INTEGRATED SAFEGUARDS DATA SHEET APPRAISAL STAGE Report No.: ISDSA1637 Public Disclosure Copy Date ISDS Prepared/Updated: 24-Oct-2013 Date ISDS Approved/Disclosed: 07-Nov-2013 I. BASIC INFORMATION 1. Basic Project Data Country: Dominican Republic Project ID: P131109 Project Name: DO Flexible Employment System Project (FESP) (P131109) Task Team Juan Martin Moreno Leader: Estimated 19-Nov-2013 Estimated 25-Feb-2014 Appraisal Date: Board Date: Managing Unit: LCSHS-DPT Lending Investment Project Financing Instrument: Sector(s): Vocational training (25%), Other social services (75%) Theme(s): Improving labor markets (40%), Social safety nets (20%), Social risk mitigation (40%) Is this project processed under OP 8.50 (Emergency Recovery) or OP No 8.00 (Rapid Response to Crises and Emergencies)? Financing (In USD Million) Public Disclosure Copy Total Project Cost: 20.00 Total Bank Financing: 20.00 Financing Gap: 0.00 Financing Source Amount Borrower 0.00 International Bank for Reconstruction and Development 20.00 Total 20.00 Environmental B - Partial Assessment Category: Is this a Yes Repeater project? 2. Project Development Objective(s) The development objective of this project is to improve the earnings and employment rates of poor unemployed persons and poor idle youth by supporting the implementation of a temporary employment program and a youth training program. 3. Project Description Page 1 of 9 The proposed Project includes two components. The first component supports the two main complementary building blocks of the National Employment System (NES): the Temporary Employment Project (TEP), and the youth training program ‘Juventud y Empleo’ (PJyE). The second Public Disclosure Copy component is aimed at improving the monitoring and evaluation capacity of the Ministry of Labor (MoL), which is essential both for the flexibility of the NES as well as for the implementation of a progressive strategy to scale-up the TEP. The Project would support the geographical and progressive expansion of the TEP to additional municipalities, which would be determined during the lifetime of the project, according to dynamics of the local labor markets (high unemployment and potential market growth), need and willingness to participate. Component 2 will support the production and publishing of monitoring reports with statistical information on the evolution of local labor markets, information resulting from the implementation of the NES programs, and the one obtained from the tracking surveys that will follow up on the graduated beneficiaries. The MoL will be able to determine the vacancies allocation across programs (PJyE and TEP), as well as, across regions where the TEP is being implemented. The Project foresees an implementation strategy in which the coverage of the TEP expands progressively and the vacancies of the PJyE financed by the project progressively decreases as the youth training program consolidates in INFOTEP (National Institute for Professional Technical Training), and becomes a stable component of the national training policy. Nevertheless, the program is designed to provide the MoL the flexibility to adjust, on a semi-annual basis, the number of vacancies in each program, as well as across regions. Moreover, the geographical expansion of the TEP is not determined at this stage and will be determined on a yearly basis, according to a pre- established criteria supported by public information. The sequential expansion of the TEP program across the territory will provide the Government capacity to provide emergency relief in times of crisis, or to improve the efficiency of the labor market in times of growth. The TEP can be scaled- down in times of growing labor demand to focus on those segments of the labor market that experience greater difficulties to find a job, earn an income and escape from poverty. Finally, the flexibility of the project will allow the MoL to expand the number of vacancies at the PJyE to ease Public Disclosure Copy the insertion of idle youth into the labor market in times of strong demand. The availability of just-in- time information from the monitoring reports becomes crucial for decision makers to allocate resources across programs and regions as well as to plan the geographical expansion. A rigorous impact evaluation will complement the information resulting from the tracking surveys to be financed under Component 2. A. Project Components Each component of the project is sub-divided in two sub-components. Component 1: Improving the earnings and employment rates of poor unemployed persons and poor idle youth (US$17.5 million). This component would support a recently launched temporary employment program and a seasoned youth training program. In the first case, the strategy to be followed in this Project would be to support its geographical expansion, while in the second case, the vacancies to be covered would be progressively reduced as the program consolidates as part of the national training policy at INFOTEP. Both programs supported under this component present a combination of similar interventions with different intensities, implementation methods, and target groups. Beneficiaries from both programs receive life-skills (LS) and technical, vocational and educational training (TVET). The work requirements of TEP beneficiaries are greater than for youth at the training program, therefore the number of in-class trainings is larger. Page 2 of 9 a. Sub-component 