The Mission to Support the Implementation of the Health Security Project in West and Central Africa (HeSP) began this Monday, August 31, with a meeting between the World Bank team, the UGPE team, and the National Director of Planning at the Ministry of Finance, Edmir Ferreira. The mission will run through September 3 and aims to assess the project’s implementation status, identify key challenges, and define measures to help accelerate the execution of planned activities.

During the meeting, the National Director of Planning (DNP) emphasized the importance of listening to the various stakeholders involved in the project’s implementation and jointly analyzing existing constraints. It is expected that the work carried out during the mission will help identify concrete solutions and contribute to a faster pace of activity execution.

For his part, André Carletto, the World Bank’s lead economist and head of the mission, highlighted the importance of closely monitoring the Project’s implementation and disbursement progress. He also emphasized the need to identify the factors that have hindered the progress of certain activities and to find solutions that will overcome these challenges and achieve the defined objectives.

For Nuno Gomes, Coordinator of the Special Projects Management Unit (UGPE), greater involvement and coordination among the entities and teams involved is essential to speeding up processes. He also highlighted the importance of close coordination and the existence of focal points that facilitate the monitoring of activities and contribute to a faster response to identified challenges. Among the topics to be discussed during the mission are issues related to fiduciary management, as well as a review of the Annual Work Plan and Budget (PTOA) and the project’s future prospects, taking into account Cape Verde’s priorities for the health sector.
The importance of the project’s “One Health” approach—which promotes an integrated view of human, animal, and environmental health—was also emphasized.
UGPE is represented by its Coordinator, Nuno Gomes, and Project Manager, Bruno Santos, with particular emphasis on their role in monitoring the fiduciary and environmental issues associated with the project’s implementation.

Also participating in the meeting is the World Bank’s Senior Health Specialist, Jorge Noel Barreto, as well as representatives from the various institutions involved.
Over the course of the four days, working meetings will be held with the various stakeholders to assess the progress made, examine the main challenges in greater depth, and agree on measures that will contribute to a faster and more effective implementation of the Health Security Project in Cape Verde.