China - Poor Rural Communities Development Project

Report No. 23174 Report No: I071094 <--Please check for duplicates! Integrated Safeguards Data Sheet (Initial) Date ISDS Prepared/Updated: 10/19/2001 Section I - Basic Information A. Basic Project Data Country: CHINA Project ID: P071094 Project: POOR RURAL COMMUNITIES DEVELOPMENT PROJECT Task Team Leader: Alan L. Piazza Appraisal Date: December 20, 2002 IBRD Amount ($m): 150.00 Board Date: July 8, 2003 IDA Amount ($m): Managing Unit: EASRD Sector: AY - Other Agriculture Lending Instrument: Specific Investment Loan (SIL) Status: Lending I.A.2. Project Objectives: The development objective of the project is to improve livelihoods security and achieve sustained participation of the poorest rural people in selected counties of the four target provinces. I.A.3. Project Description: A. Participatory Approach It has been agreed that participation will be a key feature of project design, implementation, monitoring and impact assessment. It is noted that, in current poor rural China, a top-down poverty alleviation strategy is widely adopted, and neither government officials nor poor people themselves have much experience of participatory approaches. This is most clearly seen in the current practice of producing Village Development Plans (VDP) which reflect decisions made in higher levels of a hierarchical government structure. At present, VDPs are not adequately flexible, do not necessarily reflect the needs of primary stakeholders, and lack local ownership. To ensure that the proposed project will fulfill the principles of being flexible, responsive and innovative, it is imperative to introduce participatory approaches to local authorities. The objectives of introducing the participatory approach are that the poor should not only be able to influence the design and implementation of the project but, by the end of the project, should also be able to exert influence over local decision-making. Introducing a participatory approach would include the following activities: providing training to project staff and local officials, including village leaders, about participatory approaches; identifying the participatory techniques most appropriate for the various stages of the project cycle and for different stakeholders; and to develop and test a training system in participatory techniques that could be adopted by the project; implementing various participatory monitoring and evaluation tools, assessing their effectiveness in ensuring the participation of the most disadvantaged population within the communities and developing guidelines in the application of such tools; and assisting the poor communities in completing village development plans and  in reviewing and adjusting such plans through a participatory approach. B. Project Components: Component I: Sustainable Mountain Agriculture Development. The component will support agricultural development for communities living in remote mountainous environments. The implementation of the component will stick to two principles: targeting and reaching all households and environmental protection. Sustainable mountain agriculture will include the following activities: improving village land use through (i) intensification of use on households' more fertile plots while protecting or rehabilitating tree and grass cover, and (ii) ensuring full participation of village communities in decision-making and identifying appropriate technology; providing assistance and training to households to develop farmer-to-farmer services. Opportunities identified in ethnic minority areas relate to the activities such as tree nursery growers, pig breeders, village blacksmiths, grain millers, tea drying facilities, and masonry; extension of applied research and technical assistance; and improving food security for the poorest villages and households. This activity will require more than basic farmland construction. Component II: Basic Rural Infrastructure Construction. The continuing lack of basic rural infrastructure and environmental degradation in the proposed project area make living conditions harsh and arduous. Sub-projects of this component include roads, paths, electrification, soil conservation, small-scale water resource system (for both drinking and irrigation purposes) and other infrastructure. Adequate community participation is imperative in the process of sub-project selection, construction, and maintenance to ensure the sub-projects reflect the need and priority of local residents. For example, given that a substantial proportion of project villages would be located in karst environments and other areas vulnerable to water shortages, small-scale water resource system would be a key element of village infrastructure construction, which would include activities such as clearly identifying community needs, customs and habits, particularly those of ethnic minorities; reviewing and refining proposed designs to ensure technical quality and responsiveness to conditions in the villages; constructing the system; and providing training in the management and maintenance. Component III: Basic Education. Despite notable achievements at the national level, primary schooling