Guatemala

The objective of the Expanding Opportunities for Vulnerable Groups Project for Guatemala is to improve use of education, health, and nutrition services by the extre... Show More + me poor in targeted municipalities. There are four components to the project: (a) strengthening management processes, monitoring and control mechanisms of Mi Familia Progresa (MiFaPro), and creating mechanisms to gather information, generate knowledge and define a mid-term social protection strategy; (b) ensuring access to a basic package of health and nutrition services to vulnerable households in 70 prioritized municipalities; (c) improving key rural roads in 46 municipalities to connect families to services and markets and promoting productive infrastructure through irrigation and water subprojects, enhancing the management capacity of FONADES (National Development Fund - Fondo Nacional de Desarrollo), and enhancing municipal capacity to implement and maintain rural infrastructure; and (d) supporting the Government in coordinating the proposed operation and improve its capacity to oversee foreign investment operations. Show Less -

The second land administration project for Guatemala aims to foster the process of achieving land tenure security in seven new departments (Alta Verapaz, Baja Verap... Show More + az, Chiquimula, Escuintla, Izabal, Sacatepequez, and Zacapa) and the municipality of Palachum in the Department of Quiche, through the provision of efficient and accessible cadastral and land administration services. The project consists of the following components: 1: This component will carry out the cadastral and limited land regularization processes in the project area. 2: This component will develop the framework at the national and municipal level to support the field surveys to keep cadastral information updated and incorporate it into initiatives for local development and territorial planning. 3: This component will improve the legal framework for land administration in Guatemala and strengthen the institutional capacity of the agencies involved in its application. 4: This component covers the costs of the project coordination unit, monitoring and evaluation systems, including participatory evaluation mechanisms, independent evaluations and audits, and inter-institutional coordination activities. Show Less -

The Maternal-Infant Health and Nutrition Project for Guatemala aims to: (a) improve maternal and infant health in the project's 40 areas of intervention; and (b) re... Show More + duce chronic malnutrition among children younger than 2 years of age in the rural areas of the 70 municipalities targeted by the project. The project has the following components: (1) This component will support the development of a Maternal and Infant Health Referral Network, promote the demand for maternal and infant health care, and contribute to increase the proportion of safe institutional deliveries, the referral of obstetric emergencies directly from the community. (2) This component aims to address the problem of child malnutrition in the selected 70 municipalities by expanding coverage of community-based growth promotion and basic health services. (3) This component seeks to: (i) provide support to poor families to learn about nutrition and health programs, encourage the poor and indigenous population to utilize health and nutrition services promote changing in pattern of behavior, disseminate the population's right to utilize services, and encourage social auditing; (ii) design and implement a comprehensive monitoring and evaluation system (M&E) for the nutrition and health interventions; and (iii) measure the Project's impact on targeted population welfare. (4) This component would support the institutional capacity of the Ministry of Health to implement and administer basic health and nutrition services. Show Less -

The Project aims to improve the management and conservation of natural resources and biodiversity and the incomes of the people who depend upon these resources, in ... Show More + the Western Altiplano of Guatemala. The project would help to alleviate rural poverty, reduce pressures upon and improve management of the natural resources base by: (a) increasing social capital around natural resources management, through support to communities, organizations and local authorities (traditional and municipal) to jointly define and implement a local development vision which takes natural resources management and sustainability objectives into account; (b) increasing opportunities to sustainably improve productivity and diversify farming and other (off-farm) livelihood systems; (c) extending and strengthening ongoing efforts of indigenous communities to establish permanent conservation areas within broader zones of biodiversity of global importance and to maintain the habitats which sustain this diversity; and (d) establishing and piloting a framework for environmental services markets to sustain local incentives for conservation. The proposed project will form a part of the Government's program of interventions in the implementation of the Peace Accords for the Western Altiplano. As some 95% of the population of the proposed project area are Mayan, the proposed project can also be considered an indigenous (Mayan) peoples development project. There are four project components. Component 1 (Sustainable Livelihoods) is oriented toward improving the welfare of the rural poor through promotion of sustainable use and Conservation of natural resources. The component consists of two subcomponents: Subproject Grants and Local Institutional Strengthening. Component 2 (Biodiversity Conservation) will finance activities to strengthen local and national capacity to conserve natural habitats containing globally important biodiversity and other areas providing locally and nationally important environmental services. The component comprises activities for protection of sites of global importance; intercultural environmental education; and biodiversity conservation monitoring and evaluation. Component 3 will (i) develop the framework for policies and markets for environmental services, through the elaboration of a National Strategy for Environmental Services; (ii) provide local and foreign technical assistance for research and special studies and training for local and national officials working in areas related to development of environmental services policy, legal framework and pilot programs; and (iii) design and implement pilot projects aimed at developing capacity, methodologies and instruments for market-based incentives for provision of environmental services. Component 4 finances administration, supervision, monitoring and evaluation. Show Less -

