Document of The World Bank
FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY Public Disclosure Authorized Report No: 64618-NI
PROJECT APPRAISAL DOCUMENT
ON A
PROPOSED CREDIT
Public Disclosure Authorized IN THE AMOUNT OF SDR15.8 MILLION (US$25 MILLION EQUIVALENT)
TO THE
REPUBLIC OF NICARAGUA
FOR THE
SECOND SUPPORT TO THE EDUCATION SECTOR PROJECT
Public Disclosure Authorized DECEMBER 7, 2011
Human Development Department Central America Country Management Unit Latin American and Caribbean Region
This document is being made publicly available prior to Board consideration. This does not Public Disclosure Authorized imply a presumed outcome. This document may be updated following Board consideration and the updated document would be made publicly available in accordance with the World Bank’s policy on Access to Information.
CURRENCY EQUIVALENTS (Exchange Rate Effective November 1, 2011) Currency Unit = NIC NIC 22.82 = US$1 US$1.59 = SDR 1
FISCAL YEAR January 1 – December 31
ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS
CPS Country Partnership Strategy DA Designated Account DGAF Administrative and Financial General Division (Dirección General Administrativa y Financiera) DGP Directorate General of Planning DL Disbursement Letter EFA Education for All EGRA Early Grade Reading Assessment ESP Education Sector Plan EU European Union FM Financial Management GDI General Directorate of Infrastructure GDP Gross Domestic Product GIS Geographic Information System GEP Global Education Partnership GoN Government of Nicaragua IDA International Development Agency IDP Institutional Development Plan IBE Intercultural Bilingual Education ISP Institutional Development Plan (Plan de Desarrollo Institucional) JSDF Japanese Social Development Fund KPI Key Performance Indicators LAC Latin America & the Caribbean MDGs Millennium Development Goals M&E Monitoring and Evaluation MIS Management Information System MTEF Medium Term Expenditure Framework MINFAM Ministry of Family MINED Ministry of Education (Ministerio de Educación) NCB National Competitive Bidding OM Operational Manual ORAF Operational Risk Assessment Framework PASEN Support to the Education Sector Project (Proyecto de Apoyo Al Sector de Educación Nacional)
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PC Project Coordinator PDO Project Development Objective PIPs Project Implementation Plans RAAN North Atlantic Autonomous Region (Region Autónoma Atlántico Norte) RAAS South Atlantic Autonomous Region (Region Autónoma Atlántico Sur) SEAR Autonomous Regions Educational System (Oficina de Enlace con el Sistema Educativo de las Regiones Autónomas) SERCE Second Regional Comparative and Explanatory Study (Segundo Estudio Regional Comparativo y Explanatorio) SIGFAPRO Integrated Financial Management System (Sistema Integrado de Gestión Financiera) SM Supervision Mission SNIGI Integrated National Information Management System (Sistema Nacional de Información Gerencial Integrado) SNIP National Public Investment System (Sistema Nacional de Inversión Pública) SPSFF Planning and Financial Monitoring System (Sistema de Planificación y Seguimiento Físico Financiero) TEPCEs Evaluation, Programming and Educational Training Workshops (Talleres de Evaluación, Programación y Capacitación Educativa) TERCE Third Regional Comparative Standardized Student Evaluation (Tercera Evaluación Regional de Estudiantes Comparativa y Estandarizada) UNESCO United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization UNICEF United Nations Children’s Fund
Regional Vice President: Pamela Cox Country Director: Carlos Felipe Jaramillo Sector Director: Keith Hansen Sector Manager: Chingboon Lee Task Team Leader: Michael Drabble/Robert Hawkins
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REPUBLIC OF NICARAGUA Second Support to the Education Sector Project
TABLE OF CONTENTS I. Strategic Context ...... 1 A. Country Context ...... 1 B. Sectoral and Institutional Context ...... 1 C. Higher Level Objectives to Which Project Contributes ...... 5 II. Project Development Objective ...... 5 A. PDO:...... 5 1. Project Beneficiaries ...... 5 2. PDO Level Results Indicators ...... 5 III. Project Description...... 6 A. Project Components ...... 6 B. Project Financing...... 12 1. Lending Instrument...... 12 C. Lessons Learned and Reflected in the Project Design ...... 12 IV. Implementation ...... 13 A. Institutional and Implementation Arrangements ...... 13 B. Results Monitoring and Evaluation ...... 14 C. Sustainability ...... 14 V. Key Risks and Mitigation Measures ...... 15 A. Risk Ratings Summary ...... 15 B. Overall Risk Rating Explanation...... 15 VI. Appraisal Summary ...... 16 A. Economic and Financial Analysis ...... 16 B. Technical ...... 16 C. Financial Management ...... 17 D. Procurement ...... 18 E. Social (including safeguards) ...... 18 F. Environment (including safeguards) ...... 19 Annex 1: Results Framework and Monitoring...... 20 Annex 2: Detailed Project Description ...... 24 Annex 3: Implementation Arrangements ...... 43
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Annex 4: Operational Risk Assessment Framework (ORAF) ...... 62 Annex 5: Implementation Support Plan ...... 65 Annex 6: Economic and Financial Analysis ...... 68 Annex 7: Technical Matters ...... 73
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PAD DATA SHEEET a Republic of Nicaragua
Second Support to the Education Sector Project
PROJECT APPRAISAL DOCUMENT Latin America & the Caribbean Region LCSHE
Basic Information Date: December 7, 2011 Sectors: Primary education (100%) Country Director: Carlos Felipe Jaramillo Themes: Education for all (100%) Sector Chingboon Lee/Keith E. Manager/Director: Hansen Project ID: P126357 EA C Category: Lending Instrument: Specific Investment Loan Team Leader(s): Michael Drabble/Robert Hawkins Does the Project include any CDD component? No Joint IFC: No . Borrower: Government of Nicaragua Responsible Agency: Ministry of Education Contact: Sra. Miriam Raudez Title: Minister Telephone 505-2265-1451 Email: [email protected] No.: . Project Start Date: March 31, End Date: March 31, 2016 Implementation 2012 Period: Expected March 31, 2012 Effectiveness Date: Expected Closing June 30, 2016 Date:
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. Project Financing Data(US$M) [ ] Loan [ ] Grant [ ] Other [ X ] Credit [ ] Guarantee Term: SDR 15.8 million (US$25 million equivalent), 4.25 year credit. The fixed-spread credit has a final maturity of 40 years, including a grace period of 10 years. For Loans/Credits/Others
Total Project Cost 25.00 (US$M): Total World Bank 25.00 Financing (US$M): . Financing Source Amount(US$M) BORROWER/RECIPIENT 7.95 International Development Association (IDA) 25.00 Total Project Cost 32.95
. Expected Disbursements (in USD Million) Fiscal Year 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 Annual 1.00 5.00 7.00 8.00 4.00 Cumulative 1.00 6.00 13.00 21.00 25.00 . Project Development Objective(s) The objectives of the Project are to: (a) improve the students’ retention rate in Primary Education Schools located in Participating Municipalities; and (b) strengthen MINED’s education management capacity.
. Components Component Name Cost (USD Millions) 1. Component 1: Improving the Schools’ Learning 9.0 Environment 2. Component 2: Improving the Quality of Teaching 8.0
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Methods 3. Component 3: Strengthening MINED’s Education 7.0 Management Capacity . Compliance Policy Does the Project depart from the CAS in content or in other significant Yes [ ] No [ x] respects? . Does the Project require any exceptions from World Bank policies? Yes [ ] No [x] Have these been approved by World Bank management? Yes [ ] No [ ] Is approval for any policy exception sought from the Board? Yes [ ] No [ x] Does the Project meet the Regional criteria for readiness for implementation? Yes [x ] No [ ] . Safeguard Policies Triggered by the Project Yes No Environmental Assessment OP/BP 4.01 X Natural Habitats OP/BP 4.04 X Forests OP/BP 4.36 X Pest Management OP 4.09 X Physical Cultural Resources OP/BP 4.11 X Indigenous Peoples OP/BP 4.10 X Involuntary Resettlement OP/BP 4.12 X Safety of Dams OP/BP 4.37 X Projects on International Waters OP/BP 7.50 X Projects in Disputed Areas OP/BP 7.60 X . Legal Covenants Name Recurrent Due Date Frequency Project Coordinator yes Description of Covenant Appoint and maintain at all times during Project implementation a Project coordinator within MINED, with functions and responsibilities acceptable to the Association. Full-Time Staff Not later than 60 days after the Effective Date
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Description of Covenant Hire, the following full-time staff: (i) an international procurement specialist; (ii) three procurement analysts; (iii) a senior financial management specialist; (iv) an accountant; and (v) an expenditure analyst, all with terms of reference, qualifications and experience acceptable to the Association. Name Recurrent Due Date Frequency Safeguards yes Description of Covenant The Recipient, through MINED, shall carry out the Project in accordance with the Indigenous Peoples Development Plan.
Team Composition World Bank Staff Name Title Specialization Unit UPI Senior Education Specialist, Michael Drabble TTL LCSHE 107657 LCSHE Senior Operations Specialist, Robert J. Hawkins Co-TTL LCSHE 85420 LCSHE Country Operations Officer, Miriam Montenegro Operation Specialist LCSHS 255713 LCSHS Financial Management Financial Enrique Antonio Roman LCSFM 286993 Specialist, LCSFM Management Procurement Specialist, Andres MacGaul Procurement LCSPT 180433 LCSPT Cristian D'Amelj Counsel, LEGLA Lawyer LEGLA 374155 Social Senior Social Development Mary Lisbeth Gonzalez Development/ LCSSO 52369 Specialist, LCSSO Social Safeguards Senior Environmental Environment/Safegu Gunars Platais LCSEN 73535 Economist, LCSEN ards Senior Operations Officer, Operations Janet Entwistle LCSHE 13739 LCSHE Specialist Mary Dowling Program Assistant, Program Assistant LCSHE 175385 Non World Bank Staff Name Title Office Phone City Carlos Perez-Brito Consultant, LCSHE Washington, DC Sam Carlson Consultant, LCSHE Burlington, VT Vanessa Castro Consultant, Senior Education Managua
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Specialist Consultant, Social Maria Dolores Alvarez Development/Social Managua Safeguards Consultant, Civil Works Irayda Ruiz Bode Guatemala Specialist/Architect Consultant, Social Silvel Elias Development/Social Guatemala Safeguards . Locations Country First Location Planned Actual Comments Administrative Division Nicaragua .
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a Republic of Nicaragua
Second Support to the Education Sector Project
PROJECT APPRAISAL DOCUMENT Latin America & the Caribbean Region LCSHE
I. Strategic Context
A. Country Context
1. The Republic of Nicaragua in Central America remains the second poorest country in Latin America (after Haiti) with a GDP per capita of about US$1,100 in 2009. Although Nicaragua has experienced steady but moderate economic growth over the past decade - 3.2 percent per year on average since 2001- over half of the population still lives below the poverty line, and one out of every five Nicaraguans lives in extreme poverty. The Nicaragua Poverty Map indicates poverty is more severe in rural areas and the Atlantic coast; while rural areas have just 42 percent of the population, they account for 62 percent of the population living in poverty, which indicates skewed poverty distribution between urban and rural areas. Among the 300,000 families with children living in extreme poverty, about a third of them have at least one child (aged 7-12) working and/or not going to school1.
2. Within this context, the Nicaraguan government defined its plans for economic development and poverty reduction in its National Plan for Human Development (Plan Nacional de Desarrollo Humano, Gobierno de Reconciliacion y Unidad Nacional, 2007-2011). As part of this plan, the government set a pro-poor strategy and agenda that emphasizes the delivery of both infrastructure and social services. The country has made positive progress on human capital indicators, particularly on several of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). For instance, in the education sector, net enrollment of children between 6 and 11 years of age increased from 83 percent to 92 percent between 2001 and 20082. In the health sector, infant mortality fell from 38 per thousand live births in 2001 to 28 in 20083.
B. Sectoral and Institutional Context
3. The Ministry of Education (MINED) has made universal completion of six grades of primary education a key priority for the improvement of human capital in Nicaragua. In 2007, MINED prepared its Institutional Development Plan (Plan de Desarrollo Institucional, ISP) for Education, for the period 2008-2011. Among the ISP’s priorities, MINED has focused most of
1 VIII Nicaragua’s Population Census and IV Nicaragua’s Household Census. INIDE, 2005 2 This is an official figure as reported by the Ministry of Education. The real number might be below that due to many errors in the collection of the 2005 population census data, especially for the Atlantic regions and some predominantly rural municipalities with many difficult to reach populated areas. 3 World Bank, 2008. ―Nicaragua Poverty Assessment,‖ Central American Country Management Unit. 1 its efforts on one critical initiative, ―the Battle for Sixth Grade‖ (la Batalla por el Sexto Grado), to ensure that all children complete at least six grades of primary education in all schools across the country. In the last three years, the Government and external partners have mobilized resources to support: (i) teacher professional development; (ii) the development, printing and distribution of learning and teaching materials in primary schools; (iii) the distribution of school supplies (Solidarity Packages - Paquetes Solidarios), including notebooks, uniforms and shoes to children in the poorest households and those not enrolled in school; (iv) small repairs to primary school buildings; and (v) the extension of school feeding to all primary school children. More needs to be done.
4. Despite the increase of primary school enrollment during the last decade, Nicaragua is still far from achieving universal completion of primary education. While there is universal enrollment in first grade and the gross enrollment rate at the primary level is 120 percent, less than 75 percent of children actually complete sixth grade (2010)4. Although this indicator is better than some neighboring countries, such as Guatemala, it reveals large regional disparities. For instance, the sixth grade completion rate in the municipality of El Tortuguero, in the South Atlantic Autonomous Region (Region Autónoma Atlántico Sur, RAAS), was just 12 percent in 2010. Nicaragua’s population between 15 and 64 years of age has, on average, just 5.8 years of schooling5; this figure reaches 8.1 years in urban areas, but only 4.4 years in rural areas. Those from the lowest income quintile have less than 5 years of education, while those in highest income quintile have more than 9.5 years of education, indicating the close link between poverty and years of schooling.
5. The retention rate in primary education, particularly in the first two grades, is far too low to ensure the universal completion of primary education. In 2010 it was estimated that only 50 out of 100 students entering primary education reached the sixth grade. Only 74 percent of the children who entered grade 1 in 2010 were enrolled in grade 2 in 2011. This is the result of a combination of elevated dropout and repetition rates, which have remained consistently above 10 percent on average in primary education over the last few years. The overall dropout rates for primary education were 10 percent and 12 percent in 2007 and 2008, respectively, while the overall repetition rates were 9 percent and 11 percent. Regional disparities for dropout rates are also important. For example, the dropout rate at the primary level was 22 percent in 2010 in the municipality of Siuna in the North Atlantic Autonomous Region (Region Autónoma Atlántico Norte, RAAN) and 29 percent in the municipality of La Cruz de Río Grande in RAAS. Repetition leads to over-age students who are far more likely to dropout, and in 2009 the percentage of students who were officially over-age was 53 percent at the primary level, 62 percent in lower secondary, and 41 percent in upper-secondary.
6. Low levels of learning are correlated with low retention rates in primary education. The Early Grade Reading Assessment (EGRA) administered in 2008/2009 showed that students of the Atlantic Coast (where poverty is highest and retention is worst) are performing much worse than students of the Pacific Coast in both reading fluency and understanding. Students with weak reading skills that perform poorly in the first three grades are the most at risk of being taken out of
4 The Primary Completion Rate is probably overestimated because MINED usually counts all the children in grade 6 without discounting the repeaters. The real Primary Completion Rate is probably slightly below 70%. 5 Nicaragua Household Survey, 2009. 2 school by parents, who view the school as ineffective and thus prefer to have their children work to support the family. Internationally, Nicaragua ranked below the regional average on UNESCO’s Second Regional Comparative and Explanatory Study (Segundo Estudio Regional Comparativo y Explanatorio, SERCE) in 2006 (Nicaragua is with the group of countries that exhibited mean scores in third grade Mathematics and reading lower than the regional average). Surprisingly, poor performance on the SERCE was largely independent of students’ socio-economic status and place of residence. Contrary to SERCE’s results, on MINED’s own 2009 national standardized evaluations, learning outcomes in 4th and 6th grades were strongly correlated with poverty levels, rural schooling and low retention rates in primary school. For example, in the urban areas of Managua and Rivas more than 50 percent of students achieved the intermediate levels in Mathematics in 4th and 6th grade, while in the poor, rural Departments of Jinotega and Rio San Juan a much lower proportion of students reached the intermediate level (40 percent and 35 percent in 4th grade, and 39 percent and 26 percent in 6th grade, respectively).
7. Despite the widespread practice of multi-grade schooling in rural areas, not all schools offer all six grades6, which leads to dropout and much lower retention rates in rural schools compared to urban schools. The lack of classrooms or teachers, or a combination of the two, is the main impediment to providing all six grades. The most common rural school model has just three classrooms which function only in the morning. Seventy percent of Nicaragua’s approximately 8,000 public primary schools are multi-grade, where teachers teach two, three and sometimes all six grades in the same classroom at the same time. Because of the lack of standards on how to organize multi-grade schools and MINED’s weak planning capacity, it is not known exactly how many schools do not offer the complete primary cycle, but this figure is at least 15 percent. MINED has identified more than 1,500 primary schools operating without basic facilities and/or in structures poorly adapted for a school and lacking access to electricity, water or proper sanitation, none of which offer a full primary cycle. Furthermore, regional disparities are stark. In the Atlantic coast regions, 20 percent of the schools are in poor condition, compared to only 16 percent and 10 percent in the Pacific and Central regions, respectively. The distance to and from school is another important deterrent to retention, particularly for dispersed populations in rural areas. Indeed, parents indicated in the 2009 national household survey that the lack of nearby school facilities was the most common reason for their children not attending school, followed by the high cost of schooling.7 Equally, the lack of access to a school offering all six grades and the poor educational opportunities provided by many multi-grade schools are commonly cited reasons given by parents for taking their children out of school.
8. Many primary school teachers in rural areas are ill-prepared to become effective teachers, which leads to poor quality of instruction and low retention rates. Nicaragua is one of the few countries in LAC that still conduct pre-service teacher training at the secondary education level (Grade 10), through seven Teacher Education Institutions (Escuelas Normales8). The curriculum in Escuelas Normales is oriented around educational theory, with only limited practical instruction, and largely ignores the instructional approaches required to meet the needs of
6 The exact number of primary schools not offering the full primary cycle is not known. The number fluctuates from one year to another depending on the number of teachers and number of students enrolled and the type of multi-grade organization adopted by the school director. 7 World Bank (2011). Better Jobs in Nicaragua: The Role of Human Capital (Draft Report ). Country Note prepared for the Regional Study on Turning Crisis into Opportunity: Human Capital and Social Policies to Promote Good Quality Job Creation in Central America. Washington D.C. 8 Out of the 350 teacher graduates trained by the Escuelas Normales each year, less than half are hired by MINED. The other half often prefer to go to university and/or look for other job opportunities outside of the teaching profession. 3 multi-grade classrooms and/or mother tongue instruction for indigenous populations. In fact, an analysis of the 2009 national standardized student evaluation and the 2009 EGRA concluded that pre-service teacher education had no bearing on student learning outcomes, which is not a reflection of its importance but rather of its very poor quality. Moreover, among MINED’s 25,000 primary school teachers, two thirds work in rural primary schools, many as ―contract teachers‖ lacking any teaching certification. For instance, in Jinotega, RAAS and RAAN (departments with very high levels of poverty), uncertified contract-teachers represent more than 50 percent of all teachers. Many of them live far from the communities where they work, which results in high rates of teacher absenteeism and/or overly short school days. Low salary levels and limited career promotion opportunities for contract-teachers lead to high turnover, especially among those appointed to remote rural communities. Finally, 35 percent of third grade teachers and 15 percent of sixth grade teachers have only completed lower secondary education (Grade 9) themselves. In sum, poorly motivated and poorly prepared teachers are employed to educate disadvantaged children in rural areas. This leads to weak instruction and low levels of learning, which results in higher repetition and dropout and, ultimately, lower retention.
9. Administrative capacity across the system is weak, which reduces MINED’s ability to make better use of scarce educational resources to improve education management and student learning opportunities. MINED has identified critical weaknesses in planning, statistics, and monitoring and evaluation, at both central and regional levels. Recently, it re-structured its central directorates to begin to address this issue, but many information systems and key processes remain incompatible. While there has been an initial effort to reorganize important Directorates such as statistics and planning, key staff lack technical qualifications to meet new education management needs. There is no an analytical system for education statistics, planning and monitoring, which means information for decision-making is culled from a variety of disparate databases with different sources and periodicity of data. Indeed, MINED has not released an official education statistical report since 2009. Another challenge is simply communication; MINED lacks an effective Information and Communication Technology (ICT) infrastructure to communicate and work efficiently with its departmental and municipal level offices. The result is a slow flow of often incomplete or incorrect information, disconnected from the real needs of rural school children.
