INTEGRATED SAFEGUARDS DATA SHEET APPRAISAL STAGE Report No.: ISDSA3832 Public Disclosure Copy Date ISDS Prepared/Updated: 08-Jul-2013 Date ISDS Approved/Disclosed: 08-Jul-2013 I. BASIC INFORMATION 1. Basic Project Data Country: Kazakhstan Project ID: P127966 Project Name: Kazakhstan - Youth Corps program (P127966) Task Team Keiko Inoue Leader: Estimated 16-Jul-2013 Estimated 31-Oct-2013 Appraisal Date: Board Date: Managing Unit: ECSH2 Lending Investment Project Financing Instrument: Sector(s): Adult literacy/non-formal education (100%) Theme(s): Education for the knowledge economy (100%) 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) Total Project Cost: 21.76 Total Bank Financing: 0.00 Public Disclosure Copy Total Cofinancing: Financing Gap: 0.00 Financing Source Amount Borrower 0.00 Trust Funds 21.76 Total 21.76 Environmental C - Not Required Category: Is this a No Repeater project? 2. Project Development Objective(s) The proposed Project Development Objective is to promote young people’s community engagement and life skills through community-based service learning programs, especially for vulnerable youth. 3. Project Description The project will be implemented over approximately four years with a proposed closing date of February 28, 2018. On behalf of the Government of Kazakhstan, the CYA under the MOES will be Page 1 of 7 the implementing agency for the project. A Project Management Unit (PMU) will be established within the CYA and be responsible for the overall project coordination and oversight. The CYA will be staffed with experienced personnel to mitigate the risks of insufficient capacity. CYA/PMU will Public Disclosure Copy need to: (i) maintain an updated Project Operations Manual (POM), (ii) carry out fiduciary responsibilities including financial management/reporting and procurement, (iii) provide technical supervision and oversight to the Coordinating Agency, and (iv) ensure coordination and communication with other ministries and agencies. The CYA will manage a Designated Account and process all payments under the project. Day-to-day project implementation for Component 1 will be the responsibility of the Coordinating Agency, which will be competitively selected and work under the supervision and monitoring of the CYA/PMU. The project activities will be structured around three components: (i) Subgrants for Community- Based Service Learning and Life Skills Development, (ii) Institutional Development for Youth Policy Implementation, and (iii) Project Management, Monitoring, and Evaluation. Component 1: Subgrants for Community-Based Service Learning and Life Skills Development (Estimated total costs including contingencies: US$ 20.0 million) Component 1 will incorporate the five elements (community engagement, initiative, support system, safe place, and recognition for positive behavior) and implementation will follow the protocol and monitoring framework outlined in the Project Operations Manual (POM). A Coordinating Agency will be responsible for overseeing the daily administration of Component 1 activities, which are organized along four sub-components: (i) Sub-grants for Community-Based Service Learning, (ii) Life Skills Development, (iii) Outreach to Vulnerable Youth, and (iv) Coordination, Communication, and Accountability. Sub-component 1.1 – Community-Based Service Learning (estimated US$ 15.0 million). This sub- Public Disclosure Copy component will finance sub-grants to two sets of potential recipients: (i) host organizations and (ii) groups of young people. Following a community-driven development (CDD) model, organizations and young people will be selected on a competitive basis based on proposals submitted in response to calls for proposals by the Coordinating Agency. Calls for proposals will take place on a quarterly basis, with the aim of having the first round launched in the Spring of 2014. Two proposal templates will be developed: one for the host organizations and another for the youth participants. An impact evaluation, to be designed and implemented by the World Bank, will be conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of the Host Organizations or Youth Initiative Approach. In addition to the two treatment groups discussed above, there will be a control group to provide the counter-factual. Research shows that flexibility, youth input, and organization autonomy in the design of service learning programs are important. Yet this attribute also makes systemic evaluations of community- based service learning programs difficult. Additionally, the dynamic nature of the project design, with real time feedback gathered, is likely to result in periodic project design modifications. The impact evaluation will be designed with this constraint in mind. Sub-component 1.2 - Life Skills Development (estimated cost US$ 3.5 million). Life skills development will be provided to all participants in the community-based service learning program, whether they participate through the Host Organizations or Youth Initiative Approach. The World Bank’s 2007 World Development Report on Development and the Next Generation notes that there Page 2 of 7 is strong evidence that bundled youth programs are more effective and in this case, the community- based service learning activities are complemented by life skills development opportunities. Although the Coordinating Agency will facilitate the life skills activities, the actual delivery of the Public Disclosure Copy training programs is likely to be subcontracted. The life skills development program will be implemented in two phases for each participant. First, before engaging in the community-based service learning program, each participant must complete a two-week life skills development program, focusing on skills such as community engagement, communication, collaboration, identifying and avoiding risky behaviors, and healthy gender relations. Second, during the community-based service learning program, the Coordinating Agency will facilitate monthly mentoring sessions with each participant that focus on: (i) individualized mentoring on professional and personal goals and (ii) linking young people with public services that are available in their