The World Bank Report No: ISR14308 Implementation Status & Results Ghana Ghana Partnership for Education (P129381) Public Disclosure Copy Operation Name: Ghana Partnership for Education (P129381) Project Stage: Implementation Seq.No: 3 Status: ARCHIVED Archive Date: 01-Jun-2014 Country: Ghana Approval FY: 2013 Product Line: Recipient Executed Activities Region: AFRICA Lending Instrument: Specific Investment Loan Implementing Agency(ies): Ministry of Education Key Dates Board Approval Date 11-Oct-2012 Original Closing Date 31-Oct-2015 Planned Mid Term Review Date 08-Dec-2014 Last Archived ISR Date 14-Dec-2013 Effectiveness Date 15-Feb-2013 Revised Closing Date 31-Oct-2015 Actual Mid Term Review Date Project Development Objectives Project Development Objective (from Project Appraisal Document) The PDO of the Ghana Partnership for Education Grant is to improve the planning, monitoring and delivery of basic education services in deprived districts of the Recipient's Territory. Has the Project Development Objective been changed since Board Approval of the Project? Yes No Component(s) Component Name Component Cost Sub-Grants to Deprived Districts to support key education objectives 44.86 School Sub-Grants 24.06 Project Management and Institutional Strengthening 6.58 Overall Ratings Previous Rating Current Rating Public Disclosure Copy Progress towards achievement of PDO Satisfactory Satisfactory Overall Implementation Progress (IP) Satisfactory Satisfactory Overall Risk Rating Substantial Substantial Implementation Status Overview The information and data included in this ISR is based on the annual GPEG status report received in February 2014 and the findings from the joint implementation support mission conducted by the World Bank and the Local Education Group (LEG) from December 9-16, 2013 with field visits to beneficiary regions/districts and schools. The first year of implementation has been observed to be very successful. The GPEG has disbursed approximately US$34.2 million (45%) of the US$75.5 million grant to date. Beneficiary districts have received two rounds of district grant allocations - they are currently implementing the approved 2014 Annual Programs of Work (APW). The latest withdrawal application for US $11.5 million was made against the 2014 APWs. The following have been observed at the school and district level: (i) increases in regular visits by circuit supervisors to schools Page 1 of 4 The World Bank Report No: ISR14308 (100% of schools visited at least twice during past year); (ii) consistent delivery of INSET to teachers (almost 50% of schools are conducting all recommended INSET core courses); and (iii) improvements in student and teacher attendance (validated by the review of School Report Cards). A recent report on the Untrained Teacher Diploma in Basic Education (UTDBE) program indicates significant progress in improving the quality of the residential courses (through decongestion of the Colleges offering them), printing of the modules in time for courses and the launch of the quality assurance agency to support UTDBE. In addition, the UTDBE enrollment cleaning has finally been resolved and all student teachers Public Disclosure Copy currently enrolled will remain if they pass the exams from the first year. Greater attention to the support for students between residential courses will be critical to ensuring their success with the program and technical assistance is being provided to strengthen this area. Problems with the software for the School Report Cards has led to some delays in their roll out, but to date, 95% (sample survey) of schools had an up-to-date report card. The Local Education Group (LEG) also verified in all schools visited in December that schools had produced the SRCs and had posted them for public viewing. There has been some delay in establishing the monitoring and evaluation activities as the contracts for the lesson observation and impact evaluation consultancies are still being processed, although close to finalization. A post-procurement review and safeguards review will be conducted prior to the next implementation support mission. Locations No Location data has been entered Results Project Development Objective Indicators Indicator Name Core Unit of Measure Baseline Current End Target Deprived districts disbursing 75% or more of Percentage Value 0.00 86.00 80.00 their district education grants as planned in Date 29-May-2012 30-Dec-2013 31-Oct-2015 their APW Comments APW execution report show that 86% of districts (49 districts) had spent over 75% of their budget as planned. Public basic schools in deprived districts with Percentage Value 0.00 95.00 75.00 up-to-date School Report Cards Date 29-May-2012 20-Jan-2014 31-Oct-2015 Comments P3 students achieving proficiency in English Percentage Value 12.40 16.00 15.00 and Math (NEA results for deprived districts) Date 31-Dec-2011 23-Dec-2013 31-Oct-2015 Comments P3 English: 12.4 P3 English: 16% P3 English: 15% Public Disclosure Copy P3 Math: 9% P3 students achieving proficiency in Math Percentage Value 9.00 13.00 15.00 Sub Type Date 31-Dec-2011 31-Oct-2015 Breakdown Comments P3 Math: 9 P3 Math 13% P3 Math 11% Teachers trained in deprived districts who Percentage Value 0.00 0.00 50.00 obtain satisfactory rating or higher in the SBI/ Date 02-Apr-2013 31-Oct-2015 CBI Lesson Observation Sheet for (a) lesson Comments Not yet carried out. planning (b) teaching methodology (c) classroom org/management Page 2 of 4 The World Bank Report No: ISR14308 Direct project beneficiaries Number Value 0.00 1755541.00 1700000.00 Date 29-May-2012 20-Jan-2014 31-Oct-2015 Comments 1.7 million students, 6,000 Public Disclosure Copy UTDBE teachers, 40,000 teachers Female beneficiaries Percentage Value 0.00 46.70 40.00 Sub Type Supplemental Data on Financial Performance (as of 07-Mar-2014) Financial Agreement(s) Key Dates Project Ln/Cr/Tf Status Approval Date Signing Date Effectiveness Date Original Closing Date Revised Closing Date P129381 TF-13140 Effective 22-Nov-2012 22-Nov-2012 15-Feb-2013 31-Oct-2015 31-Oct-2015 Disbursements (in Millions) Project Ln/Cr/Tf Status Currency Original Revised Cancelled Disbursed Undisbursed % Disbursed P129381 TF-13140 Effective USD 75.50 75.50 0.00 34.21 41.29 45.00 Disbursement Graph Public Disclosure Copy Page 3 of 4 The World Bank Report No: ISR14308 Key Decisions Regarding Implementation The success of the joint review mission in December 2013, conducting field visits to all regions with representation from all stakeholders (DPs, government, CSOs), encouraged the local education group to think about how it can continue to provide integrated implementation support to the GPEG. It was agreed that the next implementation support mission be timed with the planned National Education Sector Annual Review (NESAR) in June/July 2014 to leverage even wider stakeholder consultations. The first annual status report Public Disclosure Copy (February 2014) provides the first year of indicator data for the results framework. The results observed are impressive, with many indicators exceeding their targets. The project will seek to continue its efforts to strengthen capacity at the district and school levels to implement APWs and school performance improvement plans (SPIPs) in line with the aims of the GPEG development objective. The National Education Assessment (NEA) conducted in 2013 (with support from USAID) show improvements in learning achievements in the deprived districts- this is promising, although not entirely attributable to GPEG interventions. The planned impact assessment and evaluation will help to systematically evaluate the impact of various project activities and the team is advised to expedite the contracting for this consultancy. Restructuring History Level 2 CD Decision on 14-May-2013 Related Projects There are no related projects. Public Disclosure Copy Page 4 of 4