.
At least 2 million people—approximately 50% of whom are women—in the most flood-affected districts will benefit from the restoration and the resilient reconstruction of critical infrastructure.
A community-level cash-for-work program will provide short-term income support to approximately 100,000 households.
This will include semi-skilled and unskilled labor and will support livestock restocking for affected smallholder livestock farmers.
The Sindh Water and Agriculture Transformation Project will increase agricultural water productivity, improve integrated water resources management, and restore crop production by flood-affected farmers.
More than 385,000 households are expected to benefit from the project. As an immediate response to the floods, the project will provide cash transfers to approximately 300,000 flood-affected farming households to help restore crop production through the purchase of seeds, fertilizer, and other critical inputs.
In the medium term around 70,000 households will benefit from improved irrigation services and agricultural support that will help boost farming income. An estimated 14,000 households will receive direct financial benefits from the pilot smart subsidy schemes targeting small- and medium-sized farmers.
The Sindh Strengthening Social Protection Delivery System Project will strengthen the provincial social protection delivery system and enhance access to and utilization of maternal and child health services.
The project supports alignment and connectivity with the Federal National Database Registration Authority and will provide conditional cash transfers (CCTs) to 1.3 million mothers and their children to support improved maternal and child health outcomes, particularly in the wake of service disruption after the floods.
The CCTs will be available to the bottom 15 districts of Sindh, selected on the basis of the Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI), and cover 65 percent of the total flood-affected areas in the province to help mitigate flood impacts, particularly food insecurity, and enable continued use of maternal and children health services.
The Sindh Integrated Health and Population Project will help improve both the quality and utilization of basic reproductive, maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health and nutrition services. It will also help in the rehabilitation and reconstruction of health infrastructure that was damaged in the floods, disrupting the delivery of these services. The project will improve access to quality healthcare services for, the population of the selected Government Dispensaries in remote and peri-urban areas especially women, girls, and children, and in the flood-affected settlements in Sindh.
The World Bank will continue to support the Government and people of Pakistan to recover from the recent flood emergency and strengthen long-term resilience to such climate-related shocks.
Copyright Mettis Link News
Posted on: 2022-12-20T10:42:48+05:00
