WASHINGTON, March 22, 2011 – The World Bank Board of Executive Directors of the International Development Association (IDA) today approved the third Community Living Standard Credit (CLSC3) in the amount of US$6 million to support the Government of Rwanda’s social protection and health policy reforms designed to reduce extreme vulnerability.
CLSC3 is the third and last operation in a series of annual operations that support policy reforms to enhance the operation of the Vision 2020 Umurenge Program (VUP) and expand access to high-impact health interventions at the community level. These reforms have in turn helped Rwanda integrate international good practice, into the implementation of the Economic Development and Poverty Reduction Strategy, in two areas: assisting extremely poor, landless households through public works employment or, through cash transfers; and delivering high-impact health interventions at the community level using performance based financing strategies.
The policies supported by the CLS series are expected to contribute to: (i) a reduction in the poverty-income gaps in pilot Sectors over the three-year period; (ii) greater opportunities for beneficiaries to become self-reliant and to graduate into income-generating activities; (iii) an increase in the proportion of married women aged 15-49 years using modern contraceptives; (iv) an increase in the proportion of births in an accredited health facility; and (v) an increase in the annual per capita allocation to performance-based financing for health facilities and community health cooperatives.
“CLSC3 builds on successes achieved under its predecessor and the Vision 2020 Umurenge Program. It supports complementary policy reforms adopting needs based budgeting policy, it will review and help enhance targeting of program eligible beneficiaries and it will support the enhancement of VUPs governance arrangements through the introduction and piloting of a complaints and appeals mechanism policy. It will also continue to support reforms that enhance community health indicators amongst households and health facilities” said Yasser El Gammal, World Bank Lead Social Protection Specialist and CLSC3 Task Team Leader.