communities/areas, including local employment and health centers. These monthly meetings will also provide opportunities to collect data on youth beneficiaries and allow the project to monitor the propose use of funds. For those youth participating in the Youth Initiative Approach only, each group will also receive entrepreneurial training to ensure that they have the basic skills to manage finances, supervise implementation, and monitor their proposed programs. Entrepreneurial training will include the development of entrepreneurial mindsets and basic capabilities (positive perception of entrepreneurship as a career option; opportunity recognition; risk assessment; basic financial literacy; marketing; and business management skills). Sub-component 1.3 – Outreach to Vulnerable Youth (estimated cost US$ 0.5 million). Sub- components 1.1 and 1.2, at least initially, will be offered with national coverage without targeting. This will ensure that the project is demand-driven and help the GoK identify where uptake is naturally strongest for community-based service learning programs. This is important for building momentum for a project that is based on an approach that is untested in Kazakhstan. Despite the possibility that this approach will only capture the “easy to reach� youth, as noted above, a strong Public Disclosure Copy Information and Communication Campaign framework should enable the project to recruit even among those who are ordinarily excluded from government services. Also, the weighted selection criteria for the host organizations and youth applications will ensure that incentives are aligned to encourage vulnerable youth to participate. Sub-component 1.3 will pilot approaches to engage vulnerable young people and encourage their participation in the community-based service learning and life skills development programs. Once the vulnerable youth have been identified and they have received support with the proposal process, they will be integrated into the program under Sub- components 1.1 and 1.2. For this project, a vulnerable youth is defined as someone who is (i) neither in education, employment, or training (NEET) or (ii) working in poverty. Kazakhstan’s geographic size also lends itself to the possibility that sub-populations of young people remain “hard to reach� and therefore vulnerable. Two filters are applied to identify the regions with: (i) the highest share of vulnerable young people and (ii) the highest nominal stock of vulnerable young people. According to this criterion, four regions – Pavlodar, Karagandy, Mangystau and Aktobe – have the highest share of vulnerable young people. The nominal stock of vulnerable youth is highest in South Kazakhstan and Almaty regions. Among the NEET and working poor, two groups of youth stand out as requiring additional support: women and youth with disabilities. Sub-component 1.3 – Outreach to Vulnerable Youth (estimated cost US$ 0.5 million). Sub- Page 3 of 7 components 1.1 and 1.2, at least initially, will be offered with national coverage without targeting. This will ensure that the project is demand-driven and help the GoK identify where uptake is naturally strongest for community-based service learning programs. This is important for building Public Disclosure Copy momentum for a project that is based on an approach that is untested in Kazakhstan. Despite the possibility that this approach will only capture the “easy to reach� youth, as noted above, a strong Information and Communication Campaign framework should enable the project to recruit even among those who are ordinarily excluded from government services. Also, the weighted selection criteria for the host organizations and youth applications will ensure that incentives are aligned to encourage vulnerable youth to participate. Sub-component 1.3 will pilot approaches to engage vulnerable young people and encourage their participation in the community-based service learning and life skills development programs. Once the vulnerable youth have been identified and they have received support with the proposal process, they will be integrated into the program under Sub-components 1.1 and 1.2. Sub-component 1.4 - Coordination, Communication, and Accountability (estimated cost US$ 1 million). This Sub-component includes the activities that the Coordinating Agency will carry out. In particular, the Coordinating Agency will be responsible for developing two important frameworks before launching the first call for proposals: (i) Information and Communication Campaign and (ii) Feedback and Resolution Mechanism. The Information and Communication Campaign (ICC) will detail public awareness-building activities to be carried out before, during, and after the project. The ICC will be designed and implemented with substantive inputs and participation by young people, and build awareness on: core project principles; beneficiary characteristics; proposed benefits at the individual, collective, and community levels; implementation mechanism including timing; roles and responsibilities of different stakeholders; and transparency and accountability measures. Concrete examples of the ICC include ensuring that sufficient outreach is conducted in order to encourage participation by vulnerable young people, as well as informing the public about the selection criteria for participants Public Disclosure Copy to ensure transparency and fairness. The ICC will also provide information to communities about young people’s engagements in service learning activities and the life skills they are gaining. The Feedback and Resolution Mechanism (FRM) will serve as a critical monitoring tool for the project. The FRM will also be developed and implemented with substantive inputs and participation by young people, especially the determination of data collection modality. The FRM will make use of available Information and Communication Technology (ICT) infrastructure that is already used by young people. An effective and properly implemented FRM will ensure that project funds are being used as planned, that project interventions are reaching the intended beneficiaries, and that the quality of inputs are good. The objective of the FRM is to obtain real time