Document of The World Bank FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY Report No: 65942-VN INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT ASSOCIATION PROJECT APPRAISAL DOCUMENT ON A PROPOSED CREDIT IN THE AMOUNT OF SDR 65.1 MILLION (US$100.0 MILLION EQUIVALENT) TO THE SOCIALIST REPUBLIC OF VIETNAM FOR THE SCHOOL READINESS PROMOTION PROJECT January 29, 2013 Human Development Sector Unit East Asia and Pacific Region This document has a restricted distribution and may be used by recipients only in the performance of their official duties. Its contents may not otherwise be disclosed without World Bank authorization. CURRENCY EQUIVALENTS (Exchange Rate Effective December 31, 2012) Currency Unit = Vietnamese Dong (VND) US$1 = SDR 1.536 FISCAL YEAR January 1 - December 31 ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS BOET Bureaus of Education and Training at the district level DLI Disbursement-linked indicator DOET Department of Education and Training at the provincial level DPF Department of Planning and Finance ECD Early Childhood Development ECE Early Childhood Education ECED Early Childhood Education and Development ECOP Environmental Code of Practice EDI Early Development Instrument EEP Eligible Expenditure Program EFA Education for All EM Ethnic Minority ENTP Education National Targeted Program FM Financial Management ICR Implementation Completion Report IDA International Development Association IFR Interim Financial Report MOET Ministry of Education and Training MOF Ministry of Finance PDO Project Development Objective PEDC Primary Education for Disadvantaged Children PIA Project Implementing Agency PMU Project Management Unit PPTAF Project Preparation Technical Assistance Facility SAV State Audit of Vietnam SEQAP School Education Quality Assurance Project SIL Specific Investment Loan SRPP School Readiness Promotion Project ST State Treasury TA Technical Assistance VHLSS Vietnam Household Living Standards Survey VNIES Vietnam National Institute of Education Sciences Regional Vice President: Ulrich Zachau (Acting) Country Director: Victoria Kwakwa Sector Director: Xiaoqing Yu Sector Manager: Luis Benveniste Task Team Leader: Christian Bodewig/James Stevens Table of Contents I. Strategic Context......................................................1 A. Country Context .............. ...................................... 1 B. Sectoral and Institutional Context.............1......................... C. Higher Level Objectives to which the Project Contributes .............. ...... 6 II. Project Development Objectives.............................................. 6 A. Project Development Objective (PDO) .................................. 6 III. Project Description................ . ...................... ........ 7 A. Project components ...................7...........................7 B. Project Financing ................11...........................11 C. Lessons Learned and Reflected in the Project Design....................... 12 IV. Implementation ................................................... 12 A. Institutional and Implementation Arrangements...........................12 B. Results Monitoring and Evaluation...................................13 C. Sustainability................................................13 V. Key Risks and Mitigation Measures......................................13 A. Risk Ratings Summary............................................13 B. Description....................................................14 VI. Appraisal Summary ................................................14 A. Economic and Financial Analysis.....................................14 B. Technical..................................................... 16 C. Financial Management............................................ 16 D. Procurement................................................... 17 E. Social (including safeguards)........................................ 17 F. Environment (including safeguards)...................................19 G. Other Safeguards Policies triggered (if required)..........................19 Annex 1: Results Framework and Monitoring..................................20 Annex 2: Detailed Project Description.......................................24 Annex 3: Implementation Arrangements............................... ....... 34 Annex 4: Operational Risk Assessment Framework (ORAF) ................. ....... 49 Annex 5: Implementation Support Plan................................. ..... 53 Annex 6: Economic and Financial Analysis................... ................55 Annex 7: Provincial Preschool Enrolments....................................63 Annex 8: References .................................................... 65 Tables Table 1. Disbursement-linked indicators under Component 1 for SRPP (per review period) ...... 8 Table 2. Cost benefit under various scenarios ............................ 15 Table 3. Technical assistance on ECE in the context of preparation of SRPP .. ............. 47 Table 4. Impact of preschools on cognitive ability (or similar measure) in S . ........... 