Document of The World Bank FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY Report No: ICR00005058 IMPLEMENTATION COMPLETION AND RESULTS REPORT 5392-BJ ON A CREDIT IN THE AMOUNT OF SDR 22.9 MILLION (US$35 MILLION EQUIVALENT) TO THE REPUBLIC OF BENIN FOR A BENIN YOUTH EMPLOYMENT PROJECT Dec 24, 2019 Social Protection and Labor Global Practice Africa Region This document has a restricted distribution and may be used by recipients only in the performance of their official duties. Its contents may not otherwise be disclosed without World Bank authorization. CURRENCY EQUIVALENTS (Exchange Rate Effective Dec 24, 2019) Currency Unit = CFA Franc (XOF) XOF 1 = US$0.0017 US$ 1 = SDR 0.73 FISCAL YEAR July 1 - June 30 ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS ACE Agent Communal d’Emploi (Employment Agent) ACV Atelier de Compétence de Vie (Life skills Training) ANPE Agence Nationale pour la Promotion de l'Emploi (National Employment Agency) AQP Attestation de Qualification Professionnelle (Certificate of Professional Qualification) BAA Bureau d’Appui aux Artisans (Office of Support to Artisans) BCEAO Banque Centrale des Etats de l’Afrique de l’Ouest (Central Bank of West African States) CESAM Centre de Suivi, d’Assistance, et de Management (A lead Training and Capacity Development Firm in Cotonou/Benin) CFP Centre de Formation Professionnelle (Vocational Training Center) CLR Completion and Learning Review by IEG of a PLR for a concluded CPF/CPS CPF Country Partnership Framework CPS Country Partnership Strategy (predates CPF) CPS Country Partnership Strategy CQM Certificat de Qualification aux Métiers (Work Skills Certificate) CQP Certificat de Qualification Professionnelle (Professional Skills Certificate) CQS Selection based on Consultants’ Qualifications CREE Créez Votre Entreprise (Start Your Business/SYB) DEC Direction des Examens et Concours (Directorate of Exams and Competitions) DETFP Direction de l’Enseignement Technique et de la Formation Professionnelle (Directorate of Technical and Professional Training) - - formerly DAFoP DAFoP Direction de l'Apprentissage et de la Formation Professionnelle (Directorate of Apprenticeships and Professional Training) EFAT Examen de Fin d’Apprentissage Traditionnel (Examination at completion of Traditional Apprenticeship) EMICoV Enquête modulaire intégrée sur les conditions de vie des ménages (Integrated modular survey on the living conditions of households) FA Financing Agreement FCFA Franc de la Communauté Financière Africaine (African Financial Community Franc) FM Financial Management FNPEEJ Fonds National de Promotion de l’Entreprise et de l’Emploi des Jeunes (National Fund for the Promotion of Enterprise and Youth Employment) FODEFCA Fonds de Développement de la Formation Professionnelle Continue et de l’Apprentissage (Continuing and Professional Training and Apprenticeship Fund) FTCD Formation Technique de Reconversion de Courte Durée (Short-term Technical Training) GERME Gérez Mieux Votre Entreprise (Improve Your Business/IYB) IDA International Development Association ILO International Labor Organization INSAE Institut National de Statistique et de l’Analyse Economique (National Institute of Statistics and Economic Analysis) MCMEJF Ministre Chargée de la Microfinance, de l’Emploi des Jeunes et des Femmes (Ministry of Microfinance and Employment of Youth and Women) M&E Monitoring and Evaluation MIS Management Information System PCU Project Coordination Unit PDO Project Development Objectives PEJ Projet Emploi des Jeunes (Youth Employment Project) PLR Performance and Learning Review of a concluded CPS by its WBG team SCRP Stratégie de Croissance pour la Réduction de la Pauvreté (Strategy for Growth and Poverty Reduction) SIGFIP Système Intégré de Gestion des Finances Publiques (Integrated Public Financial Management System) SME Small and Medium Enterprise TRIE Trouvez Votre Idée d'Entreprise (Generate Your Business Idea/GYB) Regional Vice President: Hafez Ghanem Country Director: Coralie Gevers Senior Global Practice Director: Michal Rutkowski Practice Manager: Jehan Arulpragasam Task Team Leader(s): Thomas Bossuroy ICR Main Contributor: Ravindra Cherukupalli TABLE OF CONTENTS DATA SHEET .......................................................................................................................... 1 I. PROJECT CONTEXT AND DEVELOPMENT OBJECTIVES ....................................................... 5 A. CONTEXT AT APPRAISAL .........................................................................................................5 B. SIGNIFICANT CHANGES DURING IMPLEMENTATION (IF APPLICABLE) ..................................... 11 II. OUTCOME .................................................................................................................... 14 A. RELEVANCE OF PDOs ............................................................................................................ 14 B. ACHIEVEMENT OF PDOs (EFFICACY) ...................................................................................... 14 C. EFFICIENCY ........................................................................................................................... 19 D. JUSTIFICATION OF OVERALL OUTCOME RATING .................................................................... 20 E. OTHER OUTCOMES AND IMPACTS (IF ANY) ............................................................................ 21 III. KEY FACTORS THAT AFFECTED IMPLEMENTATION AND OUTCOME ................................ 23 A. KEY FACTORS DURING PREPARATION ................................................................................... 23 B. KEY FACTORS DURING IMPLEMENTATION ............................................................................. 24 IV. BANK PERFORMANCE, COMPLIANCE ISSUES, AND RISK TO DEVELOPMENT OUTCOME .. 26 A. QUALITY OF MONITORING AND EVALUATION (M&E) ............................................................ 26 B. ENVIRONMENTAL, SOCIAL, AND FIDUCIARY COMPLIANCE ..................................................... 29 C. BANK PERFORMANCE ........................................................................................................... 30 D. RISK TO DEVELOPMENT OUTCOME ....................................................................................... 32 V. LESSONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS ............................................................................. 33 ANNEX 1. RESULTS FRAMEWORK AND KEY OUTPUTS ........................................................... 35 ANNEX 2. BANK LENDING AND IMPLEMENTATION SUPPORT/SUPERVISION ......................... 46 ANNEX 3. PROJECT COST BY COMPONENT ........................................................................... 48 ANNEX 4. PRELIMINARY RESULTS OF IMPACT EVALUATION ................................................. 49 ANNEX 5. BORROWER COMMENTS ...................................................................................... 57 ANNEX 6. SUPPORTING DOCUMENTS .................................................................................. 62 ANNEX 7. ADDITIONAL PROGRAM DATA ............................................................................. 63 The World Bank Benin Youth Employment Project (P132667) DATA SHEET BASIC INFORMATION Product Information Project ID Project Name P132667 Benin Youth Employment Project Country Financing Instrument Benin Investment Project Financing Original EA Category Revised EA Category Not Required (C) Not Required (C) Organizations Borrower Implementing Agency Ministry of Small and Medium Enterprises and Republic of Benin Employment Promotion Project Development Objective (PDO) Original PDO The objective of the proposed project is to improve access to employment skills and employment opportunities for underemployed youth in Benin. Page 1 of 66 The World Bank Benin Youth Employment Project (P132667) FINANCING Original Amount (US$) Revised Amount (US$) Actual Disbursed (US$) World Bank Financing 35,000,000 35,000,000 32,111,790 IDA-53920 Total 35,000,000 35,000,000 32,111,790 Non-World Bank Financing 0 0 0 Borrower/Recipient 1,900,000 1,900,000 500,647 Total 1,900,000 1,900,000 500,647 Total Project Cost 36,900,000 36,900,000 32,612,437 KEY DATES Approval Effectiveness MTR Review Original Closing Actual Closing 11-Mar-2014 05-Nov-2014 07-Aug-2017 30-Jun-2018 30-Jun-2019 RESTRUCTURING AND/OR ADDITIONAL FINANCING Date(s) Amount Disbursed (US$M) Key Revisions 24-Apr-2018 18.49 Change in Results Framework Change in Components and Cost Change in Loan Closing Date(s) Reallocation between Disbursement Categories KEY RATINGS Outcome Bank Performance M&E Quality Satisfactory Satisfactory High RATINGS OF PROJECT PERFORMANCE IN ISRs Actual No. Date ISR Archived DO Rating IP Rating Disbursements (US$M) 01 16-Jun-2014 Satisfactory Satisfactory .32 Page 2 of 66 The World Bank Benin Youth Employment Project (P132667) 02 08-Dec-2014 Satisfactory Satisfactory .50 03 12-Jun-2015 Satisfactory Satisfactory 1.95 04 31-Dec-2015 Moderately Satisfactory Moderately Satisfactory 2.74 05 20-Sep-2016 Moderately Satisfactory Moderately Satisfactory 2.98 06 07-Apr-2017 Moderately Satisfactory Moderately Unsatisfactory 4.16 07 03-Nov-2017 Moderately Satisfactory Moderately Satisfactory 6.62 08 27-Apr-2018 Satisfactory Satisfactory 18.49 09 16-Nov-2018 Satisfactory Satisfactory 25.95 10 20-Jun-2019 Highly Satisfactory Satisfactory 32.11 SECTORS AND THEMES Sectors Major Sector/Sector (%) Education 18 Workforce Development and Vocational Education 18 Social Protection 82 Social Protection 68 Public Administration - Social Protection 14 Themes Major Theme/ Theme (Level 2)/ Theme (Level 3) (%) Private Sector Development 100 Jobs 100 Human Development and Gender 100 Gender 2 Labor Market Policy and Programs 98 Labor Market Institutions 49 Active Labor Market Programs 49 Page 3 of 66 The World Bank Benin Youth Employment Project (P132667) ADM STAFF Role At Approval At ICR Regional Vice President: Makhtar Diop Hafez M. H. Ghanem Country Director: Ousmane Diagana Coralie Gevers Director: Tawhid Nawaz Amit Dar Practice Manager: Stefano Paternostro Jehan Arulpragasam Task Team Leader(s): John Van Dyck Thomas Bossuroy ICR Contributing Author: Ravindra Cherukupalli Page 4 of 66 The World Bank Benin Youth Employment Project (P132667) I. PROJECT CONTEXT AND DEVELOPMENT OBJECTIVES A. CONTEXT AT APPRAISAL Context 1. Benin’s large, entrepreneurial informal economy,1 in which women play a large part, is a source of potential economic growth. The moderate but steady GDP growth had a severe setback in the global economic crisis, falling from averages of four to five percent to 2.6 to 2.7 percent in 2009–10. Recovery has also been modest, with unexploited opportunities to diversify the economy and pursue productive and employment-generating activities. 2. In the long term, the creation of jobs in Benin will depend on the private sector, which accounts for 90 percent of all jobs in the developing world. However, Benin’s investment climate does not provide a sufficiently enabling climate for the growth of the private sector. In 2013, Benin ranked 175 out of 185 countries in the 2013 Doing Business report, which measures the conduciveness of the regulatory environment to the starting and operation of a local firm. Besides constraints to the investment climate, key obstacles such as difficult access to credit for SME, weak human capital and inadequate skills of the workforce hamper the development of private enterprises in the country. 3. The labor force in Benin is young, with children under 15 representing 47 percent of the population and two-thirds of the population under 25, predominantly rural and working in the informal sector (81 percent of the population is self-employed). While unemployment is low (only 0.7 percent in the strict ILO definition), underemployment is severe, especially among the youth.2 Underemployed workers are disproportionately female, rural, self-employed, with low levels of education, and engaged mainly in agriculture, livestock, fishing and forestry. Benin’s demographic structure implies that its workforce is very young and that there is therefore very strong pressure on the labor market and the education system. Around 200,000 Beninese youth attain working age every year. 4. Underemployment is a major challenge with 72 percent of employed workers employed less than 35 hours and/or in a lower paid job than the minimum guaranteed wage. The rate of visible underemployment is 35 percent and the invisible underemployment rate is 62 percent. Nine out of 10 young people (15–25 years old) are underemployed, as are nine out of 10 rural women. The agricultural sector remains the main provider of employment (42 percent of jobs) followed by the trade sector (19 percent) and manufacturing activities (15 percent ). 5. Women in Benin are particularly vulnerable and consistently work in lower paid jobs than men, and also with incomes on average two times lower than those of men. One-third of working age women remain outside the labor market, mainly due to the burden of domestic chores which they typically manage single-handedly. In rural areas, 44 percent of women work less than 35 hours a week. More than 1 An increasing share of the population has been active in the informal economy. For instance, the 2011 USAID Benin Youth Assessment Report notes that approximately 95 percent of the Beninese workforce depends on the informal economy for their livelihoods (60.5 percent in 1992, 70.2 percent in 2002). 2 Findings from the Aug 2017 INSAE-WB Publication on the state of employment in Benin, disseminated by the project under Institutional Capacity Building and Project Management (Component 4). Page 5 of 66 The World Bank Benin Youth Employment Project (P132667) 20 percent of rural women work without pay, compared to only 10 percent rural men and 6 percent urban men. 6. However, employment promotion programs have mostly focused on urban, educated and predominantly male youth. In 2010–2011 (latest data available at appraisal), the flagship program of the National Employment Agency (ANPE) benefitted about 800 individuals, of which 84 percent were men and 80 percent had some secondary education or more. The programs were all delivered in one of the six urban centers of the country. 7. The Government of Benin has made youth employment a policy priority. A National Employment Policy was adopted in 2012, including an Action Plan covering the period 2012–2016. The policy places a strong focus on addressing the underemployment of youth and women and its main objectives are to: (i) promote access to employment by increasing the supply of jobs and youth employability; (ii) improve the functioning of the labor market; (iii) reinforce the capacity of institutions in charge of the National Employment Policy; and (iv) regulate professional migration. 8. In recent years, the Government has made important efforts to organize the informal and traditional technical and vocational training sectors, building on the apprenticeship system widespread in Benin. This initiative has the support of technical and financial partners such as Swiss Cooperation, DANIDA, Swisscontact, AFD, and the ILO. There has been a conscious movement to develop nationally recognized certificates, notably the Certificat de Qualification Professionnelle (CQP) and the Certificat de Qualification aux Métiers (CQM)3 to recognize skills gained in apprenticeships, which continue to be one of the most common and effective mechanisms for vocational training in Benin. With Benin’s low levels of formal education and a very narrow formal sector, promoting productive self-employment is critical. At appraisal, several constraints hindered the creation and development of successful businesses, including the lack of management skills and the lack of start-up capital. 9. ANPE and FODEFCA have been central to employment promotion in Benin. ANPE, the national employment agency created in 2003, is tasked to orient job seekers, provide them with capacity building and training and promote their insertion into the labor market. FODEFCA, attached to the Ministry of Labor and Public Administration and originally created in 1999 under the World Bank’s Labor Force Development Project, channels government funding of around CFAF 1 billion (US$2 million) per year for apprenticeships and supports youth employability by co-funding skills enhancement and apprenticeship training. 10. The IDA-funded Benin Youth Employment Project4 was designed to improve access to employment skills and employment opportunities for underemployed youth in Benin through four components: Developing skills through apprenticeships, developing small business skills, start-up support, and institutional capacity building and project management. The objective of the PEJ was to deliver impactful employment services to populations deprived of opportunities and with limited capacity to develop robust economic activities on their own, due to a lack of information, skills or capital. The PEJ was 3 CQP is open to youths who have at least completed primary school, which is a formal certification issued upon passing an exam and the culmination of a three year “dual type” apprenticeship combining work experience with classroom training. The CQM on the other hand targets youth who have not finished primary school. 4 Referred hereinafter as either ‘the project’ or by its French acronym ‘PEJ’. For more information, access following link to t he project site in French set up under Component 4: http://www.pejbenin.org/ Page 6 of 66 The World Bank Benin Youth Employment Project (P132667) therefore designed as a national program focused on all 77 communes in Benin,5 spanning various local contexts, adapted to the specific needs of the target populations, and delivered at a highly decentralized level to ensure participation of rural beneficiaries. The project has particular sectoral focus on artisanal trades, agricultural transformation, and tourism. 11. The key beneficiaries of the project are the young underemployed men and women of Benin between the ages of 15–35. Underemployed youth in this instance are defined as those who reported themselves as either: (i) working less than they would like; (ii) working full-time but earning less than the minimum wage or poverty level; or (iii) working in a job that does not match their education, training or experience. The project places emphasis on targeting hard-to-reach, poor youth not served by other programs and most affected by underemployment- that is, female, rural, self-employed and/or those with low levels of education. In line with the emphasis on gender in the CPS, the project was designed to ensure that at least half of beneficiaries were women, the specific needs of young women were taken into consideration, and gender disaggregated results indicators were collected. 12. The project was a key element of the Bank’s Benin Country Partnership Strategy (CPS) for FY13 – FY17 which supported the Government’s Stratégie de Croissance pour la Réduction de la Pauvreté (SCRP) around three pillars: a foundational, cross-cutting pillar on: (i) strengthening governance and public sector capacity; and two supporting pillars on: (ii) increasing sustainable growth, competitiveness and employment; and (iii) improving service delivery and social inclusion. Knowledge and gender are cross thematic topics. This project is specifically mentioned in the CPS as one of the key elements to support the focus on employment in the second pillar. Theory of Change (Results Chain) 13. The project activities, outputs and outcomes, and how these related to the Project Development Objectives (PDO) are captured in the Theory of Change in figure 1. 