Libreville, Rep. Gabon, March 14, 2022 - The World Bank health specialists on a supervision and support mission to the Coordination and Management Unit of the Project for Strengthening Regional Disease Surveillance Systems in Central Africa, fourth phase (REDISSE IV), accompanied by Mrs. Alice OUEDRAOGO, World Bank Resident Representative in Gabon, On 11 March 2022, the main observations made in the implementation of the REDISSE IV Project were presented to the President of the ECCAS Commission, His Excellency Ambassador Gilberto Da Piedade VERISSIMO, in the presence of the Commissioner in charge of the Department of Gender Promotion, Human and Social Development, Mrs. Yvette-Kapinga NGANDU.

From 7 to 11 March 2022, the World Bank supervision and support mission had in-depth exchanges with the staff of the Regional Coordination and Management Unit of the REDISSE IV Project as well as with the partner organisations implementing the said project.

The various exchanges focused mainly on i) the level of execution of the Project activities planned in 2021 in all the components of the project; ii) financial management and procurement; iii) the status of commitments on environmental and social safeguards; iv) the role of the project's implementing partners; v) the support of the regional level to the management units in the beneficiary countries of the Project; vi) the Annual Budgeted Work Plan for the year 2022, etc.

At the end of the discussions, in order to meet the challenges identified in the implementation and acceleration of the implementation of REDISSE IV Project activities, the members of the supervision mission presented a number of recommendations to the REDISSE IV Project Coordination and Management Unit, such as strengthening the monitoring of the implementation of activities at the regional level and at the level of the Project beneficiary countries; develop a semi-annual report on the implementation of the project at the regional level; focus on activities of a regional nature including cross-border collaboration, epidemic simulation exercises, development of regional strategies (cross-border, human resources for health, emergency response, laboratories, security stockpiles); develop bi-weekly epidemiological bulletins and policy briefs on important themes and good practices, etc.

The mission also recommended to the ECCAS Commission: the acceleration of the signature of the pending contracts; the finalisation of the recruitment process for the vacant key posts; the involvement of the competent structures of the Commission in the implementation and monitoring of the project; the operationalisation of the "One Health" platform; the elaboration of a strategic plan for the operationalisation of the Central African Regional Animal Health Centre (CA-RAC) within the framework of the "One Health" approach etc.

The President of the ECCAS Commission, for his part, thanked the World Bank supervision team for the quality work produced with an in-depth diagnosis of the bottlenecks identified in the implementation of the REDISSE IV Project. He reassured the World Bank Resident Representative that the ECCAS Commission has taken note and is committed to implementing all the recommendations made to improve the level of disbursement of the project, which should be followed up on a monthly basis. The two parties agreed to meet in three (3) months to reassess the progress made.

The President of the ECCAS Commission, together with the Commissioner in charge of the Department of Gender, Human and Social Development, Mrs. Yvette-Kapinga NGANDU, and the Commissioner in charge of the Department of Environment, Natural Resources, Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr. Honoré TABUNA, convened a meeting on 14 March 2022. Honoré TABUNA, a working session with the staff of the REDISSE IV Project to analyse the proposals for corrective actions to address the bottlenecks identified in the implementation of the said project by the World Bank supervision mission team.

During this session, the President of the ECCAS Commission and the Commissioners present urged the staff of the PMCU to rely on their expertise to overcome the challenges identified for an effective implementation of the REDISSE IV Project activities; considered as a "Flagship" and integrating project not only for the beneficiary countries, but also for the whole ECCAS.
The staff of the PMCU took due note of the observations made and expressed their willingness to spare no effort to implement the recommendations made.