Decentralization and Productive Intermediate Cities Support Project

The development objectives of the Decentralization and Productive Intermediate Cities Support Project for Mauritania are to: (i) improve access to local services in selected localities; and (ii) strengthen the capacities of local governments (LGs) to plan and manage local public services. The project comprises of four components. The first component is improving access to infrastructure and services for economic development. It consists of following sub-components: (i) resilient urban infrastructure and services supporting economic development in selected southern intermediate cities; and (ii) urban and rural electrification. The second component, strengthening decentralization and LG capacity objectives are to: (a) build the capacity of the targeted LGs, both at the regional and municipal levels in public finance management (PFM) and public sector management to increase LGs’ efficiency and capacity to develop their local economy, and (b) strengthen the systems for implementing decentralization reform. It consists of following sub-components: (i) strengthening the systems for decentralization; and (ii) building the capacity of LG. The third component, project management will support the implementation of all activities in accordance with the World Bank’s policies and guidelines in the area of coordination, supervision, FM, procurement, audits, safeguards, monitoring and evaluation (M and E), and training and operating costs. The fourth component is contingency emergency response component. Disbursements will be made against an approved list of goods, works, and services required to support crisis mitigation, response, recovery, and reconstruction.