The World Bank Implementation Status & Results Report CONGO - Education Sector Support Project (P152910) CONGO - Education Sector Support Project (P152910) AFRICA | Congo, Republic of | Education Global Practice | IBRD/IDA | Investment Project Financing | FY 2016 | Seq No: 5 | ARCHIVED on 01-Feb-2019 | ISR33432 | Implementing Agencies: Ministry of Primary, Secondary and Literacy Education, Youth and Civil Education (MEPSA-JEC), PRAASED Key Dates Key Project Dates Bank Approval Date: 28-Apr-2016 Effectiveness Date: 04-Aug-2017 Planned Mid Term Review Date: 10-Aug-2020 Actual Mid-Term Review Date: -- Original Closing Date: 31-Jul-2023 Revised Closing Date: 31-Jul-2023 pdoTable Project Development Objectives Project Development Objective (from Project Appraisal Document) To improve education outcomes of primary and lower secondary school children and to increase the effectiveness of select management systems. Has the Project Development Objective been changed since Board Approval of the Project Objective? No Components Table Name Providing quality education for all:(Cost $35.00 M) Improving scope, quality and management of human resources:(Cost $18.00 M) Improving system performance:(Cost $10.00 M) Unallocated:(Cost $7.00 M) Overall Ratings Name Previous Rating Current Rating Progress towards achievement of PDO Moderately Satisfactory Moderately Unsatisfactory Overall Implementation Progress (IP) Moderately Satisfactory Moderately Unsatisfactory Overall Risk Rating Substantial Substantial Implementation Status and Key Decisions Overview. The Education Sector Support Project (PRAASED) for the Republic of Congo is focused on improving education outcomes of primary and lower secondary school children and increasing the effectiveness of select management systems. The project was approved by the World Bank Board of Executive Directors on April 28, 2016. It was signed on December 7, 2016, became effective on August 4, 2017, and publicly launched on September 14, 2017. Steering committee (SC) for the project was established as of 22 September 2017 by the Ministry of Plan, Statistics, and Regional Integration which also presides the SC. All three education ministries are represented in the SC along with the Prime Minister's office, the ministry of finances, and civil society. The project has three major components and several subcomponents, and activities have started on some of the components/subcomponents. Progress by Component/Sub-components: 2/1/2019 Page 1 of 7 The World Bank Implementation Status & Results Report CONGO - Education Sector Support Project (P152910) Component 1: Providing quality education for all Subcomponent 1.1: Curriculum revision and implementation. This important activity will be launched after the hiring of the head of component 1. Terms of Reference for the recruitment of the consultants have been completed nd it is expected the activity will start in February 2019. Subcomponent 1.2: Provision of Learning Materials. The implementation of this subcomponent depends on the availability of counterpart funds which are now very unlikely to materialize. The project team and the PCU will work during project restructuring to find solutions to this issue and get textbooks in the hands of Congolese students by the start of next school year. Subcomponent 1.3: Improved Assessment. The World Bank has agreed to cover the Government's costs to participate in the 2019 PASEC (Program for the Analysis of Education Systems in CONFEMEN countries) and the revised MoU for the implementation of PASEC 2019 which ensures Congo's participation has been signed. An SDI survey is also planned and should be implemented this school year as well. The SDI will cover both primary and secondary levels and also provide information on teacher classroom practices. Subcomponent 1.4: Expand the use of remediation in schools and classrooms. Activities on this subcomponent, will begin once the large- scale assessment and high-quality evaluations program are completed in 2019. It is a pre-requisite to identify department-, district-, school-level weaknesses in terms of learning outcomes to design a robust remediation program that will be custom-designed to address those weaknesses. Teachers will also be evaluated and trained so they can deliver the remediation programs which should i) be designed around and ii) take into account teachers' strengths and weaknesses. Subcomponent 1.5: Improvements to school environments. This subcomponent is solely financed by counterpart funding. Hence, the implementation of this subcomponent is affected by the unavailability of counterpart funding. It is probable that the construction program will be significantly curtailed or maybe cancelled because of the lack of resources and the expected shortened lifespan of the project after restructuring. If a minimal construction program is retained, at most two departments, including the Likouala (to complement the education component of LISUNGI-II), will be targeted for build classrooms using a community-approach. Places where there is no school will be prioritized and will be identified thanks to the newly available data. Component 2: Improving Scope, Quality and Management of Human Resources. Subcomponent 2.1: Personnel recruitment and deployment. The process of installing biometrics system is in progress but has been set back. A firm was already selected through competitive bidding to carry out this activity and PCU was about