World Bank approves $40m to strengthen social risks management

The World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors has approved a $40 million equivalent IDA credit* to the Republic of Uganda for the Strengthening Social Risk Management and Gender-Based Violence (GBV) Prevention and Response Project.

The Government of Uganda recognizes GBV as a serious problem and approved a National Policy on the Elimination of GBV in October 2016.  This project, which was approved June 20, 2017, will support the implementation of the policy and will also help strengthen systems for managing social risk in development projects. 

GBV is a serious problem across many continents and countries.  Acceptance of intimate partner violence, however, is particularly high in the Africa Region – on average around 30 percent, which is more than twice the average of the rest of the developing world at 14 percent.  “Rates of GBV in Uganda are high,” said Hon. Janat Mukwaya, Minister of Gender, Labor and Social Development. “With 62 percent of women and 59 percent of men aged 15-49 in Uganda having reported experiencing physical or sexual violence at least once since the age of 15.  This project aims to help address this disturbing trend.”  

The World Bank Country Manager, Christina Malmberg Calvo added that, “Uganda has a number of tried and tested interventions that have shown to be effective in reducing the incidence of GBV through intensive behavior change communication. The project builds on these experiences to take them to scale. The project will also invest in strengthening the capacity of key front-line services to address the needs of survivors of GBV with a strong focus in the health sector.”

As part of this broader agenda on the overall management of social risk, the project aims to address the underlying causes of GBV by developing and expanding prevention programs and increasing response services for survivors of GBV in targeted districts.

Specifically, the project will focus on:

• promoting behavior change and strengthening referral mechanisms, and
• strengthening the responsiveness of front-line service providers to cases of GBV, and improving their ability to provide quality care.

*The International Development Association (IDA) provides concessional resources to Uganda, and this $40 million credit has a zero percentage interest rate, with a final maturity of 38 years, including a grace period of 6 years.

www.worldbank.org