The Financial Sector Technical Assistance Loan Project will support implementation of the Government's financial sector reform program, by providing technical assis... Show More + tance (TA) in banking systems, able to improve, and expand its intermediating functions, and to withstand shocks. The project components will: 1) provide rapid exit and resolution of insolvent banks, by financing TA to the Super-intendency of Banks (SB) to establish benchmarks to assess viability, and solvency of banks, by designing templates to prepare, and evaluate bank's rehabilitation plans. Legal and financial instruments will be designed for the transfer of liabilities from insolvent, to solvent banks, and for the transfer of assets to a special trust while compensation mechanisms will be established for institutions acquiring assets, and liabilities from insolvent banks; 2) establish the Fiduciary Fund for Bank Capitalization, providing TA for its operation, including the design of financial instruments to capitalize viable banks. Policy and strategic formulation will be addressed, and the evolution of capitalized banks will be monitored; 3) finance TA to establish a credit information system to centralize, organize, and maintain information of debtors of financial institutions in Guatemala. The acquisition of operational software and hardware will encourage better lending practices, and improve the overall financial system; and, 4) finance TA to strengthen the Special Unit Against Money Laundering, including training, and supervisory assistance. Moreover, TA will support the adoption of international accounting standards by the Central Bank, and a strategy for the financial system development. Show Less -

The Universalization of Basic Education Project aims at improving coverage, and equity at the primary school level, as well as improving the quality of education. I... Show More + t will further seek to facilitate the design, and execution of a program to enhance cultural diversity, and pluralism as specified by the Guatemalan Peace Accords, and the National Congress on Cultural Policies. The four main components will: 1) support universal access to primary education by expanding the primary schools' enrollment capacity in rural areas, and marginal communities, through the National Community-managed Program for Educational Development (PRONADE). Under this program, rural communities will receive financing for development of new school facilities, based on a participatory criteria. Economic assistance/scholarships will be available for poor families, with an emphasis on girls attendance; 2) focus on improving the quality of education, by strengthening multi-grade strategies, and bilingual education; providing educational materials; and, training teachers in new methodologies, including educational content, and bilingual curricula development; 3) support the institutional strengthening of the Ministry of Culture and Sports (MCS), in coordination with the Ministry of Education (MINEDUC), to attain cultural diversity, and pluralism. The component includes capacity building, decentralization of MCS cultural education services to the municipal level; and, design of a national cultural resources information system; and, 4) support the improvement of MINEDUC managerial, and administrative capacities, for decentralization at the departmental, and local level, emphasizing on strengthening the Bilingual Education Directorate. It also includes training to community associations, and continued development of the education management information system. Show Less -

The Land Fund Project seeks to assist the Government to: a) establish a program to facilitate access to land to beneficiaries; b) support beneficiaries to access te... Show More + chnical assistance and productive subproject financing; and c) improve the legal and institutional framework for land markets to work more efficiently. There are four project components. First, institutional strengthening will support procurement of vehicles, office and field equipment and provide technical assistance and training. Second, community strengthening involves pre-and post-land purchase services. The component will support communities and establish their legal entity status, organize themselves according to their uses and practices, research legal status of prospective lands to be purchased, etc. Third, community subprojects will finance social and productive complementary infrastructure investments related to land purchased under the program. The last component, land purchases and leases, is not financed by the Bank. Show Less -

The Second Social Investment Fund (FIS) Project seeks to: a) support the Government's poverty alleviation efforts by targeting its investments to the poorest areas ... Show More + and population groups; b) contribute to participatory decision-making by strengthening the capacity of community-based organizations and local governments to define problems, prioritize needs, plan and implement small-scale community-based subprojects; and c) ensure sustainability by developing adequate arrangements for subproject operations and maintenance. The project consists of three components. First, community-based subprojects will support pre-investment feasibility studies for small-scale infrastructure and services subprojects, such as schools, health posts, water supply, sanitation and latrine systems, bridges, and cultural heritage. Second, community training will provide training for beneficiaries, and local staff of line ministries and municipalities. Third, institutional development will support consultancies to promote participatory planning, women's participation in FIS subprojects. It will also finance the decentralization of the FIS operation. Show Less -

The Second Integrated Financial Management Technical Assistance Project's objectives are to: a) increase the efficiency and transparency of public sector financial... Show More + management and control; b) improve the delivery of public services through the deconcentration to line agencies of the primary responsibility for management of their financial resources; c) improve the execution of public investment; and d) establish and/or strengthen mechanisms to reduce corruption in public sector spending. The project has five components. 1) Extending integrated financial management reforms will support reforms in budgeting, accounting, cash management, procurement, decentralization, information technology, legal framework, and training. 2) Strengthening the Comptroller General's Office (CGO) will cover external audit system, CGO restructuring, change management, human resource management, audit information technology system, audit out-sourcing, and internal audit units. 3) Strengthening public investment function will create a national system of public investment, strengthen public investment plans, decentralize investment design and execution, and reform contracting process. 4) Strengthening public debt management will be conducted through restructuring debt, fees system, capital markets specialized unit, training, and information technology system. 5) Project coordination will oversee project development, procurement and disbursement. Show Less -

The Tax Administration Technical Assistance Loan Project seeks to assist Guatemala in raising its revenue performance above historically low rates by: improving the... Show More + effectiveness and efficiency of tax and customs administration; increasing tax revenues; and achieving stronger revenue performance. The project components to accomplish these objectives include: 1) creating and structuring a superintendency of tax administration responsible for national internal and customs revenue collection; 2) facilitating taxpayer compliance by simplifying procedures and modernizing information technology, and establishing a network of taxpayer services offices; 3) strengthening enforcement mechanisms by reviewing and modernizing the legal and regulatory framework; 4) financing a social communication campaign to inform and educate the public, and provide feedback to the government; and 5) project coordination. Show Less -