Intervention Summary: Ivory Coast Response: Save the Children (revised) What support will the UK provide? How much funding does the UK expect to provide? The UK approved an immediate DFID allocation of £998,736 to Save the Children on 4 May 2011 and is now allocating an additional tranche of £500,000. Period of funding? The funding period began on 1 April and runs until 30 September 2011. Why is UK support required? What need are we trying to address? Political unrest and conflict in the Ivory Coast following disputed presidential electoral results in late 2010 has claimed over 1,000 lives and displaced some 800,000 people from their homes across the country at the peak of the conflict. Large scale population displacement has been seen in and around Abidjan, Ivory Coast’s economic capital. In addition, an estimated 150,000 have been displaced in the West. In neighbouring Liberia, over 175,000 refugees have been registered. Protection of vulnerable groups affected by the conflict has been a major concern, including civilians caught up in the fighting, the sick and wounded, those deprived of their freedom and third country nationals. Following a dramatic upsurge in the conflict, which ICRC classified as a ‘noninternational conflict’, Gbagbo was arrested on 11 April. The international community is now planning for different scenarios that may develop over the coming weeks. Humanitarian Needs identified to date: Protection: the protection needs of Internally Displaced People (IDPs) and third country nationals. Prevention: the need for continuous dialogue and representations to actors on both sides of the political divide to remind them of their responsibilities under international humanitarian law. Immediate relief needs: Displaced populations and those hosting them have immediate relief needs, including food, water and sanitation, non-food items, education and medical care. Early recovery: early recovery activities are now possible in some areas where IDPs have been able to peacefully return. What will we do to tackle this problem? Who will be implementing the project? The situation in the Ivory Coast remains particularly fluid, so we are taking a phased approach, agreeing individual project interventions as the situation unfolds to ensure that we achieve good ‘value for money’ and ‘do no harm’. Given that DFID’s humanitarian programme will be managed from London, having trusted partners with strong track records in delivering results will be critical. DFID's overall humanitarian strategy for the Ivory Coast crisis focuses on protection, immediate assistance, building local capacity and early recovery. 1. Protection: By a) providing programmatic support to ICRC, internationally mandated as a protection agency and with a well-defined identity distinct from the UN; b) working with the FCO to press for a greater distinction between UN political/ peace-keeping and humanitarian roles and a stronger interpretation of the UNOCI mandate. A particular focus on Sexual and Gender Based Violence (SGBV) will be promoted in DFID funded responses. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. Immediate assistance: DFID will focus on creating an enabling environment, by supporting capacity gaps, including in coordination and logistics; and supporting front line agencies to provide immediate relief in priority sectors. Building local capacity: We will seek to build local capacity to recover from the crisis at both a community and government level. Where possible, we will avoid supporting the establishment of parallel structures, but we may need to do so in particular areas. Early recovery: Early recovery support is now possible in some areas where IDPs have been able to peacefully return. 8. 9. The initial 5 Case Model for Save the Children has now been revised, with a second tranche of funds to support early recovery needs which are now emerging as well as protection and immediate assistance. We have targeted Save the Children for a second tranche of funds because it is a trusted West Africa Humanitarian Response Fund (WAHRF) partner, with significant capacity on the ground. It is one of the largest international NGOs in Ivory Coast with the largest coverage in the country. It is also taking a flexible programming approach, which was identified as a vital need in our overall response strategy. Save the Children aims to reach 66,500 people with WASH, Shelter and Food Security support. This forms part of a wider multi-sectoral emergency response programme including health, nutrition, education and child protection, funded by Save the Children’s appeal funds and other institutional donors. The initial project focus was in the Western region but Save the Children asked to maintain flexibility to respond to identified needs across the rest of the country. A programme component to be funded by this second tranche of funds will be in Abidjan. Are any other donors supporting this (or similar) projects(s)? Save the Children has an emergency appeal of $31 million for the Ivory Coast and Liberia. What are the expected results? What will change as a result of our support? DFID has prioritised Save the Children for a second tranche of funds because of its ability to deliver flexibly on immediate and early recovery assistance. A child protection focus will be mainstreamed across its programme. What are the planned outputs of the project attributable to UK support? Immediate Assistance and Early Recovery1 beneficiaries with both tranches of funds. - UKaid will reach approximately 66,500 Shelter/ NFI, WASH and Food Security activities will be provided as part of a ‘return package’ where appropriate. 