Program Safeguard Systems Assessment Project Number: 51434-001 July 2020 People’s Republic of China: Jiangxi Shangrao Early Childhood Education Demonstration Program Jiangxi Shangrao Early Childhood Education Demonstration Program (RRP PRC 51434) PROGRAM SAFEGUARD SYSTEMS ASSESSMENT A. Program Environmental and Social Impacts and Risks 1. The program will involve more than 2,800 public and private kindergartens spread across 12 counties and districts of Shangrao municipality, Shangrao Early Childhood Education (ECE) Normal College, and technical and vocational education and training institutions offering pre- service ECE teacher preparation programs. 2. Program outcome and outputs: The expected outcome of the program will be children receiving quality three-year ECE increased. The program will have four outputs: (i) provision of affordable three-year ECE increased; (ii) systems for preparation and professional development of ECE teachers, principals, and childcare staff established; (iii) models and mechanisms for improving the quality of ECE developed; and (iv) systems for assessing, monitoring, and ensuring the quality of ECE strengthened. 3. Environment. The proposed program will involve physical activities including (i) construction of new kindergarten facilities, (ii) expansion, retrofitting, or demolition of existing kindergartens, (iii) construction of a training center, and (iv) provision of equipment and devices for the operation of early childhood education facilities on various potential sites. The physical activities may have potential environmental impacts such as enhanced soil erosion and contamination, increased noise and vibrations, increased dust levels, increased solid waste, and increased safety risks to community members and workers. However, impacts that will arise will be minimal in scale, short-term in duration, and highly localized. These impacts can be effectively mitigated through good practice operational environmental management and health and safety practices. As a result, the program is classified as category B for environment and the overall environmental safeguard risk is assessed as moderate. 4. Involuntary resettlement. Under outputs 1 and 2 of the proposed results-based lending (RBL) program, acquisition of collective land or state-owned lands, and very limited house demolition are expected for the construction of public kindergartens and training center; the expansion of existing public kindergartens will be of small-scale and within school premises in most cases, only in a few exceptional cases, additional land may be required; and retrofitting of existing school buildings into kindergartens will not require land occupation. The site visits and consultations with the program management office (PMO) of Shangrao Municipal Bureau of Education, Shangrao Natural Resources Bureau, county and district education bureaus, and local residents, as part of the program safeguard systems assessment (PSSA) confirmed that (i) the likely involuntary resettlement impacts due to the proposed components are expected to be not significant (that would trigger category A impacts)1 and the resettlement impacts are likely to be further optimized or minimized through selection of alternative locations; and (ii) the institutional, contextual, and programmatic risks are well understood and limited, given the nature of the subprojects proposed, existing capacities of the local governments in implementing land acquisition and minimizing involuntary resettlement impacts, and the limited gaps between the national requirements and the Asian Development Bank’s (ADB) Safeguard Policy Statement (SPS, 2009) involuntary resettlement requirements. None of the gaps identified will impede the borrower’s capacity to effectively implement the land acquisition provisions. Therefore, the classification of the program as ADB category B for resettlement is confirmed and overall involuntary resettlement safeguard risk is assessed as moderate. 1 The size of lands required varies from 1.5 mu to 15 mu for each kindergarten. 2 5. Indigenous Peoples. There are 41 ethnic minority groups in Shangrao with a population of 12,900 in 2019, accounting for 0.19% of the municipal population. Of the 41 groups, She ethnic minority is the dominant group (9,252 or 0.14% of the municipal population). She ethnic minority population are concentrated in 2 She ethnic minority townships, 10 She ethnic minority villages, and 1 She ethnic community, while the other ethnic minority groups live scatteredly. The two biggest areas where She ethnic minority population are concentrated are Taiyuan She Minority Township (TSMT) and Huangbi She Minority Township, located in Yanshan County. In Shangrao, ethnic minorities are not distinct in subsistence and lifestyles, and well-integrated into the other populations socially and economically. 6. Ethnic minority children enrolled in ECE account for 0.15% (360 children) of all children enrolled. The poverty and social analysis has identified that the main barrier for She ethnic minority children to receiving ECE lies in the distance from home to kindergartens, and language issues for those whose mother tongue is She language. This presents a specific challenge for left-behind She minority children to adapting to kindergarten. Moreover, they are more likely to be exposed to various forms of violence (physical, mental, sexual, and neglect) and suffer from mental health problems such as negative mood, parent–child alienation, and communication disorders.2 7. The program will address the issues above and bring positive impacts to She ethnic minority children through more accessible, affordable and quality ECE, and She traditional culture and language activities incorporated in ECE. The program, therefore, is classified as category B for indigenous peoples and the overall indigenous peoples safeguard risk is assessed as moderate. B. Safeguard Policy Principles Triggered 8. Upon review of relevant national and provincial regulations, and in the light of the activities and potential impacts, the program safeguard systems assessment (PSSA)3 identified the following ADB SPS (2009) principles to be triggered: Table 1: Applicable Safeguard Policy Principles Safeguard Policy Principles Description Environment Policy Principle 1. Use a screening process for each proposed Project screening and categorization will be project, as early as possible, to determine the appropriate undertaken as per the environmental impact extent and type of environmental assessment so that assessment (EIA) Categorization List for appropriate studies are undertaken commensurate with the Construction Projects (Ministry of Ecology and significance of potential impacts and risks. Environmental, 2018). Categorization is also required by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and will be undertaken utilizing rapid environmental assessment (REA) checklists (performed by the county/district education bureaus under the guidance of PMO and with support from environmental expert). 2 An analysis of data on 2,763 left-behind children in four provinces in the PRC, including Jiangxi Province (White Paper on the Mental Condition of Left-Behind Children in China in 2019) shows that the incidence of four categories of violence is high among left-behind children, notably, physical violence (65.1%), mental violence (91.3%), sexual violence (30.6%), and neglect (40.6%). 3 Environmental Safeguard Systems Assessment, Involuntary Resettlement Safeguard System Assessment, and Indigenous Peoples Safeguard Systems Assessment (accessible from the list of linked documents in Appendix 2 of the report and recommendation of the President). 3 Safeguard Policy Principles Description Policy Principle 2. Conduct an environmental assessment for Subprojects are expected to trigger the need to each proposed project to identify potential direct, indirect, conduct environmental assessments and prepare cumulative, and induced impacts and risks to physical, environmental impact registration forms (EIRFs) or biological, socioeconomic (including impacts on livelihood tabular environmental impact report (EITs). The through environmental media, health and safety, vulnerable EIRF will be prepared in accordance of the groups, and gender issues), and physical cultural resources in Administration on the EIRF for Construction Project the context of the project’s area of influence. (came into effective since 1 January 2017) which provides a template registration form (with support of a licensed EIA institute). The EITs, though unlikely, will be prepared in accordance with the EIA Law of the People’s Republic of China ([PRC] 2018), Technical Guideline Regarding the EIA for Construction Projects-General (HJ 2.1-2016), and other technical codes and regulations of the PRC. The requirements set out in the technical guidelines are fully equivalent to principle 2. An integrated initial environmental examination (IEE) will be prepared for all the subprojects proposed in each year’s implementation plan, based on the EIT and or EIRF prepared. Policy Principle 3. Examine alternatives to the project’s The project involves the development of some new location, design, technology, and components and their kindergartens. Alternatives including green buildings potential environmental and social impacts and document the and solar heaters will be considered during the rationale for selecting the particular alternative proposed. Also design. Most subproject locations will be within or consider the no project alternative. alongside