Jiangxi Shangrao Early Childhood Education Demonstration Program (RRP PRC 51434)

SUMMARY POVERTY REDUCTION AND SOCIAL STRATEGY

Country: People’s Republic of China Program Jiangxi Shangrao Early Childhood Title: Education Demonstration Program

Lending Modality: Results-Based Lending for Department/ East Asia Department/ Programs Division: Urban and Social Sectors Division

I. POVERTY AND SOCIAL ANALYSIS AND STRATEGY Targeting classification: Targeted intervention—SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals 1, 4, 5, and 13) A. Links to the National Poverty Reduction and Inclusive Growth Strategy and Country Partnership Strategy The Jiangxi Shangrao Early Childhood Education Demonstration Program will support the Shangrao Municipal Government’s Early Childhood Education Reform and Standardized Development Implementation Plan, 2020–2035 during 2020–2025. It aims to improve access to quality 3-year early childhood education (ECE) in Shangrao Municipality by increasing the provision of affordable 3-year ECE; establishing systems for preparation and professional development of ECE teachers, principals, and childcare staff; developing models and mechanisms for improving the quality of ECE; and strengthening systems for assessing, monitoring, and ensuring the quality of ECE. The program will be fully integrated into the municipal government’s upcoming Fourteenth Five-Year Economic and Social Development Plan, 2021–2025. It is aligned with the strategic priority of supporting inclusive economic growth, set out in the Asian Development Bank (ADB) country partnership strategy for the People’s Republic of China, 2016–2020.a B. Results from the Poverty and Social Analysis during Assessments of the Program and its Systems 1. Key poverty and social issues. Shangrao ranked second lowest among the 11 municipalities comprising Jiangxi Province, with a gross domestic product per capita of CNY36,836 in 2019, which was just over half the national average (CNY70,892). With an urbanization rate of 52% in 2019, it remains largely rural. Mountains and hills account for 75% of its total land area. The per capita disposable income in rural areas has grown slowly to CNY13,346 in 2018, which is only about one-third of that in urban areas (CNY34,656). The population living below the minimum living standard of CNY640 per capita per month (4.8% of the total population in Shangrao in 2019, compared with a national average of 3.3%) is concentrated in rural areas (0.29 million or 4.3% of the total population in 2019). The proportion is higher in rural areas (6.1% in 2018) than in urban areas (2.9%). Low income limits the households’ capacity to pay for tuition and other fees associated with children’s ECE. The government provides financial support for children from low-income families to enroll in ECE. In 2019, 6.7% of children enrolled received financial assistance. In addition, Shangrao is surrounded by municipalities with higher gross domestic product per capita, and has seen substantial out-migration since the 1990s, mainly from rural areas. Consequently, large numbers of children have been left behind by their parents. In 2019, 74,748 or 31.8% of children enrolled in ECE were left-behind children. Left-behind children are often cared for by their grandparents or other caregivers, and are less likely to receive stimulation, care, and protection from stress at home. 2. Beneficiaries. The direct beneficiaries of the program will be (i) children aged 3–5 (about 293,000 in 2019) and their parents, grandparents, and other caregivers; (ii) ECE staff (19,463 in 2019), including 13,364 teachers, 2,188 principals, and 3,911 childcare staff; and (iii) teacher educators (more than 400) and students (about 1,500) in ECE teacher and childcare staff preparation programs at Shangrao ECE Normal College and secondary vocational education schools. 3. Impact channels. Direct impact channels will be (i) increased provision of affordable and quality 3-year ECE; (ii) improved quality of ECE teacher–child interactions; (iii) competency-based curriculum, course materials, and assessment methods of ECE staff preparation and professional development programs meeting practical needs of beginner and in-service ECE staff; (iv) job-embedded professional development conducted by kindergarten professional learning communities; (v) research projects addressing pressing issues in ECE; (vi) community-based parenting programs to reach out to left-behind children and their grandparents or other caregivers; (vii) piloting of a play-based learning approach to engage children in deeper learning experiences; (viii) increased quality ECE resources (video materials disseminated on online platforms); (ix) ECE program quality and classroom assessment and monitoring; (x) improved management and monitoring of ECE; and (xi) enhanced regulations and support for private kindergartens. 4. Other social and poverty issues. The government has strengthened measures to improve the safety and security of children in kindergartens. Public kindergartens provide healthy, affordable meals for children. Moreover, the government provides various kinds of financial and other support for children from low-income families and disadvantaged backgrounds (orphans, children with disabilities, and children from families with financial difficulties). 5. Design features. The key design features include (i) increasing spaces in affordable public kindergartens and “inclusive” private kindergartens that meet the standards and are subsidized to offer ECE at affordable fees; (ii) ensuring financial assistance for children from families living below the minimum living standard; (iii) improving competencies of ECE teachers, principals, and childcare staff to effectively interact with children; and (iv) piloting community-based parenting programs to reach out to left-behind children and their grandparents and caregivers. 2

