Public Disclosure Copy The World Bank Implementation Status & Results Report CONGO - Rep. Skills Development for Employability Project (P128628) CONGO - Rep. Skills Development for Employability Project (P128628) AFRICA | Congo, Republic of | Education Global Practice | IBRD/IDA | Investment Project Financing | FY 2014 | Seq No: 9 | ARCHIVED on 25-Jan-2018 | ISR30611 | Implementing Agencies: Ministry of Technical and Professional Education, Government of Republic of Congo Key Dates Key Project Dates Bank Approval Date:17-Sep-2013 Effectiveness Date:30-Oct-2014 Planned Mid Term Review Date:01-Feb-2017 Actual Mid-Term Review Date:21-Feb-2017 Original Closing Date:30-Sep-2018 Revised Closing Date:30-Sep-2018 Project Development Objectives Project Development Objective (from Project Appraisal Document) The objective of the Project is to improve job and entrepreneurship skills for vulnerable urban youth in order to improve their labor market insertion and earnings. Has the Project Development Objective been changed since Board Approval of the Project Objective? No PHRPDODEL Components Name Component 1: Skills training, job insertion and entrepreneurship support for vulnerable youth and micro-entrepreneurs:(Cost $24.30 M) Component 2: Strengthen the technical, planning, implementation, and monitoring and evaluation capacity of METPFQE:(Cost $7.70 M) Overall Ratings Name Previous Rating Current Rating Progress towards achievement of PDO  Moderately Unsatisfactory  Moderately Unsatisfactory Overall Implementation Progress (IP)  Moderately Unsatisfactory  Moderately Unsatisfactory Overall Risk Rating  --  High Implementation Status and Key Decisions 1/25/2018 Page 1 of 9 Public Disclosure Copy Public Disclosure Copy The World Bank Implementation Status & Results Report CONGO - Rep. Skills Development for Employability Project (P128628) The mid-term review (MTR) of the Skills Development for Employability Project (PDCE) took place in February/March 2017. The MTR included a large diversity of stakeholders. In addition to government agencies, the MTR included representatives from the private sector, training providers, apprentices, master craftsmen, trainees, enterprises who have accepted interns and/or hired a trainee that has completed the program, development partners, etc. During the MTR, implementation progress all projects activities and implementation arrangements were reviewed, overall progress towards achieving the Project Development Objective (PDO) was assessed, and strengths and weaknesses (described below) were discussed. Recommendations were made to revisit the project scope and design. Component 1: Skills training, job insertion and entrepreneurship support for vulnerable youth and micro-entrepreneurs. The PDCE aims at providing skills to 15,000 vulnerable youth through three programs (subcomponents) (1) Skills training, job insertion and entrepreneurship support for 8,000 vulnerable youth; (2) skills training for 1,000 micro-entrepreneurs; and (3) Apprenticeship and functional literacy training for 6,000 out-of-school adolescent youth. The results to date are the following: (1) 328 youth have completed the qualifying training program, (2) 479 youth have completed the training to micro-entrepreneurs program, and (3) 692 youth have completed the apprenticeship program. This means that two years into project implementation, only 10% of the targets set during project appraisal have been met. Component 2: Strengthen the technical, planning, implementation, and monitoring and evaluation capacity of Ministere de l'Enseignement Technique et Professionnel, de la Formation Qualifiante et de l'Emploi (METPFQE). The project also supports the strengthening of the capacity of METPFQE to better plan, coordinate and support the technical and vocational education and training (TVET) system in the country with the objective of improving its efficiency and quality, while also increasing access in line with present and future labor market demands. Progress under Component 2 is slow but steady: (i) the Life Skills and Functional Literacy activities are about to be complete (no further training program will start unless these programs are in place), (ii) the Independent