and vocational education in the proposed project areas are still marked by poor attendance and very low on-time graduation rate. There is a clear strong demand for basic education services. The component would address the challenges of: a) high levels of adult illiteracy; b) low access to primary education by poorer and more vulnerable children, particularly girls and disabled children; c) inadequate skills and capabilities of many teachers; d) the low educational attainment of many children of minority groups due to their inability to understand the language of instruction; and e) poor infrastructure, much of which is in need of repair. The basic education component will include the following activities: providing training for primary school teacher; focusing on vocational education for both school pupils and adults; innovative methods to reduce the costs of education for poor and vulnerable children should be developed, such as the use of revolving book funds; developing bilingual education system in both major minority languages and Chinese; and -2-  promoting the integration of disabled children into the education system. Component IV: Basic Health. One of the greatest challenges to be faced by the proposed project will be to improve the health status of the target population. In proposed project area, there is excessive morbidity and mortality in many communities. For instance, in some communities infant mortality is particularly high while, in others, malaria is a significant problem. Health services in the administrative villages are of low standard (and nonexistent in most natural villages). Although there is usually a health post in the administrative villages, most have virtually no equipment or medicines, and the wages of village medical workers are very low. The cost of health care and transport difficulties also mean that poor ill people are often unable to access the higher levels of the health service (e.g., township and above). The basic health component will develop a strategy focusing on impacting on health outcomes. This would mean that health work would not just be concerned with the provision of health services but would take a more integrated approach to health improvement. As priorities, the component will consider focusing on impacting on infant mortality, maternal mortality and prominent diseases - such as malaria - in specific counties and regions. Component V: Local Capacity Building Program with A Focus on Village Leader Training. Village leaders are one part of the group of key figures in the China's current rural governance system. They are responsible for many policies and activities including running the local tax system, resolving disputes, launching entrepreneurial duties, ensuring fulfillment of the state grain procurement quota, determining land reallocation, allocating and monitoring poverty reduction funds, and designing village development plans. The proposed project, as a grass roots and multisectoral poverty reduction project, will certainly interface with village leaders, and there is no doubt that village leaders can play a key role in changing the way polices and project activities are implemented. However, it is widely observed that village leaders lack the skills necessary for them to play a more effective role in village development. A preliminary plan of the local capacity building component is to train village leaders in the skills that they need for their everyday duties and to teach them the skills that will become more useful in the governance system that can be expected to develop as China modernizes. Some of the possible areas of training include public management, participatory methods, accounting, project management, dispute resolution, infrastructure construction skills (such as basic knowledge of road construction and terracing), and courses teaching the content and nature of China's rural policies. Component VI: Rural Enterprise Development Initiative. The experience of other World Bank supported poverty reduction projects show that there are two major factors which resulted in an unsatisfactory performance of the rural enterprise development component, these are (a) a serious lack of marketing information, human capital and management skills, and a weak transportation condition in most poor areas, and (b) flaws in the procedure of enterprise selection (that is, the county level project management office played the key role in selecting enterprises, and this often resulted in the selection of nonviable enterprises). Therefore, the proposed rural enterprise development component would explore a new strategy that shifts the focus from selecting and setting up new enterprises through direct project investments to providing more services and other assistance in order to foster a better development environment - 3 -  for enterprises. If agreement can be achieved, the rural enterprise development component would include the following three activities: establishing an intermediary organization (such as an NGOs or some type of company) which supplies basic services to both collective and private enterprises in the project area. The services supplied by the intermediary