5 Benin is divided into 12 regions (départements), 77 communes, 546 arrondissements, and 5290 villages (quartier). Page 7 of 66 The World Bank Benin Youth Employment Project (P132667) Figure 1. Theory of Change for the Benin Youth Employment Project Project Development Objectives (PDOs) 14. The development objective of this project was to improve access to employment skills and employment opportunities for underemployed youth in Benin. Key Expected Outcomes and Outcome Indicators • Number of direct project beneficiaries, and the percentage of beneficiaries who are women: Target of 17,500 beneficiaries, of which (at least) 50 percent are women. • Number of youth supported by the project receiving the Certificat de Qualification Professionnelle (CQP): Target of 2500 youth. • Number of youth completing small business and life skills training under the project: Target of 15,000 youth. • Number of youth starting or expanding microenterprises with support from the project: Target of 10,000 youth. Page 8 of 66 The World Bank Benin Youth Employment Project (P132667) Components Component 1: Developing Skills through Apprenticeships (US$6.3 million) 15. This component was designed to support improved access for underemployed youth to apprenticeships of improved quality in skilled trades and help the Government and private sector trade associations to expand and improve nationally recognized certification for skills learned through such apprenticeships. It consisted of three subcomponents: 16. Subcomponent 1.1: Scaling Up Apprenticeship Certifications: this subcomponent supported increasing apprenticeship certifications in new trades and improving access to classroom training for apprentices to complement on-the-job training received. It took the form of supporting cohorts of apprentices going through the “dual” training program (both on-the-job and classroom-based) until the CQP (Certificat de Qualification Professionnelle) exam, and supporting the organization of a nationwide certification of traditional apprenticeships called CQM (Certificat de Qualification aux Métiers). 17. Subcomponent 1.2: Support for improving the quality of apprenticeships: this subcomponent supported improving quality of apprenticeships through (i) equipping training centers; and (ii) supporting training to update the technical and pedagogical skills of master artisans. 18. Subcomponent 1.3: Support for girls in apprenticeship: this subcomponent aimed to increase access of young women to apprenticeships in a wider range of trade sectors through incentives. The objective was to encourage girls to join non-traditional trades (outside more traditional trades such as hair dressing and tailoring), with initiatives to ensure their retention through incentives such as childcare, sensitization of master trainers and other measures. Component 2: Developing Small Business Skills (US$15 million) 19. This component was designed to support the ANPE to reorient, improve and scale up its existing programs to assist predominantly underemployed youth to develop skills related to establishing and managing a small business. This included (i) developing training modules for life skills training (ACV), business training, and business plan preparation (TRIE/CREE and GERME)6 for beneficiaries of different levels of literacy, and training cohorts of beneficiaries on these modules; (ii) supporting the formation of business groups and facilitation to help beneficiaries to pair with existing private sector firms; and (iii) supporting short vocational training in high potential sectors. Component 3: Start-up Support (US$8.7 million) 20. This component was designed to provide beneficiaries with start-up funds to address capital constraints to help sustain the technical and life skills acquired in Components 1 and 2 and to assist them ultimately to make a successful transition into productive self-employment. This was done through a cash grant funded by the PEJ which provided non-reimbursable start-up funding to all beneficiaries who had 6French acronyms for the standard suite of trainings offered under the ILO’s Gérez Mieux Votre Entreprise (GERME) Program also known in English as the Start and Improve Your Business (SIYB) Program. Page 9 of 66 The World Bank Benin Youth Employment Project (P132667) completed Component 2. For individuals with larger funding needs it was planned to provide linkages to a loan window funded by the Government through the National Fund for the Promotion of Enterprise and Youth Employment (FNPEEJ). Component 4: Institutional Capacity Building and Project Management (US$5 million) 21. This component was designed to strengthen the capacity of the Government and other actors (for example, private sector associations artisanal associations, and training institutions) for the coordination, design, implementation, and monitoring and evaluation of youth employment activities, including training, study visits, South-South exchanges, and other activities. It supported analytical work to inform policy, supported the functioning of a multi-sectoral Steering Committee on youth employment, fostered communication and awareness raising activities, and collection of data on employment in collaboration with the INSAE with a view to strengthening the knowledge base on employment. The component supported the Project Coordination Unit’s overall coordination and management activities, and the project’s monitoring and evaluation, including technical audits, beneficiary surveys, the project impact evaluation and related data collection efforts. 22. Figure 2 reproduced from the PAD provides a comprehensive picture of the PEJ as envisaged at design, including main activities under each component and activities dropped during implementation. Page 10 of 66 The World Bank Benin Youth Employment Project (P132667) Figure 2. PEJ Design and Components Target: Vulnerable youth aged 15-35, in agricultural transformation, artisan trades, or tourism; > 50% women Beneficiaries Literate youth Illiterate youth Underemployed youth seeking seeking seeking to become occupational skills occupational skills small entrepreneurs Dual-type Apprenticeships Traditional Apprenticeships Apprenticeships Component 1: • On the job apprenticeship and • On-the-job apprenticeship classroom training • 3-5 years duration • 3 years duration • Support for women in non- • Support for women in non- traditional fields traditional fields • National certification at end of • National certification at end of apprenticeship (CQM) apprenticeship (CQP) Optional modules Not pursued Mandatory modules to apply for depending on need during Small business skills support under Component 3* implementat Component 2: Life skills Short-term technical training ion due to competing Small business management skills Link youth to existing MSME in priorities microfranchising arrangement and dropped at Business plan preparation Support for creation of groups restructuring Only grants to individuals: support to groups was Start-up/Insertion: Grants Start-up/Insertion: Loans Start-up Support • Start-up grants to groups (ANPE) • Link to Government program for Component 3: dropped at • Start-up grants to individuals (ANPE) larger loans (FNPEEJ) (not funded by Dropped due restructuring the project) to limited relevance Mentoring and follow-up given • Periodic check-ins successful • Support for solving business problems targeting of • Peer networks vulnerable beneficiaries * These modules will be differentiated between literate and non-literate youth. B. SIGNIFICANT CHANGES DURING IMPLEMENTATION (IF APPLICABLE) 23. The project underwent one Level 2 restructuring in April 2018 which entailed the following: (i) Change in Loan Closing Date; (ii) Change in Results Framework which involved dropping two intermediate results indicators (IRI) and reduced ambition of two other IRIs; (iii) Change in Components and Cost; and (iv) Reallocation between Disbursement Categories. 24. The changes do not warrant a split evaluation. The Project Development Objectives remained unchanged, the Project Development Indicators as well as their targets also remained the same, and the overall scope of the project was unaffected by the restructuring. Page 11 of 66 The World Bank Benin Youth Employment Project (P132667) Rationale for Changes and Their Implication on the Original Theory of Change 25. The need for restructuring the project was identified at the Mid-Term Review (MTR) to allow for greater focus on core outcome indicators after the project got off to a slow start. The use of country systems7 for financial management, compounded by the non-competitive nomination of an underperforming national coordinator by the Government, initially caused considerable implementation delays. It was only by the end of 2016 that the arrival of a new PCU coordinator, hired following Bank procedures, and a change in line ministry following a Government reshuffle, set up the conditions to address the implementation bottlenecks. A restructuring was therefore initiated during the August 2017 MTR, to streamline the project and improve the project’s likelihood of achieving its objectives. The restructuring only affected intermediate indicators that were not core to the PDO, and therefore did not affect the project’s theory of change. Below in more detail are the changes effected as part of the restructuring. 26. Change in loan closing date. The closing date was moved from June 30, 2018, to June 30, 2019. The objective of this one-year extension was to provide additional time to ensure that all project indicators were likely to meet their targets, and that the impact evaluation could be completed. 27. Change in Results Framework: as part of the MTR, four intermediate indicators were adjusted. Two indicators had their target lowered to reflect revised costs and timeline of implementation, and two others were dropped as lower-priority activities had not yet commenced even by MTR and dropping those indicators would not impact implementation, with their completion not being core to the achievement of the PDO. Specifically, • The target for the indicator - number of occupation streams offering new post- apprenticeship exams leading to the CQP or CQM – was lowered from 30 to 10 to align with a request from the national authorities based on their desire to focus resources on a smaller number of trades, with a view to the ultimate development of full "programs" leading to certification. • The target for the indicator- number of women supported by the project in occupations with traditionally low numbers of women- was reduced from 1000 to 200 to account for the many constraints on the entry of girls into such occupations and the delays associated with starting related activities. • The two indicators – number of cooperative groups formed and number of youth partnering with existing businesses in “microfranchise” arrangement – were part of the optional modules under Component 2, and were dropped from the results framework as these activities had still not started by MTR, and it was deemed that to the extent that these activities were optional and not directly relevant to the PDO, their removal would allow the project to refocus on its core PDO. 7The PEJ, along with the Benin Education project, was one of the two projects in the country portfolio that used country systems in project implementation. Page 12 of 66 The World Bank Benin Youth Employment Project (P132667) 28. Change in components and cost. In alignment with the changes in the Results Framework, which were made to refocus activities on the project’s core PDO, the Bank and Government agreed on changes in components and cost in terms of reallocation among components due to minor changes to activities (see figure 3). The changes proposed at MTR and the justifications for all components are summarized in the table below (figures in SDR thousands). Figure 3. Changes to Components and Reallocations Initial Adjustments New Components Comments Allocation + - Allocation Component 1: Higher costs than initially budgeted for Developing organizing a national certification exam, Skills through 4,122 0,718 4,840 and government request to expand the Apprenticeships number of apprentices supported by the project. Component 2: Removal of activities linked to the Developing formation of cooperative groups formation 9,814 1,214 8,600 Small Business Skills and the facilitation of “microfranchise” arrangements. Component 3: Start-up Increase in the number of beneficiaries and Support 5,693 0,906 6,599 post-grant monitoring costs higher than planned. Component 4: Institutional Capacity Building and Project 3,271 0,410 2,861 Management Total Amount 22,900 1,624 1,624 22,900 29. Reallocation between Disbursement Categories: changes in allocations between disbursement categories agreed upon with the client at MTR are summarized in the figure 4 (figures in SDR million): Figure 4. Changes in Allocation between Disbursement Categories Initial Adjustments New Categories Comments Allocation + - Allocation (1) Goods, Non-Consulting Services, In line with the removal of some Consultants’ Services, Operating activities not relevant to the Costs, Workshops and Training for 18,900 0,164 18,736 PDO. the Project (2) Subgrants under Part 3(a) of the Increase in the number project of beneficiaries 3,400 0,564 3,964 because of low attrition during training (3) Refund of Preparation Advance Removal of activities linked to the formation of cooperative 0,600 0,400 0,200 groups formation and the facilitation of “microfranchise” arrangements. Total Amount 22,900 1,624 1,624 22,900 Page 13 of 66 The World Bank Benin Youth Employment Project (P132667) 30. These changes did not impact the theory of change and were essentially made to allow for the project to implement all activities and for the impact evaluation to be completed. II. OUTCOME A. RELEVANCE OF PDOs 31. The project development objective remains very relevant. Its aim - to improve access to employment skills and employment opportunities for underemployed youth in Benin - directly addresses the challenge of combatting high underemployment in Benin. A large share of the country’s labor force is young, and youth underemployment remains a high priority area for the Government of Benin. 32. The PDO is well aligned with the Bank’s country strategies both at project closing (CPF FY19-23) and approval (CPS FY13–FY17). The PDO is also relevant to the CPF’s IDA18 Special Themes 1 and 2.8 The CPS pushed for mainstreaming gender, with the PEJ being among the operations highlighted for targeting over fifty percent female beneficiaries and supporting females to enter male-dominated professions. The Completion and Learning Review of the earlier CPS reports on the tracking of its strategic objectives, including an outcome indicator on ‘Labor skills development for youth’. This indicator is one of only two among the 12 indicators to receive a Most Achieved rating. Among the three focus areas in the current CPF, the one on investing in human capital lays emphasis on the poorest and particularly youth with little formal basic education to improve their access to employment, skills, and opportunities. 33. Based on the continued relevance of the employment theme, the strong support for PEJ within government and among the youth in Benin, and the lessons from its implementation and impact evaluation results, the Government is preparing a follow-up operation on youth inclusion modeled after the PEJ. Assessment of Relevance of PDOs and Rating 34. The relevance of the PDO is rated High both at appraisal and implementation completion. B. ACHIEVEMENT OF PDOs (EFFICACY) 35. The project was successful in achieving its development objective with all its outcome indicators surpassing original targets. The targeting criteria were broad but the highly decentralized enrollment process, tailored communication strategy and random selection process ensured that youths from remote areas and low levels of education were included in the pool of beneficiaries. About 28 percent of beneficiaries had never attended school, another third had attended but not completed primary school. Rural areas were represented in proportion of their share of the population. Finally, the project succeeded in ensuring that at least 50 percent of total beneficiaries are women. The two key outcomes unpacked from the PDO statement are “to improve access to employment skills” and “to improve access to employment opportunities” for underemployed youth in Benin. Figure 5 summarizes the outcome indicators at project closing. Also see annex 7 for more detailed tables. 8 IDA18 Special Theme 1-Jobs and Economic Transformation; and IDA18 Special Theme 2-Gender and Development. Page 14 of 66 The World Bank Benin Youth Employment Project (P132667) Figure 5. Outcome Indicators and Achievements Outcome Indicator End Target (in RF) Actual at closing (project)** Direct project beneficiaries 17,500 20,8429 - exceeded target by 19 percent Percentage of Female Beneficiaries 50 percent 53.1 percent- exceeded target Improving Access to Employment Skills Youth supported by the project 2500 2991 - exceeded target by 19.6 percent receiving the Certificat de Qualification (2991 out of 3546 who had dual training Professionnelle (CQP) received a CQP) Youth completing small business and 15,000 15,757** - exceeded target by 5 percent life skills training under the project Improving Access to Employment Opportunities Number of youth starting or expanding 10,000 15,513** - exceeded target by 55 percent microenterprises with support from the project Note: Data in the report with “** “symbol OR “Source: Oct 2019/PCU” text signals it is updated data from the PCU/Oct 2019. 36. Students supported during their dual apprenticeship training registered a commendable 84 percent pass rate in the CQP exam, qualifying them for formal certification. Under PEJ, of the total 3546 youth across the country who successfully went through the three levels of dual training in the vocational training centers, 2991 youth finally earned their CQP certificate. 37. The life skills and entrepreneurial training reached all 77 communes, and overall had high retention rates and over 50 percent female participation as seen below in figure 6. Also see annex 7 for a detailed breakdown of numbers across all 77 communes. Figure 6. Participation and Retention Rates across Trainings Business Training ACV =====>> TRIE&CREE =====>> Plan GERME % of % No No % No. No. Female No. Retention % Female Business No. Retention planned female female female Female planned trained trained trained Rate trained plan regd. trained Rate trained trained planned planned trained 16,910 15,585 7,887 92.2% 50.6% 15,757 7,945 101.1% 58.6% 15,617 14,588 7,430 92.7% 59.1% Source: October 2019/PCU. 38. The project’s monitoring and evaluation system, with the help of commune-level agents (ACE), captured comprehensive beneficiary-reported data which showed a pervasive use of the training and grant for productive activities. As a result, 15,513 beneficiaries reported having started or expanded their economic activity with support from the project. This very positive result may be due to the rigorous follow-up carried out both by professional trainers during the Germe (post-grant) part of the training, and to the accompaniment of ACEs who were able to guide and advise beneficiaries as they were making financial decisions after receiving the grant. The measurement may admittedly be inflated by beneficiaries 920,842 Direct Project Beneficiaries include: 3,546 youth who underwent CQP training, 1,069 Master Artisans trained to upgrade their skills, 470 young women trained in non-traditional (male dominated) trades, and 15,757 youth trained in small business and life skills. Page 15 of 66 The World Bank Benin Youth Employment Project (P132667) as they self-report economic outcomes, so it is very reassuring that rigorous impact evaluation results independently confirm this positive impact. 