Verification Agency has provided two relatively informative reports; (iii) the first report on the Global Value Chain Study on Forestry and Agro-business has been shared with the Bank but is of poor quality, it is expected that it will be revised and resubmitted for a proper use by METPFQE; (iv) a Rapid Labor Market Assessment has been launched (with implementation support from the Social Protection Global Practice); (v) a first draft of the impact evaluation report based on the first cohort of sub-component 1.1 is available; and (vi) other studies have been delayed pending further discussions. Project management (which is part of this Component, is discussed separately below). The PDCE is a US$32 million project, of which US$22 million is to be financed by Congo (counterpart funds), and US$10 million is to be financed by the International Development Association (IDA). A first tranche of US$6 million counterpart funding was released as a condition for project effectiveness, however subsequent tranches due in April 2015, April 2016, and April 2017 have not been released. Due to the current fiscal and macroeconomic situation in the country it is highly unlikely that more counterpart funding will be made available. Therefore, the World Bank has agreed with the Government's request to provide an additional financing of US$20 million to replace the non-forthcoming counterpart funding. The scope of the project will however be scaled down taking into account that (i) unit costs for training vulnerable youth are higher than initially planned and (ii) the currently available supply of training in the country can not accommodate the targeted number of 15,000 in such a short time span. Risks Systematic Operations Risk-rating Tool Risk Category Rating at Approval Previous Rating Current Rating Political and Governance  --  --  Moderate Macroeconomic  --  --  High Sector Strategies and Policies  --  --  Moderate Technical Design of Project or Program  --  --  Substantial Institutional Capacity for Implementation and Sustainability  --  --  High Fiduciary  --  --  Moderate Environment and Social  --  --  Low 1/25/2018 Page 2 of 9 Public Disclosure Copy Public Disclosure Copy The World Bank Implementation Status & Results Report CONGO - Rep. Skills Development for Employability Project (P128628) Stakeholders  --  --  Moderate Other  --  --  -- Overall  --  --  High Results Project Development Objective Indicators PHINDPDOTBL  Youth who complete the training supported by the project (%) (Percentage, Custom) Baseline Actual (Previous) Actual (Current) End Target Value 0.00 93.00 93.00 70.00 Date 17-Sep-2013 25-May-2017 22-Nov-2017 17-Sep-2018 PHINDPDOTBL  Percentage female (Percentage, Custom Supplement) Baseline Actual (Previous) Actual (Current) End Target Value 0.00 30.00 30.00 50.00 PHINDPDOTBL  Training providers reaching performance benchmarks (%) (Percentage, Custom) Baseline Actual (Previous) Actual (Current) End Target Value 0.00 69.00 69.00 60.00 Date 17-Sep-2013 25-May-2017 22-Nov-2017 17-Sep-2018 PHINDPDOTBL  Increase in trained youth who are employed or self-employed one year after completing training (%) (Percentage, Custom) Baseline Actual (Previous) Actual (Current) End Target Value 0.00 0.00 0.00 10.00 1/25/2018 Page 3 of 9 Public Disclosure Copy Public Disclosure Copy The World Bank Implementation Status & Results Report CONGO - Rep. Skills Development for Employability Project (P128628) Date 17-Sep-2013 25-May-2017 22-Nov-2017 17-Sep-2018 PHINDPDOTBL  Increase in average earnings of youth after completing training (%) (Percentage, Custom) Baseline Actual (Previous) Actual (Current) End Target Value 0.00 0.00 0.00 5.00 Date 17-Sep-2013 25-May-2017 22-Nov-2017 17-Sep-2018 Overall Comments Implementation pace is slow and there is no significant progress to record. Intermediate Results Indicators PHINDIRITBL  Direct project beneficiaries (Number, Custom) Baseline Actual (Previous) Actual (Current) End Target Value 0.00 1,499.00 1,499.00 15,000.00 Date 17-Sep-2013 25-May-2017 22-Nov-2017 17-Sep-2018 PHINDIRITBL  Female beneficiaries (Percentage, Custom Supplement) Baseline Actual (Previous) Actual (Current) End Target Value 0.00 46.00 46.00 50.00 