The World Bank Djibouti Skills Development for Employment Project (P175483) Concept Environmental and Social Review Summary Concept Stage (ESRS Concept Stage) Public Disclosure Date Prepared/Updated: 05/04/2021 | Report No: ESRSC02034 May 04, 2021 Page 1 of 10 The World Bank Djibouti Skills Development for Employment Project (P175483) BASIC INFORMATION A. Basic Project Data Country Region Project ID Parent Project ID (if any) Djibouti MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH P175483 AFRICA Project Name Djibouti Skills Development for Employment Project Practice Area (Lead) Financing Instrument Estimated Appraisal Date Estimated Board Date Education Investment Project 9/1/2021 12/14/2021 Financing Borrower(s) Implementing Agency(ies) Ministere De L'Economie Ministère de l'Education et des Finances Nationale et de la Formation Professionnelle Public Disclosure Proposed Development Objective To improve employability of vocational education graduates Financing (in USD Million) Amount Total Project Cost 10.00 B. Is the project being prepared in a Situation of Urgent Need of Assistance or Capacity Constraints, as per Bank IPF Policy, para. 12? No C. Summary Description of Proposed Project [including overview of Country, Sectoral & Institutional Contexts and Relationship to CPF] The proposed operation will support the strengthening of the skills development and training sector in Djibouti to improve the quality and level of skills among nationals and other residents of the country. The proposed project will make the skills development sector more responsive to current and developing labor market needs, while simultaneously supporting entrepreneurship investments needed in a country where formal job growth is very low. The proposed project will focus on supporting and strengthening job market outcomes for Djiboutian workers in both the informal and formal sectors by improving the quality of the provision of skills development programs in the country. May 04, 2021 Page 2 of 10 The World Bank Djibouti Skills Development for Employment Project (P175483) D. Environmental and Social Overview D.1. Detailed project location(s) and salient physical characteristics relevant to the E&S assessment [geographic, environmental, social] The project aims at supporting and strengthening job market outcomes in both the formal and informal sectors by improving the quality of the TVET programs in Djibouti through technical assistance, the acquisition of equipment, and financing civil works. The project is expected to be implemented nationwide but the exact project locations of the activities have not been determined yet. The civil works will include in-situ renovations, extensions and the construction of new classrooms in locations that have not been identified yet. Project beneficiaries are expected to be young individuals (aged 15 to 34) who are either (i) not in employment, in education or training (NEET); or (ii) in vulnerable employment situations (women, differently abled individuals, and refugees). Djibouti is a very young country with over 75 percent of the population being younger than 35 years of age, (IMF 2017). Enrollment rate in lower-secondary school is 63 percent, with 46 percent for girls. Completion rates are low with only 44 percent completing the lower secondary level of schooling. These are national averages, and there is considerable variation within regions of the country. According to the World Bank Poverty and Equity Assessment in Djibouti (March 2019), the labor market is characterized by a low participation in the labor markets, with only 47 percent of those above 15 years of age participating in the labor market, 23 percent employed in the public sector and 30 percent employed in both the formal and informal private sector. The formal private sector only accounts for 10 percent of the workforce (Djibouti Public Disclosure Poverty Assessment 2019). The key sectors of activities in informal sector are services (24 percent of informal sector) and other trades such as with manufacturing representing percent and agriculture percent. In Djibouti, informality is correlated to poverty and vulnerability. The overall unemployment rate for 15 years and older is 47 percent, which varies significantly across gender, and age, with 63 percent of women and 86 percent of 15 to 24-year old unemployed (2019 World Bank Poverty and Equity Assessment). In January 2019, the Djiboutian government adopted the Politique Nationale de Formation Professionelle (or, the National Vocational Training Policy) which aims improving the vocational training subsector. The training system is expected to achieve: (i) an increase in the number of new entrants to vocational training of at least 20 percent, also aimed at reducing the imbalance between the capital and the regions and the interregional imbalance; (ii) the creation and operationalization of vocational training governance bodies; (iii) the establishment of sustainable mechanisms for financing the vocational training system; and (iv) sustainable professional integration of vocational training graduates in excess of 50 percent. Access to basic training is limited. The TVET system is poorly financed and resourced. Currently, there are eleven (11) functioning institutions under MENFOP grouped into technical secondary schools and vocational training centers and thirteen (13) other training institutions [that do not report to MENFOP but belong to other departments or ministries, or are run by civil society or public and private