II. PARTICIPATION AND EMPOWERING THE POOR 1. Participatory approaches and proposed program activities. Consultations on poverty, social, and gender issues were conducted through (i) online survey with 50 principals, 517 teachers, and 5,080 parents or caregivers of children enrolled in 50 kindergartens (39 public and 11 private, including 3 inclusive private kindergartens); and (ii) 20 key informant interviews with management teams at Shangrao ECE Normal College; kindergarten principals and teachers; and staff of municipal government agencies (including the Civil Affairs Bureau, the Ethnic and Religious Affairs Bureau, the Education Bureau, the Health Commission, the Statistics Bureau, and the Human Resource and Social Security Bureau) and the Women’s Federation. 2. Civil society organizations. An ECE expert committee, comprising ECE teachers and principals of model kindergartens, and researchers from colleges and universities, will conduct research projects to address pressing issues in ECE and provide technical guidance for kindergartens. The Family Education Association, the Women’s Federation, and other civil society organizations will be involved in piloting community-based parenting programs and conducting community-based ECE awareness campaigns. 3. Forms of civil society organization participation envisaged during program implementation. Information gathering and sharing (H) Consultation (M) Collaboration (M) Partnership (N/A) 4. Participation plan. Yes No. The program action plan (PAP) includes conducting studies of out-of-kindergarten children and left-behind children in collaboration with an ECE expert committee and carrying out community-based ECE awareness campaigns. III. GENDER AND DEVELOPMENT Gender mainstreaming category: effective gender mainstreaming 1. Key issues. Women make up about 84.3% of all ECE staff. The lack of male staff in the ECE workforce is because of (i) the stereotyped image of ECE as women’s work and insufficient awareness of men’s role in children’s socialization, (ii) low salaries, and (iii) uncertain career prospects because of the limited public employee teacher quota. Studies of the 1990 and 2010 censuses revealed that there were “millions of unreported female births” that appear in younger cohorts than their actual ages because of bias favoring registration of boys than girls at birth.b The sex ratio at birth in Jiangxi Province was the highest in the People’s Republic of China, with 138 boys for every 100 girls in 2000, and 113.1 in 2018; in Shangrao it was 114 in 2015.c These studies show that girls are likely to enroll in ECE later than the official age of 3, and more likely to drop out of kindergartens or not be enrolled at all. Following the adoption of the “second-child policy,” which became effective in 2015, the registration of girls and the sex ratio at birth are expected to improve. The online survey conducted during program preparation found that women are the dominant caregivers for children in their families, which constrains women’s workforce participation. About 96.0% of housewives responded that they wanted to work outside the home, and 41.6% of these wished to work full-time. At 44.5%, fathers’ participation in child rearing was lower than that of mothers. The online survey also revealed that there is no policy to address gender bias and stereotyping in ECE, including in environments, textbooks, toys, and games. 2. Key actions. Gender actions Other actions or measures No action or measure The disbursement-linked indicator (DLI) matrix, the program results framework (PRF), and the design and monitoring framework include gender targets such as (i) gross enrollment ratio in 3-year ECE for girls; (ii) percentage of girls enrolled in public and inclusive private kindergartens; (iii) percentage of male ECE teachers and female principals who completed updated or new professional development programs; and (iv) percentage of qualified female principals. The PAP includes gender actions to (i) conduct community-based campaigns for gender equality in ECE, especially enrollment; (ii) collection and monitoring of sex-disaggregated data on participants in ECE staff preparation and professional development programs; and (iii) development of gender-sensitive curriculum and training materials in ECE staff preparation and professional development programs. IV. ADDRESSING SOCIAL SAFEGUARD ISSUES A. Involuntary Resettlement Safeguard Category: A B C 1. Key impacts. Land acquisition and involuntary resettlement impacts are expected to be triggered under outputs 1 and 2, which include construction of public kindergartens and training centers for ECE. The construction of these facilities will require the acquisition of collective land or state-owned land. Considering the scale and size of ECE facilities (less than 15 mu) , the involuntary resettlement impacts are not deemed significant.d Any subproject locations that will require significant land acquisition and resettlement impacts and are classified category A for involuntary resettlement safeguards will be excluded from the results-based lending program. 2. Strategy to address the impacts. The PAP includes measures to address risks or impacts related to involuntary resettlement. This includes (i) the adoption of a resettlement framework to guide the program management office (PMO) and county education bureaus (CEBs) in the screening and categorization of all candidate subprojects; (ii) preparation of a resettlement plan for subprojects with land acquisition impacts and resettlement due diligence on past land acquisition; (iii) the conduct of social compliance audits for existing facilities; and (iv) the establishment of a safeguard unit at the PMO and recruitment of qualified staff in the CEBs. The PMO will engage a resettlement specialist to support the PMO and build the capacity of the CEBs to implement the resettlement framework provisions. The PMO will conduct semiannual monitoring of the implementation of resettlement provisions and will report to ADB. 3. Actions Program safeguard systems (and resettlement framework) No action 3