feedback from various stakeholders, especially youth, so that the project interventions can be modified regularly, as well as to minimize governance and accountability issues. The FRM will also need to detail a process for resolving any problems once they emerge. The Coordinating Agency is expected to apply good practices from global cases to implement and continue to improve the FRM. In summary, Component 1 will finance (i) service fees to a Coordinating Agency for the day-to-day management of Component 1 activities, including the provision of necessary information and reports to the CYA, (ii) sub-grants to host organizations and youth participations, (iii) provision of stipends, as well as life skills development and entrepreneurial training to youth participants, (iv) pilot programs to improve outreach to vulnerable youth by promoting the program and supporting their Page 4 of 7 application process, and (v) the development and implementation of ICC and FRM, as well as creating a sense of community among the host organizations and youth participants. A separate Bank-executed trust fund, with its own funding source, will be set up to finance the design and Public Disclosure Copy implementation of the impact evaluation. Component 2: Technical Assistance (Estimated total costs including contingencies: US$1.763 million) Component 2: Institutional Development for Youth Policy Implementation (Estimated total costs including contingencies: US$0.763 million) Sub-component 2.1 - Development of Institutional Framework for Youth Policy Implementation, Coordination, and Evaluation (estimated cost US$ .463 million). The CYA under the MOES will be the implementing agency for the project. As noted above, the CYA developed the Law on State Youth Policy and technical assistance will be provided to support its implementation and monitoring and evaluation, including young people’s feedback on the youth programming offered under the policy. The technical assistance provided through this Sub-component will include: (i) input for the draft law on volunteering, (ii) capacity building for regional staff on implementation and monitoring of youth-focused volunteering programs, (iii) capacity building for the use of quantitative and qualitative data to produce reports on youth development, and (iv) capacity building for the application of findings from data analysis to monitor and improve youth development programs at the national and regional levels. Subcomponent 2.2 – Curriculum Development and Outreach to Senior Secondary Students (estimated cost US$ .3 million). The sub-component will finance the provision of technical assistance for curriculum development that targets senior secondary students and focuses on raising their awareness of community-based volunteering and service learning. This activity will be linked with Component 1, so that senior secondary students who are nearing graduation are aware of the community-based service learning and skills development programs and encouraged to apply. Public Disclosure Copy Component 3: Project Management, Monitoring, and Evaluation (Estimated total costs including contingencies: US$1 million) A small Project Management Unit (PMU) will be financed within the CYA to manage the fiduciary aspects of the project, supervise the Coordinating Agency, and ensure adequate project monitoring. The PMU will consist of the following staff: (i) Project Coordinator, (ii) Financial Management Specialist, (iii) part-time Procurement Specialist, and (iv) Monitoring and Evaluation Specialist. In addition, a technical specialist may also be hired. It is critical that this PMU is physically located within the MOES, in close proximity to the CYA. 4. Project location and salient physical characteristics relevant to the safeguard analysis (if known) The activities to be financed by the project are not likely to have adverse social impacts. The financing of sub-grants to host organizations and groups of young people considered under Component 1: Community-Based Service Learning and Life Skills Development do not include construction of infrastructure or other activities that would require land acquisition that could generate adverse impacts. The project does not trigger environmental safeguards as it will only finance sub-grants, stipends, and technical assistance, thus the project will be assigned an Environmental Screening Category of “C�. Page 5 of 7 5. Environmental and Social Safeguards Specialists Arcadii Capcelea (ECSEN) Public Disclosure Copy 6. Safeguard Policies Triggered? Explanation (Optional) Environmental Assessment OP/ No BP 4.01 Natural Habitats OP/BP 4.04 No Forests OP/BP 4.36 No Pest Management OP 4.09 No Physical Cultural Resources OP/ No BP 4.11 Indigenous Peoples OP/BP 4.10 No Involuntary Resettlement OP/BP No 4.12 Safety of Dams OP/BP 4.37 No Projects on International No Waterways OP/BP 7.50 Projects in Disputed Areas OP/BP No 7.60 II. Key Safeguard Policy Issues and Their Management Public Disclosure Copy A. Summary of Key Safeguard Issues 1. Describe any safeguard issues and impacts associated with the Restructured project. Identify and describe any potential large scale, significant and/or irreversible impacts: 2. Describe any potential indirect and/or long term impacts due to anticipated future activities in the project area: 3. Describe any project alternatives (if relevant) considered to help avoid or minimize adverse impacts. 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. 5. Identify the key stakeholders and describe the mechanisms for consultation and disclosure on safeguard policies, with an emphasis on potentially affected people. B. Disclosure Requirements Page 6 of 7 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. Public Disclosure Copy If in-country disclosure of any of the above documents is not expected, please explain why: C. Compliance Monitoring Indicators at the Corporate Level OP 7.60 - Projects in Disputed Areas Yes [ ] No [ ] NA [ ] 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 Public Disclosure Copy the project legal documents? III. APPROVALS Task Team Leader: Keiko Inoue Approved By Sector Manager: Name: Alberto Rodriguez (SM) Date: 08-Jul-2013 Page 7 of 7