56 Table 5. Approximate average annual impact of preschools on progression rates.................. 56 Table 6. Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) estimates of a Mincerian earnings function............. 57 Table 7. Estimated returns to a standard deviation increase in cognitive skills . ............ 57 Table 8. Estimated Recurrent Cost of Achieving Decision 239................... 58 Table 9. Public and private annual per student costs by level in 2008 (US$) ..... ......... 59 Table 10. Cost benefit under various scenarios .......................... 59 Table 11. Core modeling assumptions ....................................... 60 Table 12. Cost to reducing student teacher ratio by 10....................... 62 Figures Figure 1. Poverty rates by geographic and household characteristics ...................... 1 Figure 2. Completion rates across population groups and years ......................... 2 Figure 3. Critical path of Component 2 investments and intermediate results .. ............. 10 Figure 4. Additional schooling costs by scenario as percentage of public recurrent education expenditure if Program 239 results are achieved ................................. 61 PAD DATA SHEET Vietnam Vietnam School Readiness Promotion Project (P 17393) PROJECT APPRAISAL DOCUMENT EAST ASIA AND PACIFIC EASHE Report No.: PAD374 Basic Information Project ID Lending Instrument EA Category Team Leader P117393 Specific Investment C Christian Bodewig Loan Project Implementation Start Date Project Implementation End Date 01-Apr-2012 (includes retroactive financing) 31-Dec-2016 Expected Effectiveness Date Expected Closing Date 31-Aug-2013 30-Jun-2017 Joint IFC No Sector Manager Sector Director Country Director Regional Vice President Luis Benveniste Xiaoqing Yu Victoria Kwakwa Ulrich Zachau (Acting) Borrower: Socialist Republic of Vietnam Responsible Agency: Ministry of Education and Training Contact: Tran Dai Hai Title: Manager, ODA Division Telephone (84-4) 3623-0748 Email: tdhai@moet.edu.vn No.: Project Financing Data(US$M) ] Loan [ ] Grant [ ] Other [X] Credit [ ] Guarantee For Loans/Credits/Others Total Project Cost (US$M): 100.00 Total Bank Financing 100.00 (US$M): 1 Financing Source Amount(US$M) BORROWER/RECIPIENT 0.00 International Development Association (IDA) 100.00 Total 100.00 Expected Disbursements (in USD Million) Fiscal 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 0000 0000 0000 0000 Year Annual 0.00 32.00 26.00 26.00 16.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 Cumulati 0.00 32.00 58.00 84.00 100.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 ve Project Development Objective(s) The objective of the Vietnam School Readiness Promotion Project (SRPP) is to raise school readiness for 5 year old children, in particular for those most vulnerable to not succeeding in a school environment, through supporting selected elements of Vietnam's Early Childhood Education (ECE) program. Components Component Name Cost (USD Millions) Component 1: Promoting School Readiness for 95.00 Disadvantaged Children Component 2: National Early Childhood Education Policy 5.00 Development and Capacity Building Compliance Policy Does the project depart from the CAS in content or in other significant Yes [ ] No [X] respects? Does the project require any waivers of Bank policies? Yes [ ] No [X] Have these been approved by Bank management? Yes [ ] No [X] Is approval for any policy waiver 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 11 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 Waterways OP/BP 7.50 X Projects in Disputed Areas OP/BP 7.60 X Legal Covenants Name Recurrent Due Date Frequency Adoption and subsequent maintenance of 30-Jun-2013 a Financial Management Circular Description of Covenant The inter-ministerial circular sets forth the financial management framework of the Project to guide the implementing agencies at all levels in the financial management aspects of the Project and clarifies the roles and responsibilities of relevant authorities and agencies including guidance on budgeting, financial reporting and auditing. Name Recurrent Due Date Frequency Maintenance of a Project Management X Monthly Unit Description of Covenant The PMU operates under the direction of qualified management provided with sufficient resources, and staffed with competent personnel in adequate numbers including, among others, a Project director, an accountant, a procurement officer, a monitoring and evaluation officer and an internal auditor, in each case with qualifications, experience and under terms of reference acceptable to the Association. Name Recurrent Due Date Frequency Adoption and subsequent maintenance of 30-Jun-2013 a Project Operations Manual Description of Covenant Project Operations Manual ("POM") sets forth guidelines and procedures for the implementation of the Project. Its provisions or any part thereof will not be amended, revised or waived without the prior written agreement of the Association. Name Recurrent Due Date Frequency Maintenance