REPORT NO.: RES50404 RESTRUCTURING PAPER ON A PROPOSED PROJECT RESTRUCTURING OF UGANDA MULTISECTORAL FOOD SECURITY AND NUTRITION PROJECT APPROVED ON JANUARY 7, 2015 TO REPUBLIC OF UGANDA Agriculture and Food Global Practice Eastern and Southern Africa Region Regional Vice President: Victoria Kwakwa Country Director: Keith E. Hansen Regional Director: Ayat Soliman Practice Manager: Shobha Shetty Task Team Leader: Joseph Oryokot The World Bank Uganda Multisectoral Food Security and Nutrition Project (P149286) ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS BCC Behavioral Change Communication CFs Community Facilitators COVID-19 Coronavirus Disease 2019 DPAs District Project Assistants GAFSP Global Agriculture and Food Security Program IMPIC Inter-Ministerial Project Implementation Committee IFA Iron and Folic Acid IRB Iron Rich Beans LFs Lead Farmers LMs Lead Mothers MAAIF Ministry of Agriculture Animal Industry and Fisheries MFSNP Multisectoral Food Security and Nutrition Project MNR Micro-Nutrient Rich MOES Ministry of Education and Sports MOH Ministry of Health MOLG Ministry of Local Government OFSP Orange Fleshed Sweet Potato PGs Parent Groups PCU Project Coordination Unit PDO Project Development Objective PIM Project Implementation Manual RF Results Framework TOT Training of Trainers VHTs Village Health Teams WASH Water, Sanitation and Hygiene 2 The World Bank Uganda Multisectoral Food Security and Nutrition Project (P149286) BASIC DATA Product Information Project ID Financing Instrument P149286 Investment Project Financing Original EA Category Current EA Category Partial Assessment (B) Partial Assessment (B) Approval Date Current Closing Date 07-Jan-2015 31-Dec-2022 Organizations Borrower Responsible Agency Republic of Uganda Project Development Objective (PDO) Original PDO The Project Development Objective (PDO) is to increase production and consumption of micronutrient-rich foods and utilization of community-based nutrition services in smallholder households in project areas. OPS_TABLE_PDO_CURRENTPDO Summary Status of Financing (US$, Millions) Net Ln/Cr/Tf Approval Signing Effectiveness Closing Commitment Disbursed Undisbursed TF-B6111 30-Jun-2021 09-Sep-2021 09-Sep-2021 31-Dec-2022 7.00 4.46 2.54 TF-18896 07-Jan-2015 27-May-2015 07-Dec-2015 31-Dec-2022 27.64 27.64 0 Policy Waiver(s) Does this restructuring trigger the need for any policy waiver(s)? No 3 The World Bank Uganda Multisectoral Food Security and Nutrition Project (P149286) I. PROJECT STATUS AND RATIONALE FOR RESTRUCTURING 1. The Uganda Multisectoral Food Security and Nutrition Project (UMFSNP) is financed by two grants from the Global Agriculture and Food Security Program (GAFSP) totaling US$34.64 million. The initial grant (TF-18896) of US$27.64 million was approved on January 7, 2015. Additional Financing (AF) grant (TF-B6111) of US$7 million was approved on June 30, 2021 as an emergency response to mitigate the short to medium term impacts of the Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID- 19) pandemic on project beneficiaries. It is currently scheduled to close on December 31, 2022. 2. The Project Development Objective (PDO) is to increase production and consumption of micronutrient-rich foods and utilization of community-based nutrition services in smallholder households. The Ministries of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries (MAAIF, Lead Ministry), Ministry of Health (MoH), Ministry of Education and Sports (MoES), and Ministry of Local Government (MoLG) are implementing the project through 1500 Universal Primary Education (UPE) schools located in 15 districts with high stunting burden and low dietary diversity score. To achieve the PDO, the project integrates and delivers health, agriculture, and education sector interventions through active participation from various community actors, including Teachers, Parent Groups (PGs), Lead Farmers (LFs), Lead Mothers (LMs), and Village Health Teams (VHTs) to promote short-term changes in high-impact nutrition behaviors and practices that are known to contribute to reducing stunting in the medium- and long-term. The project has three components: (a) Component-1: Delivery of multi-sectoral nutrition services at primary school and community levels (US$21.8 million); (b) Component-2: Strengthening capacity to deliver nutrition interventions relevant to this project (US$6.97 million); and (c) Component-3: Project management, monitoring, evaluation, and knowledge generation (US$5.87 million). 