In the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), progress is being made towards the strategic alignment of different finance instruments for forest-smart development in the Mai Ndombe Province.The Mai Ndombe Emission Reductions Program, which covers 12 million hectares, is designed to be a model for green development in the Congo Basin and an important test of climate action and REDD+ results-based payments. The aim of the program is to provide benefits for the local population while reducing greenhouse gas emissions from deforestation and forest degradation of 29 million tons CO2 by 2021.

A number of recent achievements have strengthened the World Bank Group's approach of working across diverse teams and sectors in the Mai Ndombe Province:

• DRC's Emission Reductions (ER) program in Mai Ndombe became the first one worldwide to be selected into the portfolio of the FCPF Carbon Fund on December 7, 2016, for the negotiations of an Emission Reductions Payment Agreement (ERPA).

• Following a call for proposals by DRC's National REDD+ Fund (FONAREDD), the World Bank's proposed REDD+ Integrated Investment Project for Mai Ndombe (US$ 30 million) was approved on October 20, 2016, for funding from the Central African Forest Initiative (CAFI). The project is a major building block to provide the necessary investments for community-based activities in the Mai Ndombe District to pilot a performance-based payment system under the ER program. It complements the existing Improved Forested Landscape Management Project (US$ 36.9 million, out of which 16.3 million directly support activities in the ER Program area) under the Forest Investment Program (FIP), which targets the Plateau District of the Mai Ndombe Province.

• In addition, the World Bank's proposed project on Sustainable Management of Forests by Indigenous Peoples (Pygmees) was also approved by DRC's National REDD+ Fund (US$ 2 million) in October 2016. It will be operationalized through the FIP's Dedicated Grant Mechanism for indigenous peoples (DGM) in DRC (US$ 6 million). A portion of this project will directly support activities with and for indigenous peoples in Mai Ndombe.

• A new project under the Global Environment Facility (GEF) is also being designed to contribute investment financing for ER program activities. The GEF contribution will be aligned to the overall finance package for Mai Ndombe.

• Finally, collaboration across the World Bank global practice areas has been recommended under the Public Service Reform and Rejuvenation Project in DRC. Mai Ndombe is one of the targeted provinces and the systematic alignment of funding sources mirrors the 'programmatic approach', which is at the heart of the World Bank's Forest Action Plan.