Someone is doing something about the weather, or at least to mitigate its effects.

The IDB approved separate loans to Ecuador and Peru in November to help those countries cope with the flooding and droughts caused by the El Niño weather phenomenon.

In Ecuador, a $105 million IDB loan will help finance the protection and rehabilitation of roads, buildings and protection of water supplies, provision of emergency shelter, waste management, and education and health services, and humanitarian aid. In addition, government agencies and the civil defense system will be strengthened to better cope with the emergency.

Also contributing to the Ecuador program are the World Bank and the Andean Development Corporation.

For Peru, a $150 million IDB loan will finance projects in two areas of the country. In the north, where flooding is the main threat, the resources will be used to channel streams, construct drainage works, protect schools, historic monuments and archeological sites, and relocate communities. In the south, where drought is the problem, the funds will be used for irrigation, plowing, planting and other agricultural activities. The program will also provide humanitarian aid and rehabilitation services.

The World Bank is also contributing to the Peru program.
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VENEZUELA
Team approach for social projects

The IDB has approved a $12 million loan to finance a ground- breaking program to deliver social services to Venezuela's most marginalized populations.

In a first for the Bank, the new program will be designed, implemented and evaluated by civil society organizations (CSOs), and the private sector will join with the government in providing funding.

Projects will include job training, family support services, preschool, elementary and adult education, education for indigenous communities, and primary health care and health education. Beneficiaries will be people who are presently excluded from the existing government-run social services network. In selecting projects, priority will be given to the needs of women, children and indigenous people.

The program represents an effort by the Venezuelan government to find alternative means to deliver basic social services in the face of budget constraints and rising levels of poverty. Over the years, CSOs have developed considerable experience in delivering social services to the poor, and the new program will make use of their expertise and at the same time strengthen their technical and organizational capacity. The program also provides a mechanism through which counterpart financing from the private sector can be channeled.

A presidentially appointed commission made up of representatives from the public and private sectors and CSOs will provide policy direction for the program and approve the projects to be financed. The program's impact will be monitored during implementation.

"There is a long tradition in Venezuela of cooperation between civil society and the government," said Trevor Boothe, IDB team leader for the new program, known as Programa PAIS. "With the addition of the private sector, we hope this program will serve as a model that could be replicated in other countries".