39. The impact evaluation focused on the efficacy of Components 2: Small Business Skills and 3: Business Start-up Support and tested alternative combinations of activities to inform future policy decisions. The impact evaluation focused on components for which a counterfactual could be obtained through a random allocation of interventions. Component 1 was not amenable to such an approach as the entry into apprenticeship precedes program roll-out and is not within its purview. The impact evaluation was intended to complement the shorter-term, measurable Project Development Indicators with longer-term outcomes measured through elaborate survey instruments. At the time of writing the ICR, short-term results from the midline survey were available. The endline survey is planned between Nov 2019–March 2020. See annex 4 for details on evaluation methodology, interventions, and discussion of results. 40. The impact evaluation was a multi-arm randomized controlled trial. A small sub-set of eligible applicants were randomly assigned into one of the following three non-overlapping treatment arms or a pure control group: • Participants assigned to the first treatment arm (T1) received the full package of interventions, including the training and cash grant; • Participants assigned to the second treatment arm (T2) received the business and socio- emotional skills training but not the cash grant; • Participants assigned to the third treatment arm (T3) received an unconditional cash grant of up to US$400 but not the training; • Participants assigned to the pure control received neither the training nor the cash grant. 41. Short-term impacts on employment skills are strong and positive. The trainings had positive effects on all beneficiaries, both on their socio-emotional skills and on their business practices. The training had a large, positive impact on non-cognitive skills, in particular self-efficacy (especially for women), locus of control, and depression (especially for men). The training also had a large impact on business practices. For example, more than half the participants who received training kept separate accounts for households and business, compared to about a third in the control group. The practice of keeping written records and a written budget also increased among training beneficiaries. The magnitude of the impacts is large. 42. Short-term impacts on employment opportunities show a significant growth of income- generating activities, employment creation by women, but no result yet on profits. Program beneficiaries mostly purchased productive assets, with the likelihood of doing so higher among those trained – 80 percent of beneficiaries of the full package use the cash grant to purchase productive assets. Also, more than half the beneficiaries increased inventory for their business. As a result, the program had a large impact on the value of capital, and each of its two components: productive assets and inventory. The impact of the grant was greater for women, who start from lower baseline levels of capital. Women who receive the full package increased the number of employees in their business by 0.6 on average, of which Page 16 of 66 The World Bank Benin Youth Employment Project (P132667) 0.25 employees are paid. In other words, one job was created within PEJ-supported firms for every two women beneficiaries. In the short term, grant recipients experienced a drop in their profits, likely due to the investments made with the proceeds of the grant. Earnings were not significantly affected. The results on profits and earnings will be the focus of the endline results (available in April 2020) as positive impacts would have materialized in that time frame. Intermediate Outcomes • Skills matrices and certification tools were successfully developed and delivered for the target of ten new trades (with 13 already in existence) bringing the total up to 23 trades, so as to facilitate new post-apprenticeship exams toward a CQP/CQM certificate. The ten new trades include: (i) solar panel installation, repairs and maintenance; (ii) hydraulic pump repair; (iii) bricklaying; (iv) aluminum carpentry; (v) satellite dish installation; (vi) mobile phones repair; (vii) irrigation systems installation and maintenance; (viii) vulcanization and battery charging; (ix) green space design and maintenance; and (x) aluminum utensils manufacturing. - - met RF Target of 10 (revised from 30 at restructuring). • 1069 master artisans, of which 581 or 54.3 percent were female, were trained to have their skills upgraded- - surpassed RF Target of 500. • Six out of ten training centers received new equipment by the end of the project. Despite close follow-up and support from the PCU, training centers found it highly challenging to provide all the documentation necessary to meet the requirements of the procurement and payment processes. - - fell short of RF target of 10. • The certification process for traditional apprenticeships was successfully expanded to the national level. Artisan associations were empowered and equipped to organize the full certification process in all 77 communes, making the CQM a truly national process with high visibility and greater sustainability - - surpassed RF Target of 60. • The decision was made to include business plan support as part of the micro- entrepreneurship training for all participants who expressed a need for it. As a result 15,617 youth prepared business plans with support from the project- surpassed RF Target of 5000. • 470 females were trained in trades considered predominantly male dominated. A dedicated intervention was designed to support girls in non-traditional trades, including technical and life skills trainings and a capital support. - - surpassed RF target of 200 (revised from 1000 at restructuring). Also see annex 7 for more detailed table. • 15,513 youth received start-up grants through the project- surpassed RF Target of 12,000. Page 17 of 66 The World Bank Benin Youth Employment Project (P132667) Outputs 43. Various outputs under the project components were generated during the course of implementation which in turn contributed toward achievement of the intermediate results. Broadly, they can be categorized as follows: (a) New content was developed. Training material and certification processes were established for ten new trades under Component 1; novel training modules on life skills, as well as micro- entrepreneurship modules tailored to the non-literate population were developed under Component 2; (b) Delivery systems were established. Public vocational training centers and artisan associations were equipped (Component 1); a new cohort of trainers was certified and gained experienced in delivering new training content (Component 2); commune-level employment services were set up throughout the country (Component 4); (c) Communication strategy and related materials. A range of materials and content, discussed in following paras, paved the way for a massive oversubscription of Components 2 and 3 (close to 75,000 applicants for 15,000 beneficiaries) and the creation by ANPE of a database of applicants, yet another valuable output for future policymaking. Radio programs, often in both French and local languages, involved presentations in various formats including press releases, media coverage of PEJ and infomercials, half hour interactive program, interview of local authorities, a half hour magazine, two-minute microprogram, half hour round table discussion, and a one minute info spot. Also, see section B under annex 1 on Results for a detailed listing of all outputs from the project. Assessment of Achievement of Each Objective/Outcome 44. Employment skills were improved, as evidenced by the number of beneficiaries who received a nationally-recognized skills certification but also by the impact evaluation that shows a strong positive impact of the project on employment skills measured both as non-cognitive skills but also as actual business practices. The project efficacy with regards to the first part of the PDO (“improve access to employment skills”) is High. 45. Employment opportunities were also improved through the combination of training and start- up support. Beneficiaries invested in their economic activities, grew the amount of capital and inventory of their firm, and women hired more labor. Short-term impact evaluation results do not show improvements in profits or earnings, and longer-term results are not available at the time of the ICR. For these reasons, project efficacy with regards to the second part of the PDO (“improve access to employment opportunities”) is Substantial. 46. The project was well-targeted focusing upfront on underemployed youth aged 15–35, particularly female, rural, self-employed and/or with low levels of education. It surpassed all project development indicators. Page 18 of 66 The World Bank Benin Youth Employment Project (P132667) Justification of Overall Efficacy Rating 47. All project development indicators exceeded their target. All intermediate results indicators were also met by project closure, after two had targets revised down and another two were dropped at MTR. Overall, the efficacy outcome is rated Substantial. C. EFFICIENCY Assessment of Efficiency and Rating 48. Project efficiency was impacted by three key factors including: (i) underperforming coordination during the first two years due to the Government’s decision to bypass Bank procedures and appoint a coordinator paid through Government funds; (ii) The use of country systems for financial management; and (iii) frequent changes in line ministry and high turn-around of key personnel aggravating issues linked to country systems since new counterparts had to be educated on the project every few months. This effectively led to limited progress between program effectiveness in Nov 2014 and the second quarter in 2016. 49. The project was turned around by a change of the coordinator and the presence of a champion in the Minister who helped streamline country systems. Following a government reshuffle and ensuing change to implementing line ministry, which brought timely and proactive efforts to help find a practical solution to the FM problem, the MoF’s Integrated Public Financial Management System (SIGFIP) was programmed to prioritize PEJ and the payments cycle began to see improvements for the first time during the first quarter of 2017. As a result, implementation efficiency heretofore stymied by the FM issue, was dramatically turned around and remained relatively consistent thereafter. Disbursement rose steadily after the MTR in mid-2017 and the project made the most of the one-year extension to June 2019 to deliver on delayed activities, while also doing so with no change at restructuring to the original credit amount of US$35 million. 50. At design, the PEJ did not include a cost-benefit analysis10 owing to limited data and challenges associated with the quantification of the economic value of employability. A cost-benefit analysis of Components 2 and 3 will be made based on the endline results of the impact evaluation, which will be available around June 2020. 51. Cost comparisons are possible for the training intervention provided under Component 2, which can be benchmarked against similar programs across the world. Project cost data shows that the per- capita cost of delivering the training (both AVC and Germe) amounts to US$616. If calculations include the initial phase of communication, selection and enrolment of beneficiaries, the per-capita cost reaches US$639. Including the development of training contents, the training of trainers and the cost of supervision and follow-up, the per-capita cost is US$745. 10The few rigorous studies of informal apprenticeship suggest that it allows young people without education to better integrate into the labor market and achieve greater earning, especially for the self-employed (Frazer, 2006; Monk, Sandefur and Teal, 2008). Page 19 of 66 The World Bank Benin Youth Employment Project (P132667) 52. These numbers seem to be on par with comparators in the literature. Blattman et al (2015) in their review of labor market and entrepreneurship programs find that program costs in developing countries are in the range of US$1,000–US$2,000 per beneficiary. Figure 9 additionally summarizes relevant studies referenced in their work and shows that more intensive training courses (including technical training) cost an average of more than US$1,000 per trainee. The cheaper intervention reported in this table did not exhibit significant impacts. Based on the limited information available on comparable programs, the per-capita cost of trainings delivered under Component 2 seems in line with other similar programs. Figure 7. Findings from Literature of the Effect of Training and Entrepreneurship Programs Study Intervention No. of participants Effect Cost per Beneficiary 7,346 randomized: Little impact on employment levels. Dominican Republic Juventud y Empleo Program. Random 5,723 treated, 1,623 Modest impact (10%) on wages, US$330 per trainee (Card et al, 2014) sample chosen for job training program control conditional on working Small postive impact on US$ 1,619 for Turkey (Hirshleifer et Government training programs, employment (2%), 6.5% increase in government courses, 0.25 million al., 2015) targeting unemployed earnings after 3 years (not US$ 1,795 for private statistically sig.) courses 80,000 young people Significantly higher formal sector Direct cost of US$ 750 Colombia (Attanasio et (50 percent of target employment 10 years after per person, plus indirect Jóvenes en Acción Program al., 2011 and 2015) population) over 4 intervention. Impact on total income cost (loss of tenure years hard to quantify. during training) of $62 Adolescent Girls Initiative: 6 months 2,081 randomized: Liberia (Adoho et al, job and business skills training Treatment group received $ 8 per US$ 1,200-1,600 per 1,273 treated, 769 2014) followed by 6 months of active week more after intervention woman control placement support and supervision Meta regression of 37 impact Business and vocational training Metanalysis (Cho and evaluation studies of entrepreneurship N/A programs have higher returns if N/A Honorati, 2014) programs combined with capital injections 53. Based on findings from PEJ design and implementation, the overall project efficiency is rated Modest. D. JUSTIFICATION OF OVERALL OUTCOME RATING 54. Based on the project’s high relevance, substantial efficacy, and modest efficiency, the overall outcome as per the OPCS guidance should be Moderately Satisfactory. However, the project achieved its development objectives and surpassed all targets of project development indicators. Only minor discrepancies were observed during implementation and they were adequately addressed at MTR. The project successfully tackled some of the most difficult challenges related to employment promotion in low-income countries by decidedly covering populations with very limited formal education, low skills, and low access to information, services and capital. It provided benefits at a reasonable per-capita cost, developed original content, built a new delivery infrastructure within state systems, and had strong impacts on gender and institutional strengthening (see below). For these reasons the overall project efficacy is rated Satisfactory. Page 20 of 66 The World Bank Benin Youth Employment Project (P132667) E. OTHER OUTCOMES AND IMPACTS (IF ANY) Gender 55. Aligned with the Benin CPS FY13-17, the project design focused intently on gender aspects. This included a deliberate promotion of the girls into the program to achieve 50 percent female participants, specially designed interventions (insertion of girls in non-traditional trades), gender-sensitive activities (life-skills training), operational add-ons to maximize female participation (provision of on-site childcare during training, adjustment of training schedules to accommodate household duties). Gender also informed the tracking of data and the disaggregation of indicators. 56. The impact evaluation of the training and entrepreneurship activities showed very high participation of women in the program. Results from the impact evaluation show that, overall 98.8 percent of female respondents attended the trainings, with 95.7 percent of female respondents reporting they did not miss even a single training session. A training schedule compatible with household responsibilities and support provided for childcare definitely ensured higher participation of women, with 61 percent, among women with dependent children who attended trainings, reporting coming to the training with someone to care for their children. 57. Implementation has actively targeted women and results show that they feel more empowered after going through the program. As impact evaluation results clearly show, the training had strong positive effects on women – including large effects on women’s socio-emotional well-being, with a decrease in depression levels, greater control over their own resources and greater decision-making power within their households. Feedback from beneficiaries and service providers shows that women noticed positive changes to their social and personal life and reported being less anxious and having more self-confidence and a sense of purpose. They also felt that undergoing the training had changed their outlook and approach to life and shifted their thinking and priorities. Participants felt they received external endorsement from community members who noticed and verbally acknowledged their transformation into visibly more confident individuals. Others aspired to have more equipment, more clients, and even become a master artisan. 58. The project also made significant progress in the challenging area of promoting women into male-dominated occupations. The initial target of 500 women appeared beyond reach based on the extremely low numbers of girls who naturally enrolled in dual apprenticeship in male-dominated occupations as part of the CQP cohorts and was therefore revised down at mid-term review. However, in the last year of the project, FODEFCA designed a comprehensive package of activities focused on training and supporting girls in such trades as aluminum work, solar panel installation, mobile phone repair (see figure 7.3 in annex 7 for a list of trades). After a national communication campaign, more than 7,800 girls applied to receive a combination of life skills training, several months of technical training, a cash start-up grant, and continued networking and mentorship opportunities. The retention rate was as high as 94 percent, and the young women created tight-knit groups of artisans determined to break social barriers and succeed in their new trades. 