1.a. Temporary Employment Program (US$15 million). The goal of this sub-component would be to improve the earnings and employment rates of the most disadvantaged segments of the labor market. The TEP builds on the experience of the pilot temporary employment Public Disclosure Copy program ‘Santiago Trabaja’, implemented under component 4 of the Youth Development Project (YDP, Loan 7317-DO). The program provides temporary work opportunities and training courses to low-skilled, poor, and unemployed job seekers that are not in the formal labor force. Participants will be legally classified as contracted by the state according to the public sector labor code (41-08). The program consists of providing beneficiaries with temporary employment for six months, along with life-skills training (DCB, Desarrollo de Competencias Básicas) and vocational training courses. The TEP is expected to create 20,000 temporary jobs through TEP sub-projects which will finance wages, vocational and life-skills training. The TEP will also provide a capped share of the tools and materials involved in delivering TEP sub-projects. The latter are executed by Local Organizations (LOs) which are selected through competitive processes organized by the Project Coordination Unit (PCU). To reduce the risk of patronage or ‘clientelistic’ abuses, beneficiaries and sub-projects are selected independently. The National Employment Service (SENAE) matches selected beneficiaries to approved sub-projects in a second stage. The TEP has two main goals depending on the phase of the economic cycle in which it is being implemented, allowing for flexible mechanisms to respond to the labor market. In times of crisis, the TEP generates welfare gains to participants that receive an income in exchange for a work activity. Conversely, in positive phases of the economic cycle, the program can be scaled down to avoid competing with labor demand from the private sector focusing on those segments of the labor market that experienced difficulties finding a job even in good times. In these cases, the motivational aspects of the training course, the temporary stability of a minimum wage, the work habits and the skills acquired at the technical training are aimed at improving the opportunities of people that otherwise would have lagged behind b.Sub-component 1.b: Youth Training Program ‘Juventud y Empleo’ (US$2.5 million). The youth training program PJyE is aimed at improving the employment rates of poor idle youth. This program Public Disclosure Copy provides in-class life-skills and vocational training courses, as well as on the job-training through a two-month internship in private firms. This seasoned program has been run by the MoL since 2001, and the impact evaluations have shown that the program has a positive effect on the earnings, employment rate and quality of employment among participants. The program has shown positive indirect effects such as a reduction in teenage pregnancy and lower risky behavior among younger participants. According to the impact evaluation, the life-skills training courses would be playing an important role in motivating the target population of idle youth. This edition of the PJyE will also introduce a wage subsidy to program participants that reach the internship stage. This design feature has been introduced to improve the placement rate of graduates. To make the program sustainable, the YDP introduced design features to progressively migrate the implementation of the program from the MoL to INFOTEP as part of a strategy to ensure its sustainability beyond the life-time of the project. INFOTEP successfully implemented 400 courses, including an alternative modality to train young people on entrepreneurship in areas with no local private firms or COS (‘Centros Operativos del Sistema’) willing to participate in the internship stage. Under this sub-component, the Project would support 5,000 beneficiaries of the program, as part of the transition strategy to consolidate this program as part of the national training strategy at INFOTEP. This component will finance training courses for beneficiaries, stipends and minimum wages during the internship phase in private firms. Page 3 of 9 Component 2: Strengthening Government Capacity for Policy Implementation, Monitoring, and Evaluation (US$2.5 million). The objective of this component is to improve the MoL’s capacity to reach the target population of the supported programs through strengthened program coordination, Public Disclosure Copy implementation, monitoring, and evaluation. The component is divided in two sub-components. a. Sub-component 2.a. Implementation Operating Costs (US$1.5 million). The goal of this sub- component is to strengthen the MoL’s capacity to coordinate, implement, and supervise the execution of programs under component 1. All the activities of this component will be implemented by the PCU of the MoL which will be responsible for carrying out all the fiduciary processes of this component. This sub-component includes financing, coordination, and supervision, as well as staff costs derived from the implementation of the TEP, which is expected to progressively increase as the program expands geographically. b. Sub-component 2.b. Monitoring and Evaluation (US$1 million). The main goal of this sub- component is to provide just-in-time information to the decision-makers in charge of the project implementation and the NES to exploit the flexibility features of its programs. Under this sub- component, monitoring reports will be produced and published periodically in order to plan the project’s implementation the following year. The latter will feed into decisions such as the plan to geographically expand the TEP and the inter and intra program composition of vacancies. Monitoring reports are expected to be based on systematic tracking surveys and statistical information from regular surveys (ENFT) and administrative records (Social Security). Finally, this component will also finance the design and implementation of an impact evaluation based on rigorous methodology that will enable isolating the effects of the intervention from the fluctuations of the economy and other factors. 