India: Resilient Kerala Program for Results

OBJECTIVE

The Program objective is to enhance the State of Kerala’s resilience against the impacts of climate change and natural disasters, including disease outbreaks and pandemics.

DESCRIPTION

This Project is being cofinanced with the World Bank (WB) and Agence Française De Développement (AFD), and has been designed in accordance with the WB’s Policy on Program for Results (PforR). The Program will support implementation of the two key government programs – the Rebuild Kerala Development Program and the State Health Mission. The Program will specifically support two Results Areas: (i) Strengthening transversal systems for resilience; and (ii) embedding resilience in key economic sectors. As a subset of the government programs, the boundaries of the PforR have been defined to include the following high priority sectors - Health, Road, Urban, Water Resources Management, Agriculture, Disaster Risk Financing & Insurance, Disaster Risk Management (DRM) and Fiscal & Governance. The adoption of PforR design will facilitate delivering of the resilience agenda through linking policy and institutional shifts at the policy level with real expenditures and verifiable results on the ground. Activities financed by the project will include:

1. Strengthening financial protection against disasters through sustainable fiscal and debt management as well as a comprehensive disaster risk finance and social protection system; 
2. Enhancing disaster preparedness through mainstreaming climate and disaster risk informed urban and DRM planning; 
3. Strengthening public health systems against disease outbreaks and natural hazards; 
4. Implementing integrated water resources management to mitigate water risks against floods and other natural disasters;  
5. Achieving sustainable and resilient food systems through agroecological farming; 
6. Strengthening resilient core road network (CRN).

ENVIRONMENTAL AND SOCIAL INFORMATION

This Program will be co-financed with the WB as lead co-financier, and its environmental and social (ES) risks and impacts have been assessed in accordance with the WB’s PforR Policy. AIIB’s Environmental and Social Policy (ESP) was designed to apply to investment projects and has no provisions for its application to PforR operations. The WB’s PforR Policy will therefore apply to this operation in lieu of AIIB’s ESP.  

The WB has categorized the ES risks of this program as “Substantial”, which is similar to Category B if AIIB’s ESP were applicable. As required under the WB’s PforR Policy, the Program excludes activities that are likely to have significant adverse ES impacts that are sensitive, irreversible, or unprecedented (similar to Category A if AIIB’s ESP were applicable). As required under the WB’s PforR program, an Environmental and Social Systems Assessment (ESSA) has been prepared. The ESSA has been complemented by a Program Action Plan at the operational level, comprising capacity strengthening and management measures as needed to manage the project risks. Link to the ES documents have been disclosed by the World Bank and AIIB. 

The ESSA has included provisions for identifying the environmental risks of this Program, including physical risks, contextual risks, institutional capacity risks and political and reputational risk. These are expected to have only minor, reversible impacts.  

The Program is likely to have overall positive social impacts, especially in the areas where interventions are planned. Key social risks arise due to the possibility of exclusion of a set of vulnerable groups, such as: (i) small and marginal farmers, as they have limited resources for farm innovations (or insurance) and less access to water compared to those owning larger lands; (ii) tribal and women farmers, who are mostly landless tenants or agricultural laborers and are denied agricultural incentives that usually go to landowners; (iii) poor and socially marginalized from Urban Local Body-led development or DRM plans that fail to recognize their peculiar vulnerabilities; and (iv) tribal communities, whose habitations are remote and upland and are usually the last to receive road access. However, none of these are irreversible risks that cannot be mitigated using effective social management practices of participation, community engagement, accountability, and transparency.  

The Program intends to adopt a ‘basin-wide approach’ along the Pamba river basin, which is home to several indigenous communities, In the roads sector, there is substantial risk of physical and economic displacement of squatters, encroachers and vendors. The Program will exclude (i) any town/city to be selected, if the spatial planning is likely to adversely impact existing settlements or resources accessed by indigenous communities residing within or near municipal limits and (ii) any road repair and maintenance works requiring resettlement and removal of structures (on a single alignment/ package) impacting more than 50 persons. 

Grievance management mechanisms relevant to the Program have been considered for their appropriateness across various agencies. A Program level Grievance Redress Mechanism will be established to complement and strengthen existing ones, and to make them more transparent and responsive. AIIB team will work closely with the WB team and monitor the status of the implementation through biannual implementation support missions.