10. The Project is designed to complement other investments proposed for the education sector in support of MINED’s Education Sector Plan (ESP)9. First, at the request of the GoN, the European Union (EU) recently approved the allocation of a Euro 32 million grant (US$43 million equivalent), which is expected to finance a large infrastructure program for primary and lower secondary education, as well as educational materials and pre- and in-service teacher training for secondary education. Secondly, once the ESP is endorsed by the local education donor group, MINED would prepare a new application to the Global Education Partnership (GEP) Fund (estimated US$10 million) to complement the interventions supported by the World Bank and the EU. The GoN has requested the World Bank to manage the implementation of both operations to reduce transaction costs and to harmonize implementation, supervision and disbursement procedures, in line with the Paris Declaration. This Project would play an important catalytic role for these forthcoming operations, by supporting a number of critical pre-investment activities and
9 The Government officially presented the Education Sector Plan 2011-2015, to the local donor community on August 16, 2012. 4 targeted interventions, which would be complemented and scaled up with EU and GEP funding which is expected to become available in 2012.
C. Higher Level Objectives to Which Project Contributes
11. The proposed operation is fully aligned with the World Bank’s current Country Partnership Strategy (CPS) 2008-12, Report No. 51616, presented to the Board of Executive Directors on December 4, 2009. It is consistent with Pillar II, ―Pro-poor investment in delivery of basic services‖. The CPS emphasizes the need to ensure continued expansion of education access and improvement in the quality of teaching and learning, as well as strengthening of institutional capacity and efficiency in the sector.
12. Even if not included in the original CPS, the proposed Project builds on the World Bank’s long-standing engagement with the GoN in the education sector, including analytical work and previous operations such as: (i) APRENDE I and II10; (ii) Support to the Education Sector Project11 (PASEN I); (iii) the first Education For All Fund12 (EFA-Fund); and (iv) the implementation of a school feeding program13 (Merienda Escolar) through the Japanese Social Development Fund (JSDF).
13. It is also fully aligned with the ESP which prioritizes three key educational goals for the sector from early-childhood to secondary education, including: (i) coverage and equity; (ii) quality; and (iii) institutional strengthening.
II. Project Development Objective
A. PDO:
14. The objective of the Project is to: (a) improve the students’ retention rate in Primary Education Schools located in Participating Municipalities; and (b) strengthen MINED’s education management capacity.
1. Project Beneficiaries
15. The main beneficiaries for this Project are: (i) primary school students and their parents, particularly the 219,527 students already enrolled in the selected municipalities in 2011, as well as approximately 80,000 out-of-school children; (ii) primary level teachers, especially the 8,703 teachers working in the selected municipalities14; and (iii) 250,000 people of indigenous communities.
2. PDO Level Results Indicators
10 APRENDE I (P050613, Cr. IDA-3281-NI) and II (P007783, Cr. IDA-2689-NI) 11 The Education Support Project (P078990, Cr. 3978-NI) 12 The Education for All Catalytic Fund Grant (P078990, TF057311) 13 The JSDF Grant for the Food Emergency Support Program for School Children Project, (TF097212) 14 This figure includes 7,037 existing teachers plus 1,656 new teachers to be trained under the Project. 5
16. The Project objective would be measured as follows:
(1) 4th grade retention rate in the targeted municipalities (weighted average by enrollment in each municipality)15 and 4th grade retention rate reported for girls in the targeted municipalities; (2) Student retention rate within the school year in targeted municipalities; (3) System for learning assessment at the primary level; (4) Development and use by the General Directorate of Planning of the new planning, monitoring and statistical system; and (5) School infrastructure inventory system actively managed.
III. Project Description
17. This Project targets interventions where primary education efficiency rates are the worst (low retention, high dropout and high repetition rates) and poverty levels are the highest. Specifically, the Project would focus on 40 municipalities in six departments, and the two Atlantic Autonomous Regions (RAAS and RAAN). The selected municipalities are among the poorest in Nicaragua, where the percentage of population living in extreme poverty ranges from 44 percent in Santa Maria to 87 percent in El Tortuguero. The total number of primary school children enrolled (219,527) in those 40 municipalities represents slightly more than 25 percent of the total primary enrollment nationwide in 2011. The highest repetition and dropout rates are found in the targeted municipalities of Murra (17 percent) and La Cruz de Rio Grande (29 percent), respectively. Average retention rates up to grade 6 in the 40 municipalities for the three years 2009-2011 were just 18 percent, 21 percent and 26 percent, respectively. Interestingly, girls’ retention consistently averaged about 4 percentage points higher than that for boys. The average primary completion rate in the 40 municipalities is 58 percent, and it ranges from as low as 12 percent in Tortuguero to as high as 97 percent in Morrito (although the high score is probably due to erroneous population census data for this municipality). The percentage of children aged 7-13 not enrolled in primary schools in these 40 municipalities ranges from 10 percent in San Carlos to 67 percent in La Cruz de Rio Grande. Based on MINED estimates, more than half of all primary schools in the 40 municipalities do not offer all six grades, mostly in small rural villages with an average of just 80 students. It has three components.
A. Project Components
Component 1: Improving the Schools’ Learning Environment (US$9 million)
18. This component has three sub-components:
1.1 Paquetes Solidarios (US$4 million)
19. This sub-component would support the: (i) provision and distribution of Paquetes Solidarios to Eligible Children; and (ii) carrying out of a qualitative assessment and an impact evaluation of the activity referred to in (i) herein to measure its impact on student retention.
15 The 4th Grade retention rate is preferred because most dropout and repetition occurs in the first four years of primary education, and this is where the Project is intended to have the most impact. 6
20. It would finance the provision and distribution of approximately 50,000 Paquetes Solidarios (backpacks with school materials and shoes) per year to the neediest children in rural communities from the selected municipalities (the Eligible Children), as well as a qualitative assessment of the intervention in 2012 to improve targeting, followed by an impact evaluation in 2014 to measure the effect of this investment on student retention. Indeed, while early evaluations have shown this program enhances early enrollment and retention of children16, further analysis is needed to help MINED in future targeting and expansion of this intervention. In 2012 new beneficiary targeting criteria (i.e. development of a baseline) would be developed, and individual students would be monitored to see if they complete the school year. In addition, in the ten municipalities also selected under the World Bank Social Protection Project17 (El Cuá, Santa María de Pantasma, Wiwilí, Tuma la Dalia, Matiguas, Rio Blanco, Totogalpa, Telpaneca, Yalaguina and San Lucas), slightly different household level targeting criteria would be used to identify students, which would allow comparison of results.
1.2 Refurbishing of Beneficiary Schools (US$2 million)
21. This sub-component supports the refurbishing of Beneficiary Schools, through the acquisition of basic furniture (including, inter alia, desks, chairs, blackboards and library shelving systems).
22. It would finance the purchase and distribution of basic furniture to approximately 900 rural primary schools in good repair, located in the 40 selected municipalities (the Beneficiary Schools). Desks, chairs, blackboards, and shelving systems for small classroom libraries, would be based on enrollment estimates and needs assessments in each municipality. New furniture would enable additional student places in each classroom and/or replace what has deteriorated beyond repair. Primary school buildings in disrepair would not be eligible for this support, to prevent furniture from being damaged and/or stolen.
1.3 Learning and Teaching Materials for Primary Education (US$3 million)
23. This sub-component supports the development, printing and distribution of learning and teaching materials for Primary Education Schools, including, inter alia: (i) textbooks and workbooks; (ii) multi-grade workbooks; (iii) study guides and study programs for teachers; and (iv) reading materials for students.
24. It would provide essential textbooks, workbooks, reading books, math study guides, supplementary activity-books designed for multi-grade learning, as well as reading materials for small school libraries. In addition, for indigenous groups whose primary language is not Spanish, bilingual and monolingual textbooks would be provided, addressing six different linguistic groups: Miskitu, Panamahka, Ulwa, Tuahka, Kriol and English. Textbooks would be distributed to all primary school children in RAAN and RAAS. Financing would cover development (technical assistance), printing and distribution of textbooks and other learning materials to all primary schools in the 40 municipalities, as well as operational costs for supervision. In the final year of
16 International Food Policy Research Institute, 2004. Un Análisis Social de la Red de Protección Social en Nicaragua. 17 Nicaragua Social Protection Project (P121779, Cr 4862-NI) 7 the Project, the content of the textbooks and workbooks would be re-evaluated and, if necessary, revised.
Component 2: Improving the Quality of Teaching Methods (US$8 million)
25. This component has five sub-components:
2.1 Pre-service Training for Multi-grade Primary School Teachers (US$4 million)
26. This sub-component supports the (i) carrying out of a teacher training program in Training Schools on, inter alia, multi-grade teaching techniques and remedial education for purposes of employing the trained teachers in selected Primary Education Schools, including the provision of Scholarships to student-teachers to enable them to participate in the teacher training program mentioned herein; (ii) the acquisition of minor supplies (such as blankets, pillows, mattresses, curtains, soap and toothpaste) for Training Schools; and (iii) carrying out of minor rehabilitation works in Training Schools.
27. It would finance the costs associated with the selection, training and supervision of two successive cohorts of 1,656 multi-grade primary school teachers, and their deployment in underserved multi-grade schools. Trainees would be selected from the same communities to which they would be deployed to improve retention, and would be provided scholarships through the Project. They would participate in one full year (210 days) of teacher preparation after which they would engage in another year of supervised student-teaching (practicum). Upon completion of training they would be given the opportunity to pursue a full teacher certification by returning to Escuelas Normales for additional professional development (an average of four days a month). Instructors would be given additional training in multi-grade and intercultural bilingual education (IBE) teaching techniques. The Project would finance scholarships, training of trainers, all training materials (including library reference materials), transportation for trainees and trainers, small supplies and contracting of fiduciary staff as required at the Escuelas Normales. Minor rehabilitation/remodeling (works) would include fixing dormitories and bathrooms where necessary. The OM would detail the criteria to establish the type of works that could be financed. A screening of minor rehabilitation/remodeling was made and no risks for the environment were detected given the nature of the small works. The Escuelas Normales would be responsible to carry out expenditures based on a list of eligible expenditures (e.g. minor supplies) agreed with MINED. The Escuelas Normales would use the World Bank guidelines for procurement and would comply with the World Bank Anti-Corruption Guidelines". For its part, MINED would finance teacher salaries once trainees graduate, in addition to the salaries of training instructors. as the GoN’s counterpart funding for this Project (US$7.95 M over the life of the Project), in addition to the salaries of instructors.
2.2 In-service Training for Primary School Teachers (US$2 million)
28. This sub-component supports the provision of TEPCEs to teachers in Primary Education Schools.
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29. It would finance monthly school-based teacher training workshops, (Talleres de Evaluación, Programación y Capacitación Educativa, TEPCES), aimed at improving teacher proficiency and effectiveness, especially in the areas of reading, writing and arithmetic. At least 9 TEPCEs would be provided each year, for all primary teachers in the 40 targeted municipalities (about 7,000), five of which would emphasize those areas of mathematics and language where students and teachers have experienced the most difficulties (including multi-grade and IBE), and classroom-based evaluation to identify students in need of remedial instruction. The Project would also finance training for TEPCEs Coordinators on an annual basis.
2.3 Improving Multi-Grade and Bilingual Instruction (US$0.93 million)
30. This sub-component supports the improvement of the Recipient’s multi-grade and bilingual teaching program, through, inter alia, the carrying out of: (i) a 15-day multi-grade course on mathematics and reading and writing skills, specifically designed for Participating Teachers; (ii) two courses on intercultural bilingual education techniques and methodologies for teachers’ in Primary Education Schools located in Autonomous Regions; and (iii) an assessment of the Recipient’s current multi-grade teaching program (which assessment shall include an evaluation of, inter alia, didactic materials, physical organization of classrooms, teaching practices, and students’ learning outcomes).
31. For approximately 50 percent of the 4,350 teachers working in multi-grade schools (2,062 teachers) in the 40 municipalities, the Project would finance one training course of 15 days. This course would focus primarily on multi-grade instruction for core subjects of reading, writing and math. Secondly, exclusively for 200 teachers from the Secretaries of Education Autonomous Regions Educational System (Sistema Educativo de las Regiones Autónomas, SEAR),18 the Project would finance five three-day workshops on IBE techniques and methodologies. For both activities, the Project would finance technical assistance, materials development, logistics expenses and supervision. In addition, the Project would finance an assessment of current multi-grade instruction (US$40,000) in terms of (i) the coherence and complementarity of the different elements of the multi-grade modality (teacher training, didactic materials, physical organization of the classroom, student assessment, etc.), (ii) the consistency between official and actual policy and practice for multi-grade instruction, and (iii) comparative analysis of student learning outcomes between those in multi-grade versus mono-grade classrooms. This assessment would generate a series of recommendations for improving multi-grade instruction in both theory and practice, which would serve as a basis for future policy dialogue.
2.4 Using Learning Assessments to Improve Instruction (US$1 million)
32. This sub-component supports the design and implementation of annual standardized tests for Primary Education students to collect data on education quality and learning outcomes.
18 The SEAR includes the RAAS and the RAAN. 9
33. It would aim to make better use of information collected through standardized evaluations of learning outcomes to improve teacher practices in the classroom. Specifically, the sub- component would finance: (i) baseline and end-of-Project sample-based assessments of student learning levels in the 40 municipalities, for grades 1, 2 and 4; (ii) dissemination events which integrate the results of 2009 and 2010 national learning assessments into teacher training programs; (iii) technical assistance to review and re-define national evaluation policies and strategies; (iv) a new national-level standardized learning assessment in language and mathematics for grades 4, 6 and 9 (2014); and (v) Nicaragua’s participation in UNESCO’s Third Regional Comparative Standardized Student Evaluation (Tercera Evaluación Regional de Estudiantes Comparativa y Estandarizada, TERCE)19. For the aforementioned activities, the sub-component would finance technical assistance, training, purchase of materials and any operational costs associated with implementation. By placing these activities in the second Project component, MINED intends to pro-actively incorporate student learning assessment results into efforts to improve instruction.
2.5 Pilot for Accelerated Primary Education for Rural Over-age Students (US$70,000)
34. This sub-component supports carrying out of an accelerated remedial school pilot program for over-aged students in Primary Education Schools.
35. It would support the adaptation and testing of a pilot intervention which would offer an accelerated primary level curriculum to over-age children in rural areas (adapted from an existing accelerated program designed for urban areas). This aims to improve retention, as over-age children would progress more quickly and perceive a greater interest in staying in school, and perhaps attract out-of-school children to return to school. If successful, it would also allow more children to continue on to secondary education with their age group, which would improve retention at this level, as well. The program would be piloted in 15 schools located in the selected municipalities. This Project would finance the costs associated with the design, implementation and evaluation of the pilot intervention.
Component 3: Strengthening MINED’s Education Management Capacity (US$7 million).
36. This component has three sub-components:
3.1: Improving and Integrating MINED’s Planning and Statistical Information Systems (US$1.5 million)
37. This sub-component supports MINED in improving its information, telecommunication and planning systems through, inter alia: (i) the provision of technical assistance and training to MINED’s staff; and (ii) the acquisition of specific software and equipment to strengthen MINED’s planning, monitoring and statistical capacity.
38. It would provide technical assistance, training, and the purchase of software and equipment to develop a new planning, monitoring and statistical system to integrate MINED’s information systems and facilitate use of information for decision making and service delivery. In addition, the
19 Organized by OREALC/UNESCO Latin American Laboratory for Assessment of the Quality in Education (LLECE) 10
Project would support the transfer MINED’s telecommunication systems from analog to a Voice Over IP (VOIP) platform.
3.2: Improving Planning of School Infrastructure to Prepare Pre-investment Studies (US$4.5 million)
39. This sub-component supports MINED in improving the management of the public schools infrastructure, through, inter alia: (i) the development and maintenance of a school infrastructure inventory system; (ii) the development of a national geo-referencing database of the Recipient’s public schools’ geographical coordinates; and (iii) the carrying out of technical assessments (but excluding any works that might be required following said assessments) to evaluate the conditions of the public school infrastructure located in the Participating Municipalities.
40. It aims to strengthen the capacity of the General Directorate of Infrastructure (GDI) at the central and departmental levels to plan and manage school infrastructure, and to prepare pre- investment infrastructure studies (actual civil works would be financed by other donors). Moreover, the Project would support the GDI to set up, maintain and manage a school infrastructure inventory system. Specifically, the sub-component would finance technical assistance, training, operational costs, and the purchase of ICT hardware and software for the GDI. In several departmental offices the Project would also finance minor rehabilitation (works) to accommodate new staff and technology. A screening of minor rehabilitation/remodeling was made and no risks were outlined given the nature of the small works to be made. This would enable the GDI to: (i) establish and manage a geo-referenced database of all schools, (ii) prepare in the Project intervention areas a municipality-based priority list for education infrastructure investment (including both rehabilitation and construction); and (iii) conduct pre-investment infrastructure studies in 586 schools. The latter would include activities aimed at supporting community-based approaches to leverage cost-sharing and in-kind contributions and participation from local governments and communities, for greater ownership, sustainability and efficiency. Information collected through the geo-referencing, the school inventory and priority list and the pre-investment studies would be recorded in the school infrastructure inventory system.
3.3: Project Management, Fiduciary Controls and Audits (US$1 million)
41. This sub-component supports MINED in the administration, financial management, auditing and procurement aspects of the Project through, inter alia: (i) the provision of technical assistance and training to MINED’s staff; (ii) the acquisition of software, information and communication hardware, and small furniture items; and (iii) the carrying out of minor maintenance and improvement activities in MINED’s facilities.
42. It would provide support to the MINED for Project implementation and fiduciary management. Specifically, the Project would finance technical assistance, training and ICT hardware/software to strengthen the capacity of staff in MINED’s Procurement and the Administrative and Finance Units to effectively carry out procurement, Project management, financial management, and external audits. Technical assistance includes a senior financial management specialist, an accountant, an expenditure analyst, three procurement analysts, and an international procurement specialist (whose primary focus would be on training, knowledge
11 transfer and quality control). In addition, operational/supervision costs and logistical support (small purchases of ICT hardware/software and furniture) for Project coordination would be financed. Finally, the Project would finance minor rehabilitation/remodeling (works) of the DGAF to accommodate new ICTs and enhance productivity.
B. Project Financing
1. Lending Instrument
43. A standard Specific Investment Loan (SIL) is proposed for this Project, in the form of an IDA credit in the amount of SDR 15.8 million (US$25 million equivalent) to be disbursed over a four-year period. The GoN would provide US$7.95 million in counterpart funding to finance the salaries of the new teachers to be hired and trained during the Project implementation period.
Project Cost and Financing Project Cost IDA Financing Project Components % Financing (US$M) (US$ M) 1. Improving the Schools’ Learning Environment 8.60 8.60 100
2. Improving the Quality of Teaching Methods 15.85 7.90 50
3. Strengthening MINED’s Education Management 7.30 7.30 100 Capacity
Total Baseline Costs 31.75 23.80 75 Physical contingencies 1.20 1.20 100 Total Project Costs 32.95 25.00 76 Interest During Implementation 0 0 Front-End Fees 0 0 Total Financing Required 32.95 25.00 76
C. Lessons Learned and Reflected in the Project Design
44. The proposed Project design takes into account lessons learned from previous operations, analytical work and prior education Projects implemented in Nicaragua, such as (i) APRENDE I (P050613, Credit No. 3281-NI) and II (P007783, Credit No. 2689-NI); (ii) Support to the Education Sector Project (PASEN I) (P078990, Credit No. 3978-NI); (iii) the Education For All Fast Track Initiative (EFA-FTI) Catalytic Trust Fund (TF057311, P078990); and (iv) the implementation of a Food Emergency Support Program for School Children Project (Merienda Escolar) through the Japanese Social Development Fund (JSDF) (TF097012).
45. In addition, the proposed Project draws on the experience of World Bank-financed primary education Projects around the world, which highlights the importance of focusing on retention and measurable student learning, not just expanded access and increased enrollment.
46. Specifically, in addition to providing a wide range of high-quality materials designed to boost student learning and retention, the Project would draw on the successful implementation of both national and international assessments supported under PASEN I and EFA-FTI Catalytic Trust Fund, and ensure feedback of Project-financed assessments into the development of new student learning materials and teacher training activities. Moreover, drawing from new research
12 regarding the impact of accountability reforms20, the Project would support the dissemination of learning assessment results (through report cards and information sessions) and of school-based Project interventions to different stakeholders, enhancing accountability through better information and expanded participation. Project design also builds PASEN I’s experience supporting teacher effectiveness, with the expansion and adaptation of the TEPCEs program to emphasize teacher subject matter knowledge and pedagogical strategies in multi-grade classrooms. Finally, the provision of Paquetes Solidarios reflects the lesson that demand-side interventions are needed along with supply-side measures to improve retention rates.
47. The experience with PASEN I also highlighted the importance of increased institutional analysis and implementation support, which has been incorporated into the design of this Project. For example, a high level Project Coordinator would be appointed. MINED’s fiduciary staff would also be reinforced with technical assistance, training and equipment, with the objective of building capacity not just for implementation of this Project but also for larger investments to follow. Thirdly, Project design includes technical assistance, training and (in some cases) equipment for the technical line directorates to build implementation capacity. Lastly, lessons learned regarding the MINED’s limited capacity to use data effectively in decision making have factored extensively into the design of Component 3, which focuses on strengthening of planning, statistics collection and analysis, monitoring and evaluation, and communication.
IV. Implementation
A. Institutional and Implementation Arrangements
48. MINED would be responsible for implementing the proposed Project through its existing organizational structure and line departments, rather than through separate Project implementation mechanisms at central or regional levels. A Project Coordinator (PC) would report to the highest MINED department (The Executive Directorate) to coordinate, facilitate and oversee implementation carried out by technical directorates. The PC (selected according to terms of reference satisfactory to the World Bank) would be delegated authority to coordinate the various MINED line units in charge of Project implementation. The PC would ensure that each department delivers key inputs (e.g. TORs, bid evaluations, program designs, training activities, monitoring reports, data, etc.) on a timely basis. In addition, s/he would liaise with the representatives of the SEAR, which have been given certain responsibilities for education in indigenous areas under the 2006 Law of Education.