3. Progress towards achieving the PDO and overall implementation progress are currently rated as “Satisfactory”. The project is on track to meet its PDO with the proposed extension and barring additional unknown impacts from COVID- 19. In addition, one PDO indicator and three intermediate results indicators have exceeded their targets. As of June 2022, the key achievements linked to the project components are: a) Component 1: Delivery of multi-sectoral nutrition services at primary school and community levels (US$21.8 million). There has been increased production and consumption of micronutrient rich (MNR) foods evidenced by (i) 49.85 percent of children aged 6-23 months with increased dietary diversity as compared to project’s end target 50.49 percent, and (ii) 49.37 percent households reporting year-round production of at least three micronutrient rich crops as compared to project’s end target of 49.44 percent. Delivering multi-sectoral nutrition services at primary school and community levels has been achieved especially through support from the key community actors including parent groups (PGs), lead farmers (LFs), village health teams (VHTs), and lead mothers (LMs) of the 15 project districts. To date, 1.47 million direct project beneficiaries have been reached by the project of which 675,980 are women, and 352,668 are under 2-year-old children, exceeding the original project target of 1.14 million. b) Component-2: Strengthening capacity to deliver nutrition interventions (US$6.97 million). There has been increased utilization of community-based nutrition services evidenced by 55.73 percent women participating in community-based nutrition activities in project areas as compared to project’s end target of 55 percent. The strengthening capacity on sector specific nutrition aspects and project specific updated responsibilities has reached a total of 36,264 key project staff through multisectoral trainings at different levels (National, Districts, sub-county, schools, and community) since effectiveness. c) Component-3: Project management, monitoring, evaluation, and knowledge generation (US$5.87 million). Continuous satisfactory progress has been made especially through quality of project monitoring and evaluation, 4 The World Bank Uganda Multisectoral Food Security and Nutrition Project (P149286) maintaining continued Financial Management adequacy and ensuring well-timed internal controls, and exchanging knowledge derived from five operational studies carried out to support knowledge generation and contribute to project outcomes, processes, and future nutrition projects. 4. As indicated in the component-wise work plan (see Annex-1), the following activities require the extension of closing date to be fully and effectively implemented. Component 1: Delivery of multi-sectoral nutrition services at primary school and community levels. Scaling up WASH interventions at community and school levels, building community care groups for school gardens, establishment and management of school seed banks, increasing coverage of community level production interventions of Orange Fleshed Sweet Potatoes (OFSP), Iron Rich Beans (IRB), fruits and vegetables and intensifying nutrition campaigns, operationalization of saving schemes, strengthening seed systems for multiplication of MNR crops, intensifying promotion of climate smart technologies, supporting schools to replicate production of MNR crops beyond the demonstration gardens. Component 2: Strengthening capacity to deliver nutrition interventions. Administration of iron and folic acid (IFA) and de-worming tablets in schools, intensification of value addition for bio-fortified crop varieties, adaptation of good postharvest handling practices & food preservation technology, developing value-chains for MNR crops, sensitization using media communication, strengthening and intensifying community demonstration activities including community mobilization, nutrition forum, cookery demonstrations, growth monitoring and promotion and WASH interventions. Component 3: Project management, monitoring and evaluation. Scale up of COVID-19 compliant supportive supervision and M&E to catch up with lost space, project coordination and management. 5. Through behavioral change communication (BCC), the project has changed different social myths detrimental to nutrition outcomes (for example, vegetables are the rural poor’s food), with community members across the economic divide increasingly growing and/or eating more vegetables, contributing to their daily diet. Additionally, incomes of lead farmers and parent group members have increased through multiplication (production) and sale of Orange Fleshed Sweet Potato (OFSP) planting material (vines) and of other MNR crops and vegetables. Significant positive outcomes in school enrolment and retention, and attendance of school children have been observed and reported. This improved student attendance has been partially attributed to improved availability and access to nutritious foods from school demonstration gardens for the students, and to nutrition education fora for the parents’ groups in the community. In addition, increased parental participation and interest in schools because of the project helps learning and improves both school and student performance. The Ministry of Education has observed that accessing weekly IFA tablets has reduced the dropout rate of primary school-going girls (10 – 15 years old) caused by the iron deficiency related illnesses. 