The World Bank Lesotho Education Quality for Equality Project () REPORT NO.: RES38131 DOCUMENT OF THE WORLD BANK RESTRUCTURING PAPER ON A PROPOSED PROJECT RESTRUCTURING OF LESOTHO EDUCATION QUALITY FOR EQUALITY PROJECT APPROVED ON MAY 26, 2016 TO MINISTRY OF FINANCE EDUCATION AFRICA Regional Vice President: Hafez M. H. Ghanem Country Director: Marie Francoise Marie-Nelly Regional Director: Amit Dar Practice Manager/Manager: Halil Dundar Task Team Leader: Harisoa Danielle Rasolonjatovo Andriamihamina The World Bank Lesotho Education Quality for Equality Project () I. BASIC DATA Product Information Project ID Financing Instrument Investment Project Financing Original EA Category Current EA Category Not Required (C) Partial Assessment (B) Approval Date Current Closing Date 26-May-2016 30-Jun-2021 Organizations Borrower Responsible Agency Ministry of Finance The Kingdom of Lesotho Project Development Objective (PDO) Original PDO The Project Development Objective (PDO) is to improve basic education service delivery and student retention in targeted schools. Summary Status of Financing Net Ln/Cr/Tf Approval Signing Effectiveness Closing Commitment Disbursed Undisbursed IDA-58200 26-May-2016 10-Jun-2016 08-Jul-2016 30-Jun-2021 25.00 15.86 9.29 Policy Waiver(s) Does this restructuring trigger the need for any policy waiver(s)? No I. SUMMARY OF PROJECT STATUS AND PROPOSED CHANGES The World Bank Lesotho Education Quality for Equality Project () A. Project Status 1. The Lesotho Education Quality for Equality Project (LEQEP) was approved by the World Bank Board of Directors on May 26, 2016, and became effective on July 8, 2016, following the signing of the Financing Agreement by the Lesotho Minister of Finance and the World Bank Country Representative on June 10, 2016. A request for restructuring was submitted by the Client on March 20, 2019 to include a new component on school construction. The restructuring was approved by the Bank on May 21, 2019 and the amendment to the financing agreement was signed on May 29, 2019. 2. The Project Development Objective (PDO) is to improve basic education service delivery and student retention in targeted schools. The progress towards achievement of the PDO is rated Moderately Satisfactory. In addition, except for one indicator on primary school teachers trained, all of the intermediate indicators’ targets have either been exceeded or achieved in 2018. 3. The overall implementation progress rating is Moderately Satisfactory. The project activities are progressing satisfactorily, except for the provision of some learning and teaching materials for targeted primary schools and subsequently the training of primary school teachers. The procurement rating is Satisfactory and the financial management (FM) rating is Moderately Satisfactory due to the delay in submission of the audit report for the year ended March 2018. Project disbursements were reported at US$13.95 million or 54 percent of the total financing as of January 31, 2019. B. Rationale for Restructuring 4. El Niño drought and response: Lesotho, like the rest of Southern Africa, is experiencing the impacts of an unprecedented El Niño phenomenon, including two years of consecutive drought and erratic rains. Following an eligible crisis or emergency such as drought, Lesotho may request the Bank to re-allocate project funds to support emergency response and reconstruction. Therefore, the proposed restructuring also includes a Contingent Emergency Response Component (CERC) to address eventual emergencies such as drought etc. declared by the Government. The proposed restructuring is also consistent with the recent Country Partnership Framework (CPF) for Lesotho (approved by the World Bank Board of Executive Directors on June 2, 2016) which stipulates that all restructuring will consider the addition of a CERC component. 5. The proposed restructuring would include the creation of a new component, Component 5 : CERC (US$0.00), to address eventual emergencies such as drought etc. declared by the Government. The PDO will remain the same. 6. A new component and a New Disbursement Category – Component 5: Contingent Emergency Response Component (CERC) - US$0 million - will be included under the project in accordance with OP 10.00, paragraphs 12 and 13, to help improve response times in the event of future situations where urgent assistance is needed. The CERC allows for rapid reallocation of project proceeds in the event of a future natural or man-made disaster or crisis that has caused or is likely imminently to cause a major adverse economic and/or social impact. This component will have no funding allocation initially. In the event of a future emergency, it could be used to draw resources from the unallocated expenditure category and/or allow the Government to request the World Bank to re-categorize and reallocate financing from other project components to cover emergency response and recovery costs, if approved by the World Bank. 7. The project implementation manual will be revised to reflect the inclusion of CERC. Particularly, the CERC manual will be attached as annex to the Project Implementation Manual. II. DETAILED CHANGES The World Bank Lesotho Education Quality for Equality Project () REALLOCATION BETWEEN DISBURSEMENT CATEGORIES Current Current Actuals + Proposed Disbursement % Ln/Cr/TF Expenditure Allocation Committed Allocation (Type Total) Category Current Proposed IDA-58200- Gds,NCS,CS,TRG, 11,718,604.00 5,277,893.39 11,718,604.00 100.00 100.00 001 OC part A,B1,C Currency: Gds,NCS,CS,TRG, XDR 3,255,000.00 1,680,593.03 3,255,000.00 100.00 100.00 OC part B2,B3 PPF 18,453.00 18,452.84 18,453.00 100 REFINANCING Works, Gds,NCS,CS,TRG, 3,107,943.00 140.30 3,107,943.00 100.00 100.00 OC part D CERC 0.00 0.00 0.00 100 Total 18,100,000.00 6,977,079.56 18,100,000.00