Accra, July 31, GNA - The African Development Fund (ADF) and the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU) have signed an agreement under which the sub-regional group would receive a grant of 1.96 million dollars to finance a study on maintenance and sustainable management of social infrastructures in the WAEMU member countries.

Mr Bisi Ogujobi, the African Development Bank Vice President in charge of Operations West and Central Africa, and Mr Rui Duarte Barros, WAEMU Commissioner in charge of Social Development, signed the agreement at the Bank's Temporary Relocation Agency (ATR) in Tunis, Tunisia.

A statement from the Fund received in Accra on Thursday said the grant was approved in November 2002 under the Technical Assistance Fund (TAF) to finance the study in the WAEMU countries - Benin; Burkina Faso; C=F4te d'Ivoire; Guinea Bissau; Mali; Niger; Senegal and Togo.

Mr Ogunjobi said the study being financed with the grant would assist in the formulation and implementation of community and national policies and strategies with the global aim of reducing poverty. The first phase of the study would involve a diagnosis of the situation of social infrastructures in the countries and determine the options for the drawing up of a plan of action.

The second phase would validate the various options with a view to formulating national strategies and performance indicators as well as a plan of action and terms of its operation on the one hand and define actions to be included systematically in the future social infrastructure projects on the other.

The statement said the study would contribute to the improvement of access to basic and quality social services for the people of the WAEMU countries.