1 In Western Ivory Coast: WASH: Provide an additional 50 institutions with a clean water supply, adequate sanitation, and appropriate solid waste and vector control interventions. This will benefit approximately 15,000 people (82 institutions and 47,000 people in total for both tranches of funds). An additional 1,600 households will receive an integrated WASH intervention at community or camp level (9,500 households in total for both tranches of funds). An additional 1,600 households will receive hygiene kits and will be reached with hygiene promotion activities (9,500 households in total for both tranches of funds). Shelter An additional 1,600 households will benefit from the distribution of plastic sheeting (9,500 households in total for both tranches of funds) and 1,000 of the most vulnerable displaced/ host households will receive sleeping mats benefiting up to 3,500 children. In Abidjan: Food Security 1,150 vulnerable displaced/ host households (8,050 people) will have their immediate needs met and be able to restart/ protect their livelihoods by receiving a monthly cash grant of $100 for three months. How will we determine whether the expected results have been achieved? Progress will be measured against the indicators presented in Save the Children’s proposal. We are developing a monitoring and evaluation plan for our overall response in the Ivory Coast, which will involve regular dialogue with Save the Children to ensure that any issues that arise are addressed. The Business Case Strategic Case A. Context and need for DFID intervention The contested result of the November 2010 presidential election resulted in a political stand off in the Ivory Coast. In the last three months there has been mounting instability, marked by violent clashes between pro-Ouattara and pro-Gbagbo militias and supporters. Confrontations have been concentrated in the west and in the commercial capital, Abidjan. The conflict has had an inter country ethnic tension. Non-Ivorians have also been targeted because of the perception that they are Ouattara supporters. Following a dramatic upsurge in the conflict, which ICRC classified as a ‘non-international conflict’, Gbagbo was arrested on 11 April. Ouatarra has now established control over the majority of the country- including Abidjan- although pockets of resistance and insecurity persist in the West. The implications for the stability of the sub-region are worrying, particularly in Liberia. UN agencies and the Government in Liberia are concerned about the risk of the conflict spreading from Ivory Coast to Liberia and beyond to Sierra Leone and Guinea. Liberia has only recently started to recover from decades of civil war and the large UN peace-keeping force (UNMIL) has a critical role in maintaining peace and stability. In the Ivory Coast 800,000 people were displaced from their homes across the country at the peak of the conflict. Large scale population displacement has been seen in and around Abidjan, Ivory Coast’s economic capital. In addition, an estimated 150,000 have been displaced in the West. At the time of writing, the exact number of those displaced remains unclear: the UN is in the process of making an accurate assessment. The conflict in Ivory Coast has led to a major influx of refugees into Liberia. 175,000 refugees have been registered, although OCHA reports a return of some 20,000. Humanitarian Needs identified to date: Protection: The protection needs of Internally Displaced People (IDPs) and third country nationals are a major concern. ICRC has conducted assessments of people affected by the violence in various parts of the country. Issues identified include allegations of arrests and/ or abuses such as attacks on people or property, excessive use of force by security forces, sexual abuse, disappearances and summary executions. In the Ivory Coast ICRC has identified women and children as particularly vulnerable, because they are often the first to be displaced. UNOCI has uncovered evidence of wide scale abuses that could amount to breaches of International Humanitarian Law (IHL). Prevention: The need for continuous dialogue and representations to actors on both sides of the political divide to remind them of their responsibilities under international humanitarian law, and in particular, the rules to respect during non- international armed conflict. Immediate relief needs: An overall assessment of needs is still lacking. Access to all populations remains difficult on account of ongoing fighting and insecurity. Displaced populations and those hosting them have immediate relief needs that include food, water and sanitation, non-food items and medical care. Justification for DFID Intervention DFID's overall humanitarian strategy for the Ivory Coast crisis focuses on protection, immediate assistance, building of local capacity and early recovery: Protection: including the protection of civilians, the sick and wounded, those deprived of their freedom and third country nationals. 