The World Bank The Gambia - Education Sector Support Program (P162890) REPORT NO.: RES34439 DOCUMENT OF THE WORLD BANK RESTRUCTURING PAPER ON A PROPOSED PROJECT RESTRUCTURING OF THE GAMBIA - EDUCATION SECTOR SUPPORT PROGRAM APPROVED ON MARCH 28, 2018 TO THE MINISTRY OF FINANCE AND ECONOMIC AFFAIRS EDUCATION AFRICA Regional Vice President: Hafez M. H. Ghanem Country Director: Louise J. Cord Senior Global Practice Director: Jaime Saavedra Chanduvi Practice Manager/Manager: Meskerem Mulatu Task Team Leader: Ryoko Tomita The World Bank The Gambia - Education Sector Support Program (P162890) I. BASIC DATA Product Information Project ID Financing Instrument P162890 Investment Project Financing Original EA Category Current EA Category Partial Assessment (B) Partial Assessment (B) Approval Date Current Closing Date 28-Mar-2018 31-Dec-2022 Organizations Borrower Responsible Agency The Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education The Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs (MoBSE),The Ministry of Higher Education, Research, Science and Technology Project Development Objective (PDO) Original PDO To increase access to early childhood development and basic education and improve quality of teaching and learning. Summary Status of Financing Net Ln/Cr/Tf Approval Signing Effectiveness Closing Commitment Disbursed Undisbursed IDA-D2800 28-Mar-2018 20-Apr-2018 31-Aug-2018 31-Dec-2022 30.00 4.60 24.04 TF-A7053 28-Mar-2018 20-Apr-2018 31-Aug-2018 31-Dec-2022 5.00 3.20 1.80 Policy Waiver(s) Does this restructuring trigger the need for any policy waiver(s)? No The World Bank The Gambia - Education Sector Support Program (P162890) I. SUMMARY OF PROJECT STATUS AND PROPOSED CHANGES The purpose of this restructuring paper is to request to (i) change the proportion of community-based Early Childhood Development (ECD) and Annexed ECD classroom construction (the total number of new ECD classrooms will stay the same); (ii) modify the incentive program for the out-of-school children from conditional-cash-transfer to in-kind support; (iii) pay the outstanding balance for the digital content of English Language Art (ELA), which was developed under the previous project; and (iv) adjust the amount in the disbursement categories. Full description of proposed changes and justifications as well as current project status are provided below. The Project was signed on April 20, 2018 and became effective on August 31, 2018. US$4.6 million from International Development Association (IDA) and US$3.2 million from the Global Partnership for Education (GPE) have been disbursed. The second Implementation Status Report (ISR) that was filed in January 2019 rated this early stage of the project as Satisfactory. There are three proposed changes to the project which do not require any changes to the Results Framework, and adjust the disbursement categories accordingly. In addition, the changes in activities are not expected to require any changes to the environmental and social safeguards assessments, and as such, the existing Environmental and Social Management Framework (ESMF) and Resettlement Policy Framework (RPF) will be sufficient for the restructured project. The proposed changes in project activities include the following: 1. Sub-component 1.1: Expanding the network of basic and ECD classrooms It was originally planned to construct 61 ECD classrooms (20 using the community-based approach, and 41 using the annexed approach). Although the total number of ECD classrooms to be built will not change, 10 will now be built using the community-based approach, and 51 using the annexed-based approach. This is because there will be 30 multi-grade primary schools built, which require 30 ECD classrooms, given that multi-grade schools will have a three- classroom structure - two lower basic classrooms and one ECD classroom, based on the government strategy. In addition, there are 21 existing multi-grade schools, which were built under the previous projects, which do not have ECD classrooms. Given the limited amount of resources, the 10 remaining classrooms (of the 61 total) will be provided by the community, so that multi-grade schools are fully completed. 2. Sub-component 1.2: Expanding opportunities and access for out-of-school children One of the activities under this sub-component is to provide targeted incentives to bring out-of-school children to school. Originally, it was planned to provide a Targeted Conditional Cash Transfer (TCCT) directly to families. However, following the presidential level policy discussions on the sustainability of the CCTs, which was held only after the approval of the project, the government requested the Bank to reconsider the method of this intervention by replacing the direct cash payment with in-kind incentives. The MoBSE and the Bank discussed and agreed to test two models in Year 1: Model 1 is to provide incentives in the form of school uniforms, footwear, stationery, as well as finance school feeding program in schools that are currently not receiving any school feeding support; Model 2 also envisages financing for the school feeding program, while the decision on the appropriate incentives for the parents to bring children to school is entrusted to the Mothers' Club in each community as per their discretion, instead of providing predetermined items. In Year 1 the above two models will be piloted in two out of eight districts targeted by the Project. A list of eligible expenditures will be discussed among the Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education (MoBSE), Mothers’ Clubs, communities, and schools, and the MoBSE will submit the list to the Bank for approval. After the Year 1 implementation, a simple evaluation will be conducted to compare the two models and see how many The World Bank The Gambia - Education Sector Support Program (P162890) students who were previously out of school have been enrolled, how the attendance of students has changed, and whether communities are satisfied with the transparency and impact of the interventions. Based on the results of the evaluation, the Year 2 model will be determined. Rational of the proposed changes in Sub-component 1.2 According to the household survey, the "cost associated to schooling" is the third largest reason for being out of school, after "religion" and "too young". 