4. Project location and salient physical characteristics relevant to the safeguard analysis (if known) The program will sequentially expand from Santiago, the city in which it was originally piloted to cover additional municipalities. These additional municipalities are left undefined on purpose to be Public Disclosure Copy able to adapt the delivery of the program to regions in which the economic crisis hits employment hardest, where there is potential growth, and ability to implement the TEP at the local level. The geographical distribution of sub-projects and beneficiaries is also left undefined to allow the MoL to adjust the distribution according to the lessons learned from implementation (such as implementation and financial capacity of local sub-project implementing entities), and information from monitoring reports of the unemployment incidence, distribution, and evolution produced by OMLAD (‘Observatorio del Mercado Laboral Dominicano’) and included in the monitoring report of the TEP. The geographic distribution and the expansion schedule will be submitted for approval to the Bank with each round of call for proposals. The employment activities supported by the proposed Project will focus on improving communities through small public works or services in urban/residential areas; they will not involve agricultural work or impose potential negative impacts on forests or (other) natural habitats. 5. Environmental and Social Safeguards Specialists Jose Vicente Zevallos (LCSSO) Tuuli Johanna Bernardini (LCSEN) 6. Safeguard Policies Triggered? Explanation (Optional) Page 4 of 9 Environmental Assessment OP/ Yes The works and services that the project will BP 4.01 finance will focus on relatively small sub-projects of community interest (please see below for Public Disclosure Copy examples). The Environmental Management Framework (EMF) of the YDP, prepared in August, 2010, was revised to become the Environmental and Social Management Framework (ESMF) of the proposed P roject and disclosed in-country. The ESMF provides guidance on classifying and evaluating proposed employment activities according to a typology that forms a part of the Operational Manual for sub-project screening, design, approval, implementation, and closing. The ESMF describes potential negative environmental impacts that different types of sub-projects could cause and guides on respective management measures to prevent and mitigate them. The ESMF was disclosed in-country on September 20, 2013. Natural Habitats OP/BP 4.04 No The Project would not finance activities that would affect natural habitats as defined in Annex A of OP 4.04. Forests OP/BP 4.36 No The Project would not finance activities that would affect forests or communities that depend on their services. Pest Management OP 4.09 No The Project would not finance activities that Public Disclosure Copy would involve purchase or use of pesticides or other agricultural chemicals. Physical Cultural Resources OP/ No The Project would not finance activities that BP 4.11 would affect physical cultural resources as defined in the introduction of OP 4.11. The ESMF includes guidance for appropriate action to be taken in case any chance finds would occur during project implementation. Indigenous Peoples OP/BP 4.10 No The Project would not finance activities that would affect indigenous peoples. Involuntary Resettlement OP/BP No The Project would not finance activities that 4.12 would imply involuntary resettlement or direct economic and social impacts as defined in OP 4.12. Safety of Dams OP/BP 4.37 No The Project would not finance any type of dams or activities that would depend on existing dams. Projects on International No The Project would not finance activities that Waterways OP/BP 7.50 would affect international waterways. Page 5 of 9 Projects in Disputed Areas OP/BP No There are no disputed areas within the Project 7.60 area. Public Disclosure Copy II. Key Safeguard Policy Issues and Their Management A. Summary of Key Safeguard Issues 1. Describe any safeguard issues and impacts associated with the proposed project. Identify and describe any potential large scale, significant and/or irreversible impacts: The proposed Project is classified as Category B given the small-scale, temporary, and reversible impacts that could result from construction sub-projects carried out primarily by up to 25 manual laborers. Afforestation of stream banks and construction of gabions to prevent landslides are examples of typical eligible works under the project. Overall, the sub-projects will most likely fall under Category C as defined under OP/BP 4.01. No works or activities that would meet the criteria for Category A will be financed under this