BULGARIA Social Inclusion Project Report No. 124861 JUNE 26, 2018 © 2018 International Bank for Reconstruction This work is a product of the staff of The World RIGHTS AND PERMISSIONS and Development / The World Bank Bank with external contributions. The findings, The material in this work is subject to copyright. 1818 H Street NW interpretations, and conclusions expressed in Because The World Bank encourages Washington DC 20433 this work do not necessarily reflect the views of dissemination of its knowledge, this work may be Telephone: 202-473-1000 The World Bank, its Board of Executive reproduced, in whole or in part, for Internet: www.worldbank.org Directors, or the governments they represent. noncommercial purposes as long as full attribution to this work is given. Attribution—Please cite the work as follows: The World Bank does not guarantee the World Bank. 2018. Bulgaria—Social Inclusion accuracy of the data included in this work. 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Report No.: 124861 PROJECT PERFORMANCE ASSESSMENT REPORT BULGARIA SOCIAL INCLUSION PROJECT (IBRD NO. 76120) June 26, 2018 Human Development and Economic Management Independent Evaluation Group ii Currency Equivalents (annual averages) Currency Unit = Bulgarian Lev (Lev) 2009 $1.00 Lev 1.40 2010 $1.00 Lev 1.47 2011 $1.00 Lev 1.40 2012 $1.00 Lev 1.52 2013 $1.00 Lev 1.47 2014 $1.00 Lev 1.47 2015 $1.00 Lev 1.76 2016 $1.00 Lev 1.76 Abbreviations and Acronyms CBO community-based organization ECD early childhood development ESF European Social Fund EU European Union GDP gross domestic product ICR Implementation Completion and Results Report IEG Independent Evaluation Group MLSP Ministry of Labour and Social Policy M&E monitoring and evaluation NGO nongovernmental organization OP HRD Operational Program Human Resources Development [of the Government of Bulgaria] PAD project appraisal document PDO project development objective PPAR Project Performance Assessment Report SID Social Inclusion Directorate SIF Social Investment Fund SIP Social Inclusion Project UNICEF United Nations Children’s Fund All dollar amounts are U.S. dollars unless otherwise indicated. Fiscal Year Government: January 1–December 31 Director-General, Independent Evaluation Ms. Caroline Heider Director, Human Development and Economic Management Mr. Auguste Tano Kouame Manager, Corporate and Human Development Ms. Emanuela Di Gropello Task Manager Ms. Susan A. Caceres iii Contents Principal Ratings ................................................................................................................. v Key Staff Responsible......................................................................................................... v Preface............................................................................................................................... vii Summary ............................................................................................................................ ix 1. Background and Context................................................................................................. 1 General Background ....................................................................................................... 1 Social Inclusion ............................................................................................................... 2 Early Childhood Development and School Readiness ................................................... 3 World Bank and Other Support ...................................................................................... 3 2. Objectives, Design, and Their Relevance ....................................................................... 4 Project Development Objective ...................................................................................... 4 Relevance of Objective ................................................................................................... 4 Project Design ................................................................................................................. 5 Relevance of Design ....................................................................................................... 6 3. Implementation ............................................................................................................... 8 Key Dates ........................................................................................................................ 8 Planned versus Actual Costs, Financing, and Disbursements ........................................ 8 Project Restructuring ...................................................................................................... 9 Factors Affecting Implementation .................................................................................. 9 Safeguards Compliance ............................................................................................ 11 Financial Management and Procurement.................................................................. 11 4. Achievement of Objective ............................................................................................ 11 5. Efficiency ...................................................................................................................... 21 6. Ratings .......................................................................................................................... 22 Outcome ........................................................................................................................ 22 Risk to Development Outcome ..................................................................................... 23 Bank Performance ......................................................................................................... 24 Borrower Performance .................................................................................................. 26 Quality of Monitoring and Evaluation .......................................................................... 27 7. Lessons .......................................................................................................................... 29 This report was prepared by Denise Anne Vaillancourt, who assessed the project in February 2018, with the technical input of Rosen Asenov, Bulgarian consultant. The report was peer reviewed by Gisela M. Garcia and panel reviewed by Soniya Carvalho. Aline Dukuze provided administrative support. iv Bibliography ..................................................................................................................... 31 Appendixes Appendix A. Basic Data Sheet.......................................................................................... 39 Appendix B. National Policies on Social Inclusion and Early Childhood Development and Relevant World Bank Portfolio .................................................................................. 41 Appendix C. Costs, Financing and Disbursements ........................................................... 53 Appendix D. Statistical Data and Results ......................................................................... 56 Appendix E. List of People Met ....................................................................................... 99 Appendix F. Borrower Comments .................................................................................. 107 v Principal Ratings ICR* ICR Review* PPAR Moderately Moderately Moderately Outcome satisfactory satisfactory satisfactory Risk to Development Low or negligible Moderate Moderate Outcome Moderately Moderately Moderately Bank Performance satisfactory satisfactory satisfactory Moderately Moderately Moderately Borrower Performance satisfactory satisfactory satisfactory * The Implementation Completion and Results (ICR) report is a self-evaluation by the responsible World Bank global practice. The ICR Review is an intermediate IEG product that seeks to independently validate the findings of the ICR. Key Staff Responsible Project Appraisal Completion Task Manager/Leader Christian Bodewig Plamen Nikolov Danchev Sector Manager or Arup Banerji and Mario Cristian Aedo Inostroza Practice Manager Kathy Lindert Sector Director or Tamar Manuelyan Atinc Claudia Maria Costin Senior Global Practice Director Country Director Orsalia Kalantzopoulos Arup Banerji Country Manager Florian Fichtl Antony Thompson vi IEG Mission: Improving World Bank Group development results through excellence in independent evaluation. About this Report The Independent Evaluation Group (IEG) assesses the programs and activities of the World Bank for two purposes: first, to ensure the integrity of the World Bank’s self-evaluation process and to verify that the World Bank’s work is producing the expected results, and second, to help develop improved directions, policies, and procedures through the dissemination of lessons drawn from experience. As part of this work, IEG annually assesses 20–25 percent of the World Bank’s lending operations through