49. Fiduciary management would be provided through the Secretary for Financial Administration, which includes inter alia the Finance Division and the Procurement Division. Both divisions would be strengthened under the Project, with an objective of building MINED’s capacity not just for implementation of this Project, but also for subsequent larger investments that are expected to be financed by the EU and GEP. Project-financed fiduciary experts would have important responsibilities for knowledge transfer and training, and would exercise critical quality control functions in reviewing financial and procurement documentation before it is sent to the World Bank for no objection or review. Specifically, the Project would finance throughout Project implementation, under agreed ToRs, an international procurement advisor, three procurement
20 Barbara Bruns, Deon Filmer, and Harry Patrinos. ―Making the School Work: New Evidence on Accountability Reform.‖ World Bank, 2011. 13 analysts, a senior financial management specialist, an accountant and an expenditure analyst. This should ensure smooth disbursements and due diligence on fiduciary and safeguards matters.
50. Project implementation would be carried out by the technical directorates: the Directorate for Primary Education, the Directorate for Teacher Training, the Directorate for Infrastructure, and the Directorate of Planning (encompassing strategic planning, education statistics, monitoring and evaluation). All these directorates would be provided with additional technical assistance, training and in some cases additional equipment, ICT hardware and software. In particularly, the Directorate for Infrastructure would be given extensive support so it can assume its responsibilities for education infrastructure (recently transferred from another ministry), at both central and regional levels.
51. An Operational Manual (OM) has been prepared by MINED and reviewed by the World Bank team. The OM includes detailed guidelines for implementation of the Project components, TORs for key personnel and studies, procurement procedures, financial management arrangements, safeguards, monitoring and evaluation, etc. A Project website would be established to provide publically useful information on Project activities and allow for input/feedback from departmental and municipal personnel involved in Project execution.
B. Results Monitoring and Evaluation
52. The PC and the Division of Monitoring and Evaluation would be responsible for tracking progress related to Project outcomes and results on a day-to-day basis, with the support of other MINED directorates. MINED would refine and implement an integrated planning, monitoring and evaluation and statistical system that would gather information from the municipal, departmental, and national levels, particularly with respect to student retention. The Project would also support national and international student assessments (overseen by MINED’s Office of Evaluation) to measure learning outcomes in the targeted municipalities and at the national level. The Project, due to its catalytic nature, would emphasize continuous M&E of each component, to assess effectiveness and feasibility of scaling up Project activities beyond the targeted municipalities with other funding sources. For instance, the Paquetes Solidarios program would include a quasi- experimental impact evaluation, so the effectiveness of this program in terms of attracting and retaining students, can be evaluated with the perspective of expansion to other poor municipalities.
C. Sustainability
53. Sustainability of Project investments is a key issue. Estimated additional recurrent costs linked to the Project are estimated at US$5.0 million per year, including those for new community multi-grade teachers (US$3.77 million per year), Paquetes Solidarios, textbooks, and operation & maintenance of ICTs. With respect to the 1,656 new teachers, the Ministry of Finance and MINED have agreed to absorb the new salary expenditures in its 2014 and 2015 national budgets and onwards (as was done in 2011 when 1,600 community-based multi-grade teachers were hired). To keep costs low, new teachers would initially be hired at a lower salary than a beginner teacher who has completed regular pre-service training (equivalent to US$112/month). School furniture and textbooks would not need replacement for several years (3-5 years for textbooks and 7-10 years for furniture). The 2011 ESP and the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) for
14 education expected to be approved by the National Assembly in November 2011 forecasts that recurrent primary education spending would increase by approximately US$4.5 million each year (2011-15), such that MINED should be able to absorb these additional costs, and those related to other investments in primary education (e.g. financed by the EU and GEP). In addition, strengthening of MINED’s management capacity should have a positive long lasting impact on MINED’s ability to plan, manage and distribute educational resources, enabling improved sustainability. Finally, all interventions are aligned with the ESP and have been designed to be scaled up, which would assist MINED to mobilize and harmonize other donor funding under a common educational framework.
V. Key Risks and Mitigation Measures
A. Risk Ratings Summary
Stakeholder Risk M Implementing Agency Risk S - Capacity S - Governance M Project Risk S - Design S - Social and Environmental L - Program and Donor M - Delivery Monitoring and Sustainability S Overall Implementation Risk S
B. Overall Risk Rating Explanation
54. Based on the risks included in Annex 4, the Overall Implementation Risk is considered ―Substantial‖, largely driven by capacity, design and delivery monitoring and sustainability risks. As for the risk related to low capacity, a rapid institutional assessment of MINED was carried out during pre-appraisal (refer to the Institutional Assessment Matrix at the end of Annex 3), and all three Project components include activities (TA, training, equipment, operational cost funding, etc.) designed to build MINED’s implementation capacity. As for the risk related to design, it would be mitigated through demand-side activities such as Paquetes Solidarios for students most in need, and piloting an accelerated primary education curriculum for over-age students in rural areas. Both of these activities would be carefully evaluated to assess retention impact and, if necessary, revised to further mitigate this risk. Finally, regarding the risk related to delivery monitoring and sustainability, a detailed implementation plan and supervision strategy was prepared during Project preparation to identify potential bottlenecks for the delivery of Project activities in difficult-to-reach schools in the selected municipalities. Moreover, additional financial resources would be allocated through MINED municipal delegations to facilitate access to these schools.
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VI. Appraisal Summary
A. Economic and Financial Analysis
55. The economic analysis of this Project indicates an internal rate of return (IRR) of 11 percent. This is based on an anticipated 15 percent reduction in repetition and dropout, which results in an increase of 0.7 years of completed schooling for the target population. Increased years of schooling translate into higher earnings (based on labor market information from the most recent household survey). This IRR should be considered as a lower bound, as the analysis (i) does not consider the many positive externalities of primary education, (ii) ignores the likely positive earnings impact of improved cognitive skills among the beneficiary population resulting from the Project, and (iii) limits the direct impact of the Project to just 4 years. Sensitivity analysis shows that a decrease of the expected impact on repetition and dropout from 15 percent to just 5 percent would still generate an IRR of 7 percent above the market rate.
56. In 2010 a public expenditure review (PER) in the education sector covering the period 2002-2010 was carried out, followed by the preparation of the ESP in 2011, enabling analysis of both historical and Projected expenditures, particularly in primary education. The PER showed increased spending on education, especially over the past five years, in absolute terms and as a percentage of GDP. In addition, during the period 2006-2010, the percentage of total education spending allocated to primary education increased from 48 to 55 percent. The ESP 2011-2015 and MTEF forecasts further increases in total education spending, from 3.5 to 3.7 percent of GDP, and from 16 to 18 percent of total domestic recurrent spending. This translates into annual increases in total education spending of 3 percent in absolute terms, of which more than 65 percent would be allocated to primary education, such that primary education spending is expected to increase by approximately US$4.5 million per year through 2015. From a financial perspective, the GoN’s increasing commitment to financing human capital development, particularly primary education, is evident. Not surprisingly between 80 and 85 percent of MINED’s budget is allocated to salary expenditures. This leaves relatively little to finance school inputs and training. Capital expenditures are limited and depend largely on donor financing. Finally, based on an analysis of the 2005 MINED budget and latest household survey, the recent Public Expenditure Review showed the progressivity of public expenditures in education, especially for the pre- and primary education levels.
57. Project unit costs are quite reasonable, largely based on costs previously obtained through competitive bidding processes under PASEN I (P078990, Credit No. 3978-NI) and the EFA-FTI Catalytic Trust Fund (P078990, TF057311) (e.g. textbooks, Paquetes Solidarios). Taking into consideration Project costs for Components 1 and 2 (which directly benefit students in the classroom) and primary enrollment in the 40 targeted municipalities, the cost per student over the four years of the Project is calculated at US$17 per year, which represents approximately 10 percent of current primary student unit cost spending. Total Project administration costs are estimated at just 5 percent of total Project costs.
B. Technical
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58. The Project has selected activities with a simple and sound technical design that can be implemented in municipalities with the lowest economic and social indicators in the country. All interventions are also aligned with the ESP and have been designed to be scaled up nation-wide. This Project includes several interventions which have been successfully implemented by MINED in recent years through the World Bank-financed PASEN I and EFA-FTI Catalytic Trust Fund, particularly: (i) the Paquetes Solidarios; (ii) the printing and distribution of textbooks and multi- grade modules; (iii) the pre-service training and deployment of multi-grade teachers; and (iv) the in-service teacher training through the TEPCEs. For the pre-service and in-service training interventions, MINED’s Training Division and Learning Evaluation Office would need to make some changes to the training curriculum and instructional design, based on student learning evaluations carried out in 2010. Trainers in Escuelas Normales and Coordinators for TEPCEs would receive specific training on those areas of mathematics and language in which students and teachers have experienced the most difficulties, including instructional techniques to teach in Spanish and indigenous languages at multi-grade schools.
59. Other interventions of the Project would be more challenging in terms of both technical design and implementation. One such activity is the preparation of pre-investment studies for the rehabilitation and construction of primary schools. MINED’s limited experience and weak institutional capacity would require close supervision and sustained technical assistance to ensure progress on this activity. During Project preparation a civil works consultant was hired by the World Bank to prepare the procedures to be used to carry out the pre-investment studies for school infrastructure, which are part of the OM. An important capacity building program would be included to ensure that the GDI, responsible for implementing this intervention, is adequately staffed, equipped and trained to undertake these pre-investment studies, using the latest technology to complete the geographic referencing of all the schools. Finally under component 3.1, the Project aims to integrate MINED’s planning and management information system, which is an even more complex activity. However, in this case MINED has benefited from support under PASEN I to develop a series of computer-based modules for its management and information system. This Project would continue where PASEN I left off, but this time focusing on the integration of the various existing systems, including the national education statistical system.
C. Financial Management
60. A financial management (FM) assessment was carried out to determine FM implementation risk and help establish adequate FM arrangements for the proposed operation. Overall FM risk is rated as ―Substantial‖. The FM arrangements, which include a series of additional measures, respond to the identified risks and include a suitable supervision strategy. Based on this FM assessment, recommendations and complementary actions have been identified to ensure that the Project is implemented within a sound fiduciary environment in compliance with World Bank requirements. MINED’s Administrative and Financial General Division (División General de Administración y Finanzas, DGAF) would be responsible for the financial management arrangements of the proposed Project. It would consolidate the financial registration in the Integrated Financial Management System (Sistema Integrado de Gestión Financiera, SIGFAPRO) and perform reconciliation of the accounts. The DGAF has experience managing World Bank funds with the recently implemented PASEN I Project (P078990, Credit No. NI-3978). The last FM Rating was ―Moderately Satisfactory‖, following which an action plan was agreed to and is in
17 the process of implementation. The adequacy of FM arrangements would be continuously monitored during Project supervision, and adjustments made when necessary to ensure fiduciary compliance.
D. Procurement
61. Procurement for the proposed Project would be carried out by the Procurement Division of MINED. The unit was found adequately staffed and equipped to undertake the standard procurement activities routinely carried out by the division. However, Project implementation implies the procurement of a wide variety of items and the employment of several complex World Bank bidding documents, which - compounded with procurement of civil works expected from new financing by other donors - exceeds the existing capacity of the unit.
62. The key issues and risks concerning procurement for implementation of the Project include: (i) MINED weak implementation capacity in comparison with the expected high workload; (ii) variety and complexity of procurement to be carried out for Project implementation; and (iii) local procurement regulations include practices that are not acceptable to the World Bank.
63. The corrective measures which have been agreed are: (i) MINED would hire three additional procurement analysts with TORs and qualifications acceptable to the Bank, who would be in charge of the project procurement function (ii) MINED would retain its most qualified existing procurement staff to support the Project as needed, (iii) MINED would hire an international procurement specialist, with TORs and qualifications acceptable to the World Bank, who would coach the analysts and procurement MINED staff and contribute to quality control; (iv) the Project would operate under an OM acceptable to the World Bank; and (v) Special Procurement Provisions would be included in the Credit Agreement. Procurement under National Competitive Bidding (NCB) procedures would be conducted using bidding documents to be agreed with the Nicaraguan Procurement Directorate based upon national bidding documents.
E. Social (including safeguards)
64. Indigenous peoples, afro-descendants and the poorer and most vulnerable sectors of the Nicaraguan population are among the main beneficiaries of the Project. More specifically the Project would benefit indigenous peoples living in RAAN, RAAS, and those who live in the North Pacific and Center Regions. It would also include the afro-descendant populations living in the Rio San Juan, and the peasants and mestizo communities that populate the entire country. The Rio San Juan are the most challenging areas because of the isolation of many communities, the high levels poverty and illiteracy, and the high percentage of non-Spanish speaking populations, especially among women. In these Regions the Project faces the challenge of supporting and strengthening IBE. The Project triggers OP/BP 4.10 (Indigenous Peoples) and an Indigenous Peoples Development Plan was disclosed on the Ministry of Education Website and on the World Bank Website on October 7, 2011. This Plan outlines measures and procedures to inform, consult and facilitate the participation of Indigenous Peoples living in the three regions covered by the Project. This Plan takes into account cultural characteristics of these groups to ensure inclusion of both genders, and a gender–based approach to promote the access of girls to education would be promoted during implementation.
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F. Environment (including safeguards)
65. The Project would not engage in construction activities, nor is it expected to generate adverse environmental effects. The bulk of physical activities involve refurbishing schools with furniture and school supplies and small repairs of MINED offices as well as limited renovations in Teacher Training Institutions. A screening of minor rehabilitation/remodeling was made and no risks were outlined given the nature of the small works to be made. In addition, the Project would finance pre-investment studies for planned investments in educational infrastructure financed outside of the Project. These pre-investment studies would be carried out in accordance with World Bank policies, and they would include appropriate environmental and safety considerations, such as: selection of construction materials in the Atlantic coast that minimize social and environmental impacts; environmental mitigation and monitoring measures to be taken during implementation; waste disposal measures; construction site management criteria, including proper safety protocols for construction workers, including the use of personal protective equipment; dust and noise control; and institutional arrangement for supervision and oversight of environmental measures. They would include criteria to screen out involuntary resettlement as defined under OP/BP 4.12 (Involuntary Resettlement).
66. In light of the fact that Central America is a natural disaster-prone area, the pre-investment studies should be designed so that a school structure can at least take the brunt of a major earthquake sufficiently to get children and staff out safely. Measures to protect against floods would also be an integral part of these pre-investment studies. They would also take into consideration measures to ensure that students and teachers attending the schools where any construction activities are taking place are not negatively affected. As appropriate, each civil works contract would specify the required environmental management measures to be followed at each site.
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Annex 1: Results Framework and Monitoring NICARAGUA: SECOND SUPPORT TO THE EDUCATION SECTOR PROEJCT Project Development Objective (PDO): The objective of the Project is to: (a) improve the students’ retention rate in the Recipient’s Primary Education Schools located in the Participating Municipalities; and (b) strengthen MINED’s education management capacity. Cumulative Target Values Responsi Description (indicator Data bility for definition etc.) Unit of Base Source/ YR 1 YR 2 YR3 YR 4 Frequency Data
Core Measure line Methodol 2012 2013 2014 2015 Collectio ogy n
PDO LEVEL RESULTS INDICATORS Indicator One: UNESCO/WB Methodology: Divide the total number of 4th grade retention rate in the targeted pupils belonging to a school-cohort who reached each % 46 47 49 51 53 Municipalities (weighted average by successive grade of the specified level of education by enrollment in each municipality). the number of pupils in the school-cohort i.e. those Annual originally enrolled in the first grade of primary Directorate Monitoring education, and multiply the result by 100. Weight the Annual of Statistics Report average in each municipality by its share of total 4th grade retention rate reported for girls in % 47 48 50 52 54 enrollment in the 40 municipalities and sum. Calculated the targeted Municipalities. on the basis of the reconstructed cohort method, which uses data on enrollment and repeaters for two consecutive years. Indicator Two: This is the ratio of the total number of students enrolled Student retention rate within the school year in the primary schools of the targeted municipalities at in targeted municipalities the end of the school year minus the total number of students enrolled in the primary schools of the targeted Annual Directorate municipalities at the beginning of the same school year. Monitoring % 86 87 87 88 88 Annual of Statistics The sum is divided by the total number of students Report enrolled in the primary schools of the targeted municipalities at the beginning of the same school year to obtain the ratio. Weight the average of total enrollment in the 40 municipalities and sum. Indicator Three: System for learning assessment at the Text 1 1 1 2 4 National primary level. MINED Previous national standardized learning assessment was Achieveme Data analyzed and results reported Text No No No No Yes Office of carried out in 2010 for grades 4, 6 and 9. New Bi-annual nt Test Learning standardized tests for grades 4 and 6 would be carried Data reported by gender, urban/rural Results Text No No No No Yes Assessment out in 2014 and data are expected to be reported in 2015. geographical locations. Report Assessments repeated at least once every 5 Text No No No Yes Yes years for the same subject areas and grades 20 percent execution includes diagnostic, conceptual Indicator Four: framework and methodological approach carried out; 50 Development and use by the General Annual General percent means software purchased and implementation % 0 20 50 90 100 Annual Monitoring Directorate initiated. 100 percent means implementation completed, Directorate of Planning of the new Report of Planning including training of staff and used to develop the planning, monitoring and statistical system. Annual Statistical Report.
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Cumulative Target Values Description (indicator Y Data definition etc.) Responsibilit Unit of Base R Source/ YR 1 YR3 YR 4 Frequency y for Data
Core Measure line 2 Methodol 2012 2014 2015 Collection 20 ogy 13 40 percent includes conceptual design of the inventory and information collected in the 40 municipalities for all public schools. 75 percent geo- Indicator Five: Annual General Annual referencing completed and information uploaded in School infrastructure inventory system % 0 0 40 75 100 Monitoring Directorate of the school infrastructure inventory system in the 40 Report Infrastructure actively managed. municipalities. 100 percent system is maintained and used for planning future investments in educational infrastructure in the 40 municipalities. INTERMEDIATE RESULTS Intermediate Result (Component One): Improving the Schools’ Learning Environment Paquetes Solidarios are backpacks with school materials and shoes. Each school Intermediate Result indicator one: director would keep track of the number of Annual Directorate of Students in targeted municipalities that receive students receiving the Paquetes Solidarios at Monitoring Primary Paquetes Solidarios, under the Project, who % 0 0 60 70 75 Annual Report Education the beginning and at the end of the school complete the school year. year. This information would be reported to the education municipal office as part of the education management information system. Intermediate Result indicator two: Directorate of A qualitative assessment is expected to be Paquetes Solidarios Program is assessed and Yes/ Once Evaluation No No Yes Yes Yes Institutional designed and carried out in 2012, followed report used to better target and expand program, Report No only Evaluations as necessary. by adjustments to the program in 2013. ―Adequately equipped‖ means school is General Intermediate Result indicator three: Annual equipped with teacher desk, blackboards and Directorate of Primary schools in targeted municipalities Monitoring % 63 63 70 75 80 Annual Infrastruc- bookshelves adequate for the number of adequately equipped with furniture. Report ture teachers and students in each school. This variable is already tracked by GDI. Intermediate Result indicator four: Primary school students with a language textbook Annual Directorate of Students in the 40 municipalities would and a math textbook. Annual Monitoring Primary receive textbooks according to Table 3 in Language and Literature % 75 75 95 95 95 Report Education Annex 2. Mathematics % 56 56 95 95 95 Students in the SEAR (RAAS and RAAN) would receive bilingual and monolingual Directorate of textbooks in 6 different languages, according Intermediate Result indicator five: Annual Primary to Table 3 in Annex 2. *SEAR: Sistema Books distributed in the SEAR* under the Number 0 0 81,500 81,500 81,500 Annual Monitoring Education, Educativo de las Regiones Autónomas. Project. Report Coordination office SEAR
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Cumulative Target Values Data Responsibili Unit of Base Freque Source/ Description (indicator YR 1 YR 2 YR3 YR 4 ty for Data
Core Measure Line ncy Methodolo definition etc.) 2012 2013 2014 2015 Collection gy Intermediate Result (Component Two): Improving the Quality of Teaching Methods Intermediate Result indicator six: Teacher trainees enrolled in the multi- Annual Directorate of The name of the program is Brigada 32 Number 0 0 957 1,656 1,656 Annual Monitoring Primary grade pre-service training program under Report Education/ Aniversario. the Project. Intermediate Result indicator seven: Graduates from the multi-grade pre- Directorate of Percentage of total number of graduates from service teacher training program who teach Bi- Annual Primary the program deployed to targeted for at least one year in targeted areas under Monitoring Education/ Annual municipalities who complete at least one year the Project. Report Institutional of teaching. SEAR Municipalities % 0 0 0 70 70 Evaluation Other Municipalities % 0 0 0 80 80 Intermediate Result indicator eight:
Primary teachers in targeted municipalities Directorate of Project would finance 11 TEPCES each year; Annual who participate in at least 5 TEPCEs each Primary/ however, 5 are exclusively on reading, Annual Monitoring Institutional year, under the Project. Report writing and math. Project expects teachers to SEAR Municipalities Number 0 600 600 600 600 Evaluation attend, at least, those 5. Other Municipalities Number 0 6,400 6,400 6,400 6,400 Intermediate Result indicator nine: ―Systematization‖ means definition of instructional approaches, teacher training, teacher guides, Systematization of Multi-Grade Modality Annual Directorate of Once student learning materials, physical organization of officially published by MINED Text No No No Yes Yes Monitoring Primary only the classroom, and overall standards, reported in an Report Education official document that would be distributed to all schools in the 40 municipalities. Office of These dissemination events are information Intermediate Result indicator ten: Learning sessions to review standardized test results. Teachers who participate in dissemination Annual Assessment Number 0 500 2,000 4,000 6,000 Annual Monitoring and events of national learning assessment Report Directorate of results under the Project. Institutional Evaluation Intermediate Result indicator Eleven: In a selected number of primary schools, one Classrooms in targeted areas offering the Annual Directorate of Number 0 0 0 15 15 Annual Monitoring Primary classroom would be opened to pilot the pilot of accelerated primary school Report Education program. program under the Project.