2. Immediate Assistance: for those in need to meet their basic requirements, encompassing health, food, shelter and water and sanitation. 3. Building local capacity: to build local capacity where possible to enable recovery from the crisis. 4. Early recovery: Early recovery activities are now possible in some areas where IDPs have been able to peacefully return. 1. We are taking a phased approach because of the fluid situation in the Ivory Coast. We are agreeing individual project interventions as the situation unfolds to ensure relevance, and “do no harm” at that point in the evolution of the response. Different needs are now emerging in different parts of the country following the departure of Gbagbo- a mix of ongoing immediate assistance, protection and early recovery. We have decided to provide a second tranche of £500,000 to Save the Children because of its ability to meet these needs in Western Ivory Coast and Abidjan with its flexible programming approach. Save the Children is one of the largest international NGOs in Ivory Coast, with the largest coverage in the country. The national office is based in Abidjan, with seven field offices across the country. The Shelter/ NFI, WASH and Food Security programme components will be implemented in places where people have been displaced to and/ or as part of a ‘return package’ when appropriate. The provision of cash transfers to vulnerable households in Abidjan- to cover immediate household needs and/ or support livelihoods- is particularly innovative. Both Save the Children and DFID have been lobbying WFP to consider cash transfers in its programming approach. Action Against Hunger is as yet the only other agency planning cash transfer programming in Abidjan2. This programme element could therefore act as a catalyst to influence other agency and donor responses. Save the Children is very experienced at implementing cash transfer programming, including in insecure environments (South Sudan, Niger and DRC). It is a founding member of the Cash Learning Partnership. The implications of not providing humanitarian assistance are serious. Humanitarian assistance provided now will help to prevent a severe humanitarian crisis developing within the Ivory Coast as well as reducing the risk of the crisis impacting on neighbouring states, including Sierra Leone and Ghana. Significant numbers of people have been displaced in the Ivory Coast and the displacement of over 175,000 people in to Liberia is already a cause for concern for the stability of Liberia. 2 A very few NGOs and WFP are planning cash for work projects in Abidjan. WFP is not planning to undertake food distributions in Abidjan. DFID intervention / Outputs: Immediate Assistance and Early Recovery3 - UKaid will reach approximately 66,500 beneficiaries. In Western Ivory Coast: WASH: Provide an additional 50 institutions with a clean water supply, adequate sanitation, and appropriate solid waste and vector control interventions. This will benefit approximately 15,000 people (82 institutions and 47,000 people in total for both tranches of funds). An additional 1,600 households will receive an integrated WASH intervention at community or camp level (9,500 households in total for both tranches of funds). An additional 1,600 households will receive hygiene kits and will be reached with hygiene promotion activities (9,500 households in total for both tranches of funds). Shelter An additional 1,600 households will benefit from the distribution of plastic sheeting (9,500 households in total for both tranches of funds) and 1,000 of the most vulnerable displaced/ host households will receive sleeping mats benefiting up to 3,500 children. In Abidjan: Food Security 1,150 vulnerable displaced/ host households (8,050 people) will have their immediate needs met and be able to restart/ protect their livelihoods by receiving a monthly cash grant of $100 for 3 months. B. Impact and Outcome Immediate Assistance - UKaid will reach approximately 66,500 beneficiaries. WASH: Impact: 82 institutions (Health Centres, Schools, Child Friendly Spaces and Temporary Learning Spaces) provided with a clean water supply, adequate sanitation, and appropriate solid waste and vector control interventions. This will benefit approximately 47,000 people4. 9,500 households receive an integrated WASH intervention at community or camp level and 9,500 households receive hygiene kits and reached with hygiene promotion activities. Outcome: Basic WASH needs of vulnerable groups in the Ivory Coast supported. Shelter: Impact: 9,500 families, benefit from the distribution of plastic sheeting and 1,000 of the most vulnerable displaced/ host households receive a sleeping mat. Outcome: Reduced vulnerability of 33,250 children to separation and exposure to climatic and Shelter/ NFI, WASH and Food Security activities will be provided as part of a ‘return package’ where appropriate. 