to start negotiations with the firm. However, according to World Bank procurement specialists, the procurement procedure used was inadequate which led to the cancellation of the process. A new request for expression on interest has been issued. Once the biometric identification is realized, the team will work with the three ministries in charge of education as well as the ministry of civil service and the ministry of finance to design and implement a system to efficiently manage personnel issues in the education system. Subcomponent 2.2: Training and professional development. This subcomponent is largely funded under the Government's counterpart funding. The restructuring will explore avenues to maintain some teacher training and teacher professional development activities as this is crucial for the quality of education. Component 3: Improving System Performance. Subcomponent 3.1: Improved monitoring & evaluation. Mapping/census of all Government & private teaching and learning institutions has been finalized. More than 1,400 pre-primary schools; 3,000 primary schools; 1,400 lower secondary schools; 270 upper secondary schools; and 560 qualifying centers among other institutions have received a data collection team. Detailed information on these institutions have been collected and all have been geo-mapped. This newly available information will spur the improvement of the education system performance. In addition, similar exercises will be done on a yearly basis, at least for MEPSA, to maintain a steady and up-to-date informational base for the education sector. Subcomponent 3.2: Institutional Strengthening and Capacity Building. Four major strategic studies have been implemented and they are: (i) organizational and functional assessment of the teacher training institutes (3 ENIs and ENS); (ii) assessment of the directorate of in-service training; (iii) assessment of INRAP; and (iv) organizational and functional assessment of the MEPSA and DDEPSA. The results of all these studies have been presented and endorsed by the government. The findings from these strategic studies will be used as a basis for the envisioned institutional strengthening and capacity building. Subcomponent 3.3: Project Management. The Project Management Unit (PCU) is equipped with core staff; i.e., Project Coordination, Financial Specialist, and Procurement Specialist. Recruitment of Monitoring & Evaluation Specialist, Social Safeguards Specialist and Communication Specialist is still underway. The process has been dragged by poor management of the process. The selection reports submitted to the Bank in July 2018 were not of acceptable quality which prompted the team to request the PCU to redo the analysis appointing new commissions composed of relevant experts to guarantee the quality of the selection. The new selection reports are being submitted and it is expected that the recruitment process will be completed by the end of January 2019. Subcomponent 3.4: Additional Strategic Studies. Several studies will be implemented to inform the government about the areas where the education system needs to be strengthened. An expanded Service Delivery Indicators (SDI) survey is planned in both primary and secondary schools. The expanded SDI will also visit households to integrate household-level factors into the analysis and indicate potential demand-side reforms. The recruitment process for the SDI firm is underway and the survey could begin by February 2019. In the context of improving quality assurance and setting up the National Quality Assurance Agency in higher education, the MES' "Quality Assurance" team has just returned from a study tour (December 17-21) to the ANAQ-Sup of Dakar. This should lead to a new strategic study on higher education in Congo and pave the way for the Bank's future engagement in the sub-sector. Risks 2/1/2019 Page 2 of 7 The World Bank Implementation Status & Results Report CONGO - Education Sector Support Project (P152910) Systematic Operations Risk-rating Tool Risk Category Rating at Approval Previous Rating Current Rating Political and Governance Substantial Substantial Substantial Macroeconomic Substantial High High Sector Strategies and Policies Substantial Substantial Substantial Technical Design of Project or Program Substantial Substantial Substantial Institutional Capacity for Implementation and Sustainability Substantial Substantial Substantial Fiduciary Substantial Substantial Substantial Environment and Social Moderate Moderate Moderate Stakeholders Moderate Moderate Moderate Other -- -- -- Overall Substantial Substantial Substantial Results PDO Indicators by Objectives / Outcomes Improve education outcomes of primary and lower secondary school children IN00620752 ►Primary completion rate - total (Percentage, Custom) Baseline Actual (Previous) Actual (Current) End Target Value 73.00 -- 73.00 75.00 Date 31-Aug-2015 -- 14-Dec-2018 31-Jul-2023 IN00620765 Primary completion rate - female (Percentage, Custom Breakdown) Baseline Actual (Previous) Actual (Current) End Target Value 73.00 -- 73.00 75.00 Date 31-Aug-2015 -- 14-Dec-2018 31-Jul-2023 IN00620758 ►Transition rate to lower secondary (Percentage, Custom) Baseline Actual (Previous) Actual (Current) End Target Value 67.00 -- 67.00 72.00 Date 31-Aug-2015 -- 14-Dec-2018 31-Jul-2023 IN00620767 Transition rate to lower secondary, female (Percentage, Custom Breakdown) Baseline Actual (Previous) Actual (Current) End Target 2/1/2019 