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Data Cumulative Target Values Responsibilit Unit of Base Source/ Description (indicator YR 1 YR 2 YR3 YR 4 Frequency y for Data
Core Measure Line Methodol definition etc.) Collection 2012 2013 2014 2015 ogy Intermediate Result (Component Three): Strengthening MINED’s Education Management Capacity Intermediate Result indicator ten: Integrated Directorate of Consolidated annual statistical and monitoring Official annual statistical reports Number 0 0 1 2 3 Annual Information Statistics report from the entire Ministry of Education. published under the Project. System Pre-investment studies would be divided in 2 categories: Intermediate Result indicator eleven: Annual General 1. Construction of new infrastructure between Pre-investment infrastructure studies Number 0 77 298 478 586 Annual Monitoring Directorate of US$21,000 and US$60,000; and 2. developed under the Project. Report Infrastructure Construction of new infrastructure above US$61,000. 219,5 219,52 219,5 219,52 Integrated Total number of primary school children Direct Project beneficiaries, of which Number 219,527 Directorate of 27 7 27 7 Annual Information enrolled in 2011 in the 40 municipalities as percent female Statistics % 49 49 49 49 49 System reported by MINED.
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Annex 2: Detailed Project Description
1. This Project targets interventions where primary education efficiency rates are the worst (low retention, high dropout and high repetition rates) and poverty levels are the highest. Specifically, the Project would focus on 40 municipalities in six departments, and the two Atlantic Autonomous Regions (RAAS and RAAN). The selected municipalities are among the poorest in Nicaragua, where the percentage of population living in extreme poverty ranges from 44 percent in Santa Maria to 87 percent in El Tortuguero. The total number of primary school children enrolled (219,527) in those 40 municipalities represents slightly more than 25 percent of the total primary enrollment nationwide in 2011. The highest repetition and dropout rates are found in the targeted municipalities of Murra (17 percent) and La Cruz de Rio Grande (29 percent), respectively. Average retention rates up to grade 6 in the 40 municipalities for the three years 2009-2011 were just 18 percent, 21 percent and 26 percent, respectively. Interestingly, girls’ retention consistently averaged about 4 percentage points higher than that for boys. The average primary completion rate in the 40 municipalities is 58 percent, and it ranges from as low as 12 percent in Tortuguero to as high as 97 percent in Morrito (although the high score is probably due to erroneous population census data for this municipality). The percentage of children aged 7-13 not enrolled in primary schools in these 40 municipalities ranges from 10 percent in San Carlos to 67 percent in La Cruz de Rio Grande. Based on MINED estimates, more than half of all primary schools in the 40 municipalities do not offer all six grades, mostly in small rural villages with an average of just 80 students. It has three components.
Component 1: Improving the Schools’ Learning Environment (US$9 million)
2. This component consists of three sub-components:
1.1: Paquetes Solidarios (US$4 million).
3. This sub-component supports: (i) provision and distribution of Paquetes Solidarios to Eligible Children; and (ii) carrying out of a qualitative assessment and an impact evaluation of the activity referred to in (i) herein to measure its impact on student retention.
4. It would support the Government in the implementation of the Paquetes Solidarios program in the 40 municipalities targeted by the Project. In 2010, this program was funded by the EFA Fund and 262,000 packages were distributed nation-wide for the 2011 school year (close to 38,000 in the 40 municipalities targeted by the Project). The Paquetes Solidarios are distributed to the neediest children as an incentive to improve the retention through the school year. During the last three years the Government has empowered school leaders at the community level (including parent-teacher associations) to select eligible children that are at greatest risk of not attending and/or dropping out due to economic hardship. Early evaluations have shown this program to greatly enhance early enrollment and retention of children21. The Project would support the Government in refining the methodology and operational aspects of the program through: (i) carrying out a qualitative assessment in 2012 of the distribution of the Paquetes Solidarios financed in 2011 in order to define new eligibility criteria; (ii) procuring and distributing the backpacks, schools materials and shoes (approximately 50,000 Paquetes per year); (iii) financing
21 International Food Policy Research Institute, 2004. Un Análisis Social de la Red de Protección Social en Nicaragua. 24 operational costs related to the implementation; and (iv) carrying out in 2014 an impact evaluation of the intervention in the targeted municipalities, to measure the effect of this investment on student retention. Each Paquete Solidario has a unit cost of approximately US$19.16 (including transportation) and includes 1 backpack, 14 notebooks, 6 pencils, 2 pens, 1 eraser, 1 ruler and a pair of shoes.
5. Under the Project, the Paquetes Solidarios would be given to eligible schoolchildren according to the criteria that would be revised in the first year of the Project. Inter-institutional coordination between Ministry of Family (MIFAN) and MINED would also be strengthened for the implementation and evaluation of the program, since MIFAN also covers these children with their Child at Risk Program. Finally, the Project would benefit from the experience in ten municipalities that are targeted in both the World Bank Social Protection Project (P121779, Cr 4862-NI) and this Project, by measuring the relative impact of the programs on retention. The estimated quantity of Paquetes Solidarios that would be distributed by the Project are shown in Table 1:
Table 1: Paquetes Solidarios, Distribution by Department and Year, with Cost in US dollars Total Total cost Packages Packages Packages Packages No. Department Packages 4 years year 1 year 2 year 3 year 4 4 years (USD) 1 CHONTALES 1,127 1,105 1,083 1,061 4,375 83,833 2 JINOTEGA 8,928 8,750 8,575 8,403 34,656 664,018 3 MADRIZ 2,036 1,995 1,955 1,916 7,901 151,389 4 MATAGALPA 7,780 7,624 7,472 7,322 30,197 578,582 NUEVA 5 3,527 3,457 3,387 3,320 13,691 262,312 SEGOVIA 6 RAAN 18,491 18,122 17,759 17,404 71,776 1,375,225 7 RAAS 4,752 4,657 4,564 4,473 18,446 353,430 8 RIO SAN JUAN 3,039 2,978 2,918 2,860 11,795 225,984 TOTAL 49,680 48,686 47,713 46,759 192,838 3,694,773
6. Specifically, the Project would provide technical assistance to the Directorate of Institutional Evaluation and Directorate of Primary Education to design an impact evaluation of the intervention. The goal is to assess the impact of the program on enrollment and retention, and provide evidence to expand the program within and outside the targeted municipalities with different funding. The impact evaluation would be carried out during the third year of the Project. The impact evaluation would be a quasi-experimental evaluation design (e.g. Pair-wise Randomization methodology) that would allow MINED to measure the effect of Paquetes Solidarios on student retention for each grade separately.
1.2: School Refurbishing (US$2 million).
7. This sub-component supports the refurbishing of Beneficiary Schools, through the acquisition of basic furniture (including, inter alia, desks, chairs, blackboards and library shelving systems).
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8. It would finance the purchase and distribution of basic furniture to approximately 900 rural primary schools in good repair located in the 40 selected municipalities (the Beneficiary Schools). Desks, chairs, blackboards, and shelving systems for small classroom libraries would be based on enrollment estimates and needs assessments in each municipality. New furniture would enable additional student places in each classroom and/or replace what has deteriorated beyond repair. It would also improve the schooling environment and provide better teaching and learning conditions to teachers and students alike. Schooling environment is one of the main factors affecting teacher effectiveness, student motivation, behavior in the classroom and ultimately retention. Schools that in 2011 reported a shortage of more than 20 student desks per classroom are considered in severe need. 31 percent of all rural schools in selected municipalities are identified by this criteria and would be targeted by this sub-component.
9. According to the 2010 census of school infrastructure, there are 2,904 primary school buildings serving an estimated 235,136 students22 in the 40 municipalities targeted under the Project. The Project would finance the purchase of basic furniture for approximately 900 rural schools. The goal is to increase the percentage of existing rural primary schools with adequate furniture from 63 to 80 percent. Due to the difficulties of furniture distribution in remote rural areas, furniture vendors would be responsible for delivery to MINED’s municipal offices. From there, MINED would use existing distribution mechanisms which engage communities and local governments to ensure the transportation of furniture to each school.
Table 2: Estimated Demand of School Furniture in 40 Selected Municipalities # of Teacher Ink boards Shelving # units (A) class Total # student desks (B) (C) (D) Dept. Municipality sets desks (A+B+C+D US$24 (B,C & US$158 US$50 US$140 D) ) Comalapa 97 2,328 4 632 200 560 3,720
Chontal Santo Domingo 97 2,328 6 948 300 840 4,416 es Cuapa 0 0 20 3,160 1,000 2,800 6,960 La Libertad 26 624 2 316 100 280 1,320 Bocay 1388 33,312 68 10,744 3,400 9,520 56,976 El Cuá 1165 27,960 82 12,956 4,100 11,480 56,496 Jinoteg Santa Maria de a 1578 37,872 105 16,590 5,250 14,700 74,412 Pantasma Wiwilí 2854 68,496 153 24,174 7,650 21,420 121,740 San Lucas 219 5,256 32 5,056 1,600 4,480 16,392 Telpaneca 505 12,120 31 4,898 1,550 4,340 22,908 Madriz Totogalpa 218 5,232 27 4,266 1,350 3,780 14,628 Yalaguina 0 0 69 10,902 3,450 9,660 24,012 Las Sabanas 161 3,864 13 2,054 650 1,820 8,388
Matagal El Tuma La Dalia 1298 31,152 93 14,694 4,650 13,020 63,516 pa Matiguas 847 20,328 60 9,480 3,000 8,400 41,208
22 This number includes pre-school and primary school students. The total number of primary school children enrolled at the beginning of the 2011 school year was 219,527, 26
Muy Muy 272 6,528 16 2,528 800 2,240 12,096 Rancho Grande 658 15,792 46 7,268 2,300 6,440 31,800 Río Blanco 744 17,856 42 6,636 2,100 5,880 32,472 San Dionisio 181 4,344 18 2,844 900 2,520 10,608 Ciudad Antigua 113 2,712 6 948 300 840 4,800 Macuelizo 284 6,816 14 2,212 700 1,960 11,688 Murra 466 11,184 28 4,424 1,400 3,920 20,928 Nueva Segovia Quilalí 189 4,536 20 3,160 1,000 2,800 11,496 Santa María 110 2,640 12 1,896 600 1,680 6,816 Wiwilí de Abajo 141 3,384 8 1,264 400 1,120 6,168 Mozonte 31 744 2 316 100 280 1,440 Prinzapolka 1,150 27,600 56 8,848 2,800 7,840 47,088 Siuna 2,020 48,480 95 15,010 4,750 13,300 81,540 Waslala 2,117 50,808 104 16,432 5,200 14,560 87,000 RAAN Waspán 6,031 144,744 255 40,290 12,750 35,700 233,484 Rosita 1,804 43,296 94 14,852. 4,700 13,160 76,008 Puerto Cabezas 2,031 48,744 76 12,008. 3,800 10,640 75,192 Bonanza 1,094 26,256 70 11,060 3,500 9,800 50,616 La Cruz del Río 2,623 62,952 73 11,534 3,650 10,220 88,356 Grande Paiwas 908 21,792 58 9,164 2,900 8,120 41,976 RAAS Tortuguero 1,332 31,968 53 8,374 2,650 7,420 50,412 El Ayote 352 8,448 14 2,212. 700 1,960 13,320 Morrito 261 6,264 11 1,738 550 1,540 10,092 Rio San San Carlos 1,614 38,736 108 17,064 5,400 15,120 76,320 Juan El Castillo 1,343 32,232 60 9,480 3,000 8,400 53,112
TOTAL 38,322 US$919,728 2,104 US$332,432 US$105,200 US$294,560 US$1,651,920
1.3: Learning and Teaching Materials for Primary Education (US$3 million)
10. This sub-component supports the development, printing and distribution of learning and teaching materials for Primary Education Schools, including, inter alia: (i) textbooks and workbooks; (ii) multi-grade workbooks; (iii) study guides and study programs for teachers; and (iv) reading materials for students.
11. In the last three years, MINED (with financial support of PASEN I and the EFA Fund) developed, printed and distributed learning and teaching materials to all primary schools (except in RAAN and RAAS). Textbooks were distributed to students in grades 1 to 3 in 2010, and to those in grades 4 to 6 in 2011. For formal primary education and Spanish-speaking schools, these materials have been developed and distributed in five subject areas: Language and Literature, Mathematics, Life Skills (Convivencia y Civismo), Social Studies, and Natural Sciences. Likewise,
27 multi-grade activity-based workbooks have been developed in four subject areas: Language and Literature, Mathematics, Convivencia y Civismo, and Natural Sciences. Corresponding study programs for teachers have also been developed. In addition, in 2011 under the PASEN I, MINED developed new primary education textbooks for IBE for grades 5 and 6 in English, Ulwa, and Tuahka, but these textbooks have not yet been printed.
12. This sub-component would finance the reproduction23 and distribution of learning and teaching materials for primary education in the selected municipalities (and all the municipalities in RAAN and RAAS), including: (i) textbooks and workbooks (Complejos Didácticos), (ii) multi- grade activity-based workbooks, (iii) study guides and study programs for teachers; (iv) a collection of reading materials for primary schools; and (v) textbooks and other learning materials for IBE. The goal is to ensure that every student has access to textbooks (by replacing missing and deteriorated textbooks), including those who are enrolled in IBE, and that new pedagogical materials aimed at improving retention are developed.
13. Specifically, for Spanish-speaking (monolingual) schools in the targeted municipalities, the Project would finance: (i) 420,000 textbooks and workbooks (Complejos Didácticos), (ii) approximately 435,000 multi-grade activity-based workbooks, and (iii) approximately 20,000 mathematics and language teaching guides.
14. In addition to this, the sub-component would finance the reproduction and distribution of learning materials for students and teachers in bilingual and monolingual (non Spanish-speaking) schools in all the municipalities of the Atlantic Autonomous Regions. This effort constitutes an integrated initiative that SEAR and MINED have implemented to develop learning materials aligned with the SEAR Curricula. The materials include: (i) textbooks of indigenous languages for grades 1 to 4 in: Miskitu, Panamahka, Ulwa, Tuahka, and Kriol, to benefit close to 41,500 children; (ii) textbooks for grades 5 and 6 in three languages (English, Ulwa, and Tuahka) and five subject areas (Mathematics; Language and Communications; Art-Recreation and Physical Education; Mother Tongue Textbook; and Nature, Culture and People), to benefit close to 40,000 children; and (iii) teaching guides for IBE and study programs for grades 5 and 6 in three languages: English, Ulwa, and Tuahka, to benefit close to 550 teachers. The Project would also provide technical assistance to support the delegations and teachers of SEAR in the usage of these materials.
15. The sub-component would also finance the procurement and distribution of a set of 40 reading books for small primary school libraries (3,550) in the 40 targeted municipalities, with the objective to improve the reading skills of the children.
16. Finally, the production of new learning materials and the review of existing materials includes, among other activities: (i) the revision of the current Complejos Didácticos for grades 1 to 6, to be carried out during the last year of the Project as part of an ongoing quality control process (these materials have an average lifespan of 5 years and would be assessed according to an evaluation survey in the schools before they are revised in 2015 and subsequently printed24); and
23 Copyrights of the Complejos Didacticos belong to MINED. 24 Printing of the revised primary textbooks collection would not be financed by PASEN II, but by the Government via the national budget and/or with external resources mobilized by the Government. 28
(ii) development, printing and distribution of supplemental materials for existing textbooks and multi-grade activity-based workbooks in Spanish and indigenous languages. The new materials (e.g. the Complejos Didácticos) would aim specifically at improving reading, writing and mathematics. The Project would also finance under other components teacher training (pre-service for multi-grade teachers and TEPCES) on how to use these materials in the classroom to better support and facilitate student learning. Over the medium to long term, access and use of learning materials in the classroom can significantly impact the performance of students and retention.
17. The total number of textbooks by subject and language is show in the table below:
Table 3: Number of Textbooks
Number of Textbooks for Primary Education in Spanish grades 1-6
Social Natural 40 Targeted municipalities Math Language Life skills Total Science Science
Primary Regular- Spanish 95,623 104,549 75,767 64,997 76,692 417,628 Speaking Schools a Multi-grade - Spanish 154,660 170,416 54,424 - 55,256 434,756 Speaking Schools b
Number of Textbooks for SEAR grades 1-4 e Language Art, 2nd Nature, Mother Tongues and Recreation, Language Math Culture, Total Communic and Physical Textbook People ation. Education c Miskitu- grades 1-4 21,000 21,000 Panamahka- grades 1- 4 5,500 5,500 Kriol- grade 1-4 6,000 6,000 Ulwa- grades 1-4 3,000 3,000 Tuahka- grades 1-4 6,000 6,000
Number of Textbooks for SEAR grades 5-6 e Language Art, Mother Nature, Mother Tongues and Recreation, Math Tongue Culture, Total Communic and Physical Textbook People ation. Education Miskitu 5-6 Panamahka 5-6 Kriol 5-6 Ulwa- grades 1-6 d 1,000 1,000 1,000 1,000 1,000 5,000 Tuahka- grades 1-6 d 3,500 3,500 3,500 3,500 3,500 17,500 English – grade 5-6 3,500 3,500 3,500 3,500 3,500 17,500 a For primary regular: Complejos Didácticos are distributed per student and include one textbook and one workbook per subject area. b For multi-grade : two multi-grade activity-based workbooks are distributed per student (N.1 and N.2) c Second language textbooks for grades 1-4 are |provided for students in bilingual education for the following mother tongues: Miskitu,Panamahka, Kriol, Ulwa, and Tuahka. d Textbooks for Math, Languague and Comm, Art/Recreational/PE, Mother Tongue Textbook, and Nature/Cult/People are only for grades 5-6 in Ulwa, Tuahka and English. e.Checkmarks indicate materials in those languages or subject areas which have already been provided.
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Component 2: Improving the Quality of Teaching Methods (US$8 million)
18. This component consists of five sub-components:
2.1: Pre-service Training for Multi-grade Primary School Teachers (US$4 million)
19. This sub-component supports the (i) carrying out of a teacher training program in Training Schools on, inter alia, multi-grade teaching techniques and remedial education for purposes of employing the trained teachers in selected Primary Education Schools, including the provision of Scholarships to student-teachers to enable them to participate in the teacher training program mentioned herein; (ii) the acquisition of minor supplies (such as blankets, pillows, mattresses, curtains, soap and toothpaste) for Training Schools; and (iii) carrying out of minor rehabilitation works in Training Schools.
20. To cope with the scarcity of teachers and incomplete schools in rural areas in 2010, MINED launched an accelerated pre-service teacher training program for lower-secondary education graduates. 1,600 young graduates were initially trained in teacher training institutions (Escuelas Normales) over six months to specifically become 5th and 6th multi-grade teachers. This Project would continue financing the costs associated with the selection and training of two new cohorts of multi-grade primary school teachers (957 in 2013 and 699 in 2014), and their deployment in primary schools which have teacher deficits. These young teachers would be selected from the same communities to which they would be deployed to improve retention, and would be provided scholarships through the Project. They would also be given the opportunity to acquire a full teacher certification by returning to teacher training institutions four days each month. The curriculum for this program would be based on current primary school curriculum, but emphasis would be given to multi-grade teaching techniques, remedial education (both diagnosis and interventions), so that students most at risk of dropout because of learning difficulties are identified early and given the help they need. In the case of the students from the Caribbean coast, the curriculum would focus on IBE methodologies and techniques. The Project would finance training of trainers and all training materials (including library reference materials) at the Escuelas Normales. Minor rehabilitation/remodeling (works) would include fixing dormitories and bathrooms where necessary. The OM would detail the criteria to establish the type of works that could be financed. A screening of minor rehabilitation/remodeling was made and no risks for the environment were detected given the nature of the small works. The Escuelas Normales would be responsible to carry out expenditures based on a list of eligible expenditures (e.g.: minor supplies) agreed with MINED. The Escuelas Normales would use the World Bank guidelines for procurement and would comply with the World Bank Anti-Corruption Guidelines". For its part, MINED would finance teacher salaries once trainees graduate, in addition to the salaries of training instructors, as the GoN’s counterpart funding for this Project (US$7.95 million over the life of the Project).
