Published By ACB | July 3, 2025
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- The International Development Association’s (IDA) first financing of the Social Safety Net and Basic Services project (FSB), in the amount of $29 million, enabled more than 60,000 households, including 40,309 women to benefit from cash transfers and thus strengthen their resilience.
- An additional $20 million in IDA funding in September 2023 supported a further 64,000 households.
- Basic socio-economic infrastructure – including schools and boreholes as selected by the community – has been built in 200 beneficiary communities across the country’s five regions.
Ognawlou, January 11, 2023 – Akossiwa Akakpo lives in Ognawlou, a village located about 35 kilometers from Atakpamé in southern Togo. She is eager to send her granddaughters to school for their future success. However, three years ago, this lively grandmother in a blue and yellow boubou was struggling to make ends meet.
Thanks to the Social Safety Net and Basic Services project (in French Projet Filets sociaux et services de base, FSB), supported by the World Bank and implemented by the National Grassroots Development Agency (Agence nationale d’appui au développement à la base, ANADEB), Akossiwa and several households in the village have benefited from key basic infrastructure they were missing for many years: the construction of a water borehole and a community center. A godsend for this village of 876 inhabitants, 456 of whom are women who often bear the responsibility for water chores.
Easing the daily burden on households
Just two years ago, I was really struggling to look after my family because my income was insufficient. In addition to my wife and my four children, I also must take care of my mother who is old and can’t work. Thanks to the cash transfers I have received, my market gardening business has doubled in size. I have increased my production and hired two people to help me.
Samuel Kouevi, Market gardener.
Before the borehole was built, Akossiwa’s girls and others in the village used to fetch water from the Amou river, an hour’s walk away. The commissioning of the new infrastructure has quickly brought some significant change in the lives of people in her household and improved their living conditions.
“My granddaughter Dorcas used to go the river twice in the morning and twice in the evening to provide water for the family. The water was infected with worms and made us sick, but we had no choice. As a result, she was often late for school. Now she gets water from the borehole in the village; it is safe and a real time-saver. She now devotes more time to her studies and can enjoy a more fulfilling school life.”
Financial supports that give hope to vulnerable households.
FSB has also provided financial support to selected households in the village through its cash transfer scheme. A total of 83 households, including 72 headed by women, received cash transfers in eight installments of FCFA15,000 ($25) per quarter. Total funding received amounted to FCFA120,000 ($200).