'Religion' indicates that many children are in religious centers called Majalis and the project tackles this issue through the conditional cash transfer program. At the primary education level, ‘lunch, pocket money, and school meals' is the largest share of all school related expenditures, accounting for 52 percent of the total household education spending. The second largest share is school uniform, and the household spends 11 percent of total education spending on uniforms (The Gambia Public Expenditure Review in education sector, 2017). In addition, under the recently closed Results for Education Achievement and Development (READ) project, the stationery package was provided to all lower basic school students in designated hardship areas in regions 3-6. Anecdotal evidence shows that such in-kind provision helped more children to attend school. Thus, it is expected that provision of in-kind support will significantly help bring out-of school children to schools and would have a profound impact similar to the originally designed CCT interventions. At the same time, however, there may be other reasons that families are not sending their children to school, and each community knows these reasons the best. That is why it was decided to have two different models in Year 1 to compare what works better. Total number of beneficiaries and intended outcomes are expected to be the same as pre-restructuring figures. Implementation of Sub-component 1.2 In both models, the implementation approach is to provide funding at the community level to allow local procurement and provision. All students at public lower basic schools in the targeted districts will be eligible to receive incentives. The key implementing body will be the Mothers’ Club at each school. Every school has a Mothers’ Club that supports school-based management, such as fund raising by selling food and clothes to help poor students, facility cleaning and other school operations. Although each Mothers’ Club already has a bank account with the Gambia Teachers Union, Cooperative Credit Union (GTU-CCU), it will open a separate bank account with GTU-CCU for this particular activity. The Mothers' Club will be provided with training to ensure adequate spending and accounting of the fund. The MoBSE may provide this training or may contract another agency (such as Action Aid and Forum for African Women Educationalists – The Gambia (FAWEGAM)) as a training provider. Once the training for the Mothers Clubs are completed, they will sign an agreement with the MoBSE, and commit to use the funds as agreed, and to provide financial reports. For school feeding, the Mothers' Clubs are going to procure the food locally. For the school uniforms, the Mothers' Clubs can procure the cloth and the tailors locally, thus supporting the local markets, and ensuring that the uniforms are made in the right numbers and sizes. Footwear and stationery will also be procured locally through the same method. Financing food expenditures has been approved by the Regional Vice President. The disbursement modality is now being changed from the cash transfer to a grant, and as a result, the Financing Agreement needs to be amended. 3. Sub-component 2.1 Curriculum Revision and Implementation The World Bank The Gambia - Education Sector Support Program (P162890) One of the activities supported under this sub-component is to scale up the Progressive Science Initiative and Progressive Mathematics Imitative (PSI-PMI) and English Language of Art (ELA) initiative which champions interactive teaching methods and Information and Communication Technology (ICT) integration into teaching and learning. Under the closed READ project, the digital content of ELA for grades 7-12 were developed, however, a portion of the payment in the amount of US$128,000 was not made to the firm. The same firm that developed the training materials under READ has been hired under ESSP to integrate PSI-PMI and ELA into the teachers college curriculum, and that the $128,000 that was not paid under READ will be subsumed in the current contract with the firm under ESSP. 4. Disbursement Categories The disbursement categories in the Financing Agreement will be updated to: (1) reflect the modified arrangement described above for Sub-component 1.2; and (2) reflect the actual amount disbursed under the Project Preparation Advance (PPA). II. DETAILED CHANGES REALLOCATION BETWEEN DISBURSEMENT CATEGORIES Current Current Actuals + Proposed Disbursement % Ln/Cr/TF Expenditure Allocation Committed Allocation (Type Total) Category Current Proposed IDA-D2800- Goods, works, 001 non-consulting Currency: services, and XDR consulting services for 7,600,000.00 0.00 9,800,987.88 100.00 100.00 Parts A and B of Project (other than Benefit Program) NCS, CS, Training and OC for Benefit Programs and 4,400,000.00 0.00 4,798,000.00 100.00 100.00 Stipends, HA, CCT, TCCT and Tuition The World Bank The Gambia - Education Sector Support Program (P162890) Schloarship under A2&B3 of Project Goods, works, non-consulting services, consulting 4,400,000.00 0.00 4,800,000.00 100.00 100.00 services and Operating Costs for Part C of the Project Refund of Preparation 4,200,000.00 1,201,012.12 1,201,012.12 100 Advance Total 20,600,000.00 1,201,012.12 20,600,000.00