enterprises. These institutions train on average 4,000-5,000 students annually. There is some evidence to suggest that there may be significant skills gaps in the market that could partially explain the low labor force participation rates. The project will support public and private TVET institutions in achieving the goals of the policy mentioned above. D. 2. Borrower’s Institutional Capacity May 04, 2021 Page 3 of 10 The World Bank Djibouti Skills Development for Employment Project (P175483) The Ministry of National Education and Professional Training (Ministère de l'éducation natioanale et de la formation professionnelle, MENFOP) will be responsible for the overall project. Given the multi-sectoral nature of the set of activities, MENFOP will coordinate through the Department of Technical and Vocational Education and Training (DTVET) across a range of public sector ministries and agencies, and private sector entities which have shared responsibilities on policy and service delivery, and at the national, regional and service delivery level. The DTVET in MENFOP will have responsibilities for the overall project preparation and implementation. The World Bank already supports three ongoing engagements through MENFOP – these include the Expanding Opportunities for Learning Project (P166059), its additional financing (P175464) and the Education Emergency Response to COVID-19 (P174128). A dedicated office within the MENFOP, the Bureau d’Exécution des Projets or a project management unit (PMU) currently implements the other projects under the ESF. While there have been improvements in MENFOP’s capacity to manage environmental and social risks, the capacity remains limited especially at a regional level. This project will draw on another PMU composed of civil servants under the DTVET, who will be implementing projects under the ESF for the first time. There will be a need to include an environmental and social (E&S) specialist and nominate E&S focal points within each supported TVET institution and training centers to supervise the implementation of ESF instruments. Some of these training centers will fall under the jurisdiction of other governmental ministries, and their inputs in the preparation of ESF instruments will be fundamental. Moreover, there will be a need to train focal points at the TVET institutions in supervising mitigation activities outlined in the ESF Public Disclosure instruments and report on this to the PMU. A training plan will be included as part of the ESCP to support capacity development and training measures. II. SCREENING OF POTENTIAL ENVIRONMENTAL AND SOCIAL (ES) RISKS AND IMPACTS A. Environmental and Social Risk Classification (ESRC) Moderate Environmental Risk Rating Moderate The key environmental risks associated with the project are rated as Moderate. The project proposes, under component 2, to undertake civil works interventions consisting of classroom rehabilitation or construction, the corresponding mechanical, installation of electrical networks to support the functioning of these institutions, training equipment, ICT infrastructure, school furniture, and raw material for training . The civil works will include rehabilitation of existing classrooms and facilities, construction of additional classrooms and the development of training laboratories. Most of the environmental impacts are construction-related such as generation of noise, vibration, air pollution, liquid and solid wastes and health & safety. Given that the nature of all the referenced activities is range from small to medium scale, impacts are expected to be localized, manageable and most of them reversible, the mitigation measures are easy to be designed. The project will also generate small quantities of electronic waste related to the procurement of IT equipment as well as exposure to COVID-19. During operations the project will produce some amount of waste by-product. Social Risk Rating Moderate May 04, 2021 Page 4 of 10 The World Bank Djibouti Skills Development for Employment Project (P175483) A key social risk is the potential failure of the project to reach poor and vulnerable trainees, such as those living in rural areas (in particular rural girls), refugee trainees, trainees with disabilities and trainees who have been out of school. The project will finance minor civil works which nature (i.e. renovation, extension or new construction) and locations have not yet been defined. The project may lead to minimal impacts associated to land acquisition. The project is not expected to lead to labor influx as as the works will not require many laborers on each site and will be limited to national contractors. The project was screened for Sexual Abuse and Exploitation (SEA) risks, which are expected to be moderate. It is however important to note that the proposed project will support trainees who are over 15 years old, which could potentially increase their vulnerability sexual harassment. MENFOP has recently prepared a policy prohibiting all forms of violence in school settings, including sexual abuse and harassment. The policy has yet to be officially adopted and implemented but will be used to cover the TVET institutions benefitting from the project that are overseen by MENFOP. For TVET institutions outside MENFOP’s jurisdiction, a SEA/SH policy specific to each participating institution will be adopted and implemented. Finally, the risk of propagation or contraction of COVID-19 as a result of project activities has been identified as a transversal risk. Given that