6. As of end of June 2022, the project had fully disbursed the initial US$27.64 million grant representing 100 percent of the original project funds. The project had also disbursed US$4.46 million of the AF resources representing 64 percent of the AF grant. From the disbursed funds, a total of US$4.95 million including U$0.49 million from the original grant, is still to be utilized, mostly due to the slow normalization of school-based activities following schools re-opening in January 2022. There are no overdue Project audits or unaudited quarterly interim financial reports (IFRs). There have been no reports of fraud incidences in the project since its launch. RATIONALE FOR RESTRUCTURING 7. Implementation of the AF start-up activities was delayed for over six months after approval due to the continued COVID-19 pandemic challenges including spread of the new variants and COVID-19 related lockdown. Following the re- opening of schools at the beginning of the year, the project experienced further delays due to the slow pace of normalization of school-based activities. All these delays combined with seasonality of agricultural activities, have set back project implementation significantly. In view of this situation, most of the AF activities will require more time to complete (see Annex-1). 5 The World Bank Uganda Multisectoral Food Security and Nutrition Project (P149286) II. DESCRIPTION OF PROPOSED CHANGES 8. Extension of closing date: The proposed restructuring seeks to extend the closing date from December 31, 2022, to December 31, 2023, to complete all the planned activities and fully utilize the AF resources. This is the fourth extension of the project closing date. The first extension from December 31, 2019 to December 31, 2020 was provided following a recommendation of the Mid Term Review to allow for completion of all remaining project activities, and to better capture progress and achievements. The second extension from December 31, 2020 to December 15, 2021 was provided following a formal request from the Government of Uganda (GoU) to allow for completion of critical project activities that could not be implemented due to the COVID-19 related lockdown/directives and to achieve all its targets. The third extension to December 31, 2022 followed a successful application by the GoU in response to a GAFSP call for COVID-19 responsive proposals for additional financing (AF), which was approved by the GAFSP Steering Committee. With the proposed restructuring, the cumulative extension period will be forty-seven months. 9. Revisions to the Results Framework (RF): This is to better capture changes with the AF financed activities. This includes upward revision of end targets for three PDO indicators as well as six intermediate results indicators as provided in the following RF section. The proposed revision of end targets will capture more accurately the outcomes of additional resources in the remaining project life. 10. Context/Reasons of upward revisions. This multisectoral project was designed as a pilot project, the first in the Eastern Africa region. The initial set of targets for the indicators while adequately estimated, were not highly ambitious. With better-than-expected performance under the multisectoral institutional and implementation arrangements, the availability and delivery of improved nutrition services among target beneficiaries in project areas, and the increased active participation and project uptake by the community contributed to project exceeding some of the end targets. Moreover, the subsequent AF preparation was also not highly ambitious in revising the RF due to COVID-19 related uncertainty/directives. Considering the positive performance trend despite COVID-19, the additional resources, and the remaining project life, this restructuring proposes upward revisions to some of the selected indicators as provided in the RF below. 11. The changes are critical for: (i) achieving the PDO successfully by improving adoption of project interventions; (ii) ensuring completion of all the activities in accordance with the AF workplan (see Annex 1); and (iii) promoting sustainability of project results. The PDO, project components, project design, resource allocation, and environment and social safeguard arrangement remain the same. There are no pending audit reports nor outstanding fiduciary or safeguard issues. Also, this project is in line with the World Bank’s Investment Project Financing policy for extension of closing date that the PDO remains achievable, performance is satisfactory, and the World Bank has agreed with the borrower on an action plan. III. SUMMARY OF CHANGES Changed Not Changed Results Framework ✔ Loan Closing Date(s) ✔ Implementation Schedule ✔ Implementing Agency ✔ 6 The World Bank Uganda Multisectoral Food Security and Nutrition Project (P149286) DDO Status ✔ Project's Development Objectives ✔ PBCs ✔ Components and Cost ✔ Cancellations Proposed ✔ Reallocation between Disbursement Categories ✔ Disbursements Arrangements ✔ Disbursement Estimates ✔ Overall Risk Rating ✔ Safeguard Policies Triggered ✔ EA category ✔ Legal Covenants ✔ Institutional Arrangements ✔ Financial Management ✔ Procurement ✔ 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 Ln/Cr/Tf Status Closing Closing(s) Closing for Withdrawal Applications 31-Dec-2020, 15- TF-18896 Effective 31-Dec-2019 Dec-2021, 31-Dec- 30-Dec-2022 30-Apr-2023 2022 TF-B6111 Effective 31-Dec-2022 29-Dec-2023 29-Apr-2024 7 The World Bank Uganda Multisectoral Food Security and Nutrition Project (P149286) . 