WASHINGTON, September 8, 2020 – The World Bank Board of Executive Directors today approved a $75 million grant from the International Development Association (IDA)* to help Chad scale up support for refugees and host communities through improved access to basic social services and livelihoods. This additional financing under the Refugees and Host Communities Support Project (PARCA) is being funded by the IDA-19 regional sub-window for refugees and host communities.
According to Rasit Pertev, World Bank Country Manager for Chad, “this project will significantly increase coverage for refugees and poor and vulnerable Chadian households. An estimated 495,000 additional persons could benefit from cash transfers, productive inclusion activities, and support measures. This operation will also increase access to social services by stepping up investment to rehabilitate or build new public service infrastructure.”
This additional financing will help improve access to health and education services, as well as to cash transfers or programs that support productive activities, and expand the coverage area to include four more provinces (Wadi-Fira, Mandoul, Ennedi-Est, and Moyen Chari) that will join the three provinces already supported by PARCA (Logone Oriental, Ouaddai, and Lac).
Under the project, refugees and the rest of the population will have equal access to social protection and social services. It will therefore support the application of the law on asylum once it has been approved, as well as the government's efforts to develop a new social protection strategy that includes refugees and implement the specific objectives and activities of the new Comprehensive Refugee Response Framework (CRRF).
PARCA is aligned with the World Bank Group strategy for fragility, conflict, and violence (FCV) , which prioritizes the full inclusion of the most vulnerable communities, including refugees and host communities, when the impact of conflicts transcends the country’s borders. It is being implemented in partnership with several agencies, such as the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the World Food Program (WFP), the Directorate General for European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (ECHO), and other relevant agencies.
*The World Bank’s International Development Association (IDA), established in 1960, helps the world’s poorest countries by providing grants and low- to zero-interest loans for programs that boost economic growth, help reduce poverty, and improve poor people’s lives. IDA is one of the largest sources of assistance for the 1.5 billion people living in the world’s 75 poorest countries, 39 of which are in Africa. Annual commitments have averaged around $18 billion over the past three years, with about 54% going to Africa.