the social risks are predictable, site-specific and can be mitigated with appropriate measures, it has been rated as moderate. B. Environment and Social Standards (ESSs) that Apply to the Activities Being Considered B.1. General Assessment ESS1 Assessment and Management of Environmental and Social Risks and Impacts Overview of the relevance of the Standard for the Project: Public Disclosure The project entails E&S risks and impacts that that are typically generated by minor civil works planned under Component 2, such as occupational and community health and safety, noise, vibration, sexual abuse or harassment by contractors, dust pollution, construction waste generation, as well as limited risks associated to land acquisition. Other risks include the potential for the propagation and exposure to COVID-19, the potential for sexual abuse and harassment, electronic waste generation and the exclusion of vulnerable beneficiaries from project benefits. The project will adopt a framework approach given the diverse nature of the activities to be financed and the fact that the locations of the civil works have not yet been identified. An Environmental and Social Management Framework (ESMF) will be developed to detail the principles, rules, guidelines and procedures to assess the environmental and social risks and impacts. It will include measures and plans to reduce, mitigate adverse risks and impacts such as COVID-19 public health and SEA measures. The ESMF will include a generic environmental and social management plan (ESMP) to be adapted to each subproject site as well as a supervision checklist. Moreover, the ESMF will include a screening mechanism for ESS5, which will assess the impacts related to land acquisition and the extent to which the civil works of each subproject may affect private and communal assets or income, even when these take place on public land. The ESMF will provide the cost estimates to implement such measures, as well as describe their implementing arrangements. The ESMP and proportionate E&S specifications will be incorporated into the bidding documents, along with the obligation for the contractors to prepare the Contractor-ESMP (C-ESMP) prior to the beginning of civil works. In addition, the ESMF will describe how the Project will serve vulnerable beneficiaries, such as trainees with disabilities, refugee trainees, female trainees and trainees who are out of school students. The other instruments to be developed by DTVET are the Resettlement Framework (RF), which will describe the documents and procedures to follow in the case impacts associated to land acquisition are identified through the May 04, 2021 Page 5 of 10 The World Bank Djibouti Skills Development for Employment Project (P175483) ESMF screening tool, the Labor Management Procedures (LMP) and a Stakeholder Engagement Plan (SEP). Finally, the DTVET will prepare an Environmental and Social Commitment Plan (ESCP) to be agreed with the World Bank. The ESCP and all ESF instruments will be disclosed prior to appraisal. All the ESF instruments will be disclosed prior to appraisal. Areas where “Use of Borrower Framework” is being considered: The project will not be using the Borrower Framework. ESS10 Stakeholder Engagement and Information Disclosure At this preliminary stage, the key stakeholders that have been identified include the beneficiary trainees, the MENFOP, and in particular its DTVET, Ministries under which TVET institutions may benefit from the project, local authorities in the locations where the civil works will take place, TVET teachers, the contractors and primary suppliers who will be hired under the project and the potential private sector companies who may hire the trainees in the future. Vulnerable stakeholders identified at this stage include female trainees, trainees or teachers with disabilities, refugee trainees and trainees who were formally out of school students. The PMU will prepare a Stakeholder Engagement Plan (SEP). The SEP will identify project-affected stakeholders, vulnerable stakeholders and other interested parties. The SEP will propose a stakeholder engagement program, include approaches to engage with vulnerable groups and individuals, and detail the grievance mechanism for the project. Finally, the SEP will detail the consultations activities undertaken during preparation and the mechanisms to Public Disclosure ensure all activities under the SEP are undertaken in a safe manner and follow national public health measures and restrictions in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. The SEP will be disclosed prior to appraisal. B.2. Specific Risks and Impacts A brief description of the potential environmental and social risks and impacts relevant to the Project. ESS2 Labor and Working Conditions This standard is relevant for the project. We do not have an estimated of the number of project workers at his stage. The project will use direct workers for the PMU (PMU) who are mostly civil servants and a few consultants, contracted workers (contractors for the civil works and technical assistance) and primary supply workers. Labor influx is not anticipated due to the small scale nature of civil works financed by the project. Direct workers in the project include members of the Project Management Unit (PMU) who are for the most part civil servants, contracted workers who are the employees of the national contractors who will be hired by the PMU, such as masons, electricians, painters, plumbers, etc. Key primary supply workers will include