59. Gender emphasis was not only in the project as a whole (53.1 percent female beneficiaries) but also within specific component activities. Figure 10 shows this trend for activities under Component 1 Page 21 of 66 The World Bank Benin Youth Employment Project (P132667) (CQP training, training of master artisans, women trained in male-dominated trades), and under Component 2 (life skills and entrepreneurial training). Figure 8. Gender Emphasis within PEJ Component Activities Activity Female Total Percent Female CQP Training 2,077 3,546 58.6 Master Artisans trained 581 1,069 54.3 Life skills and 7,945 15,757 50.4 Entrepreneurship Training Females trained in male 470 470 trades Total 11,073 20,842 53.1 Source: October 2019/PCU. Institutional Strengthening 60. The project amplified previous efforts by the Government and established a truly national certification process for youth in traditional apprenticeship. Artisan associations in all communes were supported and trained to organize a standardized exam open to all youth completing on-the-job training with their master artisan. The grass-roots nature of CQM organization makes it highly sustainable after the initial support in training and equipment. 61. The project facilitated capacity building in central government agencies. It ensured provision of equipment to ministries, vocational training centers and artisan associations. Key personnel from the main implementing agencies were trained. Both FODEFCA and DETFP (formerly DAFoP) acknowledged the learning and capacity enhancement they experienced as implementers of Component 1. FODEFCA benefitted from the institutional audit and dialog with key partners on strengthening its structure and institutional role. ANPE benefitted from implementing a massive program for the poorly educated nationwide, including in rural and peri-urban areas. It was their first time engaging on a large scale and with a new segment of the population, since they were more used to focusing on programs for the more educated in urban areas. 62. The project also created new employment services at the commune level. It created commune- level employment services by hiring and equipping the ACE (Agents Communaux d’Emploi) who were embedded in the municipal structures and were instrumental to supporting PEJ in everyday monitoring and overall quality assurance. Poverty Reduction and Shared Prosperity 63. The PEJ has positively impacted the lives of beneficiaries and their households as witnessed firsthand during the course of the many supervision visits undertaken by the project, and also during the ICR field visit. The preliminary results of the impact evaluation have shown a significant reduction in under-employment, significant job creation beyond the direct beneficiaries, investments in productive capital and higher individual expenditures by beneficiaries. The program also had large effects on Page 22 of 66 The World Bank Benin Youth Employment Project (P132667) women’s socio-emotional well-being as well as on women’s personal expenditures, which suggests higher control over resources and business practices. Other Outcomes and Impacts 64. The PEJ implementation experience has triggered the mainstreaming of short-term technical training (FTCD) into all vocational training centers (CFP) and technical schools, with FTCD also being seriously considered for inclusion in the government’s National Vocational Training strategy. 65. The success and visibility of PEJ has informed further thinking within government on exploring ways to ensure that more un- and under-employed youth are reinserted into everyday practical trades to assure better income certainty for graduates of the program under a proposed new initiative termed PURDE (Projet d'Urgence de Reconversion des Demandeurs de l'Emploi). 66. The extensive database of applicants has spun off the development of a mobile App by ANPE to match up trades people with customers seeking their services. ANPE saw potential in putting this data to good use and an App in beta testing, expected to be functional by the end of 2019, was highlighted during the ICR mission. III. KEY FACTORS THAT AFFECTED IMPLEMENTATION AND OUTCOME A. KEY FACTORS DURING PREPARATION 67. Stakeholder consultations and interim structures during preparation. The project preparation drew upon discussions with various stakeholders including the Ministry of Microfinance and Employment of Youth and Women and other main ministries and structures as well as with key technical and financial partners engaged in youth employment initiatives (notably Swiss Cooperation and ILO). The project was well timed and responded to the government’s National Employment Policy of 2012 to address youth underemployment. An interim project management team was put together headed by an interim coordinator, and in anticipation of activities using the project preparation advance. The project preparation phase benefitted from a dynamic interim coordinator with an able team that was able to move things forward. An Inter-ministerial Project Preparation Committee was also established with a formal commitment from government of 900 million CFAF (US$1.9 million) in counterpart funding. 68. Design of objectives and activities. Discussions were enriched by a brief analytical note11 prepared by the Bank and focused particularly on the underemployed in Benin. Useful inputs to inform project design including on fiduciary arrangements were obtained in a workshop held in December 2013 with all key stakeholders engaged in youth entrepreneurship and vocational training. Given the high rate of underemployment in Benin, a promotional program on youth employment proposing interventions that could increase the labor productivity of underemployed youth and support their self-employment, targeting as far as possible the most disadvantaged in society (low level education, working in the informal sector in rural or urban areas) was projected to be well received. The craft sector, represented in over 200 trades, was identified as one of the key sectors with a strong potential for creation of self-employment, 11“Le marché du travail Béninois à la lumière de l’Enquête Modulaire Intégrée sur les Conditions de Vie des Ménages 2010 ”, Banque Mondiale, 2013, Ebauche (Benin's labor market in light of the 2010 EMICoV Household Survey) Page 23 of 66 The World Bank Benin Youth Employment Project (P132667) particularly for those most vulnerable (with limited education and low productivity jobs in the informal sector). Providing more structure to the apprenticeship system and formalizing it through greater mainstreaming of exams and diplomas such as the CQP recognized by the state would also spur greater participation in these programs. The idea was also to provide entrepreneurships skills and financing to young people with business ideas. It was agreed that the project would be anchored within the Ministry of Microfinance and Employment of Youth and Women (MCMEJF), with an active role for ANPE structures at the municipal level. The intention to conduct an impact evaluation of certain components was also introduced early on during design. 69. Risks and mitigation measures. On design, there was palpable concern on modalities for selection and provision of financing of youth, with concerns raised on perceptions of elite capture and favoritism in selecting beneficiaries. It was agreed during appraisal that selection criteria should be clear, objective and transparent to avoid perceptions of bias that could create undue conflict. 70. Given the absence at the time of latest audits of the implementing agencies (FODEFCA and ANPE), there would have been considerable risk in devolving full execution and fiduciary autonomy to these agencies. The team therefore went with the lower risk option of requiring contractual arrangements between the PCU and the agencies, wherein the PCU would still retain responsibility for procurement of all goods and consultants and FM arrangements. B. KEY FACTORS DURING IMPLEMENTATION 71. Issues with the quality of coordination in the initial phase. The project was signed on April 10, 2014 and, owing to some delays with parliamentary ratification, became effective on November 5, 2014. The first coordinator was nominated by the Government with the commitment to pay the coordinator’s salary from its domestic budget (although this did not happen). The quality of coordination was low, with a very slow pace of progress and poor understanding of the project scope and planned activities. The Government decided to revise the coordination arrangements in early 2016 and appoint an interim coordinator until a new coordinator recruited competitively through Bank procedures would take over. The new coordinator came on board by Sep 2016, after which implementation picked up considerable momentum. 72. The use of country systems for FM impacted implementation. At preparation, the PEJ was chosen from within the Bank portfolio to experiment with the use of country systems. In the initial phase, FM delays from using country systems massively impacted disbursements and affected the timing and scheduling of project activities. A new Minister (the third one) was put in charge of the project after the April 2016 Government reshuffle and was very supportive and familiar with the workings of the MoF and Treasury processes, being a former Minister of Finance. This Minister was able to initiate active consultations over the third quarter of 2016 for a workaround to the MoF’s SIGFIP fiscal management system. The change came into effect soon after implementation of the workaround in early 2017, and for the first time since project effectiveness, began to finally simplify the expenditure cycle for PEJ to expedite disbursements. The team nonetheless spent inordinate time and efforts in following up on payment orders and execution. A new change of line Minister in June 2018 introduced new delays and risked jeopardizing the successful completion of the project, until pragmatic solutions were found as the project was nearing its closure. Page 24 of 66 The World Bank Benin Youth Employment Project (P132667) 73. Frequent changes to the line ministry for PEJ placed stress on the PCU, which, while ably handled, nonetheless impacted its overall ability to stay fully focused on project implementation. The project witnessed four such changes to the line ministry during implementation. The PEJ PCU began with MicroFinance, Emploi, des Jeunes et des Femmes; then moved under MicroFinance, Emploi, Entreprenariat des Jeunes et des Femmes; and subsequently to Travail, Fonction Public, et des Affaires Sociales (April 2016- Late 2017/early 2018)- also the Line Ministry under which SIGFIP was updated; and finally to Petites et Moyennes Entreprises et de la Promotion de l’Emploi, where it stayed until project closing. This involved the PCU having to recalibrate and redefine relationships with the core team12 in the new ministry, all the more as the use of country systems made implementation progress entirely dependent on those civil servants. 74. The delays due to unpredictability with payments ended up impacting the sequencing of activities. In the first year of implementation, the FM issue impacted timeliness of payments in the project, with the program making slow progress. Delays however also meant more time needed for implementation, which the restructuring subsequently addressed. These delays ended up compressing the learning cycle in Component 1 for the last CQP cohort and also shortened the time for the second follow-up by ACE for the second phase of start-up grant recipients in early 2019 as the PEJ neared project closing. It also impacted the decision on dropping the activities on the development of micro franchises and the formation of groups or cooperatives. However, since these were optional and did not impact the PDO, dropping them freed up both time and resources for other mandatory and ongoing activities. Just as importantly, payments to service providers (such as training firms) were also initially delayed, forcing these entities to explore other interim financing measures on their own so that project delivery would not be delayed, which ultimately meant that they had to be prepared to receive their payments well after the delivery of their services. 75. On a technical level, implementation contexts for the components were considerably different. Component 1 already had the systems in place with FODEFCA and the DETFP familiar with the CQP and CQM certification systems that were already in existence for some years, and the PEJ primarily aiming to expand CQP and CQM nationwide. By contrast, Components 2 and 3 were completely new. This was also the first foray for ANPE into working at a large scale and on a program involving youth with little to no education – the hardest segment of beneficiaries for youth employment programs. 76. Implementation challenges in Components 2 and 3 reflect the fact that the project broke new ground by fundamentally shifting employment support toward those who need it the most: poorly educated youth and women. It introduced new commune-level employment services and a new decentralized delivery mechanism for training, it supported the development of new training modules on socio-emotional skills and the customization of business skills training aligned with the needs of the target population (youth with little to no education and 50 percent women), it implemented a new form of start- up capital support (unconditional cash grants delivered through mobile money), it spearheaded a new decentralized form of program communication using local radios and town criers, and adopted an 12The Core staff in each Ministry consists of a Director of Finance and Administration, Staff responsible for Public Procurement, and a Financial Comptroller (Délégué Contrôleur Financier) who is a representative of the MoF and key to facilitating fiduciary processes, and liaising with the Treasury. Page 25 of 66 The World Bank Benin Youth Employment Project (P132667) innovative selection process (nationwide public lottery broadcast on live television) widely acclaimed for its transparency. 77. Implementation of all activities was facilitated by the efforts to establish decentralized support services at the commune level. The ACE were instrumental to the success of implementation. They were involved in all aspects of delivering activities under the first three components and served as a very active network of delivery agents who could interact with beneficiaries, training center staff, municipal authorities and training firms to ensure coordination and coherence in the program. However, being selected and paid under the project, their longer-term sustainability is an issue: in some cases, mayors were reluctant to fully incorporate ACEs in the municipal services because they were not able to nominate them directly. 78. Availability of counterpart funding during implementation was a cause for concern. By project close, US$0.5 million of the total US$1.9 million originally committed by government for counterpart funding was available to the project. A favorable evolution of the exchange rate and a careful management of project finances limited the negative impact of this shortfall on the achievement of project outcomes. IV. BANK PERFORMANCE, COMPLIANCE ISSUES, AND RISK TO DEVELOPMENT OUTCOME A. QUALITY OF MONITORING AND EVALUATION (M&E) M&E Design 79. The M&E Design of the project was clear, with a well-articulated PDO, coherent outcomes and measurable outcome-level indicators in the results framework to track progress toward achievement of its objectives. The project results framework included a set of simple, clear and well-balanced intermediate indicators, which can be rated SMART, intended to measure progress on intermediate outcomes under the project components. Where applicable, indicators were also gender-disaggregated in alignment with the gender focus in the Benin CPS at preparation and OPCS requirements. 80. At design stage, the project planned to conduct technical and process evaluations at mid-term to inform decision making and increase implementation effectiveness. The PAD acknowledged upfront the limited capacity of the key component implementers, ANPE and FODEFCA, noting that the PCU would develop an information system for routine program monitoring and in-depth evaluations. The project also intended to conduct a rigorous impact evaluation, with particular focus on interventions targeting young women, to study key binding constraints in their training and labor market insertion. In this aspect, the M&E design benefitted from adopting good practice, in that it introduced and emphasized the importance of impact evaluation from the get-go (during the first identification mission in October 2013) allowing sufficient time for technical discussions. 81. During preparation, the project acknowledged the absence of a reliable database on labor market needs and committed to addressing those gaps in collaboration with the INSAE through Page 26 of 66 The World Bank Benin Youth Employment Project (P132667) collection of data on employment. This later culminated in a joint report on employment in Benin,13 thereby also generating a public good to better inform future policy making and programming on youth employment in the country. M&E Implementation 82. Project M&E demonstrated that while design provides an overarching conceptual framework, it is ultimately actual implementation propelled by a dedicated team capable of sustaining steady monitoring that generates reliable project results information. M&E implementation in PEJ was effective and results-oriented and led by a competent M&E specialist in the PCU working in close collaboration with other technical staff in the PCU and implementers of the components- FODEFCA (Component 1) and ANPE (Components 2 and 3). Given the initial FM delays which impacted activity sequencing, project monitoring had to be particularly flexible and stay responsive to the everyday challenges and operational vagaries of day-to-day implementation. 83. The impact evaluation of Components 2 and 3 of the project was financed by the World Bank’s Gender Innovation Lab (US$1.12 million). The evaluation aimed to study the relative impacts of providing basic business training, providing start-up capital, or providing both, on employment outcomes for youth as measured 12 and 24 months after the program. Particular emphasis was to be placed on the analysis of gender-differentiated impacts, with adequate sample sizes, dedicated survey measures and qualitative work. Preparations for the impact evaluation began in earnest early into the project ensuring that adequate time was factored in for robust design, extensive sensitization and effective implementation- generating a public good by way of promising results and stronger evidence to inform policy making and future programming. 