The World Bank for Human Capital Development Project (P172434)

Public Disclosure Authorized Public Disclosure Authorized Project Information Document (PID)

Appraisal Stage | Date Prepared/Updated: 10-Mar-2021 | Report No: PIDA28885

Public Disclosure Authorized

Public Disclosure Authorized

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Somalia Education for Human Capital Development Project (P172434)

BASIC INFORMATION

OPS_TABLE_BASIC_DATA A. Basic Project Data

Country Project ID Project Name Parent Project ID (if any) Somalia P172434 Somalia Education for Human Capital Development Project Region Estimated Appraisal Date Estimated Board Date Practice Area (Lead) AFRICA EAST 01-Mar-2021 17-May-2021 Education

Financing Instrument Borrower(s) Implementing Agency Investment Project Financing Ministry of Finance Ministry of Education, Culture and Higher Education, FMS Ministries of Education

Proposed Development Objective(s)

Increase access to in underserved areas, with a focus on girls, and improve quality of instruction

Components System building Expansion of access to quality schooling for the disadvantaged Enhanced instruction quality Project management

PROJECT FINANCING DATA (US$, Millions)

SUMMARY-NewFin1

Total Project Cost 43.00 Total Financing 43.00 of which IBRD/IDA 40.00 Financing Gap 0.00

DETAILS-NewFinEnh1

World Bank Group Financing

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Somalia Education for Human Capital Development Project (P172434)

International Development Association (IDA) 40.00

IDA Grant 40.00

Non-World Bank Group Financing

Counterpart Funding 3.00

Borrower/Recipient 3.00

Environmental and Social Risk Classification High

Decision The review did authorize the team to appraise and negotiate

B. Introduction and Context

Country Context Somalia has been making steady progress toward stabilization and institutional progress after over two decades of protracted conflict. The adoption of the Provisional Constitution in 2011, and the establishment of the Federal Government after peaceful presidential elections in 2012 and in 2017, has helped set the country on a path to recovery. The Provisional Constitution established the basis for a federal political system. The federal system includes five Federal Member States (FMS) – , Hirshabelle, Jubbaland, and South West - and the administrative region, Banadir Administration. Although not internationally recognized, has declared independence from Federal Government of Somalia and does not participate in the federal system. Recently, institutional reforms and the establishment of transparent administrative structures have helped develop core public sector functionalities. Following steady progress, Somalia has reengaged with the international community through commencing the debt relief process and reaching the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Initiative Decision Point in March 2020.

Nearly 70 percent of the population of Somalia lives below the poverty line (US$1.90 a day in purchasing power parity terms). Another 10 percent lives close to the poverty line, vulnerable to shocks. Almost 9 out of 10 Somali households are deprived of at least one fundamental dimension: money, electricity, education, or water and sanitation. Access to services is particularly limited for those living in rural areas, including nomads and internally displaced settlements, where poverty is deepest and markets, health facilities and schools are scarce.

Years of conflict, instability, and violence have led to extremely low investments in human capital formation and left several generations of unable to achieve their potential. Lack of access to schooling and consequent low education level of the population pose significant constraints to Somalia’s human capital development. Investing in Somalia’s human capital will be essential for the country to move out of a cycle of violence, instability and vulnerability. An estimated 55 percent of population is under the age of 15 and with a fertility rate of 6.9 children, this age cohort continues to expand rapidly.1 With adequate investments in building the skills and productivity of its young population, Somalia could accelerate its efforts towards building prosperity and reducing instability in the country. Education could

1 Somalia Health and Demographic Survey 2019

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Somalia Education for Human Capital Development Project (P172434)

also play a critical role in reducing fertility, specifically with a focus on girls’ education. The Somalia Health and Demographic Survey (SHDS) 2020 finds that, in Somalia, for women with no education, the total fertility rate is twice as high, at 7.2, compared to women with higher education, at 3.7.

Sectoral and Institutional Context Limited progress in improving education outcomes is one of the main constraints to human capital development in Somalia. The education system is still evolving and continues to be highly fragmented leading to weak sector outcomes. Access to education has remained low over the last two decades with large variations with the most disadvantaged, specifically girls, those in rural areas and poor households, excluded from schooling opportunities. Lastly, what limited education is provided is of low quality due to poor quality of teaching.