construction material and IT companies suppliers. The DTVET will prepare Labor Management Procedures (LMP) for the project. The LMP will describe how each project worker category will be managed in accordance with the requirements of national laws and ESS2. The procedures will include requirements for: working conditions and terms of employment; nondiscrimination and equal opportunity; worker’s organizations; prohibition of child labor, minimum age and forced labor; grievance mechanisms; May 04, 2021 Page 6 of 10 The World Bank Djibouti Skills Development for Employment Project (P175483) maintenance of training records; prohibition of sexual abuse and harassment documentation and reporting of occupational accidents, diseases and incidents; and major incident/fatalities notification procedures. The LMP will be disclosed prior to appraisal. ESS3 Resource Efficiency and Pollution Prevention and Management This standard is relevant for this project. Under the Component 2 the project will finance small scale infrastructure development and rehabilitation of educational and training facilities. Construction activities will mostly generate noise, vibration and solid and liquid waste. Given that all the constructions will be minor scale, the related activities are unlikely to generate any hazardous waste (such as hydrocarbon oils from construction machinery). Nonetheless, the ESMF will guide the development of measures in ESMP to manage and prevent pollution from construction activities, e-wastes handling and disposal, the use and disposal of all training by-products in a careful and conscious manner efficient use of energy, water and other material based on the results of the environment and social screening. In all cases, site-specific Waste Management Plan will be prepared which will be included in the site specific ESMP. However, even after construction phase is over, and during actual operations of these facilities, the activities set forth by this project are likely to continue to leave behind a sizeable environmental and resource footprint. The project will support the greening of the skills development or TVET sector in the country. Additionally, the project will also directly target support to those sectors which have large carbon footprint, for example the energy sector. By supporting skills development in green energy opportunities, the project will contribute to reducing the footprint and Public Disclosure support Djibouti’s policy of carbon neutrality. ESS4 Community Health and Safety Community health and safety risks associated with this project are relevant for this project. Construction activities may expose communities living close to the civil works sites to health and safety risks, including issues related to noise, vibration, dust pollution, waste disposal/management and sexual harassment or exposure to SARS-Cov-2 from workers. The transportation of construction materials may also lead to some temporary adverse impact on the communities. To address this issue, the ESMF will include a generic ESMP to be adapted to each site, which will identify the site-specific risks and include the specific and generic measures to address this risk. The ESMP will also require contractors to install a safety system around the construction sites, including procedures on incident investigation and reporting, recording and reporting of non-conformances, emergency preparedness and community awareness raising activities. Risks associated with sexual harassment and abuse have been assessed and rated as moderate. These behaviors, which could potentially be perpetrated by project workers or beneficiaries, such as TVET personnel and trainees remain potential risks but are not expected to result from labor influx. While MENFOP’s performance on addressing potential risks of sexual harassment has been poor under the ongoing PRODA, it has recently developed a protocol against all forms of violence in school settings that is applicable to all MENFOP personnel as well education staff. The protocol strictly sanctions all forms of physical, moral, psychological and sexual violence, plans for the establishment of committees in all school settings to conduct awareness raising, and document and manage associated complaints. The protocol has yet to be officially adopted and start implementation and will be used for all TVET institutions under May 04, 2021 Page 7 of 10 The World Bank Djibouti Skills Development for Employment Project (P175483) MENFOP. A similar protocol will have to be developed and implemented for TVET institutions outside MENFOP that will benefit from the project. Another key risk associated with community health and safety is the risk of exposing community members and project beneficiaries to COVID-19 and is transversal to all project activities. MENFOP developed a a COVID-19 public health measure protocol (Protocole sanitaire pour la capitale et les regions pour la rentree scolaire 2020/2021), which highlights all sanitary public health measures to be implemented such as physical distancing, wearing masks, handwashing, communication requirements, etc…). This protocol will be applied to the TVET institutions under MENFOP. All other TVET institutions benefitting from the project but outside MENFOP will have to prepare and adopt a similar protocol. All the measures above will be included in the ESMF along with the measures to mitigate impacts associated with civil works. Finally, the project will ensure that financing will support training facilities and curricula that