of Environmental Codes of X Monthly Practices (ECOPs) Description of Covenant Civil works under Component 2 are executed according to the ECOPs. Their provisions or any provision of any one thereof will not be amended, revised or waived, without the prior written agreement of the Association. Their implementation will be monitored and evaluated. Name Recurrent Due Date Frequency Signing of MoU between MOET and 30-Jun-2013 VNIES on performance audit 111 Description of Covenant MOU to set out terms and scope of performance audit conducted by the VNIES in line with the Project Operations Manual and terms of reference acceptable to the Association. Name Recurrent Due Date Frequency Performance audits of reporting systems X Yearly for Disbursement Linked Indicators (DLI) Description of Covenant The National Institute of Education Sciences undertakes, at least once annually, a verification process, in accordance with terms of reference acceptable to the Association, for the fulfillment of the DLIs and furnishes to the Association corresponding verification reports, in form and substance acceptable to the Association. Team Composition Bank Staff Name Title Specialization Unit James A. Stevens Senior Operations Co-Team Lead EASHE Officer Lingzhi Xu Senior Operations Senior Operations ECSH1 Officer Officer Kari L. Hurt Senior Operations Senior Operations EASHH Officer Officer Binh Thanh Vu Senior Education Senior Education EASHE Specialist Specialist Christian Bodewig Senior Economist Co-Team Lead EASHS Hisham A. Abdo Kahin Senior Counsel Senior Counsel LEGES Christoph Kurowski Country Sector Peer Reviewer ECSHD Coordinator Nguyet Minh Nguyen Program Assistant Program Assistant EACVF Miguel-Santiago da Senior Finance Officer Senior Finance Officer CTRLN Silva Oliveira Penelope Jane Aske Senior Operations Peer Reviewer ECSH3 Williams Officer Sophie Naudeau Senior Education Peer Reviewer AFTEE Specialist Cung Van Pham Sr Financial Sr Financial EASFM Management Specialist Management Specialist Kevin Alan David Consultant Consultant EASHD Macdonald Maya Razat Program Assistant Program Assistant EASHD An Thi My Tran Education Spec. Education Spec. EASHE 1v Tuan Anh Le Social Development Social Development EASVS Specialist Specialist Hoai Van Nguyen Procurement Specialist Procurement Specialist EASR2 Thuy Cam Duong Environmental Specialist Environmental Specialist EASVS Anna Coronado Program Assistant Program Assistant EASHD A. Juliana Williams Operations Assistant Operations Assistant EASHD Non Bank Staff Name Title Office Phone City Wendy Jarvie Consultant Toan Huy Ngo Consultant Sina Johannes Consultant Marilou Hyson Consultant Karen Lamont Consultant Emily Farchy Junior Professional Associate Suzana Nagele de Consultant Campos Abbott Locations Country First Location Planned Actual Comments Administrative Division Vietnam Province 63 Provinces/ Project supports a nationwide national program Institutional Data Sector Board Education Sectors / Climate Change Sector (Maximum 5 and total % must equal 100) Major Sector Sector % Adaptation Mitigation Co-benefits % Co-benefits % Education Pre-primary education 100 Total 100 Z I certify that there is no Adaptation and Mitigation Climate Change Co-benefits information applicable to this project. v Themes Theme (Maximum 5 and total % must equal 100) Major theme Theme % Human development Education for all 100 Total 100 vi I. Strategic Context A. Country Context 1. Vietnam has experienced rapid and consistent economic growth since launching its transition towards a market system (d6i m&i) in 1986. Gross Domestic Product growth has averaged over 7 percent over the last decade. In 2010, Vietnam joined the ranks of middle- income countries. 2. Vietnam's fast economic growth has triggered an impressive reduction in poverty since the early 1990s, yet poverty remains high among certain groups. Figure 1 presents poverty rates for Vietnam nationwide as well as for rural and urban areas and by ethnicity. It demonstrates just how successful poverty reduction has been in both urban and rural areas. Yet important challenges remain. First, rural poverty remains high, at close to 20 percent. Second, while poverty reduction among ethnic minority (EM) groups has been significant, EM poverty rates remain above 50 percent - a multiple of those of Kinh/Hoa. The gap shows no sign of closing. Rather, recent data show that the share of ethnic minorities among the poorest consumption decile has risen by more than 10 percentage points to 65 percent between 2006 and 2010. Figure 1. Poverty rates by geographic and household characteristics 70 100 60 ---0 50 40 60 30 40 0 20 20 CL---0 20 10 0 1993 1998 2002 2004 2006 2008 1993 1998 2002 2004 2006 2008 -+-National --Urban Rural --Kinh/Hoa Ethnic minorities Source: World Bank estimate based on Vietnam Household Living Standards Survey (VHLSS) data B. Sectoral and Institutional Context 3. There is a consensus in Vietnam on the importance of education as a key driver for personal advancement and for overcoming poverty, but education and