The previous Education and Skills Development Enhancement Project (P164294), which ran until January 2023, supported implementation of key reforms to improve the quality of basic education, enabled participation of nearly 2,000 youth in labor market-relevant training, and awarded scholarships to more than 1,190 individuals, predominately female, from the poorest households.
Education and Social Protection
Similarly, the Social Inclusion Project (P165267), closed in April 2023, improved the coordination, coherence and coverage of the social protection sector through a systems approach. It supported i) the establishment of a social registry across all municipalities (currently covering over 75% of the population); ii) a social cash transfer program (RSI) that provided regular cash transfers for 4,500 households in the poorest quintile and emergency cash transfers in response to COVID-19 for an additional 23,650 households; and iii) a pilot of the productive inclusion intervention, that supported 1,867 households to start-up or improve their small businesses and provided professional training.
Under the CPF’s human capital Focus Area (“accelerating human capital for inclusive, services-led growth”), the portfolio has prioritized preparing the workforce for an economy based on the provision of high-quality services, while promoting social protection and productive inclusion.
The multi-sectoral Human Capital Project – HCP (P175828), approved in April 2022, builds on results and lessons from the recent investments in the education and social protection sectors. The HCP aims to specifically support youth and women, and particularly those from poor and vulnerable households, by improving access to basic services and labor market-relevant training. More than 30,000 students have benefitted from the new secondary education curriculum; 505 youth have participated in professional training courses aligned with the needs of the private sector; over 1,500 households are participating in a productive inclusion program; and 46 houses in Praia have been rehabilitated to improve access to basic services such as water, electricity and sanitation.
Health
Going beyond the CPF, the World Bank was a key partner in the COVID-19 response, which took an integrated approach, targeting large-scale vaccination, emergency support to the most vulnerable households, and facilitating reopening of international tourism. Approximately $21 million was activated for the acquisition and deployment of COVID-19 vaccines, while additional financings allowed existing projects to be leveraged to support the crisis response.
Cabo Verde was the first country to receive direct World Bank support to vaccine rollout and now has the fourth highest vaccination rate in Sub-Saharan Africa. By June 30, 2023, 321,041 adults, or 98,5% of the eligible adult population, had received a first dose, 281,983 (86,5%) of them are fully vaccinated and 129,296 (39,6%) had received a booster dose. In parallel, the WB supported the development of Nhacard, the digital vaccination certificate that is fully accepted for travel in Europe. In 2023, more than 900 thousand tourists visited Cabo Verde, exceeding 2019 numbers by around 12%.
For the coming years, the World Bank will continue to support Cabo Verde in the Health sector, with a total envelope of around $29 million.
Economy resilience and diversification
Under the CPF’s macroeconomic and private sector development Focus Area (“strengthening the environment for a more diversified economy”), the Bank’s portfolio has supported improvements to fiscal and macroeconomic resilience, promoted enabling conditions for private sector-led growth, and worked to improve the competitiveness of tourism, the main economic sector.
The new flagship $45 million Resilient Tourism and Blue Economy Development Project (P176981), approved in June of 2022 and which already received an Additional Financing of $10 million in FY23 and a further $30 million scheduled for approval in April 2024, supports CPF Objective 4 through diversified private sector development within and beyond tourism, including the blue economy. It adopts a spatial approach and provides flagship support to the GoCV’s recently approved Tourism Operational Plan spanning 2022-2026 (prepared with close support from the preceding Competitiveness for Tourism Development Project), as well as the GovCV’s Blue Economy National Investment Plan. It operationalizes the GovCV and WB’s increased focus on climate resilience by applying climate-smart practices in the design and funding of ocean economy, tourism and connectivity-related infrastructure as well as SME support operations and sector-related policy and regulatory upgrades.
The recently closed Access to Finance for MSMEs Project (P163015) in the amount of $25 million provided critical support to develop the financial infrastructure in Cabo Verde and expand access to finance for MSMEs. At project closing, the number of beneficiaries of credit guarantees provided by the project-backed public partial credit guarantee framework surpassed 2,000 firms (in excess of the envisioned target of 1,800), and the amount of credit guaranteed was in excess of $45 million (above the envisioned target of $35 million).
The Competitiveness for Tourism Development Project (P146666), closed in May 2022, helped to create the conditions necessary to increase investment in the tourism sector, laying the basis for the new flagship tourism and blue economy operation. The project had several interventions to support investments the tourism sector, such as supporting the start-up of operations of the Tourism Institute of Cabo Verde (ITCV) created in 2019 to strengthen the institutional framework for tourism governance under the Ministry of Tourism and Transport (MTT); development of a National Tourism Strategy; development and adoption of tourism master plans; and development and adoption of Tourism Zoning Plans.
The now-closed Disaster Risk Management Development Policy Financing (DPF) with CAT-DDO (P160628) has contributed to macroeconomic resilience through a disaster risk management reform program and mainstreamed disaster risk and climate change considerations across sectors.
Transport and Urban
The $46 million Transport Sector Reform Project (TSRP - P126516), that closed on September 2022, supported the Government’s efforts to improve the efficiency and management of its road assets and to lay the groundwork for SOE reform of the transport sector. As an important result of the project, 90% of the national network is in good or reasonable condition, with interventions on many islands (Santiago, Santo Antao, São Nicolau, Maio, Fogo, and Brava) that have allowed for increased resilience of the infrastructure assets and of the local communities. Road works such as that of Ribeira dos Picos or Cruz de Picos – Boa Entradinha – Chão de Formoso – Gil Bispo, both on Santiago Island, have critically contributed to unlocking and providing better access of local populations to markets, basic services such as education and healthcare, and economic opportunities.
The positive results of the TSRP project led to the signing (on November 28, 2023) and the beginning of the implementation of the project for Improving Connectivity and Urban Infrastructure (P178644). This $ 40 million project aims to improve access to climate-resilient transport and urban infrastructure for selected project areas in the country, through three components: enhancing transport connectivity and resilience, improving resilient urban and community infrastructure, and providing technical assistance for urban and territorial mapping and for inter-island connectivity.
Statistics
The ongoing Harmonizing and Improving Statistics in West Africa – HISWA – Project (P169265) objectives are to strengthen the national statistical system, harmonize, produce, disseminate, and enhance the use of core economic and social statistics of participating countries in West Africa.
Last Updated: Mar 27, 2024
