US$150M loan to support fiscal reforms, improve public service delivery
and social inclusion
WASHINGTON, May 21, 2013 – Two million residents of the Northeastern State of Sergipe, in Brazil will benefit from a US 150 million loan approved this Tuesday by The World Bank Board of Directors aimed at boosting social inclusion.
The Development Policies for the State of Sergipe will focus on three main areas:
- Consolidation of fiscal management and public sector innovation;
- Increase of health and education public service quality; and
- Promotion of socioeconomic development and inclusion in the rural areas.
“Sergipe performs well in education, health and income growth when compared to the other Northeast regions. But, we realize that we have to improve a lot”, explained the State of Sergipe Governor, Marcelo Déda. “We have already started the main reforms necessary to improve our current results and with this new program we will target the poorest segments of the population in order to close the existing gaps”.
Along with the three main target areas, the Sergipe Program includes gender based actions, notably in the health, education and productive inclusion sectors. The project will also promote measures to halt violence against women, following the creation of a Special Secretariat for Women in the State.
The new entity mission is to improve the identification of gender issues and develop better tools to deal with them. The plan includes: the creation of progress monitoring indicators; building workers capacity within the Police Stations for Women (Delegacias da Mulher); strengthening the liaison between their work and the Brazilian Justice system; and implementing Womens’ Referral Care Centers, to support victims of violence and help them in reporting it.
“By targeting the most difficult problems and taking actions to solve them the State of Sergipe demonstrates its commitment effort to the eradication of poverty and inequality and to the promotion of a sustainable economic growth”, said Deborah L. Wetzel, World Bank Director for Brazil. “We, at The World Bank, are a natural partner in this program that will undertake the actions necessary to deliver high quality public services to those that currently have no access.”
The Development Policies for the State of Sergipe program has established a strategy involving complementary initiatives:
- Implementing i-GESP, an information and communication technology solution specifically oriented to improving public management;
- Creation of a ‘one-stop shop’ model; for all citizen services processes
- Regulation and integration of the process for collection of tax arrears between the State Secretariat of Finance, the Office of the Attorney General of Sergipe, and the Judiciary;
- Implementing the maternal and newborn health program, Rede Cegonha, integrating municipal actions and services under the State Health Public Services;
- Developing a new school management model based result-based strategies and selection of school principals by merit;
- Adoption of the Literacy at the Right Age Program (PNAIC) in municipal schools;
- Organizing Dairy Production in rural areas to include family farmers in the Intensive Production System;
- Establishing mechanisms to support environmentally sustainable production and access to local markets by the rural farmers;
- Guarantee that participants from the State’s income transfer and generation program Mão Amiga are enrolled in the literacy program -- Sergipe Alfabetizado -- and have access to technical training courses.
This one tranche loan from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) to the State of Sergipe is guaranteed by the Federative Republic of Brazil and has a final maturity of 28,5 years, with a five year grace period.
