Guatemala

The development objectives of the Project to Support the Rural Economic Development Program are: to improve the competitiveness of rural productive supply chains wi... Show More + th strong indigenous participation; and to strengthen the institutional capacity of the public entities participating in the program through the adoption of a territorial management model with indigenous participation. The main reason for project restructuring is to finance the rehabilitation of the infrastructure damaged by tropical storm Agatha, on May 29, 2010. One of the financing strategies of the Government of Guatemala (GOG) for reconstruction is to partly reorient existing loans towards the rebuilding efforts, when feasible. The infrastructure that will be rehabilitated under the restructuring consists of bridges and entry points of bridges exclusively. Show Less -

The Maternal and Infant Health and Nutrition Project for Guatemala aims to improve maternal and infant health in the project's 40 areas of intervention; and to redu... Show More + ce chronic malnutrition among children younger than 2 years of age in the rural areas of the 70 municipalities targeted by the project. This extension was granted to enable completion of civil works in 35 maternal and child health care centers under component one and design and implementation of a comprehensive monitoring and evaluation system for the nutrition and health intervention under component three. A careful review of future project expenditures indicates that not all of the estimated funds for category of consultants' services, training, and audits, category 4-b of health services under second part of the project, category five of operating costs, and category eight of unallocated will be needed and that a total of US$4,545,350.19 from these four expenditure categories could be reallocated to two other expenditure categories. The increase for expenditure in the category of goods and associated services amounts to US$3,535,350.10 is also a reason of reallocation. Costs for services and goods especially for equipping and furnishing health care facilities have increased significantly since project preparation was finalized in December 2005. Show Less -

The Maternal and Infant Health and Nutrition Project for Guatemala aims to improve maternal and infant health in the project's 40 areas of intervention; and to redu... Show More + ce chronic malnutrition among children younger than 2 years of age in the rural areas of the 70 municipalities targeted by the project. The closing date will be extended from June 30, 2011 until December 31, 2012. The reasons for the extension of closing date are: 1) this project was approved by the Board in January 2006 but due to delays in approval by congress, it became effective only on June 26, 2007; 2) after effectiveness, a change of Government administration in January 2008 resulted in additional delays. As a consequence, the project started implementation 2.5 years after Board approval; and 3) although the project has significantly accelerated its execution, an additional 18 months will be necessary to recover the 2.5 years lost at the beginning and achieve the project's development objectives. This will be the first extension of the project. Show Less -

The objective of the Emergency Support for Social Services Project is to preserve health and education services following severe flooding and other natural disaster... Show More + s that took place in Guatemala between May and September 2010. The loan would provide emergency assistance to preserve social expenditures in education and health as Guatemala devotes significant fiscal resources to recovery and reconstruction after severe flooding and other natural disasters suffered between May and September 2010. The loan would be a reallocation of financing from within the existing country lending envelope, taking funds from a previously planned third phase Development Policy Loan (DPL) that will have supported continued progress on governance, transparency, and fiscal reform. The Bank is also to restructure an existing World Bank financed rural development project to provide US$15 million for reconstruction of bridges in addition to an approved World Bank financed project, expanding opportunities for vulnerable groups. Other bilateral and multilateral donors are providing emergency humanitarian assistance as well as funds for infrastructure, rural development, climate change risk mitigation, and disaster risk management. Show Less -

The objective of the Second Land Administration Project for Guatemala is to foster the process of achieving land tenure security in the project area through the pro... Show More + vision of efficient and accessible cadastral and land administration services in the project area. The main changes under this project restructuring are: (a) adjustment in project scope regarding cadastral surveying (from 55 to 41 municipalities) due to increased costs since the project was prepared in 2006, and unforeseen costs emerging from the regulations of the cadastral law (targets of several indicators would consequently need to be adjusted); (b) establishment of an inter-institutional committee facilitated by Registry of Cadastral Information (RIC) and a technical committee within RIC to strengthen project implementation and coordination; (c) change to project description : (i) to add the support to municipalities to improve their capacity to collect property taxes, and (ii) to support for the preparation of a draft of the regularization law; (d) reallocation of loan proceeds to reflect adjustments in project scope and costs; and (e) change to the requirement of submission period of Interim Unaudited Financial Reports (IFRs) and progress reports from quarterly to semi-annual. Show Less -

The goal of the Second Rural and Main Roads Project for Guatemala is to contribute reducing rural poverty and build social cohesion by improving and maintaining acc... Show More + ess in rural areas to markets, schools, health centers and other social and economic infrastructure through broadened community participation. By emphasizing beneficiary involvement, the project will assure that local development decisions reflect the needs and priorities of rural communities. The Government has requested this change to help alleviate the fiscal burden on municipalities. A financial analysis carried out by implementing agency indicates a recent deterioration in their financial circumstances due to reductions in fiscal transfers and in locally generated income due to the overarching economic situation in Guatemala. In this case, the availability of resources to finance capital works has been constrained. Reducing the amount through a change in the financing percentage would free up about $1.2 million which could be reallocated by the municipalities to support their recurrent, operating costs and to reduce debt. Show Less -

This project paper concerns an additional loan to the Republic of Guatemala to expand activities under the Third Integrated Financial Management Technical Assistanc... Show More + e Project. The additional loan will help finance the cost of activities geared to deepen the Government of Guatemala's public sector modernization process, by amplifying the impact and development effectiveness of this well-performing project, and addressing pending challenges to the overall sustainability of the reform process. Specifically, the additional financing will facilitate the provision of technical assistance necessary to: i) further strengthen the budget, accounting and treasury management functions; ii) institutionalize the respective integrated financial management (SIAF) and the e-procurement (GUATECOMPRAS) systems within the Ministry of Finance; iii) support the municipalities' capacity to adopt and consolidate new procedures and systems to carry out efficient and transparent financial management; iv) strengthen the Comptroller General's Office (CGC); v) build-up and integrate public planning and public investment procedures and systems with the budget; and vi) design and institutionalize a permanent knowledge management system in the area of public expenditure management. The project focused on: i) deepening reforms in the areas of budget formulation and execution, multi-annual budgeting, accounting, cash management, debt management, public investment, public procurement, and increased relevance of monitoring performance and results; and ii) extending the (SIAF) to the remaining agencies and social funds within the central government, and reaching executing units' levels in central government agencies. The objective of the project is to extend and deepen the Borrower's financial sector reforms being pursued under the original project with the aim of increasing the effectiveness, efficiency, and transparency of public financial management. The project components as well as the outcomes and results framework will be restructured to accommodate the scaling up of existing components as well as the addition of new components, geared to ensure that the remaining challenges will be addressed both effectively and efficiently within the 36-month duration of the additional financing. Show Less -