B. Indigenous Peoples Safeguard Category: A B C 1. Key impacts. There are 41 ethnic minority groups, accounting for 0.19% (12,900) of the total population in Shangrao in 2019. These include the Hui, Miao, She, Tujia, and Zhuang ethnic minority groups. The She ethnic minority group accounts for 71.72% of the ethnic minority population and 0.14% of the total population in Shangrao. This group is concentrated in 2 townships of Yanshan County and 11 villages across 6 counties and districts of Shangrao. She ethnic minority children and their parents, ECE teachers, principals, and childcare staff in those townships and villages will benefit equally from the program. No adverse impacts are expected. Is broad community support triggered? Yes No 1. 2. Strategy to address the impacts. As the impacts are expected to be positive, the strategy is to continue to support ethnic minorities’ inclusion and participation in ECE through relevant measures in the PAP, including by engaging ethnic minority She teachers and organizing She traditional culture and language promotion activities at selected kindergartens located in She townships and villages. Physical investment subprojects proposed in She township and villages will be screened for their ethnic minority impact. The program monitoring will rely on data disaggregated by ethnicity to ensure analysis of ethnic minorities’ inclusion and participation in ECE. 3. Actions Program safeguard systems improvements No action V. ADDRESSING OTHER SOCIAL RISKS A. Risks in the Labor Market 1. Relevance of the program for the country’s or region’s or sector’s labor market. unemployment (M) underemployment retrenchment core labor standards 2. Labor market impact. The program will support the preparation of ECE teacher and childcare staff candidates who are ready to be employed in kindergartens with adequate ECE competencies. To attract and retain qualified ECE teachers and childcare staff, government-financed positions with better salaries and benefits will be increased. B. Affordability Public and private kindergartens charge tuition and other fees. The online survey found that public kindergartens’ tuition and other fees are affordable, as they are lower than those charged by private kindergartens in urban areas. The government subsidizes private kindergartens that meet the standards and offer ECE at affordable fees. The government also provides financial assistance to enable children from low-income families to receive ECE. C. Communicable Diseases and Other Social Risks 1. The impact of the following risks are rated high (H), medium (M), low (L), or not applicable (NA): Communicable diseases (L) Human trafficking (NA) Others (please specify) 2. Risks to people in program area. There is a slight risk of communicable disease transmission among construction workers. The contractors’ contracts will include HIV/AIDS clauses. VI. MONITORING AND EVALUATION 1. Targets and indicators. The DLI matrix, PRF, design and monitoring framework, and PAP include social, gender, and ethnic minority targets and actions, notably: (i) enrollment of girls in 3-year ECE (88.0% by 2025), and in public and inclusive private kindergartens (90.5% by 2025); (ii) financial assistance for children from low-income families (100%); (iii) completion of updated or new professional development programs by male ECE teachers (100%) and female principals (98% by 2025); (iv) qualified female principals (98.4% by 2025); (v) community-based campaigns for gender equality in ECE; (vi) sex-disaggregated monitoring of participants, gender-sensitive curriculum, and training materials in ECE staff professional development programs; and (vii) She traditional culture and language promotion. 2. Required human resources. The poverty and social impacts of the program will be monitored through the program monitoring systems, which will track enrollments in ECE; participation of ECE staff in professional development; enrollment in ECE staff preparation programs; and ECE workforce, using data disaggregated by sex, lower administrative unit, area (urban, rural), and ethnicity. The PMO will establish a safeguards unit to coordinate and manage environment and social safeguards, and other social and gender aspects. Staff responsible for monitoring and evaluation will be identified in Shangrao Municipal Bureau of Education, the CEBs, and kindergartens and regularly trained in data collection and analysis. In addition, the PMO will hire involuntary resettlement and social development specialists to assist in implementation, monitoring, and reporting. 3. Information in program implementation document. The program implementation document includes a brief description of the social, poverty, and gender dimensions of the program and monitoring arrangements, as well as the DLI matrix, PAP, PRF, program safeguards actions, and social and gender risks and mitigating measures. 4. Monitoring tools. The PMO will monitor the progress against the social and gender indicators and targets regularly via the program monitoring systems and will report to ADB semiannually through program progress reports and DLI verification documents.

a ADB. 2016. Country Partnership Strategy: People’s Republic of China, 2016–2020—Transforming Partnership: Manila. b Y. Shi and J. J. Kennedy. 2016. Delayed Registration and Identifying the “Missing Girls” in China. China Quarterly. 228. pp.1018–1038. c Shangrao Municipal Health Commission. 2017. Shangrao Municipal Health Plan During the 13th Five-Year Plan Period. Shangrao. d A mu is a Chinese unit of measurement (1 mu = 666.67 square meters). Source: Asian Development Bank.