project and none are envisioned. All sub-projects will fall under category D of minor impacts under the national EA legislation that do not require specific environmental assessments. Beyond potential oversight by national/local government, the Project’s environmental specialist will secure appropriate supervision in the field. All category A, B or C projects of potential greater impacts based on the national categorization will be excluded as detailed in the ESMF. These include e.g. water and sanitation projects, projects impacting protected areas, and solid waste management. The project will not support the construction of new roads, road extensions or other infrastructure. Road works, subject to proposal approval, will be limited to repair and rehabilitation of existing infrastructure. Positive potential impacts will be expected from environmental sub-projects aimed at promoting conservation and sustainable use of natural resources and improving environmental conditions of the population. In order to comply with the OP 4.01, the Project has an Environmental and Social Management Public Disclosure Copy Framework (ESMF). The ESMF describes the relevant legal and institutional framework as well as the institutional arrangements for project implementation and its socio-environmental management in particular. Further, it provides guidance on classifying and evaluating proposed employment activities according to a typology that forms part of the OM for sub-project screening, design, approval, implementation, and closing. The ESMF describes potential negative environmental impacts that different types of eligible sub-projects could cause and provides guidance on respective management measures to prevent and mitigate them. The principal aspects taken into account within the ESMF are: A. Sub-projects’ eligibility criteria: Given the project characteristics with regard to the profile of the beneficiaries and the objectives of contributing to the improvement of their employability, the sub-projects must meet the following basic criteria: 1. Be of community interest. 2. Generate public benefits. 3. Full implement ability within six months. 4. Activities of a scale that imply a maximum of 25 beneficiary workers of the TEP. 5. Be of low complexity: (i) no need for special technical/structural designs; (ii) not need for specialized studies such as on soil, seismology, etc.; (iii) no category A or B activities as per the national legislation; and (iv) no need for sophisticated implementation mechanisms which would exclude participation of the beneficiaries. Page 6 of 9 6. Sub-projects that require intensive use of unskilled labor. The eligibility criteria ensure that only sub-projects with low negative impacts will be supported. Public Disclosure Copy Further, sub-project preparation activities include consultation mechanisms to ensure responsiveness to local considerations and inputs. The sub-projects’ cycle, in regard to environmental and social management, evolves as follows: 1. Orientation and support to local groups that plan to prepare sub-project proposal(s) involve an environmental and a social specialist that guide sub-project proponents in identifying potential environmental and social impacts and incorporate pertinent prevention and mitigation measures as needed. At this stage, any potential involuntary resettlement would be reviewed and screened out. In addition to a checklist for sub-project review by environmental and construction specialists, consultation mechanisms will be included into the sub-project design phase to consider local community and beneficiary perspectives. 2. Sub-project proposal review and approval includes environmental and social aspects. Proposals must consider potential licensing requirements and include costs for adequate equipment and management measures. 3. During sub-project implementation, workers will receive proper equipment and training provided by the designated team members of the Territorial Support Units (UTAs) prior to start of implementation. These specialists will also supervise project implementation and recommend measures as appropriate to ensure adequate environmental and health and safety management. 4. Closure phase: The environmental and social specialists from the UTAs will ensure that the measures to clean up sub-project sites have been performed adequately. Particular emphasis will be given to workers’ safety, which will be ensured through use of adequate personal protection equipment and training in health and safety measures and procedures during the induction phase of work teams. The health and safety standards of the World Bank/IFC as well as national regulations will be considered as reflected in the ESMF and OM. Public Disclosure Copy 2. Describe any potential indirect and/or long term impacts due to anticipated future activities in the project area: The Project is not expected to have any potential large scale issues or irreversible impacts as no major works will be financed. Typical works anticipated will relate to improvements to existing infrastructure on a small scale. Screening processes and management measures to assure proper application of safeguard considerations are detailed in the ESMF and included in the OM as described above. 3. Describe any project alternatives (if relevant) considered to help avoid or minimize adverse impacts. To avoid or minimize potential adverse socio-environmental impacts of sub-projects, the project applies a negative list that restricts the nature and scope of proposals to be presented in competitive selection processes. 