Government of Balochistan Environmental and Social Management Framework Balochistan Human Capital Investment Project (BHCIP) Health Department and Secondary Education Department February 2019 Balochistan Human Capital Investment Project Government of Balochistan Executive Summary Introduction: The Government of Balochistan (GoB) intends to implement “Balochistan Human Capital Investment Project (BHCIP)” with proposed assistance from the World Bank (WB). The project will be implemented by provincial Planning and Development Department through Health and Secondary Education Departments. In line with the national/provincial laws as well as WB safeguard requirements; and to address potentially negative environmental and social impacts of the Project, the GoB has conducted an environmental and social assessment of the proposed activities. As an outcome of this assessment, this Environmental and Social Management Framework (ESMF) has been prepared. Context and Rationale: Pakistan is facing economic challenges amid long-standing policy and structural weaknesses. While Pakistan has reduced poverty substantially over the last two decades, however, the poverty varies considerably from 7.4 percent in Islamabad to 67.3 percent in Dera Bugti, Balochistan, where in 2014, 21 out of 33 districts have poverty rates of 50 percent and above.1 Balochistan stands at the lowest amongst many dimensions of human capital, including health and education outcomes, while the country is already performing worse than its regional peers on average. Balochistan has a Human Capital Index (HCI) of 34 percent, the lowest in Pakistan, and presents gender disparities with a HCI that is lower for females (32 percent) compared to males (35 percent).2 The low score in human capital is partially linked to Balochistan’s alarming 42 percent poverty rate3 and socio-cultural norms that makes it difficult to utilize health and education services in the province. Balochistan performs worse than the national average across all health outcomes and health service utilization indicators. Infant mortality and under-5 mortality rates are 66 and 78 per 1,000 live births in Balochistan compared to 62 and 74 per 1,000 live births at the national level. The total fertility rate is 4.0 in Balochistan and 3.6 nationally, and almost half of the children under five are stunted in the province compared to about one in three at the national level. Children in Balochistan do not only suffer from poor health outcomes, but they also have restricted access to schools and suboptimal learning outcomes and continue to suffer from stark gender disparities. In Balochistan 64 percent of boys and 78 percent of girls between the age of 5 and 16 were out of primary and secondary school in FY2016-17. The overall girls’ net enrollment is 35 percent compared to 56 percent among boys at the primary level, which further drops to an abysmally low 13 percent for girls and 20 percent for boys at the secondary level, indicating very low retention rates. The presence of large numbers of refugees without commensurate increase in resources has put extra pressure on the already stretched social sectors, severely affecting access to and utilization of quality health and education services for both host communities and refugees.4 The Project: Against the above described backdrop, the BHCIP aims to improve utilization of quality health and education services in selected refugee hosting districts of Balochistan. The project aims to achieve this by directly investing to fill supply- and demand- side gaps and strengthening service delivery systems through improved management and governance. 1 WB. Data4Pakistan-District Development Portal. Retrieved from: https://geosdndev.worldbank.org/Data4Pakistan/. Accessed on September 28, 2019. 2 Geven, K. Forthcoming. A Proposal for a Provincial Level Human Capital Index for Pakistan. WB: Washington DC. 3 Pakistan Bureau of Statistics. 2017. Household Integrated Economic Survey (HIES) 2015/16 [Data from 2014/15]; WB. Data4Pakistan-District Development Portal. https://geosdndev.worldbank.org/Data4Pakistan/. Accessed on August 28, 2019. 4 UNHCR, GoP, and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). 2018.Needs Assessment for Refugee Affected Areas – Phase II. April 2008. Executive Summary Page | i Balochistan Human Capital Investment Project Government of Balochistan Project Development Objective: The project development objective is to improve utilization of quality health and education services in selected refugee hosting districts of Balochistan. Project Area and Beneficiaries: The project will be implemented in 4 districts of Balochistan namely Chagai, Pishin, Quetta, and Killa Abdullah. The direct project beneficiaries will be children, adolescents, and women of reproductive age with a focus on refugees and host communities living in Refugee Affected Areas (RAAs) in these districts, as well as health and education departments which will achieve stronger and more effective governance and management capacities. Project Components: The project focuses on improving utilization of quality health and education services to ensure children survive and stay healthy, so that they are ready to attend school and maximize learning opportunities, and become productive members of the society, thus contributing to its economic development. The Project has two components: Component 1 aims to increase utilization of quality preventive and curative essential services delivered at the select existing primary and secondary level facilities in selected RAAs of Balochistan, with a focus on Reproductive Maternal Newborn, and Child Health and Nutrition (RMNCHN). Component 2 aims at providing greater opportunities to children, especially girls, from RAAs of Balochistan to gain education that has the potential to transform their lives. These components are likely to contribute to the development of human capital in Balochistan. Regulatory Review: Balochistan Environmental Protection Act 2012 being principle legislation of environmental protection in the Province envisages protection, improvement, conservation and rehabilitation with the help of legal action against polluters and ensure green awakening of communities. The discharge or emission of any effluent, waste, air pollutant or noise in an amount, concentration or level in excess of the Environmental Quality Standards specified by the Balochistan Environmental Protection Agency (BEPA) has been prohibited under the Act. According to OP 4.01, the World Bank requires environmental assessment (EA) of projects proposed for Bank financing to help ensure that they are environmentally sound and sustainable, and thus to improve decision making. Depending on the project, a range of EA instruments is available to fulfil their requirements. For BHCIP, specific construction sites, and level of development has not been finalised; therefore, a framework approach has been adopted to prepare the environmental and social management tools. ESMF outlines the prerequisite environmental and social screening and, assessments of proposed project activities. As the project is not proposing major infrastructure and industrial development, it has been assigned Category B due to its low scale, localized, and reversible environmental and social impacts. This ESMF identifies the potential negative environmental and social impacts, proposes generic mitigation measures, provides basic screening criteria, list the type of safeguard instruments to be developed, and formulates institutional, monitoring, reporting and documentation measures for environmental and social safeguards compliance. Based on available information, World Bank Policies on Environmental Assessment OP/BP 4.01 and Involuntary Resettlement OP/BP 4.12 have been triggered. Baseline: Balochistan is the largest province of Pakistan, which spreads over an area of 347,190 square kilometres, forming 43.6 per cent of the total area of Pakistan. 5 The project area includes four bordering districts Killa Abdullah, Chagai, Pishin, and Quetta covering an area of 59,209 square kilometres. Climatic conditions vary with topography, in the plains and lower highlands, summers are very hot and winters are mild. In the upper highlands, winters are chilly and summer temperatures are relatively low.6 The focus of the groundwater exploitation in the 5 http://www.balochistan.gov.pk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=37&Itemid=783. Accessed on September 18 2019. 6 1998 Provincial Census Report of Balochistan, Nov 2001, Population Census Organization, Statistics Division, GoP. Executive Summary Page | ii Balochistan Human Capital Investment Project Government of Balochistan province had been in the three hydrological basins being densely populated and having greater potential for development. These are Pishin Lora Basin, Nari River Basin, and Zhob River Basin out of which two fall in project districts. Due to unplanned tube-wells installation and subsequent indiscriminate pumping of water for the last two and a half decades, the area is now facing problem of depleting groundwater table at the rate of more than four to five meters annually in many of its aquifers and hence, tube-well drying is a common phenomenon. Water table fluctuates between 130 and 600 feet in project districts. According to the water quality study conducted by the World Bank, approximately 80 % of the drinking water samples revealed microbial contamination and high level of total dissolved solids making it unsafe for human consumption. Changing climatic