Education system organization The current Somali education system emerged in 2012 with the establishment of the Federal Government of Somalia (FGS). The Provisional Constitution of the Federal Republic of Somalia established free primary and as the basic right of all Somali citizens. Though not fully codified in law, the Ministry of Education, Culture and Higher Education (MoECHE) at the federal government level is responsible for the overall guidance and administration of education in Somalia. The MoECHE has been collaborating with national and international stakeholders to develop Education Sector Strategic Plans (ESSP), the current of which runs from 2018-2020 with a new one currently under development. A multiyear effort is also underway to develop a new national competency-based curriculum, which integrates issues of conflict-sensitivity and peace building.

The governance structure of the education system in Somalia is evolving. The Federal Government of Somalia and Banadir, Galmudug, HirShabelle, Jubaland and Southwest have recently agreed in a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to work cooperatively in matters related to the education sector and agreed upon the roles and responsibilities of each level of government. 2 Under the agreement, the MoECHE is mandated to develop regulatory frameworks, e.g., Education Acts and policies and coordination while the Federal Member States are responsible for implementing education programs and policies. The FMS have established their own state-level Ministries of Education, laws and policies. They participate in intergovernmental forums organized to discuss key education sector issues but participation varies and there is room to strengthen this coordination.

In the last two decades, nonstate actors have become a prominent provider of schooling in many parts of Somalia. In the absence of a strong public system during the period of instability, these nonstate actors, which include local communities, private providers, numerous international donors including Somali diaspora, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and umbrella associations assumed key roles in reconstructing schools, education service delivery, and regulation. This has led to a highly fragmented system which uses a variety of curriculum, education cycles3, language of instruction and learning standards across the country. About 55 percent of students are estimated to be enrolled in nonstate schools across Somalia.

MoECHE needs to significantly strengthen stewardship of the sector to put it on a sustainable path to development and ensure efficiency and efficacy of expenditure. First and foremost, this will need to include agreement on a national framework for setting that provides for a federal role in establishing system-wide standards and norms.

2 is not yet recognized as a state and is under the jurisdiction of the Federal Government of Somalia until its status changes. 3 Private institutions follow a 9+3 cycle with 9 years of primary and 3 years of secondary and public schools an 8+4 cycle.

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Somalia Education for Human Capital Development Project (P172434)

A key role of MoECHE would be to ensure alignment and coherence across various legal and policy instruments. Local government laws, decentralization policies, and education sector guidelines such as the Education Sector Strategic Plan (ESSP) need to reflect a common understanding of the division of functions and responsibilities across administrative levels to strengthen the enabling environment for decentralized education services. Given the large role of the nonstate sector, there is need to strengthen oversight of nonstate schools and networks. Data management systems need to be bolstered including adoption of uniform data protocols and establishment of clear flow of data between schools, state authorities, and federal authorities for planning, open information exchange, and follow-up, as well as reporting on donor commitments.

Access to education Somalia has one of the lowest education enrolment rates in the world. The primary gross enrollment rate (GER) is estimated to be 20 percent with approximately 3 million primary-aged children (5-14 years) out of school.4 Somalia’s GER is significantly below sub-Saharan Africa, low income countries’ and fragile-and-conflict-affected countries’ averages of 99 percent, 102 percent and 94 percent, respectively.

Large parts of the country remain underserved. Of the 93 districts in the country, one-third have GERs less than 10 percent indicating acutely low access to education. Table 1 summarizes the number of schools and students in Somalia by FMS. Education is primarily provided by a variety of nonstate actors who are primarily located in urban and peri- urban areas. Overall, 55 percent of students in Somalia who are enrolled in school are in nonstate, mostly fee-charging schools, although this varies by region. In Banadir, Galmudug, HirShabelle, Jubbaland and Southwest, over 90 percent of enrolment is in nonstate schools. In Puntland and Somaliland, however, most students are enrolled in public schools. These areas have been able to expand coverage of education services through public provision with significantly higher levels of enrolment.

There are significantly fewer educational opportunities for rural children. It is estimated that 55 percent of the population resides in rural areas, however, only 35 percent of those in school are in rural areas pointing to significant inequities in the distribution of educational resources (e.g., schools, teachers, learning materials) between rural and urban areas. As an example, in the central southern states, 86 percent of all primary school teachers are in urban areas, although only half the population resides in these areas.5 This has resulted in highly unequal access rates for the disadvantaged, who are served neither by state nor nonstate schools. To reduce inequities in education provision, a workable model for education delivery for the hard-to-reach rural areas will be needed.