84. Under Component 1, FODEFCA, working with the DETFP and the DEC, was involved in supervision of the quality of funded training in the chosen vocational training centers and coordination on pedagogical follow-up and the holding of CQP exams and reporting of results by DEC. The PCU M&E specialist in response to information requests to FODEFCA received data from the SYSFODEFCA database.14 The PCU also designed an MS-Access database consisting of the list of approved apprentices admitted to the dual training used to verify against data from the FODEFCA report on training cohorts. Monitoring sheets co- signed by the ACE and training teams were also verified during field supervision and monitoring missions (by the PCU and the ANPE) to ensure verification of information summarized in earlier reports. 85. Under Component 2, an MIS was eventually installed at ANPE, but only after trainings had commenced and other challenges resolved, including delayed acquisition of an uninterrupted power supply unit for the MIS server at ANPE and inadequate time for training trainers on the MIS. With trainings under Component 2 having to pick up speed, and implementation already delayed due to the FM issue, there was considerable pressure on the team to begin training immediately, when it was realized 13 Etats de Lieux de L’Emploi au Bénin, World Bank and INSAE publication, August 2017. This detailed report analyzed data from the EMICoV survey 2014–15 to provide an updated picture on the state of employment in Benin. 14 The SYSFODEFCA MIS pre-dates PEJ. The project contributed to its modernization by migrating existing data and including information on new activities under Component 1. Page 27 of 66 The World Bank Benin Youth Employment Project (P132667) that the ANPE MIS still had technical issues15 with no way of obtaining aggregated figures at the central level. In direct response to this shortcoming, the PCU M&E team had to react quickly to find an emergency solution to be able consolidate results from the ACV and GERME training for the first phase of beneficiaries. The highly effective solution adopted was through the use of two Google Forms16 online – essentially free - that facilitated tracking field operations and registration of the business plan.17 The ACE hired accessed the online forms through the project-funded tablets, streamlining data input and integrity and simplifying subsequent data consolidation and analysis by the PCU. 86. Under Component 3, grant payments were made using mobile money by contracting with the mobile operator MTN. The PCU authorized ANPE to pay beneficiaries on a list which takes into account the funding forms for beneficiaries completing the mandatory training (ACV, TRI-CRE and GERME) and whose SIM cards are verified by MTN as being active. A Google Form (1st wave) and Survey CTO (2nd wave) was also used to retrieve data related to SIM activation for use in start-up grants payments. This operation consists of four steps: (i) activation and verification of SIM status; (ii) authorization by PCU to ANPE for payment; (iii) ANPE request to MTN for payment of beneficiaries; and (iv) PCU Verification of payments made by MTN. 87. In summary, gaps in the ANPE MIS which rendered it non-functional for a time, particularly when it was most needed, meant that the Google Forms solution which originally began as a stopgap arrangement, transitioned into becoming the reliable monitoring and decision-making tool for the rest of the project. Its seamless performance enabled real-time decision-making, established process credibility, and essentially resurrected confidence in the quality of project monitoring for two new components which got off to a delayed start, resulting in high expectations on the project to demonstrate results between MTR and project closing. M&E Utilization 88. Program data was periodically presented in progress reports and generated with increasing frequency notably after the MTR to keep up with the pace of implementation.18 The project actively used data for decision-making, including on activity programming and budgeting. Reports were detailed, well prepared and disseminated to all stakeholders. 89. In Component 2, based on analysis of real-time data from ACE via Google Forms, an accurate snapshot of beneficiaries is obtained early on. The PCU M&E Specialist analyzed data to generate a 15 The MIS ANPE was cumbersome, with a security system that did not guarantee data reliability, which could become a potential reputational risk especially since grant payments were to be made based on its data. The MIS produced duplicates when initially accessed to assess its suitability for use in disbursement of start-up grants to the first phase of trained apprentices. 16 Google Forms is free and easy to use, lends itself well to electronic questionnaires, and is a convenient tool for data collection through the internet. Data entered is stored directly in a single sheet called Google Sheet linked to Google Forms and is created, backed up and secured on the dedicated Google cloud server. It is compatible with Microsoft Excel with data easily exportable in Excel (CSV, xlsx, tsv) and document formats (ods, pdf). 17 One for tracking training, childcare for female participants, training conditions, follow-up post training, payment of travel expenses etc. and the other for registration of the business plan. Each form is used by the ACEs who are able to review their inputs before submission which is then directly uploaded to Google's spreadsheet server (Google Sheet). 18 One detailed annual progress report in 2016, three detailed quarterly progress reports in 2017, and five detailed monthly progress reports between April–August 2018. Page 28 of 66 The World Bank Benin Youth Employment Project (P132667) weekly feedback report for various actors and stakeholders (ANPE Directorate, PCU, ACE, and Trainers) which helped streamline organization of activities for the following week. The real-time data also informed planning and budgeting of activities, for example, on short-term technical training, preparation and verification in payment of start-up grants to beneficiaries, and in quality assurance such as through the identification of ineffective catering service firms contracted for the trainings. It was also thanks to the registration of the business plan via Google Forms that short courses could be better planned and budgeted. Overall, the accuracy and timeliness of training data provided a real-time snapshot at the central level on the progression of training and operating constraints, allowing for reprioritization and strategic changes to phasing of activities. In Component 3, the project had access to the MTN Client platform to download data when processing was transmitted to the ACEs and the ANPE for verification. This helped economize on time in redefining the actual budget allocated to the payment of subsidies and anticipating administrative procedures with payment of beneficiaries. 90. Finally, the pivotal role played by the ACE in strengthening monitoring and evaluation in PEJ has created a replicable model for future endeavors in youth employment- such as the proposed Youth Inclusion project. Justification of Overall Rating of Quality of M&E 91. The overall rating for the quality of monitoring and evaluation is based on an objective and in- depth assessment of project M&E, which, during implementation, drew upon the collective efforts of the PCU and in particular the able technical and operational stewardship of the PCU M&E specialist. Having surmounted the initial payment delays that stymied progress during the first two years of implementation, the PCU team benefitted from changes to FM processes between mid-term and project closing, which fostered closer collaboration among key implementers and facilitated steady rollout of component activities, accelerating project implementation and stepping up results monitoring over the remainder of the project. Based on its good M&E design, and effective workarounds during implementation, its established track record of M&E implementation reflected in the results achieved (and surpassed in some cases), and the successful impact evaluation, as well as the evidence of M&E utilization and sustainability, the overall quality of M&E in PEJ is rated as High. B. ENVIRONMENTAL, SOCIAL, AND FIDUCIARY COMPLIANCE 92. Environmental and Social Safeguards: The project was classified as a category C project and was expected to have minimal or no adverse environmental impacts. The project financed apprenticeships for selected youths working with a master crafts person acquiring skills and work experience. This skill acquisition might involve occupational health impacts to both the apprentices and the masters- however, nothing adverse or untoward was reported during implementation. Also, there was no plan for new civil works or rehabilitation of training centers. 93. Financial Management: Aligned with the agreement between the Bank and the Government to promote the use of country systems, the project relied heavily on the country’s FM system. As noted earlier, this involved use of the integrated fiscal management system SIGFIP residing in each line ministry and employed to provide a direct link between the budget and treasury. During implementation, the cumbersome financial procedures associated with this system contributed to cumulative delays which Page 29 of 66 The World Bank Benin Youth Employment Project (P132667) had to be tackled with a creative workaround. By mid-2016 a creative and practicable workaround19 to the SIGFIP system to help prioritize PEJ was devised to improve funds flow and implementation quality. The successful implementation of an action plan for accelerating payments through SIGFIP greatly improved overall disbursement for the remainder of the project. As a result, the Disbursement rating improved from Moderately Unsatisfactory to Moderately Satisfactory for the first time at MTR and remained steady till project closing. While the glaring FM bottleneck and the big delays encountered pre- MTR were generally surmounted with the system workaround, challenges with FM generally persisted through the end of the project, especially after a last change in the line Ministry in June 2018. By the end of the project, remaining issues were concentrated in the line Ministry (ordering payments) while the part of the disbursement cycle handled by Treasury (executing expenses) worked satisfactorily. 94. Procurement: Overall, the procurement rating was steady at moderately satisfactory from the MTR to project closing. The project complied with the Bank’s procurement policies and procedures (OP/BP 11.00). Large procurement contracts centered around the procurement of training firms, hiring of the ACE across all communes, selecting service providers who would develop entrepreneurship and life skills curricula and administer training (under Component 2), and acquisition of new equipment around the proposed upgrading in a few public and private technical and vocational training centers (under Subcomponent 1.2) to ensure that apprentices were able to follow the dual training in adequate conditions, and to improve overall quality of apprenticeships. 95. Disbursement: Disbursement was overall satisfactory. At ICR, the project had disbursed 100 percent of project funds by June 30, 2019. Disbursement rose after the MTR in Aug 2017 through project closing. Prior to MTR, disbursement was relatively low owing to large contracts with service providers on training (Component 2) experiencing delays due to the late start of project activities. From a relatively low 19 percent disbursed around MTR, the percentage disbursed spiked to 57 percent by April 2018, and rose to 81 percent by Nov 2018 as a result of progress in activities from the timely action plan and improvements to FM described earlier. C. BANK PERFORMANCE Quality at Entry 96. Strategic relevance: The PEJ at design was well aligned with the strategic pillar on enhancing human capital in the government’s strategy for poverty reduction 2011–2015, the Stratégie de Croissance pour la Réduction de la Pauvreté (SCRP-3). It also closely mirrored the key priorities of the National Employment Policy adopted in 2012 which places emphasis on tackling underemployment of youth and women with particular focus on promoting access to employment by increasing the supply of jobs and youth employability. In the same vein, the PEJ also directly speaks to one of the key outcomes in 19 Briefly, this workaround essentially involved programming SIGFIP to preferentially flag and prioritize an electronic funds transfer request from PEJ to the Treasury to ensure concerned staff at the Treasury could then intervene expeditiously. In fact, there are 5-6 intermediate steps upon receipt of such a request at the Treasury only after the successful completion of which it is then forwarded to BCEAO, which then completes the request by sending the funds onward to the Bank of the beneficiary who is awaiting payment for delivery of goods or services. Anecdotally, the PCU FM Specialist noted that, in theory, the workaround may well have dramatically cut down processing times to a mere 15-20 days from as much as six months. However, in reality, there was still need for extensive follow-up by the PCU FM Specialist while the request was at one of the intermediate steps at the Treasury, failing which the request still ran the risk of being stuck at that certain step, further adding to delays. Page 30 of 66 The World Bank Benin Youth Employment Project (P132667) the Benin CPS FY13–FY17 under Pillar I on Increasing Sustainable Growth, Competitiveness and Employment which focuses on improved youth employment and labor skills development. 97. Technical underpinnings: Early technical discussions on PEJ with government benefitted from an analytical note on the labor market in Benin focused particularly on underemployed youth. This note was prepared by the Bank team and provided a contextual overview to the proposed operation. PEJ design discussions during project appraisal in late 2013 also drew upon the results of a rapid survey of over 500 graduates of the CQP to understand student motivations and key constraints and better inform design and evaluation questions. The Bank team and PEJ design also gained from discussions with other donors, particularly Swiss Cooperation and ILO, supporting apprenticeship programs in the craft sector, and from consultations with FODEFCA, which was created with support from the World Bank’s Labor Force Development Project in 1999 to respond to the increasing demand for new skills in the formal private sector. 98. Bank team. The Bank team worked closely with the Government to prepare the project in good time. The project was delivered in a little over 12 months from project identification in March 2013 to signing of the Financing agreement in April 2014.The team had a good mix of skills and adequately supported the technical needs during project preparation. The team from the Gender Innovation Lab provided critical insights from technical and academic literature on efficient ways to promote women economic empowerment and achieve the project outcomes for female beneficiaries. 99. Project design. The project had to be restructured but changes only affected intermediary outcomes that had appeared to be harder to attain than expected while not affecting the capacity to achieve the PDO. The core design (set of activities, PDIs and main intermediary indicators, targets) was robust enough to remain unchanged to completion and lead to measurable, attributable improvements in employment for beneficiary youths. 100. Project readiness. The delays observed in reaching effectiveness and in starting the implementation of the main activities suggest that the project was not fully ready to be implemented after Board approval. Quality of Supervision 101. The World Bank team conducted periodic supervision missions, proactively addressing implementation issues as they emerged. The team went through one change in TTL during implementation, which essentially involved a team member taking over, eliminating transition delays and a learning curve at takeover. The findings of the implementation support missions focused on performance of implementing agencies in managing the project and the progress toward achieving the PDO and were reported regularly in the Aide-Memoires and ISRs. 102. The Bank team took proactive steps to manage risks. It identified key challenges facing FODEFCA (the implementing agency for Component 1 in PEJ) and pushed for an institutional audit to improve its functioning. The final report on FODEFCA was shared during a WB mission in July 2015 with the Minister of Labor and Public Service, with unanimous agreement that the competitive recruitment for an Executive Page 31 of 66 The World Bank Benin Youth Employment Project (P132667) Secretary for FODEFCA would constitute a mandatory first step, which FODEFCA subsequently complied with. Similarly, the Bank team flagged the high risk related to the appointment of a coordinator outside of Bank procedures and offered candid assessments of the situation in the early phase of the project. When a change of coordinator was decided the Bank suggested that interim arrangements include the appointment of a specialist from within the team as interim coordinator, to minimize delays due to the transition. Smoother implementation was observed once the replacement to the first coordinator was on board for the rest of the project. 103. Finally, the Bank team took the risk of the beneficiary selection process very seriously and addressed it by promoting a transparent and equitable process. The lottery system to randomize participant selection was a big success, with endorsement from mayors and organizers at the commune level for its fairness and transparency and for the fail-safe way in which it picked participants, further cementing confidence in the process and the program. 104. On routine implementation issues, the team worked closely with Government to resolve the crippling FM bottleneck associated with the use of country systems which initially delayed funds flow and managed to turn things around by MTR after which disbursement spiked. The project MTR was held on time during which some indicators in the RF were strategically revisited while not compromising on overall design or impacting the overall theory of change. This was done to ensure that the project stayed on track to achieve its PDO and to allow for completion of the impact evaluation. Justification of Overall Rating of Bank Performance 105. In light of the efforts made by the Bank team both at preparation and during supervision, the overall Bank performance is rated Satisfactory. D. RISK TO DEVELOPMENT OUTCOME 106. The Government of Benin is very committed to the youth and social inclusion agenda as reflected in the many national programs in existence. While complete financial sustainability of youth employment initiatives may be a challenge in the absence of external support given Benin’s limited revenue base, youth employment is a key policy priority, and figures prominently in the agenda of the Government. The success of PEJ has sparked active interest in continued engagement, and the Youth Inclusion project currently under preparation is already a reflection of this commitment from Government and will benefit from the reinforced capacity and systems put in place by PEJ. Based on the success under PEJ of combining the life skills training with the entrepreneurship modules, the new project proposes to integrate these modules in the development of new CQP and AQP20 curricula. Set against this context and given the fundamental centrality of the jobs agenda to any government, youth employment, skills improvement and generating employment opportunities will continue to remain high priorities. 