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This paper is a synthesis of the findings of reports that look at the drivers of performance in energy and water utilities in Sub-Saharan Africa. This paper also provides other insights on issues that complement the findings of these reports. Additional data and evidence were harvested from the analysis of water and electricity utilities in all three reports, which enabled a broader perspective on the sector wide variables impacting performance, beyond internal variables for specific utilities. The two water studies provide guidance on how to provide good quality services to customers, including the poor. In contrast, because of data constraints, the energy study was limited to a narrower but deeper assessment of operational performance in Burkina Faso, Cate d'Ivoire, Kenya, Senegal, and Uganda. The reports fill a gap in the literature of the utilities' performance in Sub-Saharan Africa and expand on the determinants for performance, identify the traditional and nontraditional mechanisms for reaching the poor, and highlight the critical elements for turning bad-performing utilities around. While the three background reports provide a significant step ahead (as they serve mainly as a mirror for performance assessment at the country and utility level), the reports also aimed at providing direction in the region for sector-wide improvement.

Electric Power --- Electricity --- Energy --- Urban Development --- Urban Services and Housing For the Poor --- Water Supply and Sanitation --- Water Supply and Sanitation Economics --- Water Supply and Sanitation Governance and Institutions

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This study explores the potential of prepaid meters for serving urban poor communities. It provides urban utilities, oversight agencies, and other stakeholders in Africa with a basis for decision-making on the suitability, introduction, and management of such meters. The need for the assessment emerged from prepaid meters increasingly being utilized by water and sanitation utilities in developing countries, including World Bank clients. The technologies adopted have expanded over this period, but there has been a lack of consolidated data and analysis that capture the service delivery, operational efficiency, and access to services aspects of such systems across utilities and regions systematically. The review initially aimed to research experiences in six African countries from the perspective of their communities, as well as from water sector bodies, governments, and other investors. The number of case studies was increased to eight with the addition of Windhoek in Namibia and Nakuru in Kenya, as it became apparent that they may offer additional lessons. Windhoek, for example, is one of the prepaid water pioneers in Africa. The study specifically canvased the perspectives of customers, including market research and opinion surveys on people s experience and views of prepaid water in practice. Women and children were well represented in many of these groups. The analysis aimed to be robustly investigative, deliberately not advocating for prepaid systems in principle, or making firm recommendations, but rather offering balanced analysis and assessment, and considerations to inform policymakers and sector leaders, as well as other stakeholders who may face decisions or challenges on such systems. One of the key conceptual bases that the analysis identified was the need to differentiate between prepaid applications of prepaid system for standpipes, individual connections, and institutional and commercial customers each of which have different implications for their users, as well as for cost effectiveness. Utilities must be able to justify the investment in a prepayment system and its opportunity costs specific to the application they choose, and relative to alternative means of improving services.

Cost Recovery --- Hygiene --- Lifeline Tariffs --- Municipalities --- Pro-Poor Water Supply and Sanitation --- Sanitation --- Town Water Supply and Sanitation --- Urban Areas --- Urban Development --- Urban Services and Housing For the Poor --- Urban Water Supply and Sanitation --- Water Conservation --- Water Pricing and Subsidies --- Water Supply --- Water Supply and Sanitation --- Water Supply and Sanitation Economics --- Water Supply and Sanitation Governance and Institutions --- Water Utilities

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For the 2014-2020 programming period, the Government of Romania (GoR) is considering a new approach presented by the European Commission (EC) - community-led local development (CLLD). Through CLLD, empowered communities have the opportunity to directly shape and own the process of local development, during all stages of EU - funded interventions, from concept design through implementation. If Romania ultimately pursues CLLD, the critical task facing the government is to design an optimal implementation framework for the new approach - this is precisely the focus and scope of the current integrated intervention tool (IIT). The preparation of this IIT entailed a number of steps, including extensive field work to define relevant subtypes of urban marginalized communities and to review past experiences with urban integration in Romania. This summary covers multiple sections, in line with the key chapters of the main IIT report. It first reviews CLLD's main features and best practice principles at the EU level. It focuses on Romania, making some recommendations for where CLLD can apply and what it will require in terms of coordinating different sources of funding. It also covers the main six stages of operationalizing CLLD in Romania, as follows: launch: preparations through capacity building and information campaigns; call for expressions of interest regarding the potential submission of local integration strategies (LISs); mobilization of the community for the establishment of local action groups (LAG) and development of LIS by each LAG; selection of strategies to be financed; implementation of LISs approved for financing, including selection and implementation of individual projects under these strategies; and phase-out activities and evaluation.

