The World Bank Mauritanian Education Budget (P162168) REPORT NO.: RES45079 RESTRUCTURING PAPER ON A PROPOSED PROJECT RESTRUCTURING OF MAURITANIAN EDUCATION BUDGET APPROVED ON APRIL 9, 2017 TO ECO-DÉVELOPPEMENT SOCIAL SUSTAINABILTY & INCLUSION AFRICA WEST Regional Vice President: Ousmane Diagana Country Director: Nathan M. Belete Global Director: Louise J. Cord Practice Manager/Manager: Ingo Wiederhofer Task Team Leader(s): Ann-Sofie Jespersen The World Bank Mauritanian Education Budget (P162168) ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS CfP Call for Proposals CSO Civil Society Organization ECODEV Eco-Developpement GPSA Global Partnership for Social Accountability The World Bank Mauritanian Education Budget (P162168) Note to Task Teams: The following sections are system generated and can only be edited online in the Portal. BASIC DATA Product Information Project ID Financing Instrument P162168 Investment Project Financing Original EA Category Current EA Category Not Required (C) Not Required (C) Approval Date Current Closing Date 09-Apr-2017 31-Jan-2021 Organizations Borrower Responsible Agency Eco-développement Eco-développement Financing (in USD Million) FIN_SUMM_PUB_TBL SUMMARY Total Project Cost 0 Total Financing 0 Financing Gap 0 DETAILS -NewFin3 The World Bank Mauritanian Education Budget (P162168) Project Development Objective (PDO) Original PDO The Project's objective is to improve budget transparency in basic education by monitoring implementation of the budget and evaluating the quality of the services provided at the local level using online and offline social accountability tools in targeted provinces of the Member Country. OPS_TABLE_PDO_CURRENTPDO Summary Status of Financing (US$, Millions) Net TF Approval Signing Effectiveness Closing Commitment Disbursed Undisbursed TF-A4861 09-Apr-2017 11-May-2017 11-May-2017 31-Jan-2021 .61 .48 .12 Policy Waiver(s) Does this restructuring trigger the need for any policy waiver(s)? No Note to Task Teams: End of system generated content, document is editable from here. I. PROJECT STATUS AND RATIONALE FOR RESTRUCTURING This restructuring paper refers to the GPSA-funded RETF project entitled “Mauritian Education Budget” (P162168) and the Recipient’s request for a 5-month extension of the closing date, from January 31, 2021 to June 30, 2021, given the disruptions in project implementation brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. General project information: The Mauritanian government opted to become a member of the Global Partnership for Social Accountability (GPSA) in 2012, allowing Mauritanian CSOs to participate in the GPSA Program’s third global call for project proposals launched in 2016. As a result, the Mauritanian CSO ECODEV was selected within the framework of the CfP to be grant the recipient of USD 605,000 to implement the “Transparency of the Mauritanian education budget project” (TOME - P162168). The project aims to improve budget transparency in basic education by improving active citizen watch and the social accountability of key actors, to ensure the monitoring of the process of allocation and execution of public expenditure in schools and evaluate the quality of the services offered. The Project mobilizes tools for the active participation of key actors represented in monitoring committees at different levels, as well as online tools to share information and manage exchanges between different stakeholders. The Project seeks to improve budget transparency and the quality of learning in schools through the establishment of a collaborative social accountability mechanism adapted to the Mauritanian context in the wilayas of Nouakchott Sud and Tagant. The World Bank Mauritanian Education Budget (P162168) The overall expected results of the project are: increased collaboration between stakeholders at the local level to produce information that will lead to the improvement of basic education in the targeted schools, and an increase in the number of actions inspired by citizen monitoring to improve budget transparency and the quality of teaching. Project progress to date: ECODEV has managed to move the project forward in several areas despite some challenges. A virtual mission carried out in September 2020 identified several factors that influenced the implementation of the project and its progress. The increased interest of the central government in prioritizing the development of the basic education sector has notably benefited the TOME project to build a solid partnership with the Ministry of Education resulting in the signing of a partnership agreement between the parts. The TOME Project was able to benefit from the support of its main partner, namely the Federation of parents of pupils (FENAPERIM), creating links at the level of the Wilayas of Nouakchott