21 107. The PEJ generated content, processes and institutional improvements that will last after the closing of the project. These include: (i) strengthened institutional and implementation capacity of 20 AQP certification, in existence since 2010 but on a limited scale, is available to underemployed youth completing at least middle school (classe de troisième) who undergo a two-year technical training. 21 These themes are also aligned with the National Development Plan (PND 2018–2025) with its focus on addressing youth inclusion through skills development, social protection, and social services. Page 32 of 66 The World Bank Benin Youth Employment Project (P132667) FODEFCA, ANPE and other actors at the commune level; (ii) better functioning systems and procedures benefitting from the ‘learning by doing’ in PEJ and its use of country systems; (iii) better trained and certified artisans; (iv) new training content adapted to target populations, including a package of services to support the insertion of women in male-dominated trades; and (v) a cohort of ACE pivotal to PEJ implementation and now part of a replicable model in country for the successor project. 108. There is, however, a risk to the sustainability of the commune-level employment services. The ACE were critical to the successful monitoring and implementation of PEJ, yet the ANPE did not make provision for their continuation after project closing due to financial constraints on their own operating budget. The proposed project on youth inclusion currently under preparation at the time of writing this ICR intends to use the ACE and will provide support to commune-level employment services for its duration, leaving more time for the Government to adopt a financing strategy for this important feature of its national employment policy. 109. The benefits observed at the beneficiary level are likely to be sustained. Skills developed over time through on-the-job apprenticeship, complemented with classroom training for CQP graduates, are likely to be deeply anchored in beneficiaries and stay with them as long as they remain active in the same trade. The nationally-recognized certification of skills also provides a lifetime benefit comparable to diplomas. Benefits from Components 2 and 3 are likely to be sustained for those who succeed over time in their newly created or expanded businesses. 110. Overall, the risk to development outcome is rated Modest. V. LESSONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS • Empowering artisan associations is an efficient way to strengthen traditional apprenticeship from the ground up, establish and disseminate technical standards trade by trade, and organize the certification of technical abilities for out-of-school youth who otherwise have little to no access to recognized, marketable skills. • Impact evaluation results show that it is possible to deliver well-adapted training to the poor and vulnerable with close to 100 percent participation and an observable, attributable change in attitudes or business practices. Key to its success however is having a strong communication strategy, decentralized delivery, customized content aligned to the needs of the target population, and incentives likely to ensure maximum participation such as provision of childcare and subsidies for lunch and travel. • Impact evaluation results also show that cash grants can be an effective way to foster productive investments provided beneficiaries are well trained and there is an effective follow-up mechanism in place. • When using country systems for financial management, it is paramount that the Bank and client begin work as early as during appraisal to develop detailed special operating modalities to facilitate funds flow. By the same token, projects using country systems for the Page 33 of 66 The World Bank Benin Youth Employment Project (P132667) first time also have to be prepared to factor in implementation delays and the likelihood of project extension and restructuring. • Frequent changes to the implementing ministry impact project staff morale ultimately impacting timeliness and quality of project implementation. • Public lotteries are an efficient way to select beneficiaries in a fair and transparent manner and protect projects from reputational risks related to non-transparent selection processes. They are widely appreciated among local and national authorities for clearing any suspicion of clientelist behaviors. They may be even more appropriate when project activities involve the distribution of financial grants. • Building an able cohort of local-level employment agents is critical to ensure a high quality of services to disadvantaged populations who are most in need of close follow-up and repeated contacts with service providers. The sustainability of such services and allocation of financing in the government budget should be actively explored to ensure mainstreaming such local agents into the civil service. • Dedicated analytical work during identification is key to ensuring that project preparation tackles the most important issues facing the country. Thorough analysis of household data and labor force surveys helped focus the policy discussions on the topics of self-employment, informal skills acquisition and women’s economic empowerment. • While a certain level of project complexity may be necessary to tackle vexing challenges in difficult environments, it is important to avoid creating streams of project activities that are not core to the achievement of the PDO but would require significant efforts to implement. Mid-term reviews need to take a hard look at the relevance of all activities planned at project initiation and refocus the project on its core objectives when necessary. • Building on the strengths and existing systems of the country can maximize the impact of Bank-supported projects while ensuring context adaptation and securing country ownership. The PEJ recognized the potential offered by the existing system of skills acquisition through informal apprenticeship as well as past efforts by the Governments and development partners to structure it, and amplified the progress with targeted investments and technical assistance. . Page 34 of 66 The World Bank Benin Youth Employment Project (P132667) ANNEX 1. RESULTS FRAMEWORK AND KEY OUTPUTS A. RESULTS INDICATORS A.1 PDO Indicators Objective/Outcome: Improve access to employment skills and employment opportunities for underemployed youth in Benin Formally Revised Actual Achieved at Indicator Name Unit of Measure Baseline Original Target Target Completion Direct project beneficiaries Number 0.00 17500.00 20479.00 11-Mar-2014 10-Jun-2019 10-Jun-2019 Female beneficiaries Percentage 0.00 50.00 52.50 10-Oct-2017 Comments (achievements against targets): Formally Revised Actual Achieved at Indicator Name Unit of Measure Baseline Original Target Target Completion Youth supported by the Number 0.00 2500.00 2991.00 Page 35 of 66 The World Bank Benin Youth Employment Project (P132667) project receiving the 11-Mar-2014 10-Jun-2019 10-Jun-2019 Certificat de Qualification Professionnelle (CQP) Comments (achievements against targets): Formally Revised Actual Achieved at Indicator Name Unit of Measure Baseline Original Target Target Completion Youth completing small Number 0.00 15000.00 15864.00 business and life skills training under the project 11-Mar-2014 10-Jun-2019 10-Jun-2019 Comments (achievements against targets): Formally Revised Actual Achieved at Indicator Name Unit of Measure Baseline Original Target Target Completion Number of youth starting or Number 0.00 10000.00 15509.00 expanding microenterprises with support from the project 11-Mar-2014 10-Jun-2019 10-Jun-2019 Comments (achievements against targets): Page 36 of 66 The World Bank Benin Youth Employment Project (P132667) A.2 Intermediate Results Indicators Component: Developing Skills through Apprenticeships Formally Revised Actual Achieved at Indicator Name Unit of Measure Baseline Original Target Target Completion Number of occupation Number 0.00 30.00 10.00 10.00 streams offering new post- apprenticeship exams 11-Mar-2014 10-Jun-2019 24-Apr-2018 10-Jun-2019 leading to the CQP or CQM Comments (achievements against targets): Formally Revised Actual Achieved at Indicator Name Unit of Measure Baseline Original Target Target Completion Number of master artisans Number 0.00 500.00 1069.00 receiving skills upgrade training 11-Mar-2014 10-Jun-2019 10-Jun-2019 Comments (achievements against targets): Formally Revised Actual Achieved at Indicator Name Unit of Measure Baseline Original Target Target Completion Number of training centers Number 0.00 10.00 6.00 receiving new equipment 11-Mar-2014 10-Jun-2019 10-Jun-2019 Page 37 of 66 The World Bank Benin Youth Employment Project (P132667) Comments (achievements against targets): Formally Revised Actual Achieved at Indicator Name Unit of Measure Baseline Original Target Target Completion Number of communes Number 29.00 60.00 77.00 offering exams leading to the Certificat de Qualification 11-Mar-2014 10-Jun-2019 10-Jun-2019 aux Métiers (CQM) Comments (achievements against targets): Component: Developing Small Business Skills Formally Revised Actual Achieved at Indicator Name Unit of Measure Baseline Original Target Target Completion Number of youth with low Number 0.00 5000.00 15729.00 levels of literacy receiving support for creating business 11-Mar-2014 10-Jun-2019 10-Jun-2019 plans Comments (achievements against targets): Component: Start-up Support Page 38 of 66 The World Bank Benin Youth Employment Project (P132667) Formally Revised Actual Achieved at Indicator Name Unit of Measure Baseline Original Target Target Completion Number of youth receiving Number 0.00 12000.00 15509.00 start up grants 11-Mar-2014 10-Jun-2019 10-Jun-2019 Comments (achievements against targets): Component: Institutional Capacity Building and Project Management Formally Revised Actual Achieved at Indicator Name Unit of Measure Baseline Original Target Target Completion Number of women Number 0.00 1000.00 200.00 474.00 supported by the project in occupations with 11-Mar-2014 10-Jun-2019 24-Apr-2018 10-Jun-2019 traditionally low numbers of women Comments (achievements against targets): Formally Revised Actual Achieved at Indicator Name Unit of Measure Baseline Original Target Target Completion Percentage of direct project Percentage 0.00 90.00 99.00 beneficiaries who were underemployed, or neither in 11-Mar-2014 10-Jun-2019 10-Jun-2019 Page 39 of 66 The World Bank Benin Youth Employment Project (P132667) school or in employment, at the beginning of training Comments (achievements against targets): Formally Revised Actual Achieved at Indicator Name Unit of Measure Baseline Original Target Target Completion Beneficiaries of Labor Market Number 0.00 17500.00 20479.00 programs (number) 11-Mar-2014 10-Jun-2019 10-Jun-2019 Beneficiaries of Labor Number 0.00 10000.00 15509.00 Market programs - Supporting 11-Mar-2014 10-Jun-2019 10-Jun-2019 entrepreneurship (number) Beneficiaries of Labor Number 0.00 8750.00 10191.00 Market programs - Female (number) 11-Mar-2014 10-Jun-2019 10-Jun-2019 Beneficiaries of Labor Number 0.00 17500.00 20479.00 Market programs - Training and re-training (number) 11-Mar-2014 10-Jun-2019 10-Jun-2019 Comments (achievements against targets): Page 40 of 66 The World Bank Benin Youth Employment Project (P132667) Page 41 of 66 The World Bank Benin Youth Employment Project (P132667) B. KEY OUTPUTS BY COMPONENT Objective/Outcome 1. Improve access to employment skills (for underemployed youth in Benin) 1. Direct project beneficiaries 2. Percentage of Female Beneficiaries (percentage) 3. Youth supported by the project receiving the Certificat de Outcome Indicators Qualification Professionnelle (CQP) 4. Youth completing small business and life skills training under the project 1. Number of occupation streams offering new post-apprenticeship exams leading to the CQP or CQM 2. Number of master artisans receiving skills upgrade training 3. Number of training centers receiving new equipment 4. Number of communes offering exams leading to the Certificat de Qualification aux Métiers (CQM) Intermediate Results Indicators 5. Number of youth with low levels of literacy receiving support for creating business plans 6. Number of women supported by the project in occupations with traditionally low numbers of women 7. Percentage of direct project beneficiaries who were underemployed, or neither in school or in employment, at the beginning of training Component 1: • 85 of 105 vocational training centers vetted based on findings Key Outputs by Component of extended joint mission by FODEFCA/DAFoP/PCU and (linked to the achievement of the Objective/Outcome 1) contracted to deliver dual training for CQP. • 2 sessions of CQP organized through support provided to the Direction des Examens et Concours (DEC) Page 42 of 66 The World Bank Benin Youth Employment Project (P132667) • Acquisition of materials and equipment for 35 communal artisan staff. • MIS pre-dating PEJ at FODEFCA (SYSDFODEFCA) upgraded to reflect new aspects under Component 1. Component 2: • 119 Tablets acquired for registration of applicants and use by registration agents. • 77 Commune level sensitization workshops and 546 sessions across arrondissements (districts) organized. • Registration of eligible beneficiaries for PEJ completed using 112 registration agents recruited and trained for this purpose. • 73,700 applicants registered across 77 communes from which 17,000 eligible candidates to participate in Component 2 were selected by lottery in Cotonou and event broadcast on National TV. • 82 ACE hired by hiring firm contracted are trained to assist with large scale process. • 82 laptops and 82 motorbikes acquired for use by ACE. • MIS at ANPE installed. • Content for Entrepreneurship and Life skills trainings developed by competent firm hired to customize content to local needs/participant education levels. • A robust cohort of 236 trainers built in country through PEJ to administer life skills and entrepreneurship/other training in the future. • 15,757 beneficiaries (of which 7,945 females) from 77 communes trained in entrepreneurial (ACV, TRI/CRE) • 15,617 business plans prepared by beneficiaries of training (of which 15,513 received start-up grant) Page 43 of 66 The World Bank Benin Youth Employment Project (P132667) • Effective Google Forms and Survey CTO data collection tools used by PCU to facilitate data consolidation and analysis for planning and budgeting and feedback to commune level. • 3,871 trained through short-term technical training/FTCD in more than 40 activities. Component 4: (outputs from C4 specific to C1 and C2 and outputs from C4 relevant project wide) • Acquisition of materials and equipment for FODEFCA, DETFP, and ANPE. • Capacity development of FODEFCA, DETFP, and ANPE staff. • Benin PEJ project website made live online by PCU. • Report on status of employment in Benin jointly prepared by WB and INSAE completed and disseminated in August 2017. • Impact Evaluation report with midline results finalized and endline planned for Nov 2019-March 2020. • Extensive Communications and outreach products produced by PCU between 2015 and 2019. • Accounting and administration manual approved. • Monitoring and Evaluation manual approved. • Accounting report produced by auditors approved for year 2015, 2016, and 2017. Objective/Outcome 2. Improve access to employment opportunities (for underemployed youth in Benin) 1. Number of youth starting or expanding microenterprises with Outcome Indicators support from the project Intermediate Results Indicators 1. Number of youth receiving start up grants Component 3: Key Outputs by Component • Contract with Mobile operator MTN signed for mobile (linked to the achievement of the Objective/Outcome 2) payments of start-up grant to qualified trainees. Page 44 of 66 The World Bank Benin Youth Employment Project (P132667) • Effective mechanism developed by PCU M&E Specialist for data collection on payments and verification using ACE feedback via Google Forms and vetting with MTN. • Rich database built of 15,000 + youth with approved business plan in as many as 90 different types of enterprises awarded start-up grants. Component 4: (outputs from C4 specific to C3 and outputs from C4 relevant project wide) • Acquisition of materials and equipment for ANPE. • Capacity development of ANPE staff. • Benin PEJ project website made live online by PCU. • Report on status of employment in Benin jointly prepared by WB and INSAE completed and disseminated in August 2017. • Impact Evaluation report with midline results finalized and endline planned for Nov 2019-March 2020. • Extensive Communications and outreach products produced by PCU between 2015 and 2019. • Accounting and administration manual approved. • Monitoring and Evaluation manual approved. Page 45 of 66 The World Bank Benin Youth Employment Project (P132667) ANNEX 2. BANK LENDING AND IMPLEMENTATION SUPPORT/SUPERVISION A. TASK TEAM MEMBERS Name Role Preparation John Van Dyck Task Team Leader(s) Thomas Bossuroy Team Member Mathias Gogohounga Procurement Specialist(s) Alain Hinkati Financial Management Specialist Gbetoho Joachim Boko Team Member Julia Vaillant Team Member Africa Eshogba Olojoba Environmental Safeguards Specialist Felicien Donat Edgar Towenan Accrombessy Team Member Paivi Koskinen-Lewis Social Safeguards Specialist Isabella Micali Drossos Senior Counsel Maria Laura Sanchez Puerta Labor Market Economist Aissatou Diallo Senior Finance Officer Sylvie Charlotte Ida do Rego Program Assistant Erick Abiassi Agric. Economist Faly Diallo Finance Officer Supervision/ICR Thomas Bossuroy Task Team Leader(s) Mathias Gogohounga Procurement Specialist(s) Angelo Donou Financial Management Specialist John Van Dyck Team Member Africa Eshogba Olojoba Environmental Safeguards Specialist Felicien Donat Edgar Towenan Accrombessy Team Member Paivi Koskinen-Lewis Social Safeguards Specialist Julia Vaillant Team Member Page 46 of 66 The World Bank Benin Youth Employment Project (P132667) Gbetoho Joachim Boko Team Member Ousseini Ouedraogo Team Member B. STAFF TIME AND COST Staff Time and Cost Stage of Project Cycle No. of staff weeks US$ (including travel and consultant costs) Preparation FY13 10.673 59,911.52 FY14 31.817 169,758.68 FY15 19.427 56,092.06 FY16 13.788 39,815.22 FY17 .900 4,485.66 FY18 0 -3,207.30 Total 76.61 326,855.84 Supervision/ICR FY14 0 5,100.03 FY15 12.374 116,597.06 FY16 7.597 57,652.05 FY17 17.706 87,966.22 FY18 8.819 72,224.20 FY19 9.642 100,955.04 FY20 1.193 11,498.56 Total 57.33 451,993.16 Page 47 of 66 The World Bank Benin Youth Employment Project (P132667) ANNEX 3. PROJECT COST BY COMPONENT Actual at Project Percentage of Amount at Approval Components Closing (US$, Approval (US$, (US$, millions) millions) millions) Developing Skills through 6.30 7.50 119 Apprenticeships Developing Small 15.00 13.00 87 Business Skills Start-up Support 8.70 10.30 118 Institutional Capacity 5.00 4.20 84 Building and Project Management Total 35.00 35.00 100.00 Page 48 of 66 The World Bank Benin Youth Employment Project (P132667) ANNEX 4. PRELIMINARY RESULTS OF IMPACT EVALUATION Capital and skills constraints to youth employment: midline results from the impact evaluation of components 2 and 3 of the Benin Youth Employment Project 1. This annex summarizes the results from a large-scale impact evaluation of components 2 and 3 of the Youth Employment Project. The set of interventions tested in the experiment consists in providing two different trainings (socio-emotional and micro-entrepreneurship skills trainings) and unconditional cash grants to help low educated and underemployed youth start or expand a sustainable business. The analytical work and drafting of this annex are joint work by the Social Protection Global Practice and the Africa Gender Innovation Lab. Summary of Interventions 2. Component 2 consists in two trainings. The first training is a six-day socio-emotional skills training called Life Skills Workshop, in order to improve trainees’ attitudes, interpersonal skills and personal initiative. The second training is tailored to a low literacy audience and relies on the use of images, vignettes, games and role-playing, consisting in generating and starting a business idea and developing a simple business plan. Unconditional cash grants are then offered to eligible participants as long as their business plan complies with submission requirements. Approximately one month after the grant is received, beneficiaries regroup and attend the three-day Improve Your Business module, which covers more advanced business management notions. Regular follow-up and mentoring continue to be provided after the classroom trainings and the disbursement of the cash grant. Theory of Change 3. In the absence of formal wage employment, the majority of the population is self-employed by default rather than by choice, and run informal micro businesses with very low productivity and profitability and limited prospects for growth. The design of the project rests on the assumptions that capital and skills constraints prevent youth from creating and developing successful small businesses. 