21. For these two new cohorts MINED has raised the eligibility requirement to enter the program to completed upper secondary education (11 years of education, equivalent to high school diploma or Bachilerato). Similarly, the length of studies has been increased from six months to one year in the Escuelas Normales. Finally, the students would be trained to teach all grades of the multi-grade modality, while the previous cohort was specifically trained to teach only 5th or 6th
30 grade, and not specifically in a multi-grade school. In the case of municipalities such as El Tortuguero, La Cruz de Rio Grande, Waslala, and Prinzapolca, where it would be difficult to recruit candidates with 11 years of education, MINED would select students with only 9 years of education and provide an additional year of training at the Escuela Normal. The recruitment of a new cohort every other year would give enough time for MINED to plan the deployment of the graduates in the primary multi-grade schools. The Escuelas Normales of Matagalpa, Esteli and Bilwi would enroll the two cohorts, while the Escuela Normal in Bluefields would enroll a single cohort for a period of three years (rather than two), given the reality that trainees from indigenous areas would not have the full 11 years of education desired.
22. MINED, in collaboration with these teacher training institutions, has begin to develop a 1500+ hour curriculum focusing on teaching techniques for multi-grade schools and IBE. This curriculum also strengthens pedagogical content to focus on weak areas of language and math already identified by student learning evaluations. The Project would finance training of trainers and all training materials (including library reference materials) at the Escuelas Normales. The Escuelas Normales would receive some pedagogical materials and new materials would be developed to support regular training courses. The Project would also support specific training to Escuelas Normales’ teaching staff and also resources to monitor and support their training graduates once they begin teaching. The cost of this supervision would be paid by the Project. If it becomes apparent during Project implementation that additional teachers are needed, MINED and the World Bank would discuss possible solutions – such as additional cohorts or recruitment of trainees from one zone for appointment in another zone.
Table 4: Pre-Service Teacher Training Program (Brigada 32 Aniversario) Participants by Department Cohort 1: 2013 Cohort 2: 2014 Escuela Normal Jinotega 189 189 Matagalpa Matagalpa 114 114 Matagalpa Nueva Segovia 67 44 Esteli Madriz 26 16 Esteli RAAN 261 224 Bilwi RAAS 185 0 Bluefields Chontales 34 31 Chontales Rio San Juan 81 81 Chontales Total 957 699
2.2: In-service Training for Primary School Teachers (US$2 million)
23. This sub-component supports the provision of TEPCEs to teachers in Primary Education Schools.
24. In Nicaragua, two of the most important factors associated with improving student performance on standardized tests are teaching techniques and in-service teacher training25. With the support of PASEN I, over the past three years, MINED has successfully implemented a new
25 CIACES, EGRA Report Nicaragua, 2010 31 modality of in-service training (Talleres de Evaluación, Programación y Capacitación Educativa, TEPCEs). This is based on peer-to-peer learning with groups of 40 teachers gathered one day a month in a hub school (Escuela Nucleo). Around 7,000 teachers participated in TEPCEs in 2009 and 2010 (approximately 28 percent of total primary school teachers). Qualitative evaluations conducted by MINED in 2010 showed a high level of teacher satisfaction for the TEPCEs program.
25. This sub-component would continue financing TEPCEs during the life of the Project with an average of 9 TEPCEs per year, including five dedicated to teaching and learning techniques in areas of mathematics and language in which students and teachers have experienced the most difficulties (including multi-grade and IBE). The Project would support training to 87 TEPCEs management staff and 467 Training Coordinators and also pedagogical materials to 87 training centers in 83 hub schools and four Normal Schools (Escuelas Normales) where TEPCEs would take place. It is expected that all primary schools teachers of the 40 municipalities would participate in the TEPCEs. Part of the training during TEPCEs would be conducted in smaller groups of 5 to 10 teachers, and training techniques would include many simple hands-on demonstrations regarding what makes an effective teacher, how to develop high-impact lesson plans, how to increase student engagement, etc. In the last few years MINED has trained TEPCEs coordinators chosen among school inspectors and lead teachers, who became responsible for organizing and delivering the training; there are 467 TEPCEs Training Coordinators already trained in the 40 municipalities. These Coordinators would also receive refreshing courses during the life of the Project. The Project would finance the training costs related to the transportation of the participants, as well as the purchase of some materials for the training centers. In addition, the Project would also finance four national TEPCEs annual meetings, one each year during the life of the Project. These meetings would be use as an opportunity to evaluate the TEPCEs and receive feedback for improvement.
2.3 Improving Multi-Grade and Bilingual Education (US$0.93 million)
26. This sub-component supports the improvement of the Recipient’s multi-grade and bilingual teaching program, through, inter alia, the carrying out of: (i) a 15-day multi-grade course on mathematics and reading and writing skills, specifically designed for Participating Teachers; (ii) two courses on intercultural bilingual education techniques and methodologies for teachers’ in Primary Education Schools located in Autonomous Regions; and (iii) an assessment of the Recipient’s current multi-grade teaching program (which assessment shall include an evaluation of, inter alia, didactic materials, physical organization of classrooms, teaching practices, and students’ learning outcomes).
27. For approximately 50 percent of the 4,350 teachers working in multi-grade schools (2,062 teachers) in the 40 municipalities, the Project would finance one training course of 15 days. This course would focus primarily on multi-grade instruction for core subjects of reading, writing and math. MINED would train trainers selected among the TEPCES Training Coordinators and other senior multi-grade teachers. Those trainers would conduct training during school holidays in the Hub School (Escuela Núcleo) and Normal Schools (Escuelas Normales). Training materials would be prepared and distributed by MINED in advance to the training.
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28. Exclusively for teachers from the Secretariat of Educational System of Autonomous Regions (Oficina de Enlace con el Sistema Educativo de las Regiones Autónomas, SEAR), the Project would finance two courses on intercultural bilingual education techniques and methodologies, one in Bilwi and one in Bluefields. These courses would be divided into five phases of three days each, one in 2012, two in 2013 and two in 2014. These two courses are expected to reach around 100 primary schools teachers from each autonomous region. MINED would work with SEAR to select trainers among senior local teachers and education professors of the two universities in RAAN and RAAS. The Project would also finance 2 technical curriculum specialists for 24 months, located in RAAS and RAAN.
29. In addition, under this sub-component the Project would finance an assessment of current multi-grade instruction (US$40,000) in terms of (i) the coherence and complementarity of the different elements of the multi-grade modality (teacher training, didactic materials, physical organization of the classroom, student assessment, etc.), (ii) the consistency between official and actual policy and practice for multi-grade instruction, and (iii) comparative analysis of student learning outcomes between those in multi-grade versus mono-grade classrooms. This assessment would generate a series of recommendations for improving multi-grade instruction in both theory and practice, which would serve as a basis for future policy dialogue.
2.4 Using Student Learning Assessments to Improve Teacher Training (US$1 million)
30. This sub-component supports the design and implementation of annual standardized tests for Primary Education students to collect data on education quality and learning outcomes.
31. This sub-component would aim to make better use of information collected through national standardized evaluations of learning outcomes to improve teacher practices in the classroom. Specifically, the sub-component would finance: (i) baseline and end-of-Project assessments of student learning levels in the 40 municipalities, for grades 1, 2 and 4; (ii) dissemination events which integrate the results of 2009 and 2010 national learning assessments into teacher training programs; (iii) technical assistance to review evaluation policies and strategies; (iv) one sample-based national-level standardized evaluation in language and mathematics in 2014; and (v) Nicaragua’s participation in UNESCO’s Third Regional Comparative Standardized Student Evaluation (Tercera Evaluación Regional de Estudiantes Comparativa y Estandarizada, TERCE) in 2012 and 201326. For the aforementioned activities, the sub-component would finance technical assistance, training, purchase of materials, printing of test forms and result reports, and any operational costs associated with implementation.
Baseline and End-of-Project Assessments in 40 Municipalities
32. The Office of Evaluation would select a representative sample of students in the 40 municipalities and administer baseline and end-of-Project learning assessments in grades 1, 2 and 4 using already-designed evaluation instruments. Tests in grades 1 and 2 would use the Early Grade Reading and Mathematics Assessment tools tested by MINED with support from PASEN 1 and the Education Program Development Fund in 2010 and 2011. Grade 4 testing would use the sample-based national standardized evaluation developed by MINED (see below). These tests
26 Organized by OREALC/UNESCO Latin American Laboratory for Assessment of the Quality in Education (LLECE) 33 would provide key information as to any changes in learning levels related to Project implementation, and test the Project’s hypothesis that improved levels of learning are correlated to higher retention and completion rates at the primary level.
Dissemination Events
33. MINED would disseminate, through reports and events, the results of national standardized assessments from 2009 and 2010, including reports analyzing associated factors impacting student’s performance. MINED would develop a process to improve the dissemination of learning outcome assessments directly to the schools and educational community with the involvement of departmental and municipal delegations. MINED would use the analysis of the testing conducted in 2009 and 2010 in the training activities financed by PASEN II, in particular in TEPCES and pre-service training conducted by Escuelas Normales. The Project would support the logistics costs associated with this activity as well as any printing materials and communication efforts. Technical Assistance to Review Evaluation Policies and Strategies
34. The Project would also support MINED to contract technical assistance (national and international experts) to define national evaluation policies and strategies to improve the elaboration of the national standardized evaluations of learning outcomes, including the updating of the World Bank of test items for the evaluation, and training to staff to improve their ability to analyze and interpret test results. This activity is critical to establish norms and institutionalize operational procedures to design, manage, report and disseminate student assessments in the country at national and local level. The review of evaluation policies would be conducted in parallel with the revision of primary school textbooks planned in 2015 and a possible updating of the primary and secondary curriculum that MINED might undertake in the next few years.
Standardized evaluations in language and mathematics
35. The Project would finance the implementation of one sample-based national student’s assessments of language and mathematics in 4th, 6th and 9th grades in 2014. This assessment would be based on a national representative sample, including the RAAS and the RAAN and the reports would be disseminated by gender, urban/rural, and geographical locations.
Third Regional Comparative Standardized Student Evaluation (TERCE)
36. Under the PASEN I Project, resources were allocated to finance the participation of Nicaragua in the UNESCO’s SERCE. The participation of Nicaragua in SERCE was taken as an opportunity to build capacity at MINED to conduct this type of international standardized test and also compare the result of this test with the national evaluations being carried out on a regular basis. In order to continue building capacity and ensuring that test result impact the teacher training programs, the Project would finance the piloting and main survey phases of the TERCE which would take place in 2012 and 2013.
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2.5 Pilot for Accelerated Primary Education for Rural Over-age Students (US$70,000)
37. This sub-component supports carrying out of an accelerated remedial school pilot program for over-aged students in Primary Education Schools.
38. As much as 15 percent of primary students nationwide are over-aged by at least two years, and the proportion of over-aged students increases in rural areas and multi-grade schools. In recent years MINED put in place for urban areas only an accelerated primary education program for over-aged children enrolled in primary schools, which has yielded promising results. The accelerated primary education program uses a condensed content delivery and faster promotion to allow students to complete their primary schooling in less time.
39. This sub-component would support MINED to adapt and expand this program to rural areas, through implementation of a pilot intervention in a few classrooms selected from the 40 municipalities targeted by the Project. 15 schools would be selected in rural areas and are expected to pilot this new modality in one classroom each beginning in the school year 2013. The implementation of this program in rural areas presents some specific challenges due essentially to the dispersion of the populations, the large number of many small schools (with around 80 students on average), and the reality that many of these teachers are already facing the challenges of multi- grade schooling. Before rolling out the program in all the schools, which would not be practical and would require resources which are not currently available, MINED would test and evaluate different models of the program in a few classrooms. This sub-component would finance the costs associated with the design, implementation and evaluation of the pilot intervention as well as the printing of instruction guides for teachers and learning materials for school children.
Component 3: Strengthening MINED’s Education Management Capacity (US$7 million)
40. This component consists of three sub-components:
3.1: Improving and Integrating MINED’s Planning and Statistical Information Systems (US$1.5 million)
41. This sub-component supports MINED in improving its information, telecommunication and planning systems through, inter alia: (i) the provision of technical assistance and training to MINED’s staff; and (ii) the acquisition of specific software and equipment to strengthen MINED’s planning, monitoring and statistical capacity.
42. This sub-component would provide technical assistance, training, and the purchase of software and equipment to develop a new planning, monitoring and statistical system to integrate MINED’s information systems and facilitate use of information for decision making and service delivery. In addition, this sub-component would also support the transfer MINED’s telecommunication systems from analog to a Voice Over IP (VOIP) platform.
43. The General Directorate of Planning (DGP) integrates four units: the Directorate of Planning, Directorate of Institutional Evaluation, Directorate of Statistics, and Directorate of Projects and Programs (See Figure 1). Rather than financing specific activities to strengthen each one of the divisions under the General Directorate, this sub-component would finance activities 35 aimed at impacting the entire MINED, and in particular the General Directorate of Planning as a whole.
Figure 1
Integrating MINED’s planning, monitoring and education statistical systems
44. This activity would aim to design, develop and implement new planning, monitoring and evaluation systems in the DGP by integrating various independent management systems into one. In recent years MINED developed two parallel systems: (i) the National Integrated Information System (Sistema Nacional de Información Gerencial Integrado - SNIGI) which was partly financed by PASEN I, and (ii) the Physical and Financial Planning Monitoring System (Sistema de Planificación y Seguimiento Físico Financiero - SPSFF). Even though the SNIGI and the SPSFF are considered the main MINED’s information systems, they are not widely used across the organization and several of its information modules are not integrated to increase access and interoperability within MINED and other social sector institutions of government.
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Figure 2: National Integrated National Information Management System (Sistema Nacional de Información Gerencial Integrado – SNIGI)
Central Human Resources Administration Procurement Production System for Management and Academic Management Systems Administration Teacher System Portal of Fixed Assets Training Registry
Planning and Financial Monitoring System (Sistema de Planificación y Seguimiento Físico Financiero – SPSFF)
Management System of Administration Education Statistics System for Infrastructure Critical Path for System for Performance Requirements (Project Payment Inventory Administration) Evaluation and Requests Territorial Demands
45. In 2010, MINED carried out an institutional diagnostic of its statistical systems and one of the main findings was that the data collection processes are highly centralized and slow, limiting the possibilities to provide accurate and reliable data and information for decision making. Even though the Directorate of Statistics is responsible for handling all statistics processes, key administrative data related to student performance and evaluations, as well as monitoring data associated with specific programs and Projects such as the Integral School Feeding Program (PINE), youth and adult education programs, and technical and vocational education are collected and managed independently. In addition, the tools to collect information are mostly paper-based and only capture information on basic education indicators such as enrollment and attendance. Moreover, MINED and the Directorate of Statistics has limited access to other key data sources such as population census and national surveys (household, employment, nutrition and child health) that limits its capacity to carry out statistical analysis for planning. Part of the problem is that Directorate of Statistics has very limited financial and human resources to generate the information and reports necessary for effective statistical analysis and decision making. As a result, MINED has not published annual statistical reports since 2008.
46. This sub-component would, therefore, begin by financing an institutional diagnostic of MINED’s planning, monitoring and statistical processes and tools. This diagnostic would also
37 review and seek the integration of other educational and operational sub-systems that collect and process data and information critical to effective planning, such as infrastructure, finance, statistics, human resources, etc. The second phase would consist in developing the technical design for a conceptual framework and methodological approach to develop a new analytical information system capable to integrate information from the different information modules under SPSFF, SNIGI and others internal and external institutions. Finally, the third phase would begin implementing the conceptual framework at the DGP and other key MINED units at the central level with the goal of strengthening DGP’s capacity to collect, store, process and analyze educational data and statistics at national, departmental and local levels. The effort to modernize data collection processes, monitoring and statistical systems would focus on decentralizing the data collection and statistics processes from the central to the departmental and municipal levels.
47. This sub-component would provide technical assistance, training and the purchase of software and equipment to the DGP, including: (i) the design and implementation of an analytical education planning, monitoring and statistics system; (ii) implementing data collection, storage, management and normalization of data and data sources; (iii) revising, designing and developing new statistical instruments and analytical tools for collecting and processing data; (iv) designing security, access and management policies for the information system; (v) developing and integrating different data universe and relations, queries and reporting tools; (vi) training and purchase of software and equipment to support the use and implementation of the new integrated educational statistics system at central and local levels; and (vii) communication, dissemination efforts and any associated operational costs related to the implementation and deployment of the new statistical systems.
Transferring its telecommunication systems from analog to a Voice Over IP platform
48. Currently, the Directorate of Informatics is responsible for providing telecommunications, data storage and connectivity services to the entire MINED at central, departmental and local levels. However, the Directorate of Informatics has limited funding and staff to provide those services efficiently, causing delays and limiting planning and coordination from the central to the local level and vice-versa. The monthly telephone and connectivity bills consume most of the Directorate’s financial resources, due to the obsolescence of its telecommunication and connectivity platforms. In 2011, MINED determined the feasibility of purchasing and implementing a new internal telecommunication system (Voice Over IP platform), to better serve the needs of the central headquarters and some departmental delegations at significantly lower costs. In support of this activity, the Project would finance the purchase and implementation of a Voice Over IP phone platform, training in the use of the new platform and provision of support and information materials.
3.2: Improving Planning of School Infrastructure to Prepare Pre-investment Studies (US$4.5 million)
49. This sub-component supports MINED in improving the management of the public schools infrastructure, through, inter alia: (i) the development and maintenance of a school infrastructure inventory system; (ii) the development of a national geo-referencing database of the Recipient’s
38 public schools’ geographical coordinates; and (iii) the carrying out of technical assessments (but excluding any works that might be required following said assessments) to evaluate the conditions of the public school infrastructure located in the Participating Municipalities.
50. In Nicaragua there are around 10,750 public schools, and 75 percent of those are primary schools. Based on the 2010 census of school infrastructure, the General Directorate of Infrastructure (GDI) estimates that 60 percent of the primary schools in the country need to be repaired, re-built, replaced or expanded. An estimated 3,000 schools operate without basic facilities and/or in structures poorly adapted for a school, including more than 1,16427 in the 40 municipalities targeted by the Project.
51. It aims to strengthen the capacity of the General Directorate of Infrastructure (GDI) at the central and departmental levels to plan and manage school infrastructure, and to prepare pre- investment infrastructure studies (actual civil works would be financed by other donors). Moreover, the Project would support the GDI to set up, maintain and manage a school infrastructure inventory system. Specifically, the sub-component would finance technical assistance, training, operational costs, and the purchase of ICT hardware and software for the GDI. In several departmental offices the Project would also finance minor rehabilitation (works) to accommodate new staff and technology. A screening of minor rehabilitation/remodeling was made and no risks were outlined given the nature of the small works to be made. This would enable the GDI to: (i) establish and manage a geo-referenced database of all schools, (ii) prepare in the Project intervention areas a municipality-based priority list for education infrastructure investment (including both rehabilitation and construction); and (iii) conduct pre-investment infrastructure studies in 586 schools. The latter would include activities aimed at supporting community-based approaches to leverage cost-sharing and in-kind contributions and participation from local governments and communities, for greater ownership, sustainability and efficiency. Information collected through the geo-referencing, the school inventory and priority list and the pre-investment studies would be recorded in the school infrastructure inventory system.
52. Until recently, the Emergency Social Investment Fund (FISE) was the institution in charge of building most of the school infrastructure in the country. However, the Government has transferred part of that responsibility to the MINED directly. The planning and management, execution and evaluation of school construction are now the responsibility of the GDI. The GDI integrates three divisions in charge of furniture and equipment, planning and design, and supervision and execution of Projects. The GDI is the only one with 19 coordinators in the departmental delegations who have recently been hired to supervise and monitor school maintenance in their departments. In 2010, these coordinators executed a community-based strategy (Programa de Dignificación de los Ambientes Escolares – school environment enhancement program) to leverage financial and in-kind contributions to repair and maintain around 500 public schools around the country. Aside from this program, the GDI has very limited capacity to carry out pre-investment for medium and large school construction Projects. For this reason, the capacity building to the GDI would focus on three main activities: (i) raise the competencies and productivity of GDI staff at central and local levels through specific training and
27 The number of schools to be replaced and/or repaired would likely change as more accurate information is collected through the school inventory activities targeting the 40 municipalities selected under the Project. 39 knowledge transfer to the local staff; (ii) contract specific expertise from external consultants to develop specific products; and (iii) prepare pre-investment school infrastructure studies.
53. The goal of the technical assistance in the form of training and knowledge transfer would be to strengthen GDI’s capacity. The training sessions would be divided into six modules: (i) internal control mechanisms and quality control for infrastructure; (ii) analysis and evaluation of sites; (iii) techniques and procedures for participatory design process; (iv) development of needs assessment program for schools; (v) development of environmental impact assessments and mitigation measures; and (vi) development of public infrastructure Projects in Nicaragua, including evaluation of public infrastructure Projects.
54. The Project would also finance the purchase of basic equipment and technology to the GDI and the Departmental delegations to plan and manage infrastructure inventories and prepare pre- investment studies. This investment in equipment and technology aims to improve the productivity of the GDI and its departmental delegates as a whole. In several departmental delegations the Project would also finance minor rehabilitation to accommodate new staff and technology.
Geographic Information System (GIS) on Educational Infrastructures
55. In order to better plan new school infrastructure in the country, the Project would finance the development of a GIS to map all the schools in the country. The detailed procedure for the undertaking of the GIS is included in the OM. Once the database is complete it would be integrated with other sources of information available in the country such as cadastral maps, regional statistics and population census. Due to the nature of this work, this activity would be combined with the technical assistance to develop an integrated planning, monitoring and statistical system under this component as well as the creation of the on-line inventory of school infrastructure. This new tool would be also part of the new information and information features to expand and consolidate the SNIGI.