Girls are at a distinct disadvantage. 72 percent of 15-49 year old women living in rural areas and 59 percent of women from urban areas have never attended formal schooling. The gender gap in school enrolment is wide with girls estimated to account for 43 percent of those enrolled in school in Somalia. Large distances to school which leads to increased risks of gender-based violence create barriers to girls accessing education services. Importantly, over 90 percent of primary school teachers in Somalia are male which plays a role in girls’ enrolment in school. Social norms around early marriage, expectations that girls support households and rearing of younger siblings and greater ‘social value’ in boys accessing education over girls also play a role in lower enrolment rates of girls. The COVID-19 pandemic is expected to disproportionately impact girls, including by increasing the burden and constraints due to social expectations such as taking on household responsibilities and care-related tasks.

Figure 2: Women’s literacy and education attainment across population groups

4 Based on UNFPA population data and latest EMIS data from MoECHE 5 ESA, p. 125.

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Somalia Education for Human Capital Development Project (P172434)

Source: Somalia Poverty and Vulnerability Study (World Bank 2019)

Surveys show that the main reasons for low enrollment of girls and rural communities are the unavailability of and long distances to school. Various sources of data show large average distances from school in Somalia which is the single largest constraint to participation in schooling at the primary level, especially for girls. Evidence from FCV contexts including Afghanistan, Benin, and Zimbabwe shows that placing primary schools in close proximity to communities increases participation in education, specifically for girls.6 In Afghanistan, placing a school in a village dramatically improved academic participation and performance among all children, particularly for girls with increase in girls’ enrollment by 52 percentage points and 35 percentage points for boys virtually eliminating the gender gap in enrollment.7 In Somalia, the availability of water, gender segregated WASH facilities and sanitary materials for girls has also shown to minimize the risk of girls dropping out of school.8

Inability of parents to pay school fees constrains access to schooling where schools do exist. Since provision of education depends heavily on fee-paying schools, poor students are at a distinct disadvantage. The limited availability of public schools in large parts of the country handicaps those who cannot afford fees. Often nonstate schools are not even an option since operators do not find it viable to run schools in poor and disadvantaged areas. Over three-quarters of the Somali population live in poverty, which has resulted in highly unequal access rates for the disadvantaged who are neither served by state nor nonstate schools.9 However, households in the bottom forty percent that receive international diaspora remittances have substantially higher school enrollment than non-recipients, which indicates that if households had the option of attending school, they would.

On the demand side, food insecurity continues to be a significant challenge in Somalia with 5.2 million people predicted to remain food insecure in 2020.10 The UN World Food Program (WFP) works with partners in Somalia to provide food assistance to vulnerable households in several districts across the country.11 The World Bank is also supporting vulnerable households with cash transfers in selected districts under the Shock Responsive Safety Nets for Human Capital Project (SNHCP) (P71346). The project will create linkages with these demand side interventions to

6 Deon Filmer, The Structure of Social Disparities in Education (2000). 7 Burde and Linden, Bringing Education to Afghan Girls: A Randomized Controlled Trial of Village-Based Schools (2013) 8 Somalia Education Cluster 2020 Response Strategy Note. 9 World Bank, “Somalia Poverty and Vulnerability Assessment: Findings from Wave 2 of the High Frequency Survey,” July 2019. 10 OCHA, Humanitarian response plan for Somalia (2020). 11 WFP Somalia Country Brief, January 2020.

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promote enrolment of children in schooling. First, the project will target areas where these interventions exist to enable linkages. Second, SNHCP beneficiary households will be targeted to enroll children in nonstate schools free of cost.

Quality There is no systematic information available on learning outcomes in Somalia. Few assessments of student learning at the primary level have been undertaken in Somalia. Those which have been carried out were done so by international NGOs with limited government involvement and administered in very small samples or only in schools that were pre- selected as part of program evaluation exercises. Moreover, because each of these assessments was independently designed by a different third-party contractor and under a separately funded initiative, the findings were neither representative nor comparable across assessments, jurisdictions, and time periods.12 Until Somalia can generate systematic information on student learning, parents, teachers, policymakers, and development partners will continue to see education only in terms of inputs and enrollments and the country will be less able to overcome learning poverty. Lessons learned from the efforts of other countries committed to assessment system development suggest, however, that countries like Somalia can build assessment capacity and institutions relatively quickly on the basis of real-world, practical experiences carried out under their own responsibility.13

The limited information that is available points to low levels of learning. The most recent status of learning achievement can be derived from Early Grade Math and Reading Assessments (EGMA and EGRA) conducted in 2018. Figure 2 summarizes the results on student achievement in Somali, English and Math. A total of 380 grade 5, 6, and 7 students14 sat the assessment in 22 schools across five Federal Member States (Banadir, Galmudug, HirShabelle, Southwest, and Jubbaland). The assessments identified extremely low learning levels in Somali literacy, English literacy, and, to a lesser extent, mathematics.15 The results also emphasize the need to ensure that learning is occurring in the early grades. By the time students reach the end of primary and early , they are well below the level of competence expected of children at these levels. This means students are not equipped with the foundation of knowledge required to engage with the content presented at higher levels.

