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14, January 2025
World Bank ends CFA45bn Swedd Project in Cameroon over poor results 0
The World Bank has decided to end the Sahel Women’s Empowerment and Demographic Dividend (Swedd) Project in Cameroon due to unsatisfactory outcomes. Though the decision was made months ago, it was formally communicated to Cameroon’s authorities on December 18, 2024, in a letter from Cheick Fantamady Kanté, the World Bank’s country director for Cameroon, to Economy Minister Alamine Ousmane Mey. The project is officially set to close on December 31, 2024.
The World Bank cited the project’s low disbursement rate as a key reason for its termination. By February 2024, only 8.3% of the allocated funds had been spent. This amounted to just $5.7 million (CFA3.6 billion) out of a total of $75 million (over CFA45 billion). A World Bank mission in February 2024 deemed this spending rate unacceptably low.
The Swedd project, aimed at empowering women in the northern regions of Cameroon (Adamawa, North, and Far North), failed to deliver significant benefits to its target groups. The World Bank described progress as “unsatisfactory.”
The project management under Alphonse Glory Mbah Ngami also came under scrutiny. Cameroon’s Swedd team was found to be the largest among 16 African countries implementing the project, leading to inflated operational costs and reduced efficiency. According to the February 2024 report, most performance indicators were red, except for midwife training. Moreover, teachers involved in remedial courses for beneficiaries reported not being paid.
The World Bank’s recommendations to improve fund utilization yielded little progress. For example, between July 1 and December 31, 2024, the project was supposed to spend CFA2.5 billion. Planned expenditures included a CFA308.3 million ($512,336) agreement with UNICEF for vehicle purchases. However, by December 18, 2024, none of the vehicles had been delivered. Other key purchases, such as mobile clinic vehicles, campaign vehicles, IT equipment for 15 midwifery schools (CFA549 million), and motorcycles (CFA167 million), were also unfulfilled.
The World Bank has granted a four-month grace period, ending April 30, 2025, for eligible payments to be made. Any unpaid expenses after this period will become ineligible and must be covered by the Cameroonian government. In a letter dated December 23, 2024, Cheick Fantamady Kanté confirmed that the government would fund operational costs during this time.
The Swedd project has been operational in Africa since 2015 and was slated to launch in Cameroon in 2020 for a four-year term. However, delays related to credit readiness pushed the official start to 2022. The financing agreement was signed on October 12, 2021, and the project began on February 8, 2022.
Source: Business in Cameroon