4. Describe measures taken by the borrower to address safeguard policy issues. Provide an assessment of borrower capacity to plan and implement the measures described. Beyond the ESMF, four basic aspects comprise the borrower’s strategy to address proper socio- environmental management of sub-project implementation: 1) the PCU includes an experienced environmental specialist who has the primary responsibility of adequate environmental monitoring of project activities. The Project would also engage and support municipal environmental units Page 7 of 9 (UGAM) to participate in its environmental management; 2) a detailed OM provides guidelines based on the ESMF to be followed during the sub-projects’ cycle; 3) provision of induction courses for sub-project implementing entities (LOs) to train them in the process of presenting sub- Public Disclosure Copy project proposals and ensure inclusion/use of adequate socio-environmental and health and safety measures and/or equipment; and 4) provision of training for teams of workers regarding environmental management and health and safety. The Project’s environmental risks are considered low. The induction course for LOs will provide a detailed training to level the capacities of different institutions to present proposals that will be competitively selected. The induction course will be provided by the project environmental and social specialists to leave capacities installed both at the institutional level (UTAs), as well as at the local level. The course will provide an overview of the institutional and legal framework that regulates the activities to be undertaken in the sub- projects as described in the ESMF, which will guide the evaluation of the proposals. In the case of presentation of proposals with potential adverse impacts, they will be highlighted and special attention will be paid to the complementary pieces of information to be attached to the presentation, such as suggested mitigation measures by the implementing institution. Each UTA that is supporting and supervising sub-projects includes a team specialist that will have specific environmental functions and capacities included in his/her Terms of Reference (ToR). 5. Identify the key stakeholders and describe the mechanisms for consultation and disclosure on safeguard policies, with an emphasis on potentially affected people. The main stakeholders are the non-profit seeking institutions such as municipalities, non- governmental organizations and other civil society organizations responsible for presenting sub- project proposals to develop community-oriented works or services. The LOs in particular will be key stakeholders for which the above mentioned induction courses will be designed for. Sub- projects will be consulted during their design phase with the beneficiaries of local communities and governments. This will ensure that local conditions, potential nuisances, and other environmental and social impacts will be communicated effectively and considered in sub-project Public Disclosure Copy design and respective environmental management plans, as applicable. The induction course plus the public availability of the ESMF attribute to make the applicable safeguard aspects readily available for stakeholders. The ESMF was disclosed in-country on September 20, 2013 and through the World Bank InfoShop on October 9, 2013. B. Disclosure Requirements Environmental Assessment/Audit/Management Plan/Other Date of receipt by the Bank 11-Sep-2013 Date of submission to InfoShop 09-Oct-2013 For category A projects, date of distributing the Executive Summary of the EA to the Executive Directors "In country" Disclosure Comments: If the project triggers the Pest Management and/or Physical Cultural Resources policies, the respective issues are to be addressed and disclosed as part of the Environmental Assessment/ Audit/or EMP. If in-country disclosure of any of the above documents is not expected, please explain why: Page 8 of 9 C. Compliance Monitoring Indicators at the Corporate Level Public Disclosure Copy OP/BP/GP 4.01 - Environment Assessment Does the project require a stand-alone EA (including EMP) Yes [ ] No [ ] NA [ ] report? The World Bank Policy on Disclosure of Information Have relevant safeguard policies documents been sent to the Yes [ ] No [ ] NA [ ] World Bank's Infoshop? Have relevant documents been disclosed in-country in a public Yes [ ] No [ ] NA [ ] place in a form and language that are understandable and accessible to project-affected groups and local NGOs? All Safeguard Policies Have satisfactory calendar, budget and clear institutional Yes [ ] No [ ] NA [ ] responsibilities been prepared for the implementation of measures related to safeguard policies? Have costs related to safeguard policy measures been included Yes [ ] No [ ] NA [ ] in the project cost? Does the Monitoring and Evaluation system of the project Yes [ ] No [ ] NA [ ] include the monitoring of safeguard impacts and measures related to safeguard policies? Have satisfactory implementation arrangements been agreed Yes [ ] No [ ] NA [ ] with the borrower and the same been adequately reflected in the project legal documents? III. APPROVALS Public Disclosure Copy Task Team Leader: Name: Juan Martin Moreno Approved By Sector Manager: Name: Theresa Jones (SM) Date: 07-Nov-2013 Page 9 of 9