The gaps in learning are reflective of a teaching force ill qualified to prepare learners to become productive members of society. Only 37.9 percent of primary teachers across all Somalia are qualified with the lowest number qualified in Banadir, Galmudug, HirShabelle, Jubaland and Southwest (20.8 percent). A Teacher Proficiency Testing (TPT) program in 2019, designed to measure teachers’ understanding of both pedagogical approaches and content knowledge (in Mathematics, , Islamic Studies, and English Language), provides useful information on teacher quality. The TPT was administered in the Banaadir region with plans to roll it out in the remaining FMS in 2020. The results indicate that teacher capacity in Somalia is low, with teachers lacking both pedagogical skills and content knowledge.

Developing in-service teacher capacity is a priority for Somalia, however, the logistics are complex. Approximately 30,000 teachers require training and development across the country. Face-to-face training is impractical due to the large numbers to be trained, risks associated with movement, and the need for teachers to be in schools teaching. While these challenges are substantial, Somalia is equipped with assets that can be leveraged to improve education outcomes. This includes ICT infrastructure that has been substantially improved over the last 10 years. In 2000, Somalia had only

12 Due of these limitations, learning data from Somalia cannot be used to place the country in the Human Capital Index. 13 Final READ TF Report: 2008-2015 (World Bank, 2016). 14 EGRA and EGMA are intended to assess Grade 4 competencies 15 All results taken from Wafula and Mulongo, “Are children in South and Central Somalia accessing education, and are they learning? Baseline information”, Social Sciences & Humanities Open, 2020.

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200 internet users. By 2017 this had grown to 1.2 million users, or more than 10 percent of the population. Mobile penetration is also high, with approximately 90 percent of Somalis above the age of 16 years old possessing a phone, 30.8 percent of which are smartphones. This provides a unique opportunity to deliver education solutions that incorporate digital approaches.

As Somalia progresses toward rebuilding after decades of conflict and instability, weak education outcomes will need to be addressed to develop its full potential future human capital. Within the multitude of challenges the country faces, key issues will need to be prioritized to make sustainable progress toward educating the large numbers of out of school children with a focus on ensuring that girls participate in schooling across the country. First and foremost, attention will need to be paid to defining a strategic policy framework for rebuilding the education system in which both the public and nonstate sector address the challenges of access, equity and quality in a strategic and sustainable manner to make progress on education outcomes. Second, feasible solutions for rapidly expanding access to schooling opportunities that leverage strengths within the system such as an active nonstate sector and strong community involvement can be leveraged to make quick gains. These solutions will need to ensure that constraints to girls accessing schooling are addressed and incentives are built into the approaches to attract and retain girls in school. Third, attention to quality of education will be critical to build human capital through improving the quality of Somalia’s teachers.

A plan is in place to address the impact of COVID-19 on an already weak system. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the MoECHE has developed the Somalia Education Sector COVID-19 Response Plan to address the short- and long-term impacts of the pandemic on the education sector and to plan for a safe reopening of schools.16 The objectives of the Plan are to (i) support teachers, learners and school communities to prevent the transmission and spread of COVID-19; (ii) ensure continuity of learning through the implementation of key activities aimed at maintaining quality learning and wellbeing of teachers, learners and school communities during the COVID-19 emergency; and (iii) facilitate the safe return to quality learning for teachers, learners and school communities after the COVID-19 emergency. The pandemic has accelerated the use of technology in education delivery providing rich lessons for how technology can be used to increase access to education and improve quality. For instance, the Ministry of Education and Higher Education in Puntland has been working on the development of alternative learning content for all grades. It is expected that this material will complement the learning processes as schools re-open. GPE is financing large parts of the COVID-19 plan.

C. Proposed Development Objective(s)

Development Objective(s) (From PAD) Increase access to primary education in underserved areas, with a focus on girls, and improve quality of instruction

Key Results (a) Increase in Gross Enrollment Rate (GER) at primary level in target districts, by gender. (b) Increase in number of students enrolled in project-supported schools, by gender. (c) Increase in number of teachers certified after successfully completing teacher professional development program, by gender. (d) Establishment of a national system for measuring student learning outcomes.

