The World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors approved on March 18, 2010 a US$ 81.7 million credit from the International Development Association to the Government of Angola, for the Local Development Project (LDP).
The project is in line with the Government’s long-term development strategy and addresses the following key priorities: (a) the need for redressing both territorial asymmetries and social disparities in accessing basic public goods, (b) the importance of promoting a diversified local economy aimed at improving social welfare, and (c) the strengthening of local governments capacity to provide quality services to the poorest households.
The development objectives of the LDP are (a) to improve access of poor households to basic services and economic opportunities, and (b) to enhance local institutional capacities among Angola’s municipalities.
The Project has three components:
Component 1: Local Social and Economic Infrastructure aims at increasing access for poor households to improved social and economic infrastructures by financing basic public works, goods and services mostly in remote or underserved municipalities.
Component 2: Local Economic Development aims at improving business development skills and participation in markets of selected producer groups by providing a combination of technical assistance, targeted matching grants, and partnership building on microfinance and associated local economic products and services.
Component 3: Local Institutional Strengthening aims at strengthening the capacities of public institutions and civil society to be inducted in the participatory planning, management and monitoring of local development decision-making and public expenditure management.
"The Local Development Project is one of the Government of Angola’s main vehicles for institutionalizing civic participation in decision making and implementing gradual decentralization of authority and resources to municipalities as a means to improve service delivery and stimulate income generating opportunities consistent with locally articulated priorities," said Stefania Abakerli, the project's Task Team Leader.
The Project will be implemented by the Fundo de Apoio Social (FAS) – the largest bottom-up poverty reduction program of the Government in Angola. In 14 years, FAS has benefited about 4.5 million people by supporting the provision and/or rehabilitation of over 2,800 basic social and economic infrastructures with an emphasis on social inclusion, institutional development and accountability.
The Project will expand FAS operational scope by extending basic services into Angola’s most remote or underserved municipalities. It will cover all of the country’s 18 provinces, seeking to attain a more equitable spatial coverage of basic service provision and increase geographical redistribution of investments in support to the Government’s long-term development objective.