Online Inventory of Educational Infrastructures
56. For 40 targeted municipalities GIS would be complemented with the design and development of an online inventory of school infrastructure. The inventory would include the physical and functional characteristics of the buildings, environmental and geographical characteristics of the parcel where the building is located and key information about ownership status of the property, type of building, equipment and its condition. The detailed procedure for the undertaking of the GIS is included in the OM. Because this inventory would be linked to the National Investment Public System (SNIP) from the Ministry of Finance (Ministrerio of Haciendas y Credito Publico) and integrated to the SNIGI and the SPSFF, much of the basic information would be cross-reference with the SNIP to ensure inter-operability of the two tools.
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Table 5: Description and Estimated Cost of Activities. Description: Total cost Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Year 4 National School geo-referencing US$200,000 US$50,000 US$75,000 US$50,000 US$25,000 system and online school mapping Digital school inventory for 40 US$450,000 US$50,000 US$150,000 US$250,000 US$0 municipalities Creation of 5 departmental design offices for the 40 municipalities and US$1,950,000 US$950,000 US$650,000 US$250,000 US$100,000 support for central GDI office technical capabilities
Pre-investment Studies in Educational Infrastructures
57. One of the most important tasks under this sub-component is to provide information to guide the process that lead to the identification of priority investments in educational infrastructures in the selected municipalities. The objective of these pre-investment studies is to help the government to make high quality investments based on accurate and reliable information about the type of schools, the sites where they are located, the potential impacts of construction and alternative uses. The decision about infrastructure investment that can be prioritized to conduct pre-investment studies would based on the set of criteria in Table 6:
Table 6: Criteria to Prioritize Infrastructure Investment Criteria Score Pertinence: To meet this requirement the school must be: a primary, multi-grade or base Yes -1 No-0 school and its building must require replacement, expansion, rehabilitation or new construction. It is eligible? Buildable Area: Does the site meet minimal standards to consider investment? Yes -1 No-0 Legal status of the property and building: Is the legal documentation in order? Yes -1 No-0 Potential Number of beneficiaries: 80 students minimum Yes -1 No-0
58. The number of pre-investment studies would be defined by the investment amount required according to Table 7:
Table 7: Pre-investment infrastructure studies by category28 Pre-Investment Study Category A Pre-Investment Study Category B Total Cost of infrastructure investment required is Total Cost of Infrastructure investment required is estimated between US$21,000 and US$60,000 per Project estimated to be above US$61,000 per Project Conduct the following tasks: Conduct the following tasks:
General data as required by SNIP. General data as required by SNIP. Clear title certification. Clear title certification. Site analysis. (Complete: topography, location, Site analysis.(complete) buildable area assessment, soil capacity, etc.) Participatory design strategy. Participatory design strategy. At least two potential design proposals Complete set of construction drawings. Complete set of construction drawings. Environmental and Social Impact Studies. Environmental and Social Impact Studies. Proposed budget. Proposed budget, including maintenance cost for
28 It is expected that all category A studies would be conducted by 5 departmental infrastructure teams, while category B studies would be done by GDI central office and/or specialized consulting firms hired to perform the work. 41
Cost-sharing strategy (if proposed). the first 5 years. Acquisition method proposed and procurement Cost/benefit analysis. documents and schedule. Cost-sharing strategy (if proposed). Construction schedule. Acquisition method proposed and procurement Supervision and execution schedule. documents and schedule. Maintenance plan. Construction schedule. Supervision and execution schedule. Maintenance plan.
59. The expected pre-investment studies by department is shown in Table 8:
Table 8: Total Number of Pre-Investment Studies by Category Type and Municipality Studies to be funded Estimated cost of studies Required by this Project # Schools # Type A to be Type B Department total Avg. replaced or Year Year Year Year Total Avg. Cost schools Cost Total Costs expanded 1 2 3 4 US$ US$10,000 US$2000 each each Chontales 149 60 8 15 5 2 30 246 6 108,000 Jinotega 485 194 8 34 31 24 97 78 19 349,200 Nueva 235 94 11 23 10 5 49 39 10 176,400 Segovia Madriz 122 49 10 7 8 0 25 20 5 90,000 Matagalpa 528 211 12 39 35 20 106 85 21 381,600 RAAS 334 134 8 25 21 11 65 52 13 234,000 RAAN 801 320 14 57 53 39 163 130 33 586,000 Rio S. Juan 256 102 6 21 17 7 51 41 10 183,600 TOTAL 2,910 1,164 77 221 180 108 586 469 117 2,109,600
60. Sub-component 3.3: Project Management and Fiduciary Controls and Audits. (US$1.15 million).
61. This sub-component supports MINED in the administration, financial management, auditing and procurement aspects of the Project through, inter alia: (i) the provision of technical assistance and training to MINED’s staff; (ii) the acquisition of software, information and communication hardware, and small furniture items; and (iii) the carrying out of minor maintenance and improvement activities in MINED’s facilities.
62. This sub-component would provide technical assistance and support to the MINED who is responsible for implementing the Project. Specifically, the sub-component would strengthen the capacity of MINED to effectively carry out Project management, financial management and procurement. The detailed support financed by the Project is described under annexes 3 and 5 further below. The sub-component would finance various short and long-term consultant positions, cost of four audits during the life of the Project, the purchase of equipment and materials as well as operational expenditures to offset the costs of monitoring the Project activities. In addition, the Project would finance minor rehabilitation/remodeling of the DGAF to accommodate new ICTs and enhance productivity.
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Annex 3: Implementation Arrangements
Project institutional and implementation arrangements
1. Project administration mechanisms: The Project activities would be managed within the existing structure of the Ministry of Education (MINED), overseen by a full-time Project Coordinator (PC) located in the highest office of MINED (Dirección Superior). The MINED would be responsible for administering the proposed Project in coordination with its departmental and municipal delegations, as well as with the Education Secretariats of the two Autonomous Governments of the Atlantic regions (for the 10 municipalities in RAAS and RAAN targeted under the Project).
2. MINED and its staff located in technical directorates would be responsible for the technical aspects of Project implementation. MINED would ensure that the content, scale and scope of all contracts and activities financed by the Project correspond to its needs and the Education Strategic Plan (ESP), for which this Project would act as a catalyst to implement various aspects of the ESP in targeted municipalities. MINED would be responsible for preparation of all terms of reference, technical specifications for goods procurement, design and oversight of Project activities, etc., assisted if necessary with short-term technical assistance. MINED would collaborate with departmental and municipal level education staff to ensure that Project activities in the 40 selected municipalities are effectively implemented.
3. With respect to fiduciary aspects, MINED has experience implementing World Bank- financed Projects since early 2005. For the most recently closed Project (PASEN I), MINED completely institutionalized implementation of all Project components, under the overall responsibility of the Administrative and Financial General Division (División General Administrativa Financiera-DGAF). A recent assessment of existing fiduciary capacity concluded that the staffing numbers, qualifications and experience within the DGAF are satisfactory, so long as the DGAF is strengthened with a senior financial management specialist, an accountant and an expenditure analyst to effectively manage Project resources. In addition, an international procurement specialist and three procurement analysts would be contracted to work with MINED staff to build their capacity for procurement activities and act as a point of quality control between MINED and World Bank supervision support.
4. As identified in the CPS Progress Report, over the last three years weak implementation capacity has remained a serious challenge in the MINED. There is a risk that MINED may not have the necessary capacity to manage the Project effectively due to high staff turnover and weaknesses remaining in both technical and fiduciary domains, particularly with regards to the implementation of educational infrastructure activities. For that reason, a rapid institutional assessment of MINED was carried out during pre-appraisal (refer to Table 13, Institutional Assessment Matrix, at the end of this Annex), and all three Project components include activities (TA, training, equipment, operational cost funding, etc.) designed to build MINED’s implementation capacity. The objective of this exercise is to ensure the delivery of quality products and services, high levels of disbursement and due diligence on fiduciary and safeguards matters.
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5. In this regard, the MINED has recently conducted an institutional re-organization of the line units as reflected in the current MINED´s organizational structure29 shown in Figure 3.
Figure 3
6. The PC would coordinate and oversee day-to-day technical implementation and fiduciary management executed by three Secretariats: Secretary of Financial Management (Secretaria de Administracion Financiera), Secretary of Educational Planning and Investments (Secretaria de Planificacion Educativa e Inversiones), and Secretary of Educational Programs (Secretaria de Programas Educativos). Within the former (Secretariat of Financial Management), the DGAF would be responsible for financial management, disbursement request preparation, SOEs, audits, etc., while the Procurement Division would handle Project procurement (preparation of bid documents, bid evaluation, contracts, etc.). Responsibility for technical aspects of Project implementation would be with the technical line units according to their specialty of their substantive work, described in further detail below.
29 This organizational chart has been modified and adapted from its original to show the Divisions and Directorates in which the Project would have a direct impact. 44
7. The main line units that would be involved in Project implementation and their functions are:
(i) Administrative and Financial General Division (Division General Administrativa Financiera) (DGAF). It supports the Ministry in budget- and finance- related management and administration. It would handle all financial management aspects of the Project. It would consolidate the financial registration in the Integrated Financial Management System (SIGFAPRO), and perform reconciliation of the accounts.
(ii) Procurement Division (Division de Adquisiciones). It is responsible for the contracting and purchasing of goods, services, and minor works for the Ministry, and would also handle these aspects for the Project.
(iii) General Directorate of Planning (Dirección General de Planificación). It is responsible for the overall planning and implementation supervision of the ESP and its related educational programs, and for its monitoring and evaluation. It integrates four directorates: the Directorate of Planning and Strategic Planning (Dirección de Planificación y Desarrollo Estratégico), the Directorate of Institutional Evaluation (Dirección de Seguimiento y Evaluación Institucional), the Directorate of Educational Statistics (Dirección de Estadísticas Educativas), and the Directorate of Projects (Dirección de Proyectos). It would be responsible for these aspects of the Project and of the implementation of Component 3 (with the exception of the infrastructure sub- component).
(iv) General Directorate of Primary Education (Dirección General de Educación Primaria). It is responsible for defining the policy directions and technical orientation of primary education, ensuring the application and monitoring the implementation of the Curriculum, training technical staff in methodological aspects, among others. It would be in charge of implementing activities under Components 1 and 2, including Paquetes Solidarios, textbooks and multi-grade learning materials, and accelerated primary education for over-age rural students.
(v) General Directorate of Teacher Training (Dirección General de Formación Docente). It is in charge of ensuring the appropriate pre-service, in-service teacher training, its monitoring and evaluation. It would be in charge of implementing component 2 in coordination with the General Directorate of Primary Education.
(vi) Learning Assessment Office (Oficina de Evaluación de los Aprendizajes). A recently created unit, the Learning Assessment Office is in charge of carrying out the design, implementation and evaluation of the National Learning Assessment Strategy. It would be in charge of the activities of learning assessments under component 3, including baseline and end-of-Project studies in the 40 targeted municipalities, national standardized learning assessment, and Nicaragua’s participation in UNESCEO’s Third Regional Comparative Standardized Student Evaluation (TERCE).
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(vii) General Directorate of Educational Infrastructure (Dirección General de Infraestructura Escolar). It is in charge of the implementation of the infrastructure plan of the MINED, and would be in charge of the activities under Sub-Component 3.2, including pre-investment studies, and geo-referencing of all schools.
(viii) Directorate of Informatics. It would be in charge of implementing and supporting Component 3, particularly the conversion to a VOIP tele-communications system and any upgrades in ICT hardware and software for MINED directorates financed by the Project.
(ix) Coordination Office with the two Atlantic Autonomous Region Educational Systems (Oficina de Enlace con el Sistema Educativo de las Regiones Autonomas-SEAR). It is in charge of coordinating MINED’s basic education programs with the two Atlantic Autonomous Region Education Systems (SEAR), established by the 2006 Education Law. The SEAR are still in their nascent stages in both RAAS and RAAN, but play a critical role in improving educational participation among indigenous groups in these regions. The Coordination Office would oversee all Project activities carried out in the autonomous regions, provide training to teachers in inter-cultural bilingual education, and ensure implementation of the Indigenous Peoples Plan and other social safeguards.
(x) Departmental and municipal delegations of the MINED (Delegaciones Departamentales y Municipales). They are in charge of implementing the ESP, MINED policies and the Project within their respective geographic territories, in coordination with central MINED directorates. They would play an important role to ensure distribution of education inputs financed by the Project (Paquetes Solidarios, textbooks, school furniture, teacher training, student assessment), and to provide critical Project M&E information. In addition, pre-investment studies financed by the Project would be largely carried out by 19 infrastructure coordinators located in Departmental delegations.
8. In addition to overall Project coordination, the PC would have a critical capacity-building and training role within MINED to ensure that each of the various directorates deliver key inputs such as TORs, technical specifications, bid documents, monitoring reports, data, etc. on a timely basis and in correct formats. The PC would be the primary point of contact with the World Bank supervision staff and would ensure effective interaction between the financial management and procurement teams in the MINED. Based on the Results Framework and Annual Project Implementation Plans30 (PIPs), the PC would establish and maintain a physical and financial implementation monitoring system. The PC would be identified according to a professional profile specified in terms of reference acceptable to the World Bank.
9. Additional strengthening of MINED’s fiduciary staff would be carried out with an objective of building capacity not just for implementation of this Project but also for subsequent larger investments to follow (e.g. EU and Global Partnership for Education funding). The Project would, therefore, finance fiduciary staff who would have expertise and responsibilities for training
30 Project Implementation Plan (PIP) or Plan de Corto Plaza (PCP) is prepared by MINED in the Fall of each year. Content and format of the PIP are detailed in the OM. The World Bank would review and approve the PIP on an annual basis usually during a supervision mission. 46 existing and future MINED personnel. These individuals would also exercise critical quality control functions in reviewing financial and procurement documentation before it is sent to the World Bank for no objection or review. Specifically, in addition to a short-term international procurement specialist, the Project would finance three procurement analysts, a senior financial management specialist, an accountant and an expenditure analyst (the latter to reinforce the internal control within MINED). MINED would review on a regular basis (at least once year) the performance of these staff and would decide in consultation with the World Bank if their position would be maintained during the lifetime of the Project.
Financial Management, Disbursements and Procurement
Financial Management and Disbursements
10. A financial management assessment was carried out to determine Financial Management (FM) implementation risk and help establish adequate FM arrangements for the proposed Project. Based on the assessment31, recommendations and complementary actions have been agreed to ensure that the Project is implemented within a sound fiduciary environment in compliance with World Bank requirements.
11. The DGAF would be responsible for the financial management arrangements of the proposed Project. It would consolidate the financial registration in the Integrated Financial Management System (SIGFAPRO) and perform reconciliation of the accounts. DGAF has experience managing World Bank funds with the recently implemented PASEN I (P078990, Credit No. NI -3978). The last FM Rating for this Project was ―Moderately Satisfactory‖, in light of which an action plan was agreed to and is in the process of implementation.
12. In general, FM arrangements would be quite similar than those under PASEN I. All the Project funds would be centrally executed by MINED, except for the transfer to Escuelas Normales for the training of the two cohorts of multi-grade teachers under the sub-component 2.1. The transfer of resources would be used to pay for eligible expenditures listed in the OM. Funds transferred to the Escuelas Normales would be audited as part of the Project’s annual external audit. The selected categories are civil works (minor repairs), goods, consulting services, non- consulting services and operating costs. The adequacy of FM arrangements would be continuously monitored during Project supervision, and adjustments made when necessary to ensure fiduciary compliance.
13. Staffing. DGAF staff would be strengthened under the Project with a Senior Financial Management Specialist, an Accountant, and an Expenditure Analyst for internal control (rendición de cuentas), with the appropriate skills, experience and knowledge to perform the FM functions.
14. Accounting System. DGAF would use the Integrated Financial Management System (SIGFAPRO) and would prepared financial reports on the cash-based method of accounting.
31 The World Bank also reviewed the audit 2010 of PASEN I which included recommendations to strengthen internal mechanism control and accounting, which were taken into account to prepare the financial arrangements of PASEN II. 47
15. Budget Planning. Aggregate Project expenditures would be incorporated by MINED into its multi-annual budget and integrated into the annual budget formulation process. Between August and September of each year, MINED would prepare its tentative investment program for the following year. The program should be consistent with the budget policy provided by Ministry of Finance and Public Credit (Ministerio de Haciendas y Credito Publico-MHCP), incorporated into the national public investment system (SNIP), and - once approved - reflected in MINED’s budget proposal. This budget, in turn, would be incorporated by MHCP into the General Budget for its submission to the National Assembly by each October.
16. Project Financial Reporting. The DGAF would prepare financial information on a semiannual basis and submit it through the World Bank Interim Financial Reports (IFRs) containing: (i) Statement of Sources and Uses of Funds (with expenditures classified by disbursement category) and Cash Balances; (ii) Statement of Budget Execution (with expenditures classified by subcomponent), along with the reconciliation of the segregated account with Project records and with the budgetary execution in SIGFA. All documentation for consolidated SOEs would be maintained for post review and audit purposes for up to three years after the closing date of the Project, or for 18 months after receipt by the World Bank of an acceptable final financial audit, whichever is later. The format of IFRs and other Financial Reports should be reviewed and approved before negotiations.
17. The IFRs would be submitted no later than 45 days after the end of each semester for the World Bank’s review. This review would enhance FM supervision, enabling periodic control over the proposed Project’s accounts, which would complement the planned supervisions, thus helping to mitigate fiduciary risk.
18. Scope of the External Audit. An external, independent, private audit firm, acceptable to the World Bank, would be contracted by MINED no later than four months after the Credit effectiveness to audit the funds. The audit firm would be hired for the entire implementation period of the Project. This is the first activity included in the PAC. The audit firm would review and provide opinion on the Annual Financial Statements, covering the fiscal year (which coincides with the calendar year). The audited financial statements shall be presented to the World Bank no later than six months after the end of the fiscal period. TORs would be designed with a scope for specific review of the Designated Account (DA). TORs and a short list would be reviewed for the World Bank’s no objection. Agreed TORs for the external audit could be modified in case MINED decides to carry out a joined-external audit of other donor funding that are expected to be managed by the World Bank (EU and Global Partnership for Education).
19. Internal Control. MINED is subject to the control of the Internal Audit Directorate. Under international standards, it is agreed that the Internal Audit Directorate would include the revision of the financial documentation of this Project in its internal audit plan. The internal audit reports would be available to the World Bank during supervision missions.
20. A Project Operational Manual (OM) is being prepared by MINED which details the principal FM procedures, including budgeting, accounting, payments, support documentation, accounts reconciliation, financial reporting and inventory control over assets. The OM details the institutional measures that MINED would implement to its internal control system.
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21. Flow of funds. A Designated Account (DA) would be opened to receive IDA funds, with an authorized ceiling of US$0.8 million for expenses under all categories. This initial amount could be changed and amended in the Disbursement Letter (DL) upon specific request. The DA would be located in the Central Bank of Nicaragua under the control of the Treasury, from which the funds would be transferred to the MINED-DGAF’s operating account to finance expenditures made or to be made within 30 days of the transfer.
22. The DA shall operate under the traditional mechanism of replenishment by the SOE method. Copies of records would be used to support disbursement during the entire execution of the Project. Disbursements would be made against standard documentation throughout the entire execution of the Project, and documentary evidence would be sought by the World Bank for expenditures above thresholds in the DL. The disbursements for the proposed Project would be subject to standard and approved World Bank disbursement methods, which would be defined in the DL. These would include reimbursements, advances and direct payments.
23. In the case of Subcomponent 2.1 Teachers Training Institutions (Escuelas Normales) transfers, it is necessary to perform due diligence work to review the capability of the agent(s) and ensure adequacy of capacity for transfers processing, control and reporting as fiduciary standards for this type of operation. The Bank also recognizes that there is a need to ensure that the anti- corruption clauses are present in the Agencies Project documents, in accordance with the World Bank’s financial procedures.
Risk Assessment and Mitigation
Risk Rating
24. Overall FM risk is rated as ―Substantial‖. The FM arrangements, which include a series of additional measures, respond to the identified risks and provide a suitable supervision strategy. The adequacy of FM arrangements would be continuously monitored during Project supervision, with adjustments made if necessary to ensure fiduciary compliance. Table 9 presents the risk assessment and mitigation measures incorporated into Project design and the FM implementation arrangements.
Table 9: Risk Assessment and Mitigation Measures incorporated into Project design and the FM implementation arrangements
Risk Risk Risk Mitigating Measures Rating Inherent Risk Entity M MINED is the institution with overall responsibility in charge of the implementation of the Level Project. As per precedent, MINED would assign day-to-day FM activities to the same unit (DGAF) that has managed previous World Bank Projects, to ensure continuity Project S Contract a Senior Financial Management Specialist, Accountant and Expenditure Analyst Level under DGAF Prepare chapter on FM procedures, to be included in the OM Relevant DGAF staff to attend specific FM & Disbursement training Contract external audit for the entire implementation period of the Project
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Control risk Budgeting, Accounting, Internal M Implementation of SIGFAPRO as a mitigation measure. Control Funds Flow S Segregated account in dollars, under traditional mechanism of replenishment by SOE method Financial Reporting, Auditing M Semiannual Financial Reports. Annual External Audit Financial Statements. FM Risk S
25. Financial Management Action Plan. An Action Plan has been agreed on with the DGAF to ensure that adequate FM systems are in place before implementation begins. Detailed activities are presented in Table 10.