8 The World Bank Uganda Multisectoral Food Security and Nutrition Project (P149286) . Results framework COUNTRY: Uganda Uganda Multisectoral Food Security and Nutrition Project Project Development Objectives(s) The Project Development Objective (PDO) is to increase production and consumption of micronutrient-rich foods and utilization of community-based nutrition services in smallholder households in project areas. Project Development Objective Indicators by Objectives/ Outcomes RESULT_FRAME_TBL_PDO Indicator Name PBC Baseline End Target Increase production and consumption of micronutrient-rich foods Percentage of children aged 6-23 months in households with 45.90 51.63 minimum dietary diversity (Percentage) Action: This indicator has been Revised Percentage of households reporting year-round production of at 41.20 51.50 least three micronutrient rich crops in project areas (Percentage) Action: This indicator has been Revised Increase utilization of community-based nutrition services Percentage of women participating in community-based 36.40 57.30 nutrition activities in project areas (Percentage) Action: This indicator has been Revised PDO Table SPACE 9 The World Bank Uganda Multisectoral Food Security and Nutrition Project (P149286) Intermediate Results Indicators by Components RESULT_FRAME_TBL_IO Indicator Name PBC Baseline End Target Delivery of Multi-sectoral nutritional services at primary school and community levels Number of under-2 children reached for Growth Monitoring and 40,500.00 445,126.00 Promotion in project areas (Number) Action: This indicator has been Revised Number increase in farmers accessing multiplied or produced micronutrient rich seed/planting materials in project areas 0.00 293,375.00 (Number) Action: This indicator has been Revised Number of girls (primary 4 and above) receiving weekly iron folic acid supplements through primary schools in project areas 0.00 216,396.00 (Number) Action: This indicator has been Revised Number increase in the quantity of seed/planting materials of selected micronutrient rich crops multiplied or produced by lead 0.00 105,000.00 farmers in project areas (Number) Number of people receiving improved nutrition services 177,460.00 713,449.00 (disaggregated by gender and age) in project areas (Number) Action: This indicator has been Revised Number of WASH demonstration facilities compliant with COVID requirements established and operationalized at community and 0.00 4,500.00 schools (Number) Number of households consuming fruits/vegetables/ Micro Nutrient Rich porridge (MNR) at least three times a week 93,000.00 139,500.00 (Number) 10 The World Bank Uganda Multisectoral Food Security and Nutrition Project (P149286) RESULT_FRAME_TBL_IO Indicator Name PBC Baseline End Target Number of people receiving loans disbursed under Nutrition 0.00 15,000.00 Sensitive Saving schemes (disaggregated by gender) (Number) Strengthening capacity to deliver nutrition interventions relevant to this project Number of cooking demonstrations carried out at community 0.00 30,000.00 level (Number) Number of women trained in nutrition sensitive agriculture 0.00 303,797.00 through PGs in project areas (Number) Action: This indicator has been Revised Number of primary schools offering a package of nutrition 0.00 1,500.00 demonstration activities in project areas (Number) Number of parent groups (PGs) established and functional 0.00 3,000.00 (Number) Number of local seed multiplication centers for micronutrient 0.00 30.00 rich crops established and operationalized (Number) Project management, monitoring, evaluation, and knowledge generation Number of meetings of the project Inter-ministerial 0.00 28.00 Implementation Committee (Number) Action: This indicator has been Revised Number of primary school children receiving deworming tablets 39,906.00 1,809,887.00 through primary schools in project areas (Number) IO Table SPACE 11 The World Bank Uganda Multisectoral Food Security and Nutrition Project (P149286) Annex 1: Quarterly Workplan of Additional Funding Activities (2022-2023) Project Calendar Year (Quarter) Activity 2023 Component 2021 2022 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 1st 2nd 3rd 4th Component 1: 1.1. Scaling up WASH interventions at community and Delivery of multi- school levels sectoral nutrition i) Procure wash facilities at community and primary school services at primary level school and ii) Training schools and communities on the WASH community levels interventions and management of facilities iii) Refresher training on WASH practices 1.2. Rehabilitation of existing school demonstration gardens i)Provide input packages for school demonstration gardens ii)Provide input package to LFs to promote community replication and adoption of year-round nutrient-rich foods 1.3. Building community care groups for school demonstration gardens (60%women) i) Form community care Groups (CCGs) ii) Train CCG, using community facilitators, and PCU, MAAIF staff and District staff iii) Refresher training of CCGs 1.4. Developing competitive platform for MNR crop production & consumption linking students’ teachers, parents, extension workers, lead farmers, lead mothers of the community 1.5. Establishment of school seed banks i. Training of schools to set up seed banks ii. Set and operationalization of school