4 1000 people per health centre/ school and 300 per Temporary Learning Space/ Child Friendly Space. 3 vector-borne health risks. Food Security Impact: 1,150 vulnerable households (8050 people) have their immediate needs met and are able to restart/ protect their livelihoods by receiving a monthly cash grant of $100 for 3 months. Outcome: Food security needs of vulnerable groups in Ivory Coast supported. Appraisal Case A. Determining Critical Success Criteria (CSC) Success factors for the programme as a whole are as follows: CSC 1 2 Description Weighting (1-5) 5 Reduction in number of vulnerable groups, particularly children, with unmet WASH and shelter needs in crisis affected areas. Efficiency of the responding institution 4 Each CSC is weighted 1 to 5, where 1 is least important and 5 is most important based on the relative importance of each criterion to the success of the intervention. B. Feasible options Option 1: Deliver assistance through Save the Children. Save the Children is a trusted member of the WAHRF and has worked in the Ivory Coast since 1996. It is one of the largest international NGOs in Ivory Coast, with the largest coverage in the country. Save the Children has covered the majority of costs associated with flying shelter and NFI items to the country to deliver assistance ahead of the rapidly approaching rainy season. It is taking a flexible approach to programming which is a requirement in our overall response strategy. The recent external evaluation of Save the Children’s current Programme Partnership Agreement (PPA) concluded that Save the Children achieves significant outcomes at scale. Save the Children undertakes its emergency work with a special focus on child protection. Option 2: Counter-factual: null response Not funding this proposal adds to the risk of Save the Children not being able to undertake its activities at sufficient scale in a timely manner ahead of the fast approaching rainy season. It will be less able to protect the vulnerable, including children, by its activities on the ground. This may lead to increased displacement, associated resource competition in poor areas, and the possibility of regional instability. This will carry considerable cost. C. Appraisal of options The recent external evaluation of Save the Children’s current Programme Partnership Agreement (PPA) concluded “Save the Children is a well-managed organisation, providing acceptable levels of value for money and achieving significant outcomes at scale”. Unit cost measures Please see below under ‘procurement’ section. Environmental and climate change appraisal: The areas of intervention posed by DFID – WASH, shelter and Food Security- potentially have both positive and negative impacts on the local environment. The overall environment and climate assessment is category C (low risk) for this DFID funded assistance. The provision of water, sanitation and improved hygiene practices are often critical in humanitarian and displacement situations to ensure that environmentally related disease is minimised. Armed conflict may cause destruction of water supplies, health services, and other infrastructure, increasing the risk of disease outbreaks. The Save the Children proposal indicates that this is happening as a result of Ivory Coast conflict. Displacement of communities as a result of conflict can also bring about localised waste accumulation and pollution, and contamination of water supplies. This project will help overcome such problems by helping affected people to have improved access to clean water and sanitation, and better hygiene. Shelter, WASH and Food Security activities will also be implemented as part of a ‘return package’ for vulnerable people where this is appropriate. In the long term climate change could have an effect on water availability. But this is not directly relevant to this short term DFID funded assistance that will end in September 2011. Save the Children is aware of its responsibilities with regard to environmental management. It has made a commitment to the Sphere standards (a set of internationally recognised Minimum Standards for Disaster Response), to ensure appropriate levels of service to minimise environmental health outbreaks and reduce environmental impacts. Save the Children can be expected to identify and manage environmental risks funded under this programme. D. Analysis of options against Critical Success Criteria (CSC) CSC Weight (0-5) 5 1. Reduction in number of vulnerable groups, particularly children, with unmet WASH and shelter needs in crisis affected areas. 