Table 10: Action Plan for DGAF
Action Responsible Entity Completion Date32
2. Contract one Senior FM Specialist, one Accountant and one Expenditure Analyst for internal control (rendición de DGAF April 2012 cuentas) for the Project. 3. Contract external auditors, based on TORs and short list satisfactory to the World Bank for the entire implementation DGAF June 2012 period of the Project. 4. Provide specific training in FM & Disbursements for World Bank April-May 2012 Project FM Staff
26. World Bank FM Supervision Plan. A World Bank FM Specialist would complete a supervision mission prior to Project effectiveness to verify the implementation of the action plan and review all FM arrangements for the Project. After effectiveness, the FM Specialist would review the annual audit report, the financial sections of the semiannual IFRs including a monthly reconciliation of accounts, and perform at least one complete supervision mission per year. Additional supervision missions would be carried out, if necessary.
Procurement
27. Procurement for the proposed Project would be carried out by the Procurement Division of MINED in accordance with the provisions of the Credit Agreement, the World Bank’s "Guidelines: Procurement of Goods, Works and Non-Consulting Services Under IBRD Loans and World Bank Credits & Grants" and "Guidelines: Selection and Employment of Consultants Under IBRD Loans and World Bank Credits & Grants by World Bank Borrowers‖, both dated January 2011, and the POM.
28. Works: to be financed by the Credit include minor maintenance and improvement activities in MINED’s facilities, in particular for: (i) the DGAF and General Directorate of Infrastructure (GDI) at MINED’s offices in Managua; (ii) the GDI’s offices in MINED’s Departmental
32 This column presents the estimated completion date, and is not an indication of legal conditions.
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Delegations in departments targeted by the Project; and (iii) the Escuelas Normales targeted under the Project. All contracts are estimated to cost below $1,500,000 and would be procured following NCB and Shopping procedures, as discussed below.
29. Goods to be financed by the Credit include a wide variety of items: backpacks, school materials and shoes for students; desks, chairs, blackboards, shelving systems for rural schools; textbooks and teaching materials (either limited to the reproduction of existing textbooks or including the development of the textbooks); software licenses and ICT equipment; design, supply and installation of ICT systems; plus the supply and installation of communication equipment. The distribution of the above mentioned goods to their agreed distribution points (i.e.: municipal delegations and/or large schools) would be contracted to the supplier in order to provide a single responsibility solution. Procurement would follow ICB procedures with the exception of contracts estimated to cost below the equivalent of US$150,000, which may be procured following NCB procedures.
30. Non-consulting services to be financed by the Credit include (a) communication and dissemination campaigns, (b) transport; and (c) printing materials. Contracts estimated to cost below US$150,000 would be procured following NCB procedures. ICB procedures are not foreseen.
31. Bidding Documents: ICBs would be bid using the World Bank’s Standard Bidding Documents (SBD) for Goods, the World Bank’s SDB for the Procurement of IT Systems, the World Bank’s Trial Bidding Document for the Procurement of Textbooks and reading materials and the World Bank’s Sample Bidding Document for the Procurement of Non-Consultant Services. The procurement under NCB procedures would be conducted using bidding documents to be agreed with the Nicaraguan Procurement Directorate33. These documents would be based on national procurement documents, since local law procurement methods can be considered equivalent to World Bank NCB, if minor adjustments are introduced to the bidding documents34. The ranges of application of each of the local methods equivalent to World Bank NCB and the minimum bidding terms are displayed in Table 11.
Table 11: Local Methods Local Method Threshold Ceiling Bidding Minimum Term (US$) (US$) (days) Public Bidding35 (only for 150,000 1,500,000 30 Works) Selective Bidding36 25,000 150,000 20 Minor Purchase37 n/a 25,000 10
32. The agreed NCB bidding documents would be part of the OM and published at the SISCAE web page.
33 Dirección General de Contrataciones del Estado. 34 Mainly, ensuring that bids are publicly opened and that bidding terms are slightly increased. 35 Licitación Pública. 36 Licitación Selectiva. 37 Compra menor. 51
33. Shopping would be permitted only for contracts estimated to cost below US$25,000. If the process fails to result in three comparable quotations, MINED would repeat it following NCB procedures.
34. Consultants Services financed by the credit include impact evaluation studies; the design, installation and commissioning of the geo-referencing and school inventory systems; the design, installation and commissioning of an analytical education planning, monitoring and statistics system; implementing data collection, storage, management and normalization of data and data sources; revising, designing and developing new statistical instruments and analytical tools for collecting and processing data; designing security, access and management policies for the information system, the design of remedial teaching programs, technical assistance for MINED staff and pre-investment infrastructure studies. These services would be rendered either by firms or by individuals, as indicated in the Procurement Plan. Short lists of consultants for services estimated to cost less than US$200,000 equivalent per contract may be composed entirely of national consultants; however process above that amount are not expected at this time. Service Delivery Contractors would also be hired in order to collect data for the implementation of a pilot to register students in targeted municipalities.
35. Operating Costs: financed by the credit include travel, lodging and per diem expenditures for MINED staff in order to supervise the Project activities; transportation of goods acquired by the Project between the distribution points (Hub School, Escuela Nucleo- and municipal education delegation) and the beneficiary schools under the Project in the selected municipalities; operation and maintenance of office equipment; maintenance and repair of vehicles; rental of offices and other menial expenditures incurred by MINED for the day-to-day management of the Project, including purchase of minor supplies.
36. Training: the credit would finance costs of scholarships, travel and per diem of trainers and trainees, training logistics such as hotel services, catering, travel services, rental of training facilities and equipment and training materials.
37. Project Operational Manual (OM): All the procurement procedures are described in detail in the OM, agreed with World Bank prior to Credit Negotiations and to be published on MINED’s web page. The OM includes model bid evaluation reports and model reports for the preparation of short lists.
Assessment of the agency capacity to implement procurement
38. Procurement activities would be carried out by the Procurement Division of MINED. This Division reports to the Vice-minister of Administrative Issues and is staffed by a coordinator and 10 staff. It has experience with World Bank, UNICEF, UNPA and EU Projects, and with grants from Spain and Japan. The unit has an effective procurement information system that was developed in-house (SISGA, Sistema de Gestión de Adquisiciones).
39. The unit is adequately staffed and equipped to undertake the standard procurement activities routinely carried out by the division. However, as described above, project implementation implies the procurement of a wide variety of items and the use of several complex
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Bank bidding documents, which –compounded with procurement work expected from new financing by other donors—exceeds the existing capacity of the unit.
40. The key issues and risks concerning procurement for implementation of the project include: (a) MINED weak implementation capacity vis-a-vis expected volume of workload, (b) variety and complexity of procurement to be carried out for project implementation, and (c) local procurement regulations include practices that are not acceptable to the Bank.
41. The corrective measures which have been agreed are: (i) MINED would hire three additional Procurement Analysts with TORs and qualifications acceptable to the Bank, who would be in charge of the project procurement function (ii) MINED would retain its most qualified existing procurement staff to support the project as needed, (iii) MINED would hire a highly qualified procurement advisor, with TORs and qualifications acceptable to the Bank,; would coach the analysts and procurement MINED staff and contribute to quality control and be responsible for transfer-knowledge ; (iv) the project would be implemented according to an OM acceptable to the World Bank; and (v) the following Special Procurement Provisions would be included in the Credit Agreement:
(i) Unless the Bank may otherwise agree, for the procurement of goods and non-consultant services, the ―best offer‖ shall be the one submitted by the Bidder whose offer was determined to be the lowest evaluated bid and was found substantially responsive to the Bidding Document, provided further that the Bidder was determined to be qualified to perform the Contract satisfactorily. (ii) Bidders and Consultants shall not be allowed to review or make copies of other bidder’s bids or consultants’ proposals, as the case may be. Likewise, bidders’ and consultants’ responses to requests of clarifications made by the procuring entity during the bidding process shall not be disclosed to other bidders or consultants, as the case may be. Finally, reports including recommendations for award shall not be shared with bidders and consultants prior to their publication. (iii) Eligibility criteria shall be the one defined in Section I of the Procurement and Consultant Guidelines. Articles 17 and 18 of Law 737 shall not apply. (iv) Automatic rejection of bids or proposals, as the case may be, due to differences between bid or proposal prices and cost estimates being higher than predetermined percentages, shall not be allowed. (v) Bidders shall have the possibility of procuring hard copies of bidding documents even if they are published on the procurement portal. (vi) Unless so indicated in the applicable Bank Standard Bidding Documents, pre-bid conferences shall not be conducted. (vii) Bid preparation terms shall not be reduced as a result of re-bidding. (viii) Consultants shall not be requested to submit bid and performance securities. (ix) Complaints shall be handled as indicated in the appendixes to the Procurement and Consultant Guidelines. Articles 110 to 116 of Law 737 shall apply in a subsidiary manner. (x) Procurement plans shall be processed through SEPA. (xi) MINED shall comply with all SISCAE publication requirements.
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42. Besides the risk-mitigation measures described above, prior and post review supervision by the World Bank would be conducted under the terms defined below.
Table 12: Basis for the Procurement Plan Goods and Non Consulting Services involving international competition
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Review Expected Domestic Ref. Contract Estimated Procurement by World Bid- P-Q Preference No. (Description) Cost Method Bank Opening (yes/no) (Prior / Post) Date Printing February 1 540,000 ICB No No Prior Services 2012 Solidarity February 2 950,000 ICB No No Prior Packages 2012 February 3 Vehicles 300,000 ICB No No Prior 2012 ICT February 4 860,000 ICB No No Prior Equipment 2012 Didactic February 5 164,000 ICB No No Post materials 2012 Printing 6 2,100,000 ICB No No Prior July 2012 Services Sets for 7 166,000 ICB No No Post July 2012 teachers Furniture 8 and 200,000 ICB No No Post July 2012 Blackboards 9 Textbooks 450,000 ICB No No Prior July 2012
43. The following processes aimed at the procurement of Works, Goods and Non-Consultant Services would be subject to prior review by the World Bank:
(i) All contracts estimated to cost above US$300,000. (ii) The first two ICB processes regardless of amount, the first two NCB processes regardless of the applicable local law method and the first two shopping processes. (iii) For all direct contracting, the justification shall be submitted to the World Bank jointly with the Procurement Plan, and the justification of the reasonableness of price along with the draft contract would be subject to prior review. 54
44. The following Consultant Services processes would be subject to prior review by the World Bank: (i) All contracts estimated to cost above US$100,000. (ii) The first two process following each selection method regardless of amount. (iii) For all direct contracting, the justification shall be submitted to the World Bank jointly with the Procurement Plan, and the justification of the reasonableness of price along with the draft RFP plus the draft contract would be subject to prior review.
45. In addition to the prior review supervision defined above, ex–post supervision missions would be conducted at least once a year to review 1:5 procurement processes.
Environmental and Social (including safeguards)
46. Indigenous peoples, afro-descendants and the poorer and most vulnerable sectors of the Nicaraguan population are among the main beneficiaries of the Project. More specifically the Project would benefit indigenous peoples living in RAAN, RAAS and those who live in the North Pacific and Center Regions. It would also include the afro-descendant populations living in the Rio San Juan, and the peasants and mestizo communities that populate the entire country. The Rio San Juan are the most challenging areas because of the isolation of many communities, the high levels poverty and illiteracy, and the high percentage of non-Spanish speaking populations, especially among women. In these Regions the Project faces the challenge of supporting and strengthening IBE. The Project triggers OP/BP 4.10 (Indigenous Peoples) and an Indigenous Peoples Development Plan was disclosed on the Ministry of Education Website and on the World Bank Website on October 7, 2011. This Plan outlines measures and procedures to inform, consult and facilitate the participation of Indigenous Peoples living in the three regions covered by the Project. This Plan takes into account cultural characteristics of these groups to ensure inclusion of both genders, and a gender–based approach to promote the access of girls to education would be promoted during implementation.
47. The Project would not engage in construction activities, nor is it expected to generate adverse environmental effects. The bulk of physical activities involve refurbishing schools with furniture and school supplies and small repairs of MINED offices as well as limited renovations in Teacher Training Institutions. A screening of minor rehabilitation/remodeling was made and no risks were outlined given the nature of the small works to be made. In addition, the Project would finance pre-investment studies for planned investments in educational infrastructure financed outside of the Project. These pre-investment studies would be carried out in accordance with World Bank policies. They would include appropriate environmental and safety considerations, such as: selection of construction materials in the Atlantic coast that minimize social and environmental impacts; environmental mitigation and monitoring measures to be taken during implementation; waste disposal measures; construction site management criteria, including proper safety protocols for construction workers, including the use of personal protective equipment; dust and noise control; and institutional arrangement for supervision and oversight of environmental measures. They would include criteria to screen out involuntary resettlement as defined under OP/BP 4.12 (Involuntary Resettlement).
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48. In light of the fact that Central America is a natural disaster-prone area, the pre-investment studies should be designed so that a school structure can at least take the brunt of a major earthquake sufficiently to get children and staff out safely. Measures to protect against floods would also be an integral part of these pre-investment studies. They would also take into consideration measures to ensure that students and teachers attending the schools where any construction activities are taking place are not negatively affected. As appropriate, each civil works contract would specify the required environmental management measures to be followed at each site.
Monitoring & Evaluation
49. The PC and the Division of Monitoring and Evaluation will be responsible for tracking progress related to Project outcomes and results on a day-to-day basis, with the support of other MINED directorates. Data for the Project’s outcome and results indicators would come from a variety of sources, including: (i) the physical and financial implementation MIS system to be established for the Project: (ii) the annual collection of enrollment, repetition, dropout and retention data; (iii) targeted monitoring information collected in the 40 municipalities, for example concerning the percentage of students who receive Paquetes Solidarios and complete the school year; and (iv) periodic student learning assessments.
50. The Division of Educational Statistics would be responsible for data collection regarding enrollment, repetition, dropout and retention in the 40 targeted municipalities. As part of Sub- Component 3.1, this Division would be strengthened with technical assistance, training, operational costs and the purchase of software and equipment, aimed at improving and integrating the National Educational Statistical System within MINED’s overall Management Information System (MIS) for education planning. MINED’s Office of Learning Assessment would be responsible for the student learning assessments, and would receive technical assistance for the baseline and end-of-Project learning assessments in the 40 targeted municipalities, as well as for further analysis of national learning assessments already carried out and those to be carried out under the Project. The Directorates for Primary Education, Teacher Training and Infrastructure would be responsible for providing Project implementation monitoring data for their respective activities, which would be synthesized into the Project implementation MIS. All these Directorates have the capacity to collect data, in coordination with MINED’s departmental and municipal offices and participating schools.
51. Some additional costs would be required to support M&E under the Project, specifically for the Directorate of Educational Statistics (financed under Sub-component 3.1), the Office of Learning Assessment (financed under Sub-component 2.4), and the implementing technical line Directorates (financing for operational costs linked to M&E is included in the various sub- components).
52. The Project would improve the use of data to assess the Project’s effectiveness during implementation, through the strengthening of the Divisions for Planning, Educational Statistics, and Institutional M&E under the General Directorate for Planning (Sub-component 3.1). The physical and financial Project implementation MIS system to be established under the supervision of the PC would provide additional specific information, against which progress in implementation
56 of the Annual Project Procurement Plan and Annual Project Implementation Plan would be measured. Data would be collected and analyzed on a continuous basis, with implementation progress formally measured every six months. This data would be reviewed with the World Bank’s supervision team and corrective Project implementation measures would be discussed and agreed to as necessary, and reflected in Project Supervision Aide Memoires (for monitoring during subsequent supervision missions).
Role of Partners
53. While no other bilateral or international agencies are financing this Project, it is expected that highly complementary educational investments would be prepared and financed shortly by the European Union (EU) and Global Partnership for Education. Indeed, the pre-investment studies to be financed under the proposed Project are being prepared with the expectation that EU funding would be available for actual classroom construction, rehabilitation and repair. The GoN has requested that the World Bank manage both EU- and the Global Partnership for Education Fund- financed operations (probably through a Multi-Donor Trust Fund), which are anticipated to be in place by mid-2012. Should this happen, the World Bank, EU and Global Partnership for Education would work closely with MINED to ensure harmonized Project implementation, M&E and supervision arrangements.
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Table 13: MINED Institutional Assessment Matrix Project Staffing Strengths Weaknesses Implementation Risk Mitigation Measures Responsibility FM Division (DGAF) All FM 80 staff, recently re- Prior experience Many existing staff Slow replenishment of Project would finance Sr. FM Specialist, an arrangements for organized with WB are competent, but operational account Accountant, and an Expenditure Analyst for Project; management PASEN I too few are trained because of SOE delays, internal control (rendición de cuentas) of operating account Project, good and experienced in possible declaration of with SIGFAPRO, leadership World Bank FM expenditures as ineligible FMRs, SOEs, procedures. for World Bank Disbursement Long delays to justify reimbursement; delays in Requests, external expenditures from allocating operational audits, etc.. Ensure Ministry staff at local funds to technical line proper application of levels and directorates to carry out Project Operational weaknesses in Project activities. Manual (OM) MINED’s internal control mechanism arrangements. Procurement Division (UA) All contracting and Coordinator, plus Adequate Staff turnover, variety Delays in preparation of Most qualified staff to be responsible for purchasing of goods, 10 staff staffing and and complexity of procurement documents procurement (replacement only be replaced consultant services equipment for World Bank leading to delays in upon poor performance with equally qualified and minor works for MINED procurement procurement of goods and personnel); Project to finance 3 Procurement Project. procurement procedures to be consultants; incorrect Analysts and international technical assistance activities. used, non-alignment procurement to provide training/coaching to UA staff and of some national documentation can lead to conduct quality control of documents before procurement practices further delays after they are submitted to WB.. with those of WB. submission for review/no objection to World Bank; possible mis- procurement. Project Staffing Strengths Weaknesses Implementation Risk Mitigation Measures Responsibility Planning Directorate (DGP) Overall Project 12 technical staff in Recent re-organization Non-alignment of Turnover or overload of Clear full-time assignment of PC at Coordination, M&E, M&E; has provided new information systems, Project Coordinator (PC) level of Dirección Superior; Specific, production of all 6 in Projects; vitality, synergy, some staff without could slow down sequenced technical assistance educational 5 in planning; clarity of required competencies implementation, requested to diagnose current systems statistics, and 20 in statistics. responsibilities and for their job; obsolete proposed integration of and practices, develop conceptual oversight of Recently re- leadership; strategic ICT systems; information systems is framework for new integrated 58 institutional organized under a plan provides medium- insufficient staff given technically complicated system; procurement of new software arrangements for Secretary of term direction; size of educational and requires changes in and equipment required; extensive Project Planning commitment to system; excessive use of work behavior which training for all staff to operationalize implementation. integration and manual data may be difficult for all new system; revision of education accessibility of collection/analysis at staff to accept; Statistics statistics data capture formats and information for departemental levels; and information may not new mechanisms for data processing. planning and decision- overload of data capture be properly collected, making formats in field. analyzed and disseminated in time to be useful for MINED decision-making and resource allocation; Project M&E may be inadequate. Primary Education Directorate (DEP) Application of 13 technical staff, Extensive experience Limited capacity to Paquetes Solidarios may DEP to contract TA to transfer primary curriculum, organized in regular with textbook develop and administer be distributed incorrectly knowledge and train in targeting and definition of key primary, over-age development and targeting criteria for (errors of inclusion and qualitative assessment, who would policies (e.g. primary and multi- distribution, Paquetes Solidarios. exclusion), PS and help define targeting criteria, multigrade grade primary. development of Little experience with textbooks may be methodology and monitoring modalities), activity-based learning quasi-experimental delayed/goods may be procedures in 2012; Project to alignment of workbooks, impact evaluation design lost or damaged. Scope finance PS after program teachers, texts, supervision of and administration. of program may not be implementation is clear – first Paquetes Solidarios procurement processes Distribution mechanisms replicable and anticipated distribution in 2013. TA (PS), learning for goods and services; and procedures of PS sustainable beyond would also be provided to: help materials, organization of people and textbooks. Too few Project municipalities; design Impact Evaluation for Accelerated in field for distribution staff to support the impact evaluation may Paquetes Solidarios; assist in curriculum, for over- (Battle for 6th grade implementation and not be sufficiently revision of textbooks in 2015; and age students committees). monitoring of activities rigorous to assess impact design accelerated primary in the field. on retention. curriculum for over-age rural children.
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Project Staffing Strengths Weaknesses Implementation Risk Mitigation Measures Responsibility Teacher Training Directorate (DGFP) Ensure provision of 10 (5 in pre-service Experienced Lack of technical staff Training of community- 56 professors in Escuelas Normales pre- and in- service and 5 in in-service), leadership, good team, for all subject areas and based multi-grade in Master’s Program in Training of teacher training many with more experience in teacher for program budgeting; teachers may not be Trainers. (Dutch financing); hire 2 (training of than 10 years education and training, Until 2010 curriculum of effective; delays in technical experts for development of community multi- experience. including curriculum Escuelas Normales availability of training modules; would like to hire grade teachers, development, designed for urban operational funds for budgeting/planning specialist for all TEPCEs, in-service initiative, proven mono-grade schools, and training activities, linked training activities; Need to update training in content TEPCEs program, curriculum partially to difficulties in computers. (math, literature, close collaboration transformation oriented submission of expenses evaluation, lesson with Escuelas towards rural teaching for advances; poor planning) Normales. still in initial stages; budgeting of training Escuelas Normales activities. Lack of Schools have no support for monitoring transport to follow up on and evaluation of trainees. activities in the field. Learning Assessment Office (OEA) Design, 3 technical staff Close collaboration Insufficient staff for Unable to assess baseline Finance TA to complete analysis of administration, with training and with subject-matter assessment sample and end-of-Project 2009 and 2010 learning assessments, analysis and basic competencies. specialists, experience design and results impact studies. Lack of and to update test item World Bank dissemination of with national and analysis. Limited reliable assessments in for national assessments, TA for baseline learning international (e.g. capacity to analyze 2012-2015 to measure Baseline Study in representative survey (including UNESCO SERCE) factors linked to student Project’s impact on sample of the 40 Municipalities, TA EGRA), national assessments; trained in learning from 2009 and student learning, and for definition of evaluation policy of assessments (Grade assessment, test item 2010 assessment. design remedial actions MINED. 4 and 6); development. where required. participation in TERCE.