seed banks iii. Refresher training of seed multipliers 1.6. Increasing coverage of community level production interventions of OFSP, IRB, fruits and vegetables and intensifying ‘nutrition campaigns’ about their consumption 12 The World Bank Uganda Multisectoral Food Security and Nutrition Project (P149286) Project Calendar Year (Quarter) Activity 2023 Component 2021 2022 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 1.7. Having majority of community group members replicating the lead farmers’ technology including the drip irrigation technology, energy saving skills 1.8. Providing Support to the project’s organized community groups (e.g. lead farmers, parents group, etc.) to boost their livelihoods through income generating activities. These will include saving schemes for nutrition related interventions, and input package (planting materials) for MNR crop production i) Assessment of existing parent groups ii) Formation, mobilization and sensitization of saving groups iii) Operationalization of saving schemes (Loan disbursement and recovery) 1.9. Strengthening seed systems for multiplication of MNR crops, including establishing community based viable seed banks for quality declared seed multiplication as part of the sustainability strategy for MNR production i. Identification of seed Multipliers at community level ii. Training of seed multipliers iii. Set up operationalization of quality declared seed multiplication centers iv. Refresher training for seed multipliers v. Procurement of value addition equipment vi. Set up of value addition enterprises 1.10. Intensifying promotion of climate smart technologies in the community & associated school gardens 1.11. Supporting schools to replicate production of MNR crops beyond the demonstration gardens using a subsidy- based approach 1.12. Enhancing supportive supervision and capacity building orientation 13 The World Bank Uganda Multisectoral Food Security and Nutrition Project (P149286) Project Calendar Year (Quarter) Activity 2023 Component 2021 2022 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 1.13. Expanding nutrition commodity-specific intervention, especially providing IFA supplementation to adolescent girls and deworming tablets in schools i) Procurement of nutrition commodities ii) Administration of IFA and de-worming tablets in schools 1.14. Carrying out annual nutrition assessment 2.1. Capacity building support to organized community groups (including women and youths) to intensify value addition for bio-fortified crop varieties in order to boost incomes and improve the quality of the food products to ensure ‘food security and nutrition’ 2.2. Providing technical through extension workers and inputs (e.g. equipment, etc.) to adapt good postharvest handling practices & food preservation technology i) procurement of harvest handling equipment ii) training on post-harvest handling practices and preservation technologies (Capacity building) iii)Refresher trainings Component 2: 2.3. Developing value-chains for MNR crops produced Strengthening including strengthening market linkages capacity to deliver 2.4. Carrying out extensive community awareness nutrition campaigns on food & nutrition (F&N) security guidelines interventions safety nets in response to COVID-19 i) Development, printing of related IEC materials ii) Conduct community sensitization mobilization using sub-county leadership- dissemination of IEC materials iii) Conduct routine dissemination meeting at district level (biannual)/e 2.5. Developing advocacy and behavioral change communication (BCC) strategy towards increased uptake 14 The World Bank Uganda Multisectoral Food Security and Nutrition Project (P149286) Project Calendar Year (Quarter) Activity 2023 Component 2021 2022 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 1st 2nd 3rd 4th and adoption of project technologies at national and community levels i) Develop Behavioral Change Communication (BCC) strategy towards increased uptake and adoption of project technologies ii) Training and dissemination of the Behavioral Change Communication (BCC) strategy towards increased uptake and adoption of project technologies iii) Refresher training 2.6. Strengthening and intensifying community demonstration activities including community mobilization, nutrition forum, cookery demonstrations, growth monitoring and promotion (GMP) and WASH interventions to increase consumption of MNR and adoption of nutrition interventions (Relevant I.E.C. materials developed/disseminated on the importance of MNR at all project forums., radio programs on key stations carried out for at least one year, Refresher training of project implementers at community level.) i) Develop relevant IEC materials on the importance of MNR crops ii) Dissemination of developed IEC materials iii) Refresher training for key project implementers Component 3: 3.1. National Policy dialogue on the sustainability strategy Project management, for UMFSNP monitoring and 3.2. Scale up of COVID-19 compliant supportive supervision evaluation and M&E to catch up with lost space 3.3. Project coordination and management Component-1 Note: Each color in the workplan above indicates different components. Component-2 Component-3 15