2. Efficiency of the 4 responding institution Totals Option 1 Score (1-5) Weighted score 5 25 Option 2 Score (1-5) 0 Weighted score 0 4 16 0 0 41 0 0 Option 1 is expected to improve the condition of women and children by addressing their special needs and vulnerability in conflict. E. Measures to be used or developed to assess value for money In a rapid onset emergency, detailed assessments of value for money (VFM) for each agency’s response would create serious delays. In this response DFID has relied on using established humanitarian partners which DFID has assessed at an organisational level on VFM and for whom DFID has confidence will deliver on VFM in their Ivory Coast humanitarian operations. Save the Children is a member of the West Africa Humanitarian Response Fund (WAHRF) and has a PPA with DFID. As part of DFID’s engagement with and monitoring of these partners over the course of this emergency intervention, DFID will be following up questions of VFM including further analysis of costs per beneficiary of the different responses. Basic cost per beneficiary has been calculated (see VFM section in procurement section below). 3. Commercial Case Direct Cost: A. A. Clearly state the procurement/commercial requirements for intervention – distinguishing between direct and indirect procurement. All procurement will be undertaken by Save the Children itself in accordance with its internal procurement guidelines balancing suitable quality locally procured items with regional or global provision of goods as required. Save the Children undertakes global framework agreement tenders every two years for key commodities which include the bulk of the items within its proposal. B. How does the intervention design use competition to drive commercial advantage for DFID? Save the Children has through its procurement procedures ensured that suitable competition from the global marketplace has taken place through its 2 year framework agreements. C. How do we expect the market place will respond to this opportunity? As the majority of goods being supplied under this project are standard NFI items it is not expected that new tendering opportunities will be required by Save the Children beyond small scale local procurement. The aspect of the project that requires the charter of aircraft is outside the scope of the proposed DFID funding. D. What are the key underlying cost drivers? How is value added and how will we measure and improve? The key cost drivers of this intervention are the availability of locally produced goods to the required standard not being available and the need to bring commodities from further afield. DFID will not incur the long distance transport costs within this project. The costs of goods quoted by Save the Children for this project have been tested against the known costs of the same articles frequently procured by DFID and found to be broadly in line. As goods are supplied under long term agreements there is no expectation for unexpected price increases due to competition for resources or due to abortive contracts due to poor quality goods. E. What is the intended Procurement Process to support contract award? Save the Children operates under known internationally agreed standards for goods supplied in responses and undertakes the necessary steps within its procurement cycle to ensure that quality is met and standards adhered to. This is a key element in its approach and a contributor to why Save the Children undertakes regular framework agreement contracts to ensure not only that quality expectations are met but also to ensure that price remains competitive. Save the Children operates the key considerations of transparency and accountability within its procurement processes. F. How will contract & supplier performance be managed through the life of the intervention? Through the use of framework agreements Save the Children is constantly monitoring the provision of the key NFI goods bought on a regular basis. Partly this is through the normal expediting process for contracts to ensure delivery times are met but, importantly, the performance of commodities is assessed once deployed to the field through an established process of monitoring and reporting. This feedback is key to continuous improvement in the management of suppliers and improving commodities through the framework agreement tendering process. Indirect Cost A. Why is the proposed funding mechanism/ form of agreement the right one for this intervention, with this development partner? Save the Children is a WAHRF partner selected following a competitive recruitment process in 2009. It has an established presence in the Ivory Coast (a main office in Abidjan and seven field offices) and ongoing development programmes as well as emergency response capacity. The project involves more than the supply and initial delivery of goods in to country and it is therefore sensible to enable Save the Children to undertake its own procurement rather than feed in commodities from DFID’s own stock. B. What has been done to assess whether the third party organisation has the necessary capability and capacity to obtain best value for money from the funds they are spending on behalf of DFID? Where improvements in capability or capacity have been identified how are these being taken forward? A full VFM assessment has not been done for this emergency response but costs per beneficiary for each intervention have been calculated and some comparisons on costs have been made with interventions in other countries, including