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Project Staffing Strengths Weaknesses Implementation Risk Mitigation Measures Responsibility Education Infrastructure Directorate (GDI) Preparation of pre- Recently Strong support from Lack of experience and Dispersion and limited Furniture procurement would specify investment studies, restructured with Vice-Ministerial level, qualifications to conduct access to rural school delivery of goods to municipal provision of school clarified Functional structure pre-investment studies buildings make MINED offices. equipment and responsibilities for for community (formerly responsibility transportation of Project would finance specialized IT furniture, infrastructure needs, engagement and cost of another Ministry). materials and staff very support for Project management and establishment of design and sharing with municipal Insufficient budget for difficult. Because school technical assistance to train pre- geo-referenced supervision, 19 and community levels. transportation and infrastructure planning investment design teams as well as database of all infrastructure Experience estimating, equipment. follows specialized basic adaptation of office space and schools and their departmental acquiring and Inadequate IT design standards, there provide adequate transportation condition/needs, coordinators distributing school support/systems to may be shortage of fully resources to enable departmental digital geo- recently hired. furniture. enable efficient and qualified professionals to design offices to function properly. referenced inventory decentralized Project join the design teams. of all school management and buildings for 40 execution. municipalities. Office of Coordination with Education System of Autonomous Regions (SEAR) Facilitate Project Coordination Office Good leadership and MINED yet to pass Environmental Project would finance 2 technical implementation in 7 established in 2007. coordination with responsibility to SEAR conditions may curriculum specialists for 24 months, municipalities 5 technical staff; other MINED for most activities complicate located in RAAS and RAAN. located in PASEN I financed 3 directorates; multi- foreseen by 2006 Law. transportation and autonomous regions, additional technical lingual staff from Lack technical bilingual logistics thus delaying working with SEAR staff (now gone). autonomous regions. curriculum specialists; Project implementation; (created by PASEN I financed Insufficient operational Poor coordination Education Law boats to reach isolated budget for travel and between SEAR and 2006). 10 training areas. supervision to MINED may also result workshops for autonomous regions. in delays in Project teachers in inter- implementation in cultural/bilingual autonomous areas. education.
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Annex 4: Operational Risk Assessment Framework (ORAF) Nicaragua Support to the Education Sector Project II
1. Project Stakeholder Risks Rating Moderate Description: Risk Management: The Project is fully aligned with the Education Strategic Plan 2011-2015 There is a risk that political leaders and education and it would play a catalytic role to mobilize additional resources to meet the demand of stakeholders from outside of the targeted areas demand stakeholders outside the Project targeted areas. The World Bank has also been requested to similar Project interventions in their communities. Without prepare and supervise two new education Projects to be financed by the Global Partnership additional financing from the government and other donors it for Education and by the European Union. may not be possible to meet their demands. Resp: Ministry of Stage: implementation Due Date : N/A Status: N/A Education (MINED) 2. Implementing Agency Risks (including fiduciary) 2.1 Capacity Rating: Substantial Description: Risk Management: The Project would target capacity building and systems support at There is a risk that MINED may not have the necessary MINED. A fiduciary assessment was carried out during preparation to identify the main areas capacity to manage the Project effectively, due to high staff in which MINED would strengthen its fiduciary capacity, as well as identify the best turnover, weaknesses remaining in financial management institutional arrangements for the implementation of the most challenging Project activities. and procurement, especially in execution of pre-investments The World Bank would require staffing of key positions in the Procurement and Finance studies for educational infrastructure activities and large Divisions which meet World Bank requirements for fiduciary management. In addition, the international competitive biddings for the purchase of MINED prepared a chapter on FM procedures included in the Operations Manual, would learning materials, equipment and furniture. invite relevant MINED staff to attend specific FM & Disbursement training, and would support the implementation of SIGFAPRO as a mitigation measure to improve budgeting, accounting, and internal control. For its part, the World Bank would invite relevant MINED staff to attend specific FM & Disbursement training. To ensure funds flow and accurate reporting, the World Bank would create a segregated account in US dollars, under traditional mechanism of replenishment by SOE method and also semi-annual financial reporting
The Project would support targeted strengthening of MINED’s systems for strategic planning, statistics, monitoring and evaluation, and learning assessment, including development of procedural manuals and Management Information System. Resp: MINED Stage: implementation Due Date : N/A Status: N/A
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3. Governance Rating: Moderate Description: Risk Management: During preparation, the World Bank team has worked with a wide range There is a risk of political interference in the decision- of counterparts, including various technical divisions of MINED, the Minister and the making process, institutional arrangements and targeting, President’s advisor, as well as authorities of the Ministry of Finance, to ensure consensus particularly between government agencies and other building and information sharing. MINED would continue with the practice of reviewing government entities and MINED, that could create external donor interventions through MINED’s steering committee. One objective of this instability, result in a loss of Project focus and/or delay committee is to align many stakeholders and to approve key decisions related to donor implementation. interventions with the Education Sector Plan and the annual investment plan of the GoN. Detailed implementation plans including detailed budget, procurement plan and targets for key Project indicators agreed during preparation and regularly updated during implementation would contribute to limit the risk of political interference. Stage: preparation and Resp: MINED Due Date : ongoing Status: ongoing implementation Risk Management: Component 3 of the Project has specific activities to strengthen internal controls, financial management and procurement. As part of the Project, an external auditing firm would be hired for the entire life of the Project subject to annual performance evaluations. In addition, the Project would aim to strengthen social audit by local education councils and parents. Resp: MINED Stage: implementation Due Date : N/A Status: N/A 4. Project Risks 4.1 Design Rating: Substantial Description: Risk Management: This risk would be mitigated through integrating into the Project design There is a risk that the Project would not have the desired demand-side activities such as Paquetes Solidarios, and focusing on at-risk students through impact on retention because Parents could refuse to enroll the implementation of one pilot initiative supporting accelerated programs for over-age their children and/or could continue to take them out of students in primary education in the selected municipalities. school to help with seasonal work. Resp: MINED Stage: implementation Due Date : N/A Status: N/A 4.2 Social & Environmental Rating: Low Description: Risk Management: There is a risk that the population would reject instructional The Project would only distribute instructional materials in local languages and respecting materials which are not adapted to Intercultural Bilingual the specificity of the IBE. Consultation and information-sharing activities with the Education (IBE). municipalities and indigenous organizations representing groups living where Project activities are proposed would be carried out during Project preparation, and incorporated into the Project Operational Manual (OM). This includes ensuring that stakeholders know who is responsible for the Project at both central and local levels in case concerns arise. Resp: MINED Stage: implementation Due Date : N/A Status: N/A
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4.3 Program & Donor Rating: Moderate There is a risk that Project investments would not be fully Risk Management: The World Bank team continues to reinforce dialogue with donor synergized with other donor programs during counterparts and participate actively in the education sector technical round table to implementation. promote coordination and information sharing. Component 3 of the proposed Project would strengthen MINED’s planning, monitoring and evaluation capacities in order to ensure information flows and management tools for donor coordination to help MINED ensure implementation coordination. Finally, it is proposed that implementation of planned EU and EFA investments would be managed by the World Bank, thus insuring synergies and maximum complementarity. Resp: World Bank and Stage: preparation and Due Date : ongoing Status: ongoing MINED implementation 4.4 Delivery Monitoring & Sustainability Rating: Substantial Description: There is a risk that geographical dispersion of the Risk Management: This is being mitigated through the preparation of a detailed communities in the Atlantic Caribbean Coast, and budget implementation and supervision strategy, identifying the inter-action, coordination and cost- limitations to providing the extra logistical support needed sharing between all participating institutions and within the MINED (central, departmental to reach these areas, would create challenges for Project and municipal units). The Project would provide some logistical support to assist in these implementation and supervision, particularly for the areas. distribution of Paquetes Solidarios, textbooks and equipment, as well as for the deployment of multi-grade teachers. Resp: MINED Stage: implementation Due Date : N/A Status: N/A Implementation Risk Rating: Substantial
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Annex 5: Implementation Support Plan
1. The Implementation Support Plan (ISP) describes how the World Bank would support the implementation of the risk mitigation measures (identified in the ORAF) and provide the technical advice necessary to facilitate achieving the PDO (linked to results/outcomes identified in the result framework). The ISP also identifies the minimum requirements to meet the World Bank’s fiduciary obligations.
2. The World Bank’s implementation support would be focused on capacity-building and strengthening MINED’s own systems for program implementation, monitoring maintenance and strategic planning. The proposed ISP includes a range of technical support, including activities to be carried out by MINED, the World Bank and third party technical and fiduciary specialists. Funding for third party implementation support would come from the World Bank’s supervision budget, Project partners with separate external funding sources (e.g. UNICEF) and other Trust Funds. Below is a description of the different types of implementation support activities.
3. Project Supervision Missions. The most important implementation support from the World Bank would be provided through supervision missions conducted every six months, in collaboration with MINED. At least one of these missions each year would include field visits to one of the targeted municipalities. Supervision missions would provide the World Bank with extensive information regarding Project implementation submitted prior to the mission, and would lead to the identification of key implementation issues and bottlenecks as well as the necessary corrective measures agreed between MINED and the World Bank. All Supervision Aide-memoires would be posted on the Project website for full transparency.
4. Internal Audit. MINED would strengthen its internal audit provisions and capabilities to include this Project. Internal audit staff would receive training from the World Bank in the application of appropriate financial management and procurement procedures. A key aspect of their work would be to assess compliance with the Project Operational Manual (OM) developed for this Project. The TORs of internal audit and qualifications of the accountants would be agreed with the World Bank.
5. External Audit. The Project would finance an external audit on an annual basis, according to terms of reference acceptable to the World Bank. Auditors’ reports would be shared with MINED, MHCP and the World Bank, and would be posted on the Project website, with specific review and agreement on corrective actions undertaken during the Project supervision missions each year.
6. Social Audit. Indigenous groups in the Autonomous Atlantic Regions would be regularly engaged in external consultations regarding both the learning materials and in-service teacher training activities. Specific efforts would be made to reach out to local media channels to report on Project implementation activities to increase the public’s awareness and transparency. Parents of students would also be provided with Project information and invited to inquire about/comment on Project activities.
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7. Composition of the World Bank Implementation Support Team. The World Bank ISP team consists of an Education Specialist, Operations Officer, Social Development Specialist, Environmental Specialist, Engineer/Architect, Financial Management and Procurement specialists. MINED would also be encouraged to nominate several members from its own staff to participate in the supervision missions.
8. Conclusion. Viewed in their entirety, these provisions for implementation support of the Project include internal controls, external audits, third-party monitoring, impact evaluations, social audit, and supervision by World Bank specialists, which together constitute a comprehensive, multi-dimensional strategy to ensure that funds provided through the Project are utilized effectively for maximum development impact.
Table 14: The Main Focus in Terms of Support to Implementation
Resource Partner Time Focus Skills Needed Estimate Role First Preparation of Annual Education US$100,000 twelve Project Implementation specialists; months Plans; development of Education project physical and economist; financial implementation Architect/Engineer; MIS; Operations Officer; Dissemination and training FM and in application of World Procurement Bank procurement and FM specialists guidelines; recruitment of external auditors; preparation, launch and completion of pre- investment studies for civil works; development of targeting criteria for Paquetes Solidarios; baseline student learning assessment in a representative sample of the 40 municipalities. First twelve Supervision and training Social Safeguards 2 SWs NA months 12-48 Preparation of Annual Education US$100,000/year Ongoing months Implementation and specialists; Procurement plans; review Education of progress on Results economist; Matrix; Procurement of all Architect/Engineer; inputs; review of pre- Environmental
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investment studies for civil Specialist; works; Review of social Operations Officer; safeguards and FM and implementation of Procurement corrective measures, if specialist required; close monitoring of compliance with World Bank fiduciary guidelines; submission of annual external audit reports on a timely basis. 12-48 Environmental and Monitoring and reporting 4 SWs NA months Social Safeguards
Table 15: Skills Mix Required
Skills Needed Number of Staff Weeks Number of Trips Comments Education Specialist 7 2 Supervision and TTL Missions (SMs)/year Education Specialist 4 2 SMs/year Operations Officer 3 1 SM/year Architect/Engineer 3 2 SM/year FM Specialist 5 2 SMs/year Procurement 5 2 SMs/year Specialist Social Development 2 1 SM/year Specialist Environmental 2 1 SM/year Specialist
Table 16: Partners Name Institution/Country Role Anyoli Sanabria UNICEF Lead donor coordinator for education. May assist with monitoring and evaluation and student assessments. Elena Getino EU Expected Investment in school infrastructure and strengthening the hub schools with teacher in-service training. Tara O'Connell Global Education Partnership Expected investment in pre-school, quality, curriculum development, materials teacher training, infrastructure and institutional strengthening.
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Annex 6: Economic and Financial Analysis
1. Nicaragua faces strong challenges in the education sector that may be affecting negatively its growth potential and the well-being of its citizens. Despite recent improvements, its working age population has on average finished just 6.7 years of schooling, and in rural areas this figure is even lower (4.4 years of completed schooling on average). The economic analysis of the Project focuses on students in the 40 targeted municipalities, particularly those who would receive the Paquetes Solidarios, and shows an IRR of 11 percent. This calculation should be considered as a lower bound, as it only focuses on education attainment, while the Project supports other activities aimed to improve education quality, and it does not take into account positive externalities linked to higher education attainment.
2. Low education attainment in Nicaragua is related to low retention (high dropout and high repetition), particularly in rural areas during the first years of primary education. Just 60 percent of the young rural population in Nicaragua finishes primary school, in comparison to 90 percent in urban areas (Figure 4). High dropout and repetition rates make it harder for students to advance across the education system, creating a vicious circle of inefficiency. For example, more than 20 percent of the students in 1st grade are 10 or more years old (Figure 5). Viewed another way, youth aged 6-20 attend school for 10 years on average, but complete just 8 years of schooling. This translates into an 80 percent efficiency rate for the country as a whole, and it is even lower in rural areas (53 percent).
FIGURE 4 FIGURE 5 PRIMARY EDUCATION ATTAINMENT AGE STRUCTUREOF STUDENTS IN FIRST GRADE BY AGE-RURAL vs URBAN RURAL SCHOOLS
1 12 y-o 13+ y-o 0.9 11 y-o 3% 4% 0.8 3% 0.7 0.6 10 y-o 0.5 10% 7 y-o
SHARE 0.4 40% 0.3 9 y-o 0.2 14% 0.1 0 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 8 y-o 26% AGE Rural Urban
3. On the demand side, economic reasons are the main factor leading to dropout. Economic factors (lack of resources and need to work) explain dropout from school at most education levels. Interestingly, the relative importance of factors leading to dropout change at different education levels; school supply seem to influence negatively the decision to start primary education, while household chores (coupled with care of infants and pregnancies) leads to dropout at the higher education levels. Finally, 13 percent of the students that dropped out during
68 primary schooling mentioned ―lack of interest‖ as the reason why they dropped out, which indicates their perceived quality and benefits of schooling.
Table 14 Explaining Drop Out behavior from school Nicaragua - Rural areas - 2009 Primary Secondary Tertiary Start Finish Start Finish Start Not interested 0% 13% 15% 36% 10% Household chores 0% 0% 0% 5% 5% Work 1% 21% 20% 12% 20% Grade not offered 0% 0% 6% 0% 1% School is far 35% 13% 18% 12% 2% Security concerns 4% 0% 0% 1% 0% Pregnancy 0% 0% 0% 2% 7% Care of infants 0% 0% 2% 2% 10% Problems at the family level 19% 22% 7% 2% 0% Lack of resources 26% 27% 33% 27% 39%
Note: Reason mentioned by kids by the relevant age-grade achievement. Data Source: EMNV 2009
4. The Project aims to improve efficiency at the school level and improve attitudes of students and their families towards schooling. The Project focuses on 40 municipalities in Nicaragua with the highest poverty and lowest retention rates. It would offer incentives to families to send their children to school, through the provision of Paquetes Solidarios to the most disadvantaged student in the selected municipalities. Other components of the Project include: school furnishing and equipment, textbooks and learning materials, teacher training and capacity building at MINED.
5. The 40 most disadvantageous municipalities selected for the Project present strong inefficiencies, likely related to high repetition and dropout rates, evidenced by the number of students in sixth grade is only 28 percent of those in first grade. The problem is twofold: one on side, high repetition and over-aged is a major problem for initial grades of primary school in rural areas (likely increasing enrolment in first grade), and there is a high dropout (likely reducing enrolment in sixth grade).
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FIGURE 6 TOTAL ENROLLMENT BY GRADE SELECTED MUNICIPALITIES FOR PASEN 2 80,000
70,000
60,000
50,000
40,000
30,000
20,000
10,000
0 1 2 3 4 5 6
6. Table 15 presents the main assumptions used to construct the economic analysis: (i) reduction on repetition and drop out from school would increase the ratio of 6th graders to 1st grader from 28 percent to 33 percent; (ii) regular costs per student would remain constant to the 2010 level (primary at US$182, lower secondary at US$109, upper secondary at US$101, tertiary at US$300) (Interaction of (i) and (ii) would increase total cost for MINED of providing education); (iii) Project costs per beneficiary of the Paquete Solidarios per year would be as follows: Paquete Solidario (US$19.14 per year, including transportation costs), not infrastructure related costs: school furniture and equipment, teacher training, textbooks, bilingual materials (US$14.33), and infrastructure development costs (US$1); and (iv) the Project is assumed to last 4 years. These assumptions are complemented with labor market information included in the most recent household survey for 2009 and summarized in Figure 7.
Table 15: Main Assumptions Baseline Project Paquete Solidario Others Costs of Public Education (US$ per student/year) Primary 182 +19.14 +15 1/ Lower Secondary 109 Upper Secondary 101 Tertiary 300 Efficiency in targeted areas
Ratio Students 6th over 1st 25% 33% 2/ 1/ Cost of Infrastructure studies spread over the school population over a 20-year span 2/ Reduction of 15 percent in number of repeaters and drop-outs.
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Figure 7 Structure of Salaries by Education Level Nicaragua 2009
4000 3500
3000 2500 2000 1500
Yearly income in US$ in income Yearly 1000 500 0 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 Years of education
7. As mentioned above, it is expected that the Project would reduce repetition and dropout from schools. Nonetheless, there is uncertainty on the actual magnitude of the impact of the Project. This economic analysis assumes a reduction of 15 percent on the number of students repeating grades and dropping out of schools during primary education. The assumption implies an improvement of 0.7 years of schooling for the target population, and an improvement in efficiency of 5 percentage points. Figure 8 presents the cumulative impact on grade attainment of the assumed impact.
Figure 8 Impact of the Project on Education Attainment 1.00
0.90
0.80 0.70 0.60 0.50 0.40 0.30 0.20 0.10 % approved a given grade given a approved % 0.00 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 Grade
Benchmark Project
8. Under the presented assumptions, the Project shows a strong IRR of 11 percent. Sensitivity analysis (Figure 9) shows that a reduction on the expected impact from 15 percent to 5 percent would still generate an IRR of 7 percent above the market rate. As mentioned before, this economic analysis does not include positive externalities, and the direct impact of the Project
71 is limited to a 4-year period, therefore these results should be taken as the lower bound of expected benefits.
Figure 9 Sensitivity Analysis 14% 12% 10%
8%
IRR 6% 4% 2% 0% 0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% Project effectiveness
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Annex 7: Technical Matters
List of 40 Municipalities targeted under this Project
Number Department Municipality 1 Jinotega El Cuá* 2 San José de Bocay 3 Santa María de Pantasma* 4 Wiwilí de Jinotega* 5 Nueva Segovia Ciudad Antigua 6 Macuelizo 7 Santa María 8 Wiwili de Abajo 9 Murra 10 Mozonte 11 Quilali 12 RAAN (SEAR)** Prinzapolka 13 Siuna 14 Waslala 15 Rosita 16 Puerto Cabezas 17 Bonanza 18 Waspán 19 RAAS (SEAR)** El Tortuguero 20 La Cruz del Río Grande 21 Paiwas 22 El Ayote 23 Río San Juan Morrito 24 San Carlos 25 El Castillo 26 Matagalpa Rancho Grande 27 San Dionisio 28 Matiguas* 29 Rio Blanco* 30 El Tuma la Dalia* 31 Muy Muy 32 Madriz San Lucas* 33 Telpaneca* 34 Totogalpa* 35 Yalaguina* 36 Las Sabanas 37 Chontales Comalapa 38 Santo Domingo 39 Cuapa 40 La Libertad *Municipalities shared with the Social Protection Project (P121779, Cr 4862-NI). ** Sistema Educativo de las Regiones Autónomas.
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