Sud and Tagant. In addition, the project facilitated the mobilizing of mayors to support the project through the creation of the Fund to Support the Quality of Basic Education (FAQEF). The adoption of School Management Committees (COGES) also represented a major opportunity for the project's engagement with the Ministry of Education at different levels to benefit from the lessons learned through the project. TOME was key to the various School and Basic Education Monitoring Committees, namely the School Participatory Monitoring Committees (CSPE), the Departmental Participatory Monitoring Committee (CSPD) and the National Advocacy Committee (CNP). These committees were designed by the project to ensure better coordination between key stakeholders engaged in improved school management and learning, as well as coordinating strategic directions at the central and departmental level. Rationale for the request for extension: The emergence of COVID-19 in Mauritania since March 14, 2020 has brought with it measures taken by the government to close all schools in the country, isolate regions from each other, and ban public meetings. This has had an adverse direct impact on all project activities until the end of the 2019-2020 school year. The project team and its partners were forced to limit their activities and pivot to the remote monitoring of activities that were in progress. An analysis of the results framework and the half-yearly project progress report covering the period from January to the end of June 2020 submitted to the GPSA by the project management unit (PMU), has determined that progress towards the main development objective is satisfactory. The number of schools covered by the project has been reached and the various committees set up are active. The service monitoring platform for users and providers of basic education has been developed and is operational. This platform will be used for the 2020-2021 school year and will be improved and adapted to the expectations of the various key players. The Fund for the Support of the Quality of Basic Education (FAQEF) will be operational for the same period and it is important that project is able to activate the social accountability mechanisms to successfully achieve its stated objectives. The emergence of the COVID-19 crisis and the resulting shutdown of schools negatively impacted the implementation of activities scheduled for the 2019-2020 school year. However, the activity of the Committees has been maintained thanks to the use of remote communication mainly through WhatsApp. The operationalization of the electronic education monitoring platform (http://medrassety.net/) has been aided by training and support for the CSPEs use. In order to address the issues detailed above, the TOME project has requested a no-cost extension of the project closing date to June 30, 2021 to absorb the delays in implementation. There are no pending project audits. The World Bank Mauritanian Education Budget (P162168) II. DESCRIPTION OF PROPOSED CHANGES The closing date of the project will be changed from January 31, 2021 to June 30, 2021. A revised work plan (mainly in terms of the change of timeline of planned activities’ implementation) prepared by the recipient has been reviewed, discussed, and agreed with the task team and the GPSA technical team. The disbursement estimates have been updated; however, the basic flow of the amounts would remain the same. Note to Task Teams: The following sections are system generated and can only be edited online in the Portal. III. SUMMARY OF CHANGES Changed Not Changed Loan Closing Date(s) ✔ Disbursement Estimates ✔ Implementation Schedule ✔ Implementing Agency ✔ Project's Development Objectives ✔ Results Framework ✔ Components and Cost ✔ Cancellations Proposed ✔ Additional Financing Proposed ✔ Reallocation between Disbursement Categories ✔ Disbursements Arrangements ✔ Change in Overall Risk Rating ✔ Safeguard Policies Triggered ✔ EA category ✔ Legal Covenants ✔ Institutional Arrangements ✔ Financial Management ✔ Procurement ✔ The World Bank Mauritanian Education Budget (P162168) Other Change(s) ✔ Economic and Financial Analysis ✔ Technical Analysis ✔ Social Analysis ✔ Environmental Analysis ✔ IV. DETAILED CHANGE(S) OPS_DETAILEDCHANGES_LOANCLOSING_TABLE LOAN CLOSING DATE(S) Original Revised Proposed Proposed Deadline TF Status Closing Closing(s) Closing for Withdrawal Applications TF-A4861 Effective 31-Jan-2021 30-Jun-2021 30-Oct-2021 OPS_DETAILEDCHANGES_DISBURSEMENT_TABLE DISBURSEMENT ESTIMATES Change in Disbursement Estimates Yes Expected Disbursements (In US$) Fiscal Year Annual Cumulative 2017 0.00 0.00 2018 0.00 0.00 2019 0.00 0.00 2020 0.00 0.00 2021 0.00 0.00 2022 0.00 0.00 Note to Task Teams: End of system generated content, document is editable from here.