are accessible to all beneficiaries, including trainees with disabilities. ESS5 Land Acquisition, Restrictions on Land Use and Involuntary Resettlement While the civil works under the project are expected to be minor small scale, it is not well defined at this stage whether they will be limited to in-situ renovations of existing schools and centers or whether expansions and new constructions are also envisaged. The sites of the civil works have still not been identified. In the absence of this information, this ESS is considered relevant. The ESMF will include a screening mechanism for ESS5 which will assess Public Disclosure the impacts related to land acquisition and the extent to which the civil works of each subproject may affect private and communal assets or income, even when these take place on public land. In parallel, a Resettlement Framework (RF) will be prepared to clarify resettlement principles, organizational arrangements, eligibility criteria, entitle matrix, and consultation and grievance mechanism requirements that will apply to the project. Should the screening mechanism identify ESS5 related impacts a resettlement plan will be prepared in accordance to the resettlement framework and the requirement of ESS5. The RF will be disclosed prior to appraisal ESS6 Biodiversity Conservation and Sustainable Management of Living Natural Resources This ESS is not expected to be relevant at this stage. The project is not anticipated to have activities with impacts on biodiversity or living natural resources. The project implementation sites will be in modified landscapes i.e. already used for education, training centers. However, the ESMF will include specific measures to avoid or minimize these negative impacts. The proposed project will not allow interventions in natural habitats or use of natural resource commodities that are known to originate from areas where there is a risk of significant degradation of natural or critical habitats. ESS7 Indigenous Peoples/Sub-Saharan African Historically Underserved Traditional Local Communities There are no communities in Djibouti that fulfill ESS 7 definition of indigenous people. ESS8 Cultural Heritage May 04, 2021 Page 8 of 10 The World Bank Djibouti Skills Development for Employment Project (P175483) Given that the nature of the civil works is not well defined at this stage, this standard is relevant. A chance finds procedures will be included in the ESMF and ESMP, and a chance finds clause will be included in works contracts requiring contractors to stop construction if examples of cultural heritage are encountered during construction. MENFOP will also have to notify and closely coordinate with the relevant country authority for the salvaging and restoration of such cultural heritage. ESS9 Financial Intermediaries This ESS is not relevant. B.3 Other Relevant Project Risks There are no other relevant risks C. Legal Operational Policies that Apply OP 7.50 Projects on International Waterways No OP 7.60 Projects in Disputed Areas No Public Disclosure III. WORLD BANK ENVIRONMENTAL AND SOCIAL DUE DILIGENCE A. Is a common approach being considered? No Financing Partners The project will not be financed by other partners. B. Proposed Measures, Actions and Timing (Borrower’s commitments) Actions to be completed prior to Bank Board Approval: * An Environmental and Social Management Framework (ESMF), the Environmental and Social Commitment Plan (ESCP), the Stakeholder Engagement Plan (SEP), Labor Management Procedures (LMP) and Resettlement Framework (RF): the ESCP and these ESF instruments will be disclosed prior to appraisal. *An ESMP for construction work (based on screening of sub-projects) once the nature of the works and the sites have been identified: to be disclosed prior to the civil works. Possible issues to be addressed in the Borrower Environmental and Social Commitment Plan (ESCP): (i) ESIA and/or ESMP of subprojects. (ii) Preparation of resettlement plan (RP)_if involuntary resettlement impacts are identified during implementation May 04, 2021 Page 9 of 10 The World Bank Djibouti Skills Development for Employment Project (P175483) (iii) The engagement and timeline of E&S specialist in the PMU will be addressed. (iv) Training of PMU staff on E&S issues and risk management. (v) Implementation of ESMF, SEP, LMP, RF and reporting to the WB on these instruments. The monitoring plan, including the scope and timing of report submission and disclosure will be mentioned in the ESCP. C. Timing Tentative target date for preparing the Appraisal Stage ESRS 30-Jun-2021 IV. CONTACT POINTS World Bank Contact: Venkatesh Sundararaman Title: Lead Economist Telephone No: 5778+8323 / 66-2-6868323 Email: vsundararaman@worldbank.org Contact: Louise Mengue Abessolo Mvono Title: Senior Education Specialist Telephone No: 5360+3005 Email: lmvono@worldbank.org Borrower/Client/Recipient Public Disclosure Borrower: Ministere De L'Economie et des Finances Implementing Agency(ies) Implementing Agency: Ministère de l'Education Nationale et de la Formation Professionnelle V. FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT The World Bank 1818 H Street, NW Washington, D.C. 20433 Telephone: (202) 473-1000 Web: http://www.worldbank.org/projects VI. APPROVAL Task Team Leader(s): Venkatesh Sundararaman, Louise Mengue Abessolo Mvono Practice Manager (ENR/Social) Pia Peeters Recommended on 04-May-2021 at 08:13:42 GMT-04:00 Safeguards Advisor ESSA Gael Gregoire (SAESSA) Cleared on 04-May-2021 at 18:37:47 GMT-04:00 May 04, 2021 Page 10 of 10