16 Somalia Education Sector COVID-19 Response Plan (as of June 24, 2020)

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Somalia Education for Human Capital Development Project (P172434)

D. Project Description

The project will have national coverage. Project interventions will focus on: (1) building core FMS and FGS systems to sustainably deliver, measure, and improve education outcomes; (2) increasing the supply of schools with a focus on promoting gender and geographic equity and quality; (3) fostering effective teaching and assessment practices through training, coaching, and technology-based solutions; and (4) ensuring inputs are learning-focused, especially in terms of making the schooling environment and learning materials more learner friendly and aligned with teaching needs. To maximize impact of the project in improving overall access to schooling, the focus will be on a selected number of districts (provisionally, 14 out of 93 districts) that have the lowest participation in education (as measured by gross enrollment rates). About 180 new schools will be established under Component 2 which will receive a full package of interventions. However, all schools in Somalia are expected to benefit from stronger capacity of the system to manage education delivery and from technology-based interventions to improve teacher quality supported by components 1 and 3 respectively.

Component 1: System building (US$ 5 million equivalent) This component will provide support to the government for developing and operationalizing key elements of a strategic policy framework for an education system in which both public and nonstate education providers address the challenges of access, equity and quality in a coherent and sustainable manner. It will aim to do this by: (i) strengthening the stewardship role of the federal government specifically as it relates to standards and policy setting in relation to teachers, school management and regulation of the nonstate sector; (ii) establishing a national student assessment system to systematically measure learning achievement and use its findings to improve education quality and increase learning for all over time; and (iii) strengthening capacity of the federal and state ministries of education for regular and reliable monitoring of the sector and evaluation of key initiatives to generate evidence for future investments.

Subcomponent 1.1: Strengthening government’s stewardship role (US$ 1 million equivalent) This subcomponent will finance technical assistance to develop regulatory and policy frameworks on (i) teacher standards and management; (ii) community role in service delivery; and (iii) regulation of nonstate providers. The subcomponent will support activities related to consensus-building among the various stakeholders in the sector at the federal and subnational level to promote standardization and coherence of sector policy and practice across the different government levels and providers. The subcomponent will also invest in strengthening MoECHE’s capacity for sector stewardship including, inter alia: coordinating external finance; integrating external financing into on-budget systems; managing multiple development partners and NGOs; aligning implementation models, operating procedures, and quality control standards across the FMS; and closing coverage gaps.

Subcomponent 1.2: Establishing a national student learning assessment system (US$ 3 million equivalent) This sub-component will support the establishment of a national assessment system that is aligned with the new curriculum and capable of generating data on student learning in a systematic, reliable, and credible manner. The project will (i) build the institutional framework for the system; (ii) foster the capacity of assessment system staff to analyze and utilize assessment findings to inform teacher training and curriculum implementation, and the delivery of better instruction to raise learning outcomes for all; and (iii) field-test a trial assessment toolkit to promote learning by doing and help make the strategy operational. To establish the system, the sub-component will support three interrelated sets of activities that will be carried out in a practical sequence and completed by the close of the project.

Subcomponent 1.3: Strengthening system-level monitoring and evaluation (US$ 1 million equivalent) This subcomponent is to support the federal and state ministries to strengthen monitoring of the sector and

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Somalia Education for Human Capital Development Project (P172434)

evaluating key initiatives to generate evidence on priority areas of the ESSP which will be supported by the project. MoECHE has recently piloted a new EMIS platform that will digitally register learners. This subcomponent will complement and provide support in the operationalization of the EMIS and data collection at the school level. It will aim to encourage evidence-based decision making by using data to drive intergovernmental discussion on sector issues and identify initiatives that show promise. This subcomponent will also finance detailed iterative evaluation of project interventions (see component 3), to ensure investments produce results as expected during implementation and identifying measures to further improve system efficiency. It will also support an evaluation of the partnership school program (see subcomponent 2.3). Finally, this subcomponent will finance an evaluation of recruitment practices to promote hiring of female teachers in the workforce.

Component 2: Expansion of access to quality schooling for the disadvantaged (US$ 22 million) The component will provide out-of-school children from disadvantaged backgrounds with access to good quality schooling opportunities at no cost to their families. An estimated 100,000 additional children will be enrolled in primary school in 14 targeted districts, at least 50 percent girls. Districts will be selected from across the country with priority for those that have the lowest enrolment rates. Other factors for consideration in district selection are accessibility from a security perspective, presence of demand-side interventions and equal distribution across FMS. Beneficiary communities in the targeted districts will be selected based on the findings of a needs surveys, initiated prior to project launch, to identify communities that meet objective criteria, specifically those with the highest need in terms of out-of- school populations.