Liberia. However, as part of its engagement with partners in the Ivory Coast, DFID will be monitoring progress on VFM. Save the Children has been asked and has provided the necessary detail on its existing- and where relevant, planned procedures for procurement under this DFID funded project. It utilises good practice in its procurement procedures as well as accepted financial and HR procedures to ensure that corruption risk is minimised. Should further interventions be required utilising Save the Children, due to a scale up in its activities and in the need in country, consideration will be given to freeing its resources to concentrate on distribution, with DFID providing goods in kind if absolutely necessary. Currently there is no reason to believe that the capacity of Save the Children will not be able to cope with the procurement and logistics element of this proposal. Cost per beneficiary of the revised project: still £18 ($29), as for the initial project, for the Shelter/ NFI and WASH component. Cost per beneficiary for the total revised project (Cash Transfers included): £22.50 ($36.60) Staff costs for the revised project: 16.5% (reduced from 19% for the initial project) Institutional overhead: 6.5% This compares well with costs per beneficiary for INGOs in the Liberia response - these range from $49 to $53. The cash transfers represent good value for money as they provide vulnerable people with choice in meeting their basic needs and are less costly than traditional emergency commodity distributions, such as food distributions. The cost per beneficiary of the cash transfers (total of 3 months) is £33 ($54). This compares well with the cost per beneficiary for WFP’s Emergency Operation in Ivory Coast ($122.42 per beneficiary for a 6 month programme). The costs of goods quoted by Save the Children for this project have been tested against the known costs of the same articles frequently procured by DFID and found to be broadly in line (CHASE OT Logistics team). Save the Children covered from its own funds 75% of the cost of the flight transporting Shelter and NFIs to Ivory Coast. DFID is jointly covering communication and office costs for this project with other donors (DFID’s contribution in these areas is 50% and 25% respectively). Financial Case A. How much it will cost Financial Year 11/12 Save the Children £ 998,736 B. How it will be funded: capital/programme/admin Programme resources from humanitarian reserve. C. How funds will be paid out Accountable Grant arrangements set up with Save the Children. D. How expenditure will be monitored, reported, and accounted for Africa Regional Department (ARD) will manage expenditure. Overall monitoring of this project will be undertaken against the results set out above and in the accompanying log frame for this business case. Save the Children has satisfactory monitoring systems in place, both on the financial side and in terms of programme delivery. It will provide quarterly reports to DFID on progress and monthly information updates. At the end of the intervention there will be an external review of the overall response. DFID will undertake at least one monitoring visit during the programme period (security permitting) and regular desk reviews. Management Case A. Oversight This will be clarified in the Accountable Grant. B. Management In response to the growing crisis, DFID has established a response team within the Africa Regional Department (ARD). This is led by a Response Manager (ARD’s Senior Humanitarian Advisor). For Ivory Coast, the response will be led by a dedicated advisor with support from the Humanitarian Programme Manager for West Africa. Close liaison will be maintained with the FCO desk to ensure that humanitarian and diplomatic activity are mutually supporting. C. Conditionality (optional – see HTN) Not applicable. E. Monitoring and Evaluation The details of Monitoring and Evaluation arrangements will depend to a large extent on how the humanitarian situation develops. We are developing a monitoring and evaluation plan, which will include: - assessments of progress during implementation in liaison with Save the Children. - field visits (security permitting) Specific reporting requirements will be covered in the Accountable Grant with Save the Children. F. Risk Assessment Risk Matrix The overall risk assessment for this programme is medium. Risk Probability Impact Mitigation Insecurity limits access and compromises Save the Children’s ability to implement, monitor and evaluate activities. Medium High Contingency plans in place. Save the Children is a trusted partner which takes a flexible mobile programming approach. International pressure regarding the situation. High Pre-positioning of stock. Save the Children has flown in stocks to ensure timely delivery of assistance. Low Regular coordination with UN/ NGOs/ Red Cross Red Crescent Movement through humanitarian clusters. Heavy rains from April High creates major logistical challenges to providing assistance Duplication of Low activities G. Results and Benefits Management DFID will closely monitor results achieved with its partners.