organization could include, but not be limited to, credit guarantees, consulting services for technical upgrading, management improvement, marketing, ownership transformation, and other capacity building activities. The list of the possible services could be developed on the basis of an assessment of enterprises' needs. avoiding direct support for enterprises through project investments. In the case that directly supporting enterprises development is required, the number of enterprises must be strictly limited and the central PMO and provincial PMOs must have the power to select enterprises. The component will identify and establish an appropriate procedure for the central and provincial PMOs to select enterprise; finally, supporting private microenterprise development and experiment with microleasing, particularly in remote ethnic minority areas where rural industry is currently very limited or does not exist. I.A.4. Project Location: (Geographic location, information about the key environmental and social characteristics of the area and population likely to be affected, and proximity to any protected areas, or sites or critical natural habitats, or any other culturally or socially sensitive areas.) About 28 counties and 2.5 million poor people in Yunnan, Sichuan, Guizhou, and Guangxi provinces. B. Check Environmental Classification: B (Partial Assessment) Comments: The safeguards team endorsed the proposed "B" environmental category. During discussion with the TTL, it was determined that the scale of local investments would be small, environmental impacts of these activities are well understood, there are well-developed mitigation measures, and China has a good track record in previous projects of this type. Thus the "B" categorization is justified. The project will include a substantial amount of civil works and construction under Components 2 and 4, however, there will be no new roads built in the area, only repair and upgrading of existing roads and paths. C. Safeguard Policies Triggered Policy Applicability Environmental Assessment (OP/BP/GP 4.01) Yes Forestry (OP/GP 4.36) TBD Natural Habitats (OP/BP 4.04) No Safety of Dams (OP/BP 4.37) No Pest Management (OP 4.09) TBD Involuntary Resettlement (OD 4.30) Yes Indigenous Peoples (OD 4.20) Yes Cultural Property (OP 4.11) No Projects in Disputed Territories (OP/BP/GP 7.60)* No Projects in International Waterways (OP/BP/GP 7.50) No *By supporting the proposed project, the Bank does not intend to prejudice the final determination of the parties' claims on the disputed areas Section II - Key Safeguard Issues and Their Management - 4 -  D. Summary of Key Safeguard Issues. Please fill in all relevant questions. If information is not available, describe steps to be taken to obtain necessary data. II.D.la. Describe any safeguard issues and impacts associated with the proposed project. Identify and describe any potential large scale, significant and/or irreversible impacts. OP 4.01 -- Environmental Assessment The overall objective and tentative design of the proposed project suggest that the net environmental impact of the project will be positive and that negative environmental effects will not be irreversible or long-term. The proposed project would bring environmental benefits, through a more efficient use of natural resources, such as land, water, and forest. Other positive impacts are expected through the farm production improvement and marketing component, which would address issues like soil erosion, soil mining, nutrient leaching, and promote environmentally sustainable agricultural production and marketing practices. The most substantial negative environmental effects of the proposed project can be expected from a more intensive agriculture production which might involve higher use of inputs like fertilizer etc.. The proposed project will put strong emphasis on mitigating these effects by introducing more efficient application techniques to farmers. There is some risk that road upgarding or repair in remote areas could improve access to forest resources and increase deforestation. However, this possible impact should be largely offset by other infrastructure improvements which should make rural settlements more attractive, contribute to improved livelihoods, and reduce overall pressure on forests by shifting cultivators. Activity under project preparation will include a detailed environmental annex to the PAD and the formulation of a comprehensive screening mechanism. EASES has examples of environmental screening guidelines and will provide them to the project team to use as models. It was noted that local capacity in the project affected areas would have to be increased before the screening mechanism could be properly implemented, and the TTL stated that one of the other donors in the project, the UK's Department for International Development (DFID), was concentrating on that process already. OD 4.20 (being converted to OP 4.10) -- Indigenous Peoples It is expected more than half of the project beneficiaries will be extremely disadvantaged ethnic minority people, so an Indigenous Peoples Development Plan is not required. However a social assessment will be conducted to confirm