Page 3 of 7 The World Bank Implementation Status & Results Report CONGO - Education Sector Support Project (P152910) Value 67.00 -- 67.00 72.00 Date 31-Aug-2015 -- 14-Dec-2018 31-Jul-2023 IN00620761 ►Transition rate to upper secondary (Percentage, Custom) Baseline Actual (Previous) Actual (Current) End Target Value 67.00 -- 67.00 72.00 Date 31-Aug-2015 -- 14-Dec-2018 31-Jul-2023 IN00620768 Transition rate to upper secondary, female (Percentage, Custom Breakdown) Baseline Actual (Previous) Actual (Current) End Target Value 67.00 -- 67.00 72.00 Date 31-Aug-2015 -- 14-Dec-2018 31-Jul-2023 IN00620751 ►Primary repetition rate (Percentage, Custom) Baseline Actual (Previous) Actual (Current) End Target Value 21.00 -- 21.00 17.00 Date 31-Aug-2015 -- 14-Dec-2018 31-Jul-2023 Increase the effectiveness of select management systems IN00620762 ►System for learning assessment at the primary level (Yes/No, Custom) Baseline Actual (Previous) Actual (Current) End Target Value No -- No Yes Date 31-Aug-2015 -- 14-Dec-2018 31-Jul-2023 IN00620769 Utility of the learning assessment system (Number, Custom Supplement) Baseline Actual (Previous) Actual (Current) End Target Value 0.00 -- 0.00 3.00 Intermediate Results Indicators by Components Providing quality education for all IN00620763 ►Direct project beneficiaries (Number, Custom) Baseline Actual (Previous) Actual (Current) End Target 2/1/2019 Page 4 of 7 The World Bank Implementation Status & Results Report CONGO - Education Sector Support Project (P152910) Value 0.00 -- 0.00 630,000.00 Date 31-Aug-2015 -- 14-Dec-2018 31-Jul-2023 Studies to pave the way for reforms, the revision of curricula, the distribution of textbooks have been finalized. It remains now a large concertation between government and other education stakeholders and Comments: the revision of the education strategy before the implementation of PRAASED's activities IN00620770 Female beneficiaries (Percentage, Custom Supplement) Baseline Actual (Previous) Actual (Current) End Target Value 0.00 -- 0.00 50.00 IN00620756 ►French and mathematics curricula revised for all primary grades (Yes/No, Custom) Baseline Actual (Previous) Actual (Current) End Target Value No -- No Yes Date 31-Aug-2015 -- 14-Dec-2018 31-Jul-2023 IN00620759 ►Number of additional classrooms built or rehabilitated at the primary level resulting from project interventions. (Number, Custom) Baseline Actual (Previous) Actual (Current) End Target Value 0.00 -- 0.00 250.00 Date 31-Aug-2015 -- 14-Dec-2018 31-Jul-2023 IN00620757 ►Percentage of public primary schools with 1:1 student-to-textbook coverage in French and mathematics (Percentage, Custom) Baseline Actual (Previous) Actual (Current) End Target Value 0.00 -- 0.00 90.00 Date 31-Aug-2015 -- 14-Dec-2018 31-Jul-2023 IN00620760 ►Number of additional qualified primary teachers resulting from project interventions. (Number, Corporate) Baseline Actual (Previous) Actual (Current) End Target Value 0.00 -- 0.00 2,000.00 Date 31-Aug-2015 -- 14-Dec-2018 31-Jul-2023 Improving scope, quality and management of human resources IN00620755 ►Percentage of benevoles registered with biometric data (Percentage, Custom) Baseline Actual (Previous) Actual (Current) End Target Value 0.00 -- 0.00 95.00 Date 22-Jan-2016 -- 14-Dec-2018 31-Jul-2023 2/1/2019 Page 5 of 7 The World Bank Implementation Status & Results Report CONGO - Education Sector Support Project (P152910) Improving system performance IN00620764 ►Annual consultation with indigenous groups (in collaboration with associations for indigienous peoples) (Yes/No, Custom) Baseline Actual (Previous) Actual (Current) End Target Value No -- No Yes Date 31-Aug-2015 -- 14-Dec-2018 31-Jul-2023 IN00620754 ►Publication of annual statistics, starting in Year 2 (Yes/No, Custom) Baseline Actual (Previous) Actual (Current) End Target Value No -- No Yes Date 31-Aug-2015 -- 14-Dec-2018 31-Jul-2023 All the data has been collected and are being treated now. It is expected the data will be published soon in Comments: a user-friendly format and accessible to the public in some cases. IN00620753 ►Creation of national learning assessment instrument (Yes/No, Custom) Baseline Actual (Previous) Actual (Current) End Target Value No -- No Yes Date 31-Aug-2015 -- 14-Dec-2018 31-Jul-2023 IN00620766 Implementation of the first national assessment by Year 4 of the project (Yes/No, Custom Breakdown) Baseline Actual (Previous) Actual (Current) End Target Value No -- No Yes Date 31-Aug-2015 -- 14-Dec-2018 31-Jul-2023 Overall Comments IR Most of the activities of the Project will start implementation as soon as the PCU staff is fully on board which is expected by March 2019. After the revision of the sector strategy implem3entation pace is expected to accelerate. Data on Financial Performance Disbursements (by loan) Project Loan/Credit/TF Status Currency Original Revised Cancelled Disbursed Undisbursed % Disbursed 2/1/2019 Page 6 of 7 The World Bank Implementation Status & Results Report CONGO - Education Sector Support Project (P152910) P152910 IDA-58060 Effective USD 30.00 30.00 0.00 4.10 27.62 13% Key Dates (by loan) Project Loan/Credit/TF Status Approval Date Signing Date Effectiveness Date Orig. Closing Date Rev. Closing Date P152910 IDA-58060 Effective 28-Apr-2016 07-Dec-2016 04-Aug-2017 31-Jul-2023 31-Jul-2023 Cumulative Disbursements Restructuring History There has been no restructuring to date. Related Project(s) There are no related projects. 2/1/2019 Page 7 of 7