1/25/2018 Page 4 of 9 Public Disclosure Copy Public Disclosure Copy The World Bank Implementation Status & Results Report CONGO - Rep. Skills Development for Employability Project (P128628) PHINDIRITBL  Youth enrolled in school-based skills training supported by the project (Phase 1) (Number, Custom) Baseline Actual (Previous) Actual (Current) End Target Value 0.00 331.00 331.00 8,000.00 Date 17-Sep-2013 25-May-2017 22-Nov-2017 17-Sep-2018 PHINDIRITBL  Percentage female (Percentage, Custom Supplement) Baseline Actual (Previous) Actual (Current) End Target Value 0.00 14.00 14.00 50.00 PHINDIRITBL  Youth enrolled in entrepreneurship/job insertion support (Phase 2&3) (Number, Custom) Baseline Actual (Previous) Actual (Current) End Target Value 0.00 328.00 328.00 6,400.00 Date 17-Sep-2013 25-May-2017 22-Nov-2017 17-Sep-2018 PHINDIRITBL  Percentage female (Percentage, Custom Supplement) Baseline Actual (Previous) Actual (Current) End Target Value 0.00 15.00 15.00 50.00 1/25/2018 Page 5 of 9 Public Disclosure Copy Public Disclosure Copy The World Bank Implementation Status & Results Report CONGO - Rep. Skills Development for Employability Project (P128628) PHINDIRITBL  Micro-entrepreneurs enrolled in pilot skills training program (Number, Custom) Baseline Actual (Previous) Actual (Current) End Target Value 0.00 470.00 470.00 1,000.00 Date 17-Sep-2013 09-Dec-2016 22-Nov-2017 17-Sep-2018 PHINDIRITBL  Percentage female (Percentage, Custom Supplement) Baseline Actual (Previous) Actual (Current) End Target Value 0.00 37.00 37.00 50.00 PHINDIRITBL  Adolescent youth enrolled in apprenticeships (Number, Custom) Baseline Actual (Previous) Actual (Current) End Target Value 0.00 692.00 692.00 6,000.00 Date 17-Sep-2013 25-May-2017 22-Nov-2017 17-Sep-2018 PHINDIRITBL  Percentage female (Percentage, Custom Supplement) Baseline Actual (Previous) Actual (Current) End Target Value 0.00 59.00 59.00 50.00 1/25/2018 Page 6 of 9 Public Disclosure Copy Public Disclosure Copy The World Bank Implementation Status & Results Report CONGO - Rep. Skills Development for Employability Project (P128628) PHINDIRITBL  Market Assessment Study completed (Yes/No, Custom) Baseline Actual (Previous) Actual (Current) End Target Value N N N Y Date 17-Sep-2013 25-May-2017 22-Nov-2017 17-Sep-2014 PHINDIRITBL  Beneficiary surveys of impact evaluation completed (baseline, mid-line, end-line) (Yes/No, Custom) Baseline Actual (Previous) Actual (Current) End Target Value N Y Y Y Date 17-Sep-2013 25-May-2017 22-Nov-2017 17-Sep-2018 PHINDIRITBL  Data base of TVET provision established (baseline) (Yes/No, Custom) Baseline Actual (Previous) Actual (Current) End Target Value N N N Y Date 17-Sep-2013 25-May-2017 22-Nov-2017 17-Sep-2014 PHINDIRITBL  Global Value Chain Study completed (Yes/No, Custom) Baseline Actual (Previous) Actual (Current) End Target Value N N Y Y Date 17-Sep-2013 25-May-2017 22-Nov-2017 17-Sep-2014 1/25/2018 Page 7 of 9 Public Disclosure Copy Public Disclosure Copy The World Bank Implementation Status & Results Report CONGO - Rep. Skills Development for Employability Project (P128628) PHINDIRITBL  Skills development strategy document prepared (Yes/No, Custom) Baseline Actual (Previous) Actual (Current) End Target Value N N N Y Date 17-Sep-2013 25-May-2017 22-Nov-2017 17-Sep-2016 Overall Comments Implementation pace is slow and there is no significant progress to record. Data on Financial Performance Disbursements (by loan) Project Loan/Credit/TF Status Currency Original Revised Cancelled Disbursed Undisbursed Disbursed P128628 IDA-53020 Effective USD 10.00 10.00 0.00 2.14 7.38 22% Key Dates (by loan) Project Loan/Credit/TF Status Approval Date Signing Date Effectiveness Date Orig. Closing Date Rev. Closing Date P128628 IDA-53020 Effective 17-Sep-2013 11-Oct-2013 30-Oct-2014 30-Sep-2018 30-Sep-2018 Cumulative Disbursements 1/25/2018 Page 8 of 9 Public Disclosure Copy Public Disclosure Copy The World Bank Implementation Status & Results Report CONGO - Rep. Skills Development for Employability Project (P128628) Restructuring History There has been no restructuring to date. Related Project(s) P164234-Congo - Skills Development for Employability AF 1/25/2018 Page 9 of 9 Public Disclosure Copy