that the majority of beneficiaries will indeed be ethnic minorities. Even if the majority of beneficiaries will not be ethnic minorities, the meeting agreed that they would be assisted by the project, and a framework would be developed to guide the project. OD 4.30 (being converted to OP 4.12) -- Involuntary Resettlement There will be no construction or land acquisition is planned in this project; however, a resettlement framework adapted from the one used in the Vietnam Northern Mountains Poverty Reduction project will be developed for this project. The meeting agreed that no Resettlement Action Plan is needed. OP 4.04 -- Natural Habitats -5-  The project team was prevented from visiting an area of Ximeng County that was inhabited by wild elephants. The TTL had determined that the project will probably avoid the area if the government of China's proposal to remove the elephants is enacted, rather than the project's plan to work with the communities with the elephants in situ. The need for activity under this policy is still To Be Determined. OPN 11.03 (being converted to OP 4.11) -- Cultural Property The project could impact cultural sites of significance such as spirit forests or sacred landscapes. The community-driven development agenda of the project, the screening mechanism described above, and Chinese national law, will include provisions to address Cultural Property. The need for activity under this policy is still To Be Determined. II.D.lb. Describe any potential cumulative impacts due to application of more than one safeguard policy or due to multiple project component. TBD. II.D.lc Describe any potential long term impacts due to anticipated future activities in the project area. TBD. II.D.2. In light of 1, describe the proposed treatment of alternatives (if required) Not required. II.D.3. Describe arrangement for the borrower to address safeguard issues TBD II.D.4. Identify the key stakeholders and describe the mechanisms for consultation and disclosure on safeguard policies, with an emphasis on potentially affected people. The participatory approach is discussed in Section I A.3 ("Participatory Approach") above. The Chinese Government has stressed the need for making its poverty reduction program more community-driven and participatory, and considers PRCDP to be a key first step and mechanism in achieving this important goal. Initial project preparation work has given an unusually heavy emphasis on participatory design and analysis. As part of this process, the DFID China Desk has already funded a participatory poverty assessment (PPA) in the proposed project area, and the PPA team's report "Listening to the Voices of the Poor: Lessons and Recommendations from the PPA Study in Nanhua County, Yunnan" is available upon request. E. Safeguards Classification. Category is determined by the highest impact in any policy. Or on basis of cumulative impacts from multiple safeguards. Whenever an individual safeguard policy is triggered the provisions of that policy apply. I S1. - Significant, cumulative and/or irreversible impacts; or significant technical and institutional risks in management of one or more safeguard areas [XI S2. - One or more safeguard policies are triggered, but effects are limited in their impact and are technically and institutionally manageable I S3. - No safeguard issues I SF. - Financial intermediary projects, social development funds, - 6 -  community driven development or similar projects which require a safeguard framework or programmatic approach to address safeguard issues. F. Disclosure Requirements Environmental Assessment/Analysis/Management Plan: Expected Actual Date of receipt by the Bank 8/1/2002 Date of "in-country" disclosure 8/1/2002 Date of submission to InfoShop 8/1/2002 Date of distributing the Exec. Summary of the EA to the ED (For category A projects) Resettlement Action Plan/Framework: Expected Actual Date of receipt by the Bank 8/1/2002 Date of "in-country" disclosure 8/1/2002 Date of submission to InfoShop 8/1/2002 Indigenous Peoples Development Plan/Framework: Expected Actual Date of receipt by the Bank Not Available Not Available Date of "in-country" disclosure Not Available Not Available Date of submission to InfoShop Not Available Not Available Pest Management Plan: Expected Actual Date of receipt by the Bank Not Available Not Available Date of "in-country" disclosure Not Available Not Available Date of submission to InfoShop Not Available Not Available Dam Safety Management Plan: Expected Actual Date of receipt by the Bank Not Available Not Available Date of "in-country" disclosure Not Available Not Available Date of submission to InfoShop Not Available Not Available If in-country disclosure of any of the above documents is not expected, please explain why. Signed and submitted by Name Date Task Team Leader: Alan L. Piazza 10/16/01 Project Safeguards Specialists 1: Chaohua Zhang Project Safeguards Specialists 2: Glenn Morgan Project Safeguards Specialists 3: Mary P. Judd Approved by: Name Date Regional Safeguards Coordinator: Glenn Morgan 10/18/01 Sector Manager/Director: Mark D. Wilson 10/16/01 For a list of World Bank news releases on projects and reports, click here - 7 -