The project will follow two complementary approaches for rapidly expanding access to primary education in the target districts. (1) In selected localities within the targeted districts where nonstate providers are active, operators will be incentivized to expand their school’s capacity to enroll additional children free of cost. (2) In localities within these districts in which there are no education providers, new schools will be established in partnership with communities. These approaches are described in greater detail below. This dual approach will allow for rapid evaluation of effectiveness of each strategy and flexibility to channel funding to the approach that proves to be more cost effective and operationally viable. This is deemed especially important in Somalia’s context where there are large variations between the different areas of the country and inadequate evidence on workable solutions. Multiple strategies may be needed to fill the access gap in this context to ensure equitable access to services. While nonstate providers are present in some parts, there are parts of the country where nonstate providers may not be a viable option. The following common principles will apply to both approaches.

• Focus on girls. Both approaches will prioritize enrolment of girls through promotion of recruitment of female teachers, ensuring provision of adequate WASH facilities and safe learning environments, reducing distance to schools for girls by enabling them to enroll in the school closest to them or placing schools close to currently unserved communities, providing additional incentives to nonstate providers for enrolling girls and ensuring part of the grants provided to schools are used for facilitating girls’ retention such as provision of sanitary napkins. Awareness raising for communities will be undertaken to encourage more girls to enroll in schools and complete schooling.

• Coordinating with existing demand-side initiatives. The component will focus on reducing supply-side constraints faced by children who do not have access to education due to non-availability of schools in their vicinities or who are inhibited from enrolling in local nonstate schools due to tuition fees. These supply-side interventions will be delivered to those that are served by demand-side interventions supported through the World Bank’s Shock Responsive Safety Net for Human Capital Project and World Food Program (WFP) nutrition interventions to ensure students have the required support to attend school.

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• Engaging communities. This component will leverage the community involvement in education provision present across Somalia today. Involvement of communities has been demonstrated globally, especially in FCV contexts, as an effective mechanism for introducing accountability and improving quality of service delivery. Entrenching a strong role for communities in monitoring of education delivery will also be a key pillar for building a strong system. In addition, experience in Somalia shows that engaging community heads can be an effective way of encouraging girls to participate in schooling.

• Focus on quality. For both interventions, there will be focus on ensuring provision of quality education. For new schools, a basic package of support to ensure quality of provision which includes, adequate teachers, school grants to meet recurrent expenditures and safe and conducive learning environments which include adequate WASH facilities will be provided. For the partnership program, nonstate providers will be required to meet certain minimum quality standards with respect to learning environment (including WASH), safety, teachers and teaching and learning material to receive support from the project.

Component 3: Enhanced instruction quality (US$10 million) The component will develop a 2-year TPDP that will be delivered using a blended learning approach and support 6,000 teachers to complete the program. Activities will include the design, development, testing, refinement and large- scale implementation of the TPDP. This will include the creation of a web-based digital platform (with offline functionality to enable students to continue working on the program when not connected to the internet), which will be used to support remote teacher development. The component will be led by SNU with support from MoECHE and technical assistance financed by the project. The component will support initial development of the TPDP, including: defining learning outcomes and associated course structures/learning pathways for different kinds of teachers; developing and testing a TPDP blended learning design and teaching and learning methods; creating individual course frameworks and identifying the content to be covered in each course; developing and refining course content and materials; creating a contextually suitable student support system; designing an assessment strategy for the program as a whole, as well as for individual courses; and identifying and deploying an online platform to deliver the digital component of the program. The Learning Management System (LMS) will be intended both for use in this program and for further development of pre-service and in-service teacher training courses and programs. Once the program has been developed and approved, the component will support the roll out of the TPDP to 6,000 teachers over the course of three years in three cohorts of 2,000 teachers each. Implementation of the TPDP will also be led by SNU, with support from MoECHE and technical assistance financed by the project. This phase will include identifying teachers, providing materials and content (incorporating judicious use of scripted lessons where appropriate to support teachers in the classroom), deploying support systems, undertaking in-classroom observations, and conducting formative and summative assessments.

