Snapshot review of Two World Bank COVID-19 Health support programs in Egypt B. Grievance redress mechanisms Emergency Response project in the COVID-19 “ The Borrower shall, through the MOHP, establish, publicize, maintain and operate an accessible grievance mechanism, to receive and facilitate resolution of concerns and grievances of Project-affected people, and take all measures necessary and appropriate to resolve, or facilitate the resolution of, such concerns and grievances, in a manner acceptable to the Bank.” - Extracted from the official loan agreement between the GOE and the World Bank, July 5th, 202016. As outlined by the World Bank representatives, the World Bank has in place a number of Grievance Redress Mechanisms about its programs. The grievance redress mechanism used for this project is an extension of the already established system put in place by the MoHP. This grievance mechanism functions through a hotline (105) that receives an estimated 40,000 calls a day. It is part of a wider GRM system entitled “Shakawy” under the auspices of the Cabinet of Ministers, meant to receive all grievances in all sectors. The hotline is not just dedicated to grievances, but also for information, queries and different areas of support. Therefore, the COVID19 hotline is not actually a hotline dedicated to COVID-19 grievances but is integrated into a wider grievance system. The World Bank has declared that this mechanism is meant to be the most widely used one in relation to its alternative. Additionally, the alternative outlined GRM is an extension of the GRM established for the «Transforming Egypt’s Healthcare System» project. Data is not available about the specific hospitals or isolation facilities supported by the World Bank program, therefore, it is impossible to assess the response of the World Bank to grievances by patients in the facilities it supports. However, since the World Bank is integrating its GRM with the unified mechanism adopted by the government, we have carried out grievance trials in order to assess its capacity in addressing stakeholder grievances. This should only give an initial idea of its actual functioning and does not necessarily reflect the GRM of the World Bank. We carried out trials over 3 days, placing calls to the grievance component of the hotline at different times of the day. Further details on each call (time and details of the responses) are attached in a table within Appendix B. After 11 calls, 4 of which were automatically disconnected, we were finally able to reach a representative to record and register our grievance on January 13, 2021. The grievance was carried out on behalf of a stakeholder, a pregnant woman not receiving proper care at a COVID19 ward. The hotline often looped voice messages until disconnection, and in the instances where the line rang, an automatic voice message thanked the caller and subsequently disconnected. The automated voice message often refers callers to the grievance website dedicated to receiving citizen grievances. As aforementioned, this website is part of a centralized GRM system dedicated to grievances regarding all government and non-governmental bodies, not just the health sector, 16 “Loan Agreement Egypt COVID 19 Emergency Response Project.” World Bank , July 5, 2020. 11