ENVIRONMENT AND SOCIAL SYSTEMS ASSESSMENT – Addendum 1. The AF builds on past engagement and is in line with the parent IDA program. The original PDO would remain unchanged. The AF will include adding selected new DLRs and introducing a new DLI on efficiency, equity, and learning within the existing DLI framework and program boundary. Considering the unchanged objective, scope, and activities of the AF, the environmental and social impact will remain the same. 2. According to the World Bank’s policy, an ESSA was conducted for the parent program. The ESSA assessed the authority and organization capacity of the key implementing agency, that is, the then DOE, now CEHRD, and identified gaps and opportunities to strengthen the system. Although the environmental and social impacts are low, the ESSA identified systemic gaps with regard to establishing institutional mechanisms and arrangements for implementation; allocating budgets, coordination, and monitoring; and enhancing institutional capacity through training and better guidelines. The ESSA identified action plans for improving environmental and social management of the program, which are updating of existing EMF and SMF implemented for World Bank-funded project SSRP, establishment of environmental and social due diligence procedure; establishment of safeguard desk at the CEHRD; Grievance Redressal Mechanism monitoring, evaluation, and audit arrangements; provision of environment and social budget; capacity building/training; and so on. 3. The change in the institutional arrangement in federal setup has created new challenges in the already weak capacity of the Program for the implementation of environmental and social safeguard activities. The assessment also builds on field visits and interactions with the local stakeholders including urban and rural municipalities. Although there is lack of clarity in functions and functionality of the sector, the review team noted that the newly formed CEHRD will have a monitoring unit at the federal level which will monitor the safeguard activities of the SSDP. At the provincial level, the Education Unit of the Ministry of Social Development will be responsible for technical backstopping and development of standards and tools, and roster, including safeguard compliance. At the district level, the EDCU will provide on-demand technical backstopping support to LGs and facilitate implementation of federal-level policies at the local level. However, it was revealed that there is a lack of clarity on the roles and responsibilities with regard to the implementation and compliance monitoring of environment and social safeguard procedures within the institutional arrangement recently formed in the federal setup. 4. Although some aspects of environmental and disaster requirements interlinked with civil constructions are included in the preparation of the SIP, it was noted that subnational governments generally are not aware of the environmental and social safeguards requirements of the SSDP. The capacity of the LGs appears to be inadequate both in terms of human resource and knowledge to address the safeguard issues. An effective communication strategy and capacity building of the subnational government staffs with adequate budget for monitoring are critical for the effective implementation of safeguard provisions in the AF. 5. The existing EMF and SMF needs revision to reflect the changed federal context. The executive summary of the EMF/SMF needs to be translated into Nepali and publicly disclosed. Other tasks to be completed are (a) preparation of environment and social safeguards monitoring tools, (b) preparation of training programs/schedules for relevant stakeholders at national and subnational levels, and (c) inclusion of EMF and SMF requirements in the Program Implementation Manual. To expedite the preparation of the AF, the MOEST/CEHRD will complete these tasks before the Decision Review Meeting followed by appraisal. 6. Climate and disaster risk. Nepal is exposed to a wide range of hazards, including earthquakes, floods, landslides, droughts, and glacial lake outburst floods. The Disaster Risk Resilience (DRR) subresults area under the parent IDA program aims to enhance schools’ physical infrastructure and provide children a safe, secure, and conducive learning space. The SSDP builds on the existing school safety framework and strengthens soft components of school safety (for example, curriculum integration, teacher training, communication, school drills, and DRR in SIPs) and the need-based maintenance and retrofitting of school buildings. Hence, the overall risk to the intended Program outcome continues to be low to moderate. 7. Gender. Nepal has made impressive gains in education with gender parity in NER achieved at both basic (Grades 1–8) and secondary (Grades 9–12) levels. The survival rate to basic education (Grade 8) for girls is 77.4 percent which is higher than that for boys at 75.9 percent. The percentage increase in survival rate of both boys and girls in basic education can be attributed to a series of enabling strategies adopted by the national-level programs such as the SSRP, SSDP scholarships and incentives, girls scholarship, girls toilets, and water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) facilities. At the secondary level (Grades 9–12), the data show that the enrolment of girls is higher than of boys, which can be attributed to various socioeconomic factors, including high tendency of boys seeking overseas employment, whereas girls continue in schools in community schools at local levels. Unlike the basic level, the survival rate of all students in secondary education (Grade 12) is low at 11.5 percent (baseline: 2015–2016), with more girls dropping out early than boys. Lower survival of girls than boys in secondary and higher-secondary levels can be attributed to early marriage and discontinuation of schooling post marriage and parent’s preference over boys to girls in continuing higher education as per their financial position. However, due to the lack of gender-disaggregated data of the survival rate to Grade 12, the exact gender gap is not available. 8. The AF will continue to support the interventions of the parent program related to access, equity, and learning outcomes at both the basic and secondary levels. The AF will continue to provide girls scholarships at the basic level to maintain the current percentage increase in the retention rate of girls, to be able to achieve the target at the end of the program. The pro-poor scholarship at the secondary level will help increase the retention rate of both boys and girls in secondary education and with allocation specifically for girls in addressing the gender gap in retention rate. The pro-poor scholarship is considered more efficient in supporting need-based students, often girls from poor and marginalized households, to continue secondary education and their retention. The AF will continue to support the parent program in increasing the survival rate to Grade 12 from 11.5 percent to 25 percent by the end of the program with equal increments both for girls and boys. Additionally, the parent program also supports pro-science scholarships for girls to encourage more girls to pursue secondary-level education in science. This will allow the girls to be more competitive for employment in the high demand science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) sector. The AF will also support improving NER in basic and secondary education in 15 most disadvantaged districts, disaggregated by gender. The AF will further support in enhancing the current EMIS to collect and report gender-disaggregated data for more efficient targeting to reduce inequity and improve the education outcomes for girls. Key gender-related activities/interventions are (a) girls scholarship at basic level and pro-poor scholarship at secondary level with preferential treatment for girls; (b) measurement of PDO Indicator 3: Survival rate to Grade 8 and Grade 12 (disaggregated by gender), and PDO Indicator 4: measurement of NER in basic and secondary education in 15 most disadvantaged districts as ranked in the equity index disaggregated by gender); and (c) strengthening of the EMIS.