4. A training program that supports youth in finding a sustainable business idea and teaches them good business practices is meant to improve profits, earnings and employment through two potential channels. The first is that the training improves life skills, such non-cognitive skills, aspirations, self-esteem which might affect entrepreneurial skills. The second channel is that training improves business practices, which might lead the entrepreneur using the firm inputs more efficiently, and being able to better manage the cash flow generated by the activity. 5. The other constraint that the project aims to relax is the credit constraint. Starting a small business requires some initial investment in equipment, machines, marketing, or inventory. With widespread failures on the credit market, the cash constraint prevents youth who wish to start their own activity from doing so. In this context, providing a large enough unconditional cash transfer would help them invest, create and sustain a business. Page 49 of 66 The World Bank Benin Youth Employment Project (P132667) 6. Finally, providing both training and cash should have the largest effect on business start-up and profitability, by addressing the skills deficit and the financial constraint simultaneously. Figure 4.1. Theory of Change of the Benin Youth Employment Project (Components 2 and 3) Their life skills Increase of labor Training Applicants are are improved supply and creation invited to attend the of jobs life and business skills training Their business practices are improved Positive impacts on profits They Applicants are Cash grant productively Positive impacts on prepared to receive received invest cash earnings cash grant grant Impact Evaluation Methodology 7. The evaluation focuses on the effectiveness of three separate packages of interventions. A sub- set of eligible applicants were randomly assigned into one of the following three non-overlapping treatment arms or a pure control group: • Participants assigned to the first treatment arm (T1) received the full package of interventions, including the training and cash grant. • Participants assigned to the second treatment arm (T2) received the business and socio- emotional skills training but not the cash grant; • Participants assigned to the third treatment arm (T3) received an unconditional cash grant of up to US$400 but not the training; • Participants assigned to the pure control received neither the training nor the cash grant. 8. The evaluation pays particular attention to evaluating heterogeneous impacts by gender of the beneficiary. 9. The study sample comes from 15 communes of the 77 communes in which the project was implemented. These communes were selected for the following reasons: i) practicality: only communes belonging to départements in the southern part of Benin were included to keep data collection and monitoring of compliance costs reasonable, ii) contribution to poverty: in each included department, the three communes with the highest contribution to extreme poverty were selected. This ensured that the results would be valid for poorer communes of the central and northern parts of the country. 10. Three rounds of data collection are planned. A baseline survey was conducted in July/August 2017 to collect detailed data among individuals eligible to the project activities. A set of 3,444 eligible applicants Page 50 of 66 The World Bank Benin Youth Employment Project (P132667) was then randomly selected in those 15 communes, following stratification by commune, by gender, and by priority status (having been an apprentice with a master craftsman or having completed a technical training or being in one activity of the priority sectors defined by the project). All eligible individuals were randomized into one of the four groups described above. The trainings were conducted in September- December 2017, and the disbursement of cash grant was in March-June 2018. The midline data collection was split into two phases: i) first phase in November 2018, face-to-face interviews in order to collect detailed information on income, profits, expenditures, agency, investment, employment and skills; (ii) second phase in March 2019, a short questionnaire which was re-administrated to the same sample by telephone, to collect data on monetary variables and to improve accuracy of financial variables. The endline data collection will take place between November 2019 and March 2020. Figure 4.2. Impact Evaluation Design All eligible applicants Training No training Grant No grant Grant No grant T1 T2 T3 C Nt1=861 Nt2=861 Nt3=861 NC=861 Preliminary Results Implementation 11. The quality of implementation of the program was high. Only 6 percent of individuals offered the training did not show up at all, and 21 percent had not received any visit from trainer. Almost 99 percent of trainees recommend the training. To facilitate the participation of women, trainees with young children needing childcare were invited to bring a second person who would look after the children, and their transportation and midday meal were covered. 61 percent of women with children used this childcare service. Intermediate Outcomes 12. The training had a positive impact on women’s non-cognitive skills, in particular their self-efficacy, locus of control, and depression score (figure 4.3). Only the depression score improved significantly for men. The training also had a large impact on business practices (figure 4.4). More than half of men and women in training arms keep separate accounts for households and business, compared to only 32 percent and 46 percent, respectively for men and women in the control group. Keeping written records and a written budget also increased for training beneficiaries but remain low. Page 51 of 66 The World Bank Benin Youth Employment Project (P132667) Figure 4.3. Training Impact on Non-cognitive Skills22 Figure 4.4. Training Impact on Business Practice Score Figure 4.5. Training Impact on Different Business Practices (records and budget) 22 All graphs show the total treatment effect added to the constant for each indicated subgroup. Page 52 of 66 The World Bank Benin Youth Employment Project (P132667) 13. Regarding the cash grant, at the time of the midline survey, 94 percent of beneficiaries had received it. The cash grant was mostly used to purchase productive asset. Benefiting from the training enhances the likelihood of using the grant for those purchases: 80 percent of training participants against 68 percent for grant only beneficiaries. More than half of beneficiaries spent the cash grant on inventory for the business. 14. The cash grant had a large impact on the value of capital, and each of its two components: productive assets and inventory. The impact of the grant greater for women, who start from lower baseline levels of capital (figure 4.6. The value of investment (capital acquisition in the past 12 months) also increased for beneficiaries of the cash grant. The impact of the grant on capital and investment was strongly enhanced when combined with receiving the training. Table 4.1. Cash Grant Use T1: Training and Cash Grant T2: Only Cash Grant Purchase of inventory for the enterprise 51 percent 52 percent Buy productive assets 80 percent 68 percent Expenses related to the renovation of 24 percent 22 percent workplace Investment on another enterprise 9 percent 9 percent Cash savings 12 percent 15 percent Note: Total above 100 percent as grant could be used for multiple purposes. Page 53 of 66 The World Bank Benin Youth Employment Project (P132667) Figure 4.6. Impact of Cash Grant and Training on Capital (1,000 CFAF) 23 Final Outcomes 15. The short-term effect of the project on employment of women beneficiaries is encouraging but inconclusive. The full package (training and grant) did not have any significant impact (figure 4.5). However, when receiving either the grant or the training did have an effect on employment for women. Women receiving the training only or the cash only are less likely to be in precarious employment. 16. Employment by the beneficiary was positively and largely impacted for women. Women who receive the full package increased the number of employees in their business by 0.6 on average, of which 0.25 employees are paid. Men, however, did not change their own labor supply or hire more labor. 23Monetary values are shown for ease of interpretation, but significance levels are obtained using the IHS transformed values of variables. Page 54 of 66 The World Bank Benin Youth Employment Project (P132667) Figure 4.7. Impact of Cash Grant and Training on Employment Status and Hours Worked Figure 4.8. Impact of Cash Grant and Training on Number of Employees 17. We find decreased profits for program beneficiaries, in particular for women. This result is driven by the impact of the cash grant, which when delivered alone, leads to a decreased of profits twice as large as when combined with trainings. The training only arm saw a slight positive impact for women. Moreover, earnings were not significantly affected (figure 4.7). Page 55 of 66 The World Bank Benin Youth Employment Project (P132667) Figure 4.9. Impact of Cash Grant and Training on Profits and Earnings (1,000 CFAF) 24 Conclusion 18. In sum, the program was successfully implemented, and beneficiaries exhibited expected behaviors. Trainings were well attended and produced the expected effects on skills and business practices. The cash grant was disbursed and mostly used for productive purposes. Women seem to have benefited from the program more than men, with increases in their levels of capital, labor supply and employees. At midline, the program did not yet have significant effects on profits and earnings. Two possible mechanisms may be at play here. It is possible that the investments beneficiaries made have not yet yielded increased profits, leading to lower profits due to higher recorded expenditures. We then expect to see higher profits and earnings in the endline survey. On the other hand, beneficiaries face a lack of demand for the products and service that they are offering, in which case we would not see any effects on profits at endline. This would require complementing the project with market linkages interventions and supporting youth in making the switch over to more profitable sectors. 24Monetary values are shown for ease of interpretation, but significance levels are obtained using the IHS transformed values of variables. Page 56 of 66 The World Bank Benin Youth Employment Project (P132667) ANNEX 5. BORROWER COMMENTS (This section presents a translated summary of the Borrower’s completion report) 1. Background 1. The Youth Employment Project (PEJ in French) was implemented by the Government of Benin from November 05, 2014 to June 30, 2019 with the support of the World Bank in order to provide sustainable solutions to youth unemployment and underemployment. The development objective of PEJ was to improve access to employment skills and employment opportunities for at least 17,500 underemployed youth, of which (at least) 50 percent are women, in the craft trades, agriculture, agricultural transformation and tourism sectors. The PEJ focused on underemployed people aged 15 to 35 years with little or no education in the country’s 77 communes. 2. The Project consisted of four (4) components. Component 1 (Developing skills through apprenticeships) supported access to apprenticeship for over 3,500 youth. Component 2 (Developing small business skills) aimed to develop entrepreneurial skills for 17,000 youth. Component 3 (Start-up support) aimed to provide about 13,000 youth with non-reimbursable start-up funding. Component 4 covered institutional capacity building and project management activities. The Component 1 was implemented by the Fonds de Développement de la Formation Professionnelle Continue et de l'Apprentissage (FODEFCA) and the Direction de l'Enseignement Technique et de la Formation Professionnelle (DETFP) and components 2 and 3 by the Agence Nationale Pour l'Emploi (ANPE). The Project Coordination Unit was in charge of component 4. 2. Assessment of the Project Development Objectives 3. Results are highly satisfying. Achievements for all the five (5) PDO indicators exceed expectations (see table below). The number of the project direct beneficiaries reached 20,842, 53% of whom were women, ahead of the target of 17,500. The number of PEJ-supported youth who received the Certificat de Qualification Professionnelle (CQP) exceeded the target of 2,500 and reached 2,991. In addition, 15,757 youth completed small business and life skills training under the project exceeding the original target of 15,000 and 15,513 youth funded by the project succeeded in starting or expanding micro-enterprises, surpassing the original target of 10,000 as well. 4. Only the intermediate result indicator related to the "number of training centers receiving new equipment" was not fully achieved. The aim was to equip ten (10) training centers but at the closing four (4) centers were not equipped due to delays to comply with the Public procurement requirements. Reference Target At closing Difference values values PROJECT DEVELOPMENT OBJECTIVE INDICATORS Project direct beneficiaries 0 17,500 20,842 3,342 Percentage of Female beneficiaries 0 50% 53.1% 3.1% Youth supported by the project receiving the Certificat de 0 2,500 2,991 491 Qualification Professionnelle (CQP) Page 57 of 66 The World Bank Benin Youth Employment Project (P132667) Reference Target At closing Difference values values Youth completing small business and life skills training 0 15,000 15,757 757 under the project Number of youth starting or expanding microenterprises 0 10,000 15,513 5,513 with support from the project INTERMEDIATE RESULTS INDICATORS Component 1 Number of occupation streams offering new post- 0 10 10 - apprenticeship exams leading to the CQP or CQM Number of master artisans receiving skills upgrade training ND 500 1,069 569 Number of training centers receiving new equipment ND 10 6 -4 Number of communes offering exams leading to the 29 77 77 - Certificat de Qualification aux Métiers (CQM) Number of women supported by the project in occupations ND 200 470 270 with traditionally low numbers of women Component 2 Beneficiaries of Labor Market programs - Supporting 0 10,000 15,757 5,757 entrepreneurship (number) Beneficiaries of Labor Market programs - Female 0 8,750 11,073 2,323 (number) Number of youth with low levels of literacy receiving 0 5,000 15,617 10,617 support for creating business plans Component 3 Number of youth receiving start up grants 0 12,000 15,513 3,513 Percentage of direct project beneficiaries who were underemployed, or neither in school or in employment, at 0 90% 99% 9% the beginning of training 3. Assessment of the project components Component 1: Developing skills through apprenticeships 5. Component 1 was a relatively easy start because the country has a good experience in apprenticeship certifications in traditional trades for youth with low level of education. The PEJ built upon the results of the 2014 CQP selection test. The project helped to mobilize selected candidates and ensured their participation in the training with the support of artisanal associations, private sector associations and training institutions. The selection of the training centers to partner with the project was also conducted jointly by the FODEFCA, the DETFP and the UCP PEJ. All this helped to create synergies among stakeholders at the beginning of the project and facilitated further collaboration during its implementation. 6. The main concern with the implementation of Component 1 was related to the Public payment system and procurement requirements. The procurement and payment processes were very challenging for training centers, which couldn’t readily comply with all documentation requirements. This necessitated the FODEFCA be responsible for their payment as an alternative measure. This largely explains why the equipment could not be ordered and delivered to all the ten (10) training centers, as initially planned. Page 58 of 66 The World Bank Benin Youth Employment Project (P132667) Component 2: Developing small business skills 7. Component 2 objectives were also largely fulfilled because all the stakeholders (ANPE, the lead training engineering center, training firms and UCP PEJ) were involved in the design of the training programs (life skills (ACV) and entrepreneurial skills (GERME)) and other related activities, and the programs were adapted to the beneficiaries’ needs. More than 15,000 youth completed small business and life skills training under the project and significant improvements were observed among beneficiaries, especially women. These results were furthered by transparency and fairness in the selection of the beneficiaries, proximity support to beneficiaries by the communal employment agents (Agents Communaux d’Emploi, ACE for short) and the online Google Forms used to track field operations and register business plans. 8. There’s still a room for improvement in terms of networking beneficiaries who have started or expanded their individual micro-enterprise with their peers and existing businesses, promoting cooperatives and strengthening social inclusion aspects. There’s also a need to put in place strong institutional arrangements to enhance vocational training and facilitate market integration for young people with little education. Component 3: Start-up support 9. The project finally provided cash start up grant to 15,513 youth (over the target of 12,000 youth), through mobile money. It was a successful experience in testing country-wide mobile transfers to disadvantaged, remote, isolated young people, excluded people from formal financial systems. 