Audits --- Best Practices --- Business Development --- Capacity Building --- Cities --- Communities --- Community Involvement --- Control Groups --- Crime --- Decision Making --- Housing --- Housing & Human Habitats --- Human Capital --- Human Resources --- Information Campaigns --- Interest Groups --- Labor Market --- Lessons Learned --- Nongovernmental Organizations --- Participation and Civic Engagement --- Poverty Monitoring & analysis --- Poverty Reduction --- Poverty Strategy, analysis and Monitoring --- Project Management --- Rural Development --- Slums --- Social Dev/Gender/Inclusion --- Social Inclusion --- Social Protection and Risk Management --- Transparency --- Urban Areas --- Urban Development --- Urban Economic Development --- Urban Population --- Urban Poverty --- Urban Services and Housing For the Poor

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The 2014-2015 Romania Regional Development 2 Program is the continuation of the World Bank's technical assistance to the Ministry of Regional Development and Public Administration (MRDPA). Building on the previous engagement, the current work addresses a fundamental question: given Romania's persistent development challenges, how can the country do more with less when it comes to the public infrastructure it needs? The key is to enhance coordination and harmonization of different funding sources, particularly infrastructure programs financed from the state budget and from EU structural funds. The National Local Development Program (PNDL), managed by the MRDPA, is reviewed in depth, though the conclusions typically hold for all state-budget-funded programs. This synthesis report summarizes the main findings and recommendations from eight final reports and 24 knowledge sharing workshops organized in all eight regions in Romania in 2015. Several 'bonus' outputs were also produced, going beyond the terms of this technical assistance (three investment guides, an applicant guide, and an operational manual). This synthesis report - along with all the outputs it draws from - is meant as a practical tool for policymakers at the national, regional, and local level. It also seeks to inform a broader audience of private and nongovernmental stakeholders.

Accountability --- Affordable Housing --- Air Pollution --- Asset Management --- Audits --- Capital Expenditures --- Civil Service --- Climate Change --- Credit --- Debt --- Drainage --- Economies of Scale --- Finance --- Finance and Financial Sector Development --- Grants --- Highways --- Historic Buildings --- Housing --- Income Distribution --- Income Tax --- Inflation --- Infrastructure --- Infrastructure Economics and Finance --- Infrastructure Investment --- Interest Rates --- Land --- Legal Framework --- Legislation --- Loans --- Mobility --- Non Bank Financial Institutions --- Private Participation in Infrastructure --- Public Finance --- Public Sector Development --- Public Sector Governance --- Public Sector Management and Reform --- Railways --- Rental Housing --- Resettlement --- Risk --- Roads --- Sanitation --- Savings --- Subnational Governments --- Taxes --- Technical Assistance --- Traffic Volumes --- Transparency --- Transport --- Urban Development --- Urban Housing --- Urban Services and Housing For the Poor --- Vehicles --- Wages --- Water Supply

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For the 2014-2020 programming period, the Government of Romania (GoR) is considering a new approach proposed by the European Commission (EC) - Community-Led Local Development (CLLD). CLLD comes with a unique set of challenges. These include making sure that the process is truly inclusive, community-led, transparent, and focused on peer-to-peer learning across communities and other stakeholders. The GoR should carefully weigh potential benefits and risks of applying the CLLD approach and put in place an adequate implementation framework with sufficient risk mitigating measures before pursuing CLLD. The World Bank undertook this advisory activity to help the GoR put in place an implementation framework for CLLD in Romania, should it want to go ahead with this approach. It includes a proposed definition of urban marginalized communities, the population group that the GoR wants to target by CLLD. The definition is based on a review of the Romanian literature on (urban) marginalization and on qualitative research in ten cities. It also includes guidelines for CLLD implementation based on EC guidance, extensive field work, and an assessment of lessons learned of similar programs in Romania and elsewhere. Moreover, detailed maps of urban marginalized areas across Romania are presented. These are based on a set of indicators, for which data are available in the 2011 Population and Housing Census dataset. Six conceptual pilots have been prepared that are based on simulated CLLD processes and can serve as examples for municipalities/NGOs that could be applying for EU funding through the CLLD approach, during the 2014-2020 programming period. This extensive summary brochure presents a synopsis of all findings and messages across the outputs produced under this activity.

Access to Information --- Audits --- Best Practices --- Business Environment --- Capacity Building --- Cities --- Communities --- Community Development and Empowerment --- Community Empowerment --- Community Involvement --- Crime --- Data analysis --- Data Collection --- Decision Making --- Electricity --- Financial Management --- Flexibility --- Horizontal Integration --- Housing --- Housing & Human Habitats --- Human Capital --- Identity --- Information Campaigns --- Innovation --- Interest Groups --- Lessons Learned --- Participation and Civic Engagement --- Poverty Monitoring & analysis --- Poverty Reduction --- Poverty Strategy, analysis and Monitoring --- Private Sector --- Project Management --- Rural Development --- Slums --- Social Capital --- Social Dev/Gender/Inclusion --- Social Development --- Social Inclusion --- Social Protection and Risk Management --- Technical Assistance --- Transparency --- Urban Areas --- Urban Development --- Urban Population --- Urban Services and Housing For the Poor --- Youth