Component 4: Project management (US$ 3 million equivalent) Current capacity at all administrative levels, FGS, FMS levels, regional and district levels is weak. The proposed project will likely be the largest investment managed directly by MoECHE and investments are required for staffing key positions to deliver the project successfully. At the same time, given the federal structure under which the project will be implemented, adequate support at the FMS and district level will also be needed to ensure project financing is used in a credible manner and managed efficiently. The project will thus finance key project staff at the FGS level including a project director for overall management, project coordinator to work closely with the various implementing entities, M&E, fiduciary and safeguards staff. Funds will also be provided for refurbishment, office equipment and furniture to adequately resource project staff to manage implementation. Project staff will also be hired at the FMS level to manage

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.activities at that level and regularly supervise project activities. . Legal Operational Policies Triggered?

Projects on International Waterways OP 7.50 No

Projects in Disputed Areas OP 7.60 No

Summary of Assessment of Environmental and Social Risks and Impacts .

The project is designed to have a positive social impact, purposely targeting poor and vulnerable populations including girls and rural communities. The project will be implemented in areas of fragility due to endemic poverty, acute drought, floods and protracted conflict and insecurity which may make direct access to beneficiaries challenging and amplify risks related to lack of effective stakeholder engagement, community participation, grievance redress and application of other risk mitigation measures. Vulnerable and marginalized groups including minority groups and clans, IDPs, people living with disabilities, are particularly disadvantaged when accessing education and face additional social and economic barriers and have low representation among education staff. Other cumulative risks include systemic weaknesses related to MOECHE’s capacity for preventing adverse social impacts on the project and mitigating and offsetting impacts of social harm whenever they occur. Direct risks from project activities relate to civil works from construction which could lead to land acquisition, restrictions on land use, resettlement and labor influx. In addition, the use of local labor and the reliance on community partnerships and management could lead to cases of child labor and forced labor. The risks of gender-based violence (GBV) including sexual exploitation and abuse (SEA) is assessed as high based on the predominantly rural sites, proposed scope of works, weaker mitigation systems and lower absorption capacity.

Environmental risks include enhanced solid waste generation and disposal issues, air and noise pollution during the civil works associated with school construction, fire hazards in potentially crowded schools, spread of communicable diseases among children, and outbreak of pests and vermin. These risks and impacts will be prevented or mitigated with standard operating procedures (such as appropriate classroom designs and provision of refuse bins and sanitary bins) and good construction management practices, providing a clean and safe environment, which is critical for achieving the project outcomes. Adherence with the World Bank’s Environmental and Health Safety Guidelines (EHSGs) will also be key in mitigating these risks and impacts.

To mitigate these risks, an environmental and social commitment plan and a stakeholder engagement plan have been prepared. Based on the above assessment, Environmental and Social Framework (ESF) standards ESS1, ESS2, ESS3, ESS4, ESS5, ESS6, ESS8, and ESS10 are relevant to the project. As per requirement under the ESF, MoECHE has prepared an Environment and Social Commitment Plan (ESCP) and a Stakeholder Engagement Plan (SEP) which will be cleared by the World Bank and disclosed before appraisal together with an Environmental and Social Management Framework (ESMF) which will be the main guiding document for management of environmental and social risks throughout the project. The ESMF will include the environmental and social screening criteria which will enrich the school selection criteria. During screening of school sites, it would be ensured that the site is not on contested land, and can be willingly acquired by all owners, residents and users of the land, and the government will provide compensation for all land and structures. The site should not be near any protected area, any existing building is not

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Somalia Education for Human Capital Development Project (P172434)

vulnerable to natural disasters, has sufficient base infrastructure, asbestos is not used in the building, has ramps and rails to facilitate access for people with visual or physical disabilities, and clean drinking water is available. Due to the risks of floods in the selected districts, the ESCP also includes disaster risk reduction and response trainings to be imparted to school children, teachers, and staff. COVID-19 related E&S aspects during construction and project implementation will also be incorporated in the ESMF.

The project has developed a detailed, stakeholder engagement plan which includes a stakeholder identification and analysis summary, plans for engagement (e.g. type, regularity etc.), communication activities and grievance redress mechanisms. The SEP outlines both the initial and ongoing process by which stakeholders will be engaged to ensure the design of the project aligns with stakeholders current and ongoing needs. Consultations have been carried out on the SEP with a variety of actors in the education sector in Somalia. The SEP also includes the description for a project Grievance Redress Mechanism. The GRM will also embed a wider beneficiary feedback mechanism that would also look at e.g. service standards, beneficiary satisfaction, and other citizen engagement tools. To ensure closer community linkages with the GRM, the Community Education Committees (CECs) will be sensitized on workings of the grievance redress systems and support stakeholder engagement and grievance redress.