10. The most important challenge was that many beneficiaries did not have proper identification to activate their SIM and create their electronic account. The UCP PEJ provided them with a secure PEJ-card which was used as an interim solution with the mobile operator consent. 11. Further, the fact that grants were paid in two phases made it possible to capitalize on lessons learned from the first phase to improve the second phase. Among the 15,617 youth who submitted their business plan, only 104 - equivalent to 0.7% - did not receive their grant. This only happened during the first phase when the process was still in its infancy. Building on experience gained over the first phase, appropriate adjustments were made in respect of SIM activation and transfer to the beneficiaries, so that all beneficiaries of the second phase received their grant. It is worth noting that the online Google Forms application used to track field operations and register business plans was a key success factor, facilitating payment orders entry, tracking and execution. Furthermore, post training follow-up by training firms and ACEs was decisive in keeping the beneficiaries on the right track. Component 4: Institutional capacity building and project management 12. The PEJ reinforced the technical and intervention capacity of the implementing agencies (ANPE, FODEFCA and DETFP) and other public and private organizations involved in youth employment issues through staff training and equipment. The project also contributed to create commune-level employment services by hiring and equipping the ACEs who were instrumental to supporting the PEJ activities as well as other activities initiated by the ANPE and the communes. 13. The main concern was the use of country systems for financial management. This resulted in significant delays in the implementation of several critical activities. As an interim measure, the services of the MoF agreed to develop workarounds to the national fiscal management system (SIGFIP). This was Page 59 of 66 The World Bank Benin Youth Employment Project (P132667) very supportive but was not enough to guarantee the timely payment of all expenses before the end of the project. The PEJ PCU was then authorized by the line Ministry and the MoF, with the World Bank consent, to open an operating account in a local bank that was ultimately used to pay service providers as well, in addition to operating costs. 4. Plans for Sustaining Project Investments and Furthering Impact 14. Component 1: The Government has developed a new national strategy for Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) that builds on PEJ achievements in several dimensions such as the extension of the CQM, the renovation of the CQP and the development of new training curricula. The steering committee of the new TVET strategy is working closely with the PEJ coordination team to benefit from its expertise. 15. Component 2: National capacities for training and mentoring in micro-entrepreneurship and life skills have been strengthened thanks to the PEJ. The training network in micro-entrepreneurial skills using the ILO's GERME methodology has grown in Benin and comprises a leading engineering firm better equipped to develop life skills curricula and customize GERME modules to the needs of each category, 18 GERME training firms and more than 300 certified ACV/GERME-level 1 trainers. In addition, the ANPE is better equipped technically to design, plan, implement, monitor and evaluate employment programs for young people with little or no education in craft trades, agriculture and tourism sectors. Moreover, the new National Employment Policy still under development, the training component of the ARCH program (the Government's flagship social protection program) and the new TVET strategy provide for measures for training and supporting young people with little or no education, which will consolidate PEJ achievements. As well, the ANPE is developing a mobile application using the applicants’ database to develop a local service that aims to connect registered trades people with potential customers in their neighborhood. 16. Component 3: The Government envisages to provide larger amounts to youths trained under the PEJ project to support them in the growth of their micro-enterprise. 17. Component 4: The creation of the Communal Employment Agents (ACE) is a successfully experience in providing local employment service and it has contributed to bring about the decentralization of ANPE activities. Discussions are under way to make the ACEs permanent or to employ them to run the communal services to be created under the Government's ARCH program. 5. Assessment of the Bank’s Performance 18. The World Bank support was particularly instrumental in the success of this project, which was the first of its kind in Benin. 19. The Bank technical assistance over the PEJ preparation helped to design a Project document relevant to the employment issue in Benin, consistent with national strategies and inclusive about stakeholders. Similarly, the implementation support was highly effective with a sound distribution of roles among the Bank team members and good leadership provided by the TTL. 20. The Project Coordination Unit particularly welcomes: ▪ timely responses to its requests; ▪ fruitful exchanges with the Bank's team on procurement and financial management issues; Page 60 of 66 The World Bank Benin Youth Employment Project (P132667) ▪ well-prepared supervision missions combined with superior interpersonal skills of the Bank team that facilitated discussions with stakeholders and the implementation of the project as well; ▪ technical assistance provided by the Bank team throughout the project. 6. Summary of key lessons learned 21. Although the endline results of the impact evaluation of the Project are not yet available, PDO and intermediate results indicators as well as feedback from beneficiaries indicate that the PEJ project strategy was effective in promoting youth employment through (i) apprenticeship vocational training, (ii) small business and life skills training, (iii) short-term technical training and (iv) a small start-up grant. 22. Main lessons learned from capitalization and consultation sessions with stakeholders are summarized as follows by component: Component 1 ▪ There’s a need to decentralize and computerize the CQP candidates’ selection and to monitor their career path as well as that of CQM candidates (on entry, during the training cycle and on exit) for better internal and external efficiency; ▪ The PEJ experience shows that vocational training curricula can be improved with entrepreneurial and life skills and suggests developing short-term technical training supply, including for girls who would like to be trained in male-dominated trades; ▪ Upgrading the skills of the master artisans is essential to ensure the quality of the apprentice training and their success, both for the CQM for the CQP. Components 2 and 3 ▪ E-payment is an effective way for transferring resources to disadvantaged, remote, and isolated people, excluded from formal financing channels. However, this requires setting up an inclusive system that ensures every citizen an official identification at low cost. ▪ There’s a need to make the communal employment agents permanent to provide local employment services to people and help impact the largest number of young people, including those located in remote areas. ▪ The PEJ model has aroused keen interest among the youth, especially the micro-entrepreneurial and life skills training, suggesting the extension to all young people through the ANPE windows, under the new national employment policy under development. Component 4 ▪ A steering committee, bringing together all stakeholders, is essential for multi-sector projects, such as the PEJ. In the case of the PEJ, the operationalization of the steering committee would have been helpful to quickly address some concerns that emerged during implementation; ▪ The use of country systems for financial management was very challenging and resulted in important delays, suggesting that the Bank system for financial management should be preferred for future operations. Page 61 of 66 The World Bank Benin Youth Employment Project (P132667) ANNEX 6. SUPPORTING DOCUMENTS 1. Benin FY13-17 Country Partnership Strategy. World Bank (2013). 2. Mission Aide Memoires, Management Letters, and Implementation Status Reports. World Bank (2013– 2019). 3. Project Appraisal Document. World Bank (2014). 4. Loan Agreement. World Bank (2014). 5. Joint Field Supervision Mission Report (French). FODEFCA/DAFoP/PEJ PCU (2015). 6. Project Operations Manual (French). PEJ PCU (2016). 7. M&E Manual (French). PEJ PCU (2016). 8. Performance and Learning Review (PLR) of Benin CPS FY13-17. World Bank (2016). 9. Project Restructuring Paper. World Bank (2018). 10. Benin FY19-23 Country Partnership Framework. World Bank (2018). 11. IEG Completion and Learning Review (CLR) of the Benin CPS FY13-17. World Bank (2018). 12. Detailed Compilation of outreach and awareness raising materials from the PEJ Communications team including: Press clippings (32 pages of stories from the press covering the period Aug 2015- June 2019); Success Stories-hard copy report from PEJ detailing stories of PEJ beneficiaries in different trades (French). PEJ PCU. (2019). 13. Detailed Compilation of short and long duration videos from the PEJ Communications team including: (i) Ceremony for selection of first wave of PEJ beneficiaries; (ii) INSAE workshop; (iii) Training of PEJ beneficiaries; (iv) Short-term technical training; (v) TV report of beneficiary registration process by ACE (vi) Launch of the CQP Examination in April 2017; (vii) Ceremony of distribution of Start-up Grants via Mobile money; (viii) Capacity building of master artisans; (ix) Ceremony for selection of beneficiaries in communes in the impact evaluation; (x) Awareness raising in the Atlantic department; (xi) Awareness raising in Bourgou department; (xii) 14 minute video feature on Success Stories presented by a journalist for TV titled “Ça doit se savoir” (translates to ‘It must be known’); (xiii) Supervision visit by PEJ TTL; (xiv) Field visit by WB Resident Representative to Benin to PEJ activities; Page 62 of 66 The World Bank Benin Youth Employment Project (P132667) ANNEX 7. ADDITIONAL PROGRAM DATA Figure 7.1 Training Data across All 77 Communes Type of Total Business ACV TRI & CRE GERME Training Selected Plan 16,910 15,585 7,887 92.2% 50.6% 15,757 7,945 101.1% 58.6% 15617 14,588 7,430 92.7% 59.1% % of % No % Business No % No. No. Female No. Retetion No. Retetion Dept. planned female female Female plan female Female planned trained trained trained Rate trained Rate trained trained planned trained regd. planned trained ALIBORI 1,492 1,411 708 94.6% 50.2% 1,409 717 99.9% 50.9% 1,409 1,356 691 96.2% 51.0% 1. BANIKOARA 424 384 187 90.6% 48.7% 382 192 99.5% 50.3% 381 362 185 94.8% 51.1% 2. GOGOUNOU 204 196 97 96.1% 49.5% 196 98 100.0% 50.0% 196 193 97 98.5% 50.3% 3. KANDI 304 293 150 96.4% 51.2% 293 153 100.0% 52.2% 293 279 146 95.2% 52.3% 4. KARIMAMA 116 112 59 96.6% 52.7% 112 59 100.0% 52.7% 113 111 57 99.1% 51.4% 5. MALANVILLE 288 276 140 95.8% 50.7% 276 140 100.0% 50.7% 276 269 135 97.5% 50.2% 6. SEGBANA 156 150 75 96.2% 50.0% 150 75 100.0% 50.0% 150 142 71 94.7% 50.0% ATACORA 1,332 1,226 582 92.0% 47.5% 1,217 574 99.3% 47.2% 1,161 1,186 542 97.5% 45.7% 1. BOUKOUMBE 144 129 66 89.6% 51.2% 128 65 99.2% 50.8% 129 124 62 96.9% 50.0% 2. COBLY 120 110 53 91.7% 48.2% 109 53 99.1% 48.6% 110 109 54 100.0% 49.5% 3. KEROU 168 158 84 94.0% 53.2% 152 81 96.2% 53.3% 152 146 90 96.1% 61.6% 4. KOUANDE 192 190 94 99.0% 49.5% 190 95 100.0% 50.0% 190 182 91 95.8% 50.0% 5. MATERI 192 176 86 91.7% 48.9% 176 81 100.0% 46.0% 178 172 88 97.7% 51.2% 6. NATITINGOU 180 144 81 80.0% 56.3% 144 82 100.0% 56.9% 142 139 79 96.5% 56.8% 7. PEHONCO 136 129 37 94.9% 28.7% 128 37 99.2% 28.9% 128 129 14 100.8% 10.9% 8. TANGUIETA 128 121 59 94.5% 48.8% 121 58 100.0% 47.9% 63 117 56 96.7% 47.9% 9. TOUCOUNTOUNA 72 69 22 95.8% 31.9% 69 22 100.0% 31.9% 69 68 8 98.6% 11.8% ATLANTIQUE 2,354 2,106 1,072 89.5% 50.9% 2,154 1,086 102.3% 50.4% 2,098 1,957 1,017 90.9% 52.0% 1. ABOMEY-CALAVI 1,120 899 446 80.3% 49.6% 944 445 105.0% 47.1% 897 818 419 86.7% 51.2% 2. ALLADA 214 199 92 93.0% 46.2% 199 93 100.0% 46.7% 199 188 91 94.5% 48.4% 3. KPOMASSE 116 115 56 99.1% 48.7% 114 55 99.1% 48.2% 111 107 52 93.9% 48.6% 4. OUIDAH 264 261 144 98.9% 55.2% 262 151 100.4% 57.6% 260 247 139 94.3% 56.3% 5. SÔ-AVA 202 193 96 95.5% 49.7% 197 93 102.1% 47.2% 196 181 88 91.9% 48.6% 6. TOFFO 162 169 92 104.3% 54.4% 168 92 99.4% 54.8% 168 161 90 95.8% 55.9% 7. TORI-BOSSITO 100 94 47 94.0% 50.0% 94 51 100.0% 54.3% 92 84 39 89.4% 46.4% 8. ZE 176 176 99 100.0% 56.3% 176 106 100.0% 60.2% 175 171 99 97.2% 57.9% BORGOU 1,971 1,770 825 89.8% 46.6% 1,758 846 99.3% 48.1% 1,765 1,596 800 90.8% 50.1% 1. BEMBEREKE 216 200 96 92.6% 48.0% 200 96 100.0% 48.0% 203 192 98 96.0% 51.0% 2. KALALE 282 256 123 90.8% 48.0% 254 124 99.2% 48.8% 255 251 124 98.8% 49.4% 3. N'DALI 196 164 78 83.7% 47.6% 164 81 100.0% 49.4% 164 153 77 93.3% 50.3% 4. NIKKI 260 242 121 93.1% 50.0% 242 128 100.0% 52.9% 242 228 105 94.2% 46.1% 5. PARAKOU 349 291 106 83.4% 36.4% 283 103 97.3% 36.4% 284 186 94 65.7% 50.5% 6. PERERE 136 133 63 97.8% 47.4% 134 63 100.8% 47.0% 137 123 65 91.8% 52.8% 7. SINENDE 152 145 72 95.4% 49.7% 143 69 98.6% 48.3% 143 138 69 96.5% 50.0% 8. TCHAOUROU 380 339 166 89.2% 49.0% 338 182 99.7% 53.8% 337 325 168 96.2% 51.7% COLLINES 1,232 1,095 506 88.9% 46.2% 1,180 588 107.8% 49.8% 1,184 1,125 567 95.3% 50.4% 1. BANTE 184 178 90 96.7% 50.6% 177 90 99.4% 50.8% 179 176 89 99.4% 50.6% 2. DASSA-ZOUME 192 185 92 96.4% 49.7% 184 92 99.5% 50.0% 184 168 85 91.3% 50.6% 3. GLAZOUE 212 123 21 58.0% 17.1% 205 102 166.7% 49.8% 205 202 101 98.5% 50.0% 4. OUESSE 244 225 112 92.2% 49.8% 225 112 100.0% 49.8% 226 214 103 95.1% 48.1% 5. SAVALOU 248 240 120 96.8% 50.0% 245 121 102.1% 49.4% 246 238 120 97.1% 50.4% 6. SAVE 152 144 71 94.7% 49.3% 144 71 100.0% 49.3% 144 127 69 88.2% 54.3% Continued on next page…… Page 63 of 66 The World Bank Benin Youth Employment Project (P132667) Continued from previous page Type of Total Business ACV TRI & CRE GERME Training Selected Plan 16,910 15,585 7,887 92.2% 50.6% 15,757 7,945 101.1% 58.6% 15617 14,588 7,430 92.7% 59.1% % of % No % Business No % No. No. Female No. Retetion No. Retetion Dept. planned female female Female plan female Female planned trained trained trained Rate trained Rate trained trained planned trained regd. planned trained COUFFO 1,256 1,248 667 99.4% 53.4% 1,251 661 100.2% 52.8% 1,249 1,058 494 84.6% 46.7% 1. APLAHOUE 280 284 153 101.4% 53.9% 288 159 101.4% 55.2% 283 206 116 71.5% 56.3% 2. DJAKOTOMEY 232 232 125 100.0% 53.9% 232 125 100.0% 53.9% 233 229 122 98.7% 53.3% 3. DOGBO 168 169 93 100.6% 55.0% 169 93 100.0% 55.0% 169 156 89 92.3% 57.1% 4. KLOUEKANME 220 218 123 99.1% 56.4% 218 112 100.0% 51.4% 218 101 - 46.3% 0.0% 5. LALO 204 199 99 97.5% 49.7% 199 99 100.0% 49.7% 201 193 94 97.0% 48.7% 6. TOVIKLIN 152 146 74 96.1% 50.7% 145 73 99.3% 50.3% 145 139 73 95.9% 52.5% DONGA 948 816 406 86.1% 49.8% 819 413 100.4% 50.4% 812 781 406 95.4% 52.0% 1. BASSILA 224 204 101 91.1% 49.5% 203 108 99.5% 53.2% 203 193 97 95.1% 50.3% 2. COPARGO 124 118 59 95.2% 50.0% 118 59 100.0% 50.0% 119 117 60 99.2% 51.3% 3. DJOUGOU 472 374 190 79.2% 50.8% 375 190 100.3% 50.7% 371 353 192 94.1% 54.4% 4. OUAKE 128 120 56 93.8% 46.7% 123 56 102.5% 45.5% 119 118 57 95.9% 48.3% LITTORAL 1,156 971 478 84.0% 49.2% 953 472 98.1% 49.5% 926 879 458 92.2% 52.1% COTONOU 1,156 971 478 84.0% 49.2% 953 472 98.1% 49.5% 926 879 458 92.2% 52.1% MONO 834 735 449 88.1% 61.1% 813 429 110.6% 52.8% 815 776 416 95.4% 53.6% 1. ATHIEME 96 94 49 97.9% 52.1% 94 47 100.0% 50.0% 94 93 46 98.9% 49.5% 2. BOPA 162 158 94 97.5% 59.5% 157 91 99.4% 58.0% 160 137 88 87.3% 64.2% 3. COME 132 131 76 99.2% 58.0% 130 71 99.2% 54.6% 130 124 69 95.4% 55.6% 4. GRAND-POPO 100 97 49 97.0% 50.5% 97 51 100.0% 52.6% 97 95 48 97.9% 50.5% 5. HOUEYOGBE 172 168 89 97.7% 53.0% 167 77 99.4% 46.1% 167 164 81 98.2% 49.4% 6. LOKOSSA 172 87 92 50.6% 105.7% 168 92 193.1% 54.8% 167 163 84 97.0% 51.5% OUEME 1,844 1,794 953 97.3% 53.1% 1,784 909 99.4% 51.0% 1,786 1,581 837 88.6% 52.9% 1. ADJARRA 160 159 86 99.4% 54.1% 160 86 100.6% 53.8% 160 157 86 98.1% 54.8% 2. ADJOHOUN 128 126 62 98.4% 49.2% 126 62 100.0% 49.2% 127 125 61 99.2% 48.8% 3. AGUEGUES 76 74 36 97.4% 48.6% 74 26 100.0% 35.1% 77 72 26 97.3% 36.1% 4. AKPRO-MISSERETE 208 206 115 99.0% 55.8% 206 103 100.0% 50.0% 206 79 49 38.3% 62.0% 5. AVRANKOU 216 212 114 98.1% 53.8% 211 114 99.5% 54.0% 209 203 110 96.2% 54.2% 6. BONOU 76 75 38 98.7% 50.7% 75 38 100.0% 50.7% 74 73 39 97.3% 53.4% 7. DANGBO 164 164 81 100.0% 49.4% 160 81 97.6% 50.6% 160 155 79 96.9% 51.0% 8. PORTO-NOVO 432 422 240 97.7% 56.9% 419 238 99.3% 56.8% 420 394 231 94.0% 58.6% 9. SEME-KPODJI 384 356 181 92.7% 50.8% 353 161 99.2% 45.6% 353 323 156 91.5% 48.3% PLATEAU 996 1,000 528 100.4% 52.8% 1,005 540 100.5% 53.7% 1,000 936 501 93.1% 53.5% 1. IFANGNI 200 187 85 93.5% 45.5% 187 93 100.0% 49.7% 187 178 92 95.2% 51.7% 2. ADJA-OUERE 188 193 109 102.7% 56.5% 193 109 100.0% 56.5% 193 188 106 97.4% 56.4% 3. KETOU 256 264 148 103.1% 56.1% 270 148 102.3% 54.8% 264 253 143 93.7% 56.5% 4. POBE 212 201 100 94.8% 49.8% 201 100 100.0% 49.8% 202 197 96 98.0% 48.7% 5. SAKETE 140 155 86 110.7% 55.5% 154 90 99.4% 58.4% 154 120 64 77.9% 53.3% ZOU 1,495 1,413 713 94.5% 50.5% 1,414 710 100.1% 50.2% 1,412 1,357 701 96.0% 51.7% 1. ABOMEY 160 156 78 97.5% 50.0% 158 79 101.3% 50.0% 157 158 79 100.0% 50.0% 2. AGBANGNIZOUN 124 121 65 97.6% 53.7% 123 65 101.7% 52.8% 123 116 61 94.3% 52.6% 3. BOHICON 292 271 137 92.8% 50.6% 269 137 99.3% 50.9% 269 260 133 96.7% 51.2% 4. COVE 88 83 45 94.3% 54.2% 82 44 98.8% 53.7% 82 80 44 97.6% 55.0% 5. DJIDJA 212 207 100 97.6% 48.3% 207 98 100.0% 47.3% 207 203 100 98.1% 49.3% 6. OUINHI 104 97 48 93.3% 49.5% 97 48 100.0% 49.5% 97 91 50 93.8% 54.9% 7. ZA-KPOTA 239 218 112 91.2% 51.4% 218 112 100.0% 51.4% 218 202 111 92.7% 55.0% 8. ZANGNANADO 112 104 49 92.9% 47.1% 104 50 100.0% 48.1% 104 99 48 95.2% 48.5% 9. ZOGBODOMEY 164 156 79 95.1% 50.6% 156 77 100.0% 49.4% 155 148 75 94.9% 50.7% Source: October 2019/PCU. Page 64 of 66 The World Bank Benin Youth Employment Project (P132667) Figure 7.2. Top 20 Trades in Business Plans of the 15,513 Beneficiaries Chosen to Receive Start-up Grants Source: October 2019/PCU. Page 65 of 66 The World Bank Benin Youth Employment Project (P132667) Figure 7.3. Detailed Breakdown of Females Trained in Male-dominated Trades as Part of PEJa Trade No. % Aluminium utensil fabrication 125 32% Aluminium joinery 68 17% Solar Panel installation 52 13% Mobile phone repair 50 13% Florist 24 6% Parabolic antenna installation 18 5% Hydraulic pump repair 17 4% Irrigation system installation 13 3% Bricklaying 12 3% Vulcanizing and Battery Charging 8 2% Metal construction 5 1% Pump installation 1 0% Total 393 100% Source: October 2019/PCU. Note: a Data from 77 females who underwent similar training not available. Page 66 of 66