The activities of the expert / head of component B could be divided into 2 main areas, among the activities detailed below. The selection of the activities will be discussed with AFD and Expertise France.

B.1: COMPONENT A (HUMAN RESOURCES SUPPORT)

• HR impact assessment of the new CVDB’s strategy

A proposal for a new organization chart has been sent by the CVDB to the Prime Minister's Office but was not yet adopted and a new CVDB strategy is being finalized (it should be adopted by the Board). A PPT presentation of the new CVDB’s strategy was delivered by the World bank but has not been endorsed by the CVDB at this stage.

The technical assistance may, when these stages have been completed, provide support to the CVDB for the production of an impact assessment of the new strategy and of the new organizational chart.

A methodological document and an impact sheet have already been prepared and transmitted by the component B expert in order to better structure this future strategic analysis.

• HR support in the overall CVDB organizational transformation process (including negotiation with the Civil Service Bureau / Ministry of Finance).

The “HR initial strategic assessment” (report 4) provided first recommendations to CVDB as regards its CVDB transformation strategy and actions that can be supported under technical assistance.

As regards the overall CVDB transformation strategy, it will be useful to liaise with the HR dpt as regards the main recommendations provided, in particular in its relationships with the Civil Service Bureau and the Ministry of Finance), eg : better justify and argue requests for job creation ; strengthen the internal mobility of CVDB staff towards occupations in shortage ; reducing staff in non-essential and overstaffed functions ; improving staff performance, motivation and efficiency; strengthening the strategic functions of the CVDB and the capacities of the CVDB's regional branches; implement a gender-sensitive policy.

It will be necessary having regular exchange of views and providing support when needed to CVDB as regards the definition and the implementation of its HR strategic approach, in particular in relation to the Civil Service Bureau and the Ministry of Finance.

• Support to the setting up of new / strategic units, in particular: compliance; risks; empowerment municipal unit, including investment unit; Governorate Development Fund (GDF).

First, there will be a need to cooperate with the component A head of component and the local manager as regards the strengthening of compliance, risks management and internal control units. Job descriptions have already been drafted for those units by the former expert in charge of component A but require follow-up and validation by CVDB.

Then, the expert will also provide support for the setting up of 2 new units in CVDB:

• The Empowerment Municipal Unit, that will include the investment unit and the developmental observatory.

No detailed information was provided to the TA consultants during the last sessions but there is a need to understand better and accompany CVDB in the setting up of this unit, for its organization and to recall strategic needs encountered by municipalities (cf report 4).

• The Governorate Development Fund (GDF).

By the new CVDB Law, the GDF was transferred from JEDCO to CVDB.

CVDB already asked for a specific support on the drafting of job descriptions by an HR local consultant. The expert on component B will be responsible to supervise the local expert.

• Methodological support for the drafting of training needs assessment and of multi annual training plan.

CVDB HR dpt mentioned a support needed to train its own staff in the fields of training needs assessment and multi annual training plan but he ToRs of this activity weren’t deepened during the meetings with the HR dpt.

B.2: COMPONENT B (INVESTMENT STRATEGY)

The following activities have to be carried out:

• Define a loan employment doctrine

From the market study (1st and 2d phase) carried out and delivered from February to May 2023, the expert should provide proposals for a loan employment doctrine for investment projects to municipalities.

This would take into account:

• The national priorities of the Government and the investments opportunities and potentials of the private sector in order to integrate them into investment project financing decisions: sectors in which to invest, types of investment (infrastructure, innovation and structuring projects, territorial distribution according to competitive advantages / governorate…)
• The priorities and objectives for implementing grants and loans from international donors, which the CVDB would manage. This will allow to prioritize the search for funding towards the priority areas of intervention of donors (e.g.: energy efficiency, digitalization, gender equality, smart cities, etc.).

• Define a mechanism support to provide technical assistance to the municipalities (& capacity building of CVDB’s staff)

The objective of this activity will be to provide new services and technical assistance to the municipalities.

To that extent, it will be necessary to support CVDB to define its precise role in this area and arbitrate between TA activities to municipalities (support on feasibility studies; financial management; strategic territorial planning; enhance “Economic Development Units” in Municipalities). Also, the role of the regional branches should be deepened.

An exchange of experiences with the Moroccan institution (FEC) will be very useful to that extent. The project team aims at organizing different zoom meetings over the next months on specific topics (such as scoring of municipalities, technical assistance to the municipalities, etc) to ensure regular exchanges of best practices between CVDB and FEC. The expert responsible for the component B of the project will supervise the organization of those zoom meetings.

• Organize a working group with CVDB dedicated to the drafting of common guidelines to align with international donors’ expectations on cross cutting priorities (in particular, engage a reflection for the set up of an environmental and social assessment of investment projects).

Indeed, the benchmark with FEC emphasized the strong leverage effect of the ambitious environmental and social impact assessment they put in place, with the AFD support, on its capacity to receive and manage lines of credits from international donors.

Therefore, CVDB could engage a reflection to draft environmental and social (ES) impact studies guidelines to assess the planned investments of municipalities, with the support of the expert.