To mitigate risks related to GBV, labor management, resettlement and security, adequate arrangements are being put in place. (i) A GBV Action Plan that aarticulates the key risks and key mitigation measures for workers, students and the community, as well as the identification of GBV/SEAH Service Providers and reporting and referral protocols in the event of cases is being prepared. The Plan outlines communication and training requirements for communities and all project related staff, including project workers, teachers, and school administrators. An Accountability and Response Framework will elaborate the adoption of mitigation measures, including awareness raising, training and use of code of conducts (CoC), and collaboration with local communities and GBV/SEAH-related service providers. (ii) Labor Management Procedures that guides how direct and indirect workers will be sourced and managed fairly and humanely and in a manner that reduces harm on other workers, students and the community is also under preparation. (iii) a Resettlement Planning Framework that outlines how land acquisition and/or restriction on land use, which might result in involuntary physical and/or economic displacement will be managed and guidance on the preparation of Resettlement Plans (RPs), as needed has been prepared. It includes protocols for voluntary land donations and agreements. (iv) a Security Management Plan that outlines measures to minimize security risks in the project including the protection of schools, students, workers and communities and to ensure that security personnel employed as part of the project do not use undue force or impact negatively on communities is under preparation.

E. Implementation

Institutional and Implementation Arrangements The project will be implemented by the FGS Ministry of Education, Culture and Higher Education and the FMS Ministries of Education. The federal MoECHE will also be responsible for coordination of all project activities and overall reporting on project progress and performance. Overall project leadership will be provided by the Project Steering Committee (PSC). The PSC will be headed by the FGS Minister of Education, Culture and Higher Education and include the FMS Ministers of Education, one representative from the ESC coordination body and one community representative. The PSC will provide strategic direction and guidance on high-level risk management and decision making on project objectives. This inclusive body will be crucial for promoting dialogue, consensus-building and joint decision making on key aspects of the education system. A Program Management Committee (PMC) headed by the Director General (DG), Federal Ministry of Education, Culture and Higher Education and including DGs from all the participating FMS will provide technical leadership for project implementation. The PMC will include FMS Director Generals of Education, Heads of relevant MoECHE departments and the Project Management Unit (PMU) Director. Key responsibilities of the

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The World Bank

Somalia Education for Human Capital Development Project (P172434)

PMC include (a) establishing a platform for collaboration, management, troubleshooting and technical support for implementation of the project.

Day-to-day implementation of the project will be undertaken by a dedicated PMU at the FGS level and lean Implementation Units at the FMS level. The PMU will be headed by a Project Director and include experts to manage key functions including financial management, procurement specialist, environment and social safeguards and monitoring and evaluation (M&E). In addition to responsibility for implementation of components 1, 3 and 4, the PMU will also be responsible for coordinating project activities with the implementing partners and the FMS. It will arrange quarterly reviews of project implementation, consolidate reports from the FMS on component 2 activities and report overall project progress and performance. The FMS level Implementation Units will be responsible for implementation and monitoring of component 2 activities for their respective jurisdictions. They will comprise of coordinators, procurement, safeguards and monitoring staff. Functions related to FM at the FMS level will be implemented jointly under the common approach using arrangements established under RCRF and other Bank projects.

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CONTACT POINT

World Bank

Huma Ali Waheed Senior Education Specialist

Borrower/Client/Recipient

Ministry of Finance

Implementing Agencies

Ministry of Education, Culture and Higher Education Mohamed Abbi Hassan Director General [email protected]

FMS Ministries of Education Ahmed Osman Ali Director General. Ministry of Education, Galmudug State of S [email protected]

Fadal Abdullahi Mursal Director General, Ministry of Education, South West State of [email protected]

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The World Bank

Somalia Education for Human Capital Development Project (P172434)

Amiin Mukhtar Ahmed Director General, Ministry of Education, Hirshabelle State o [email protected]

Ahmed Osman Siyah Director General, Ministry of Education, Jubbaland State of [email protected]

Mohamed Ali Farah Director General, Ministry of Education, Puntland State of S [email protected]

FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT

The World Bank 1818 H Street, NW Washington, D.C. 20433 Telephone: (202) 473-1000 Web: http://www.worldbank.org/projects

APPROVAL

Task Team Leader(s): Huma Ali Waheed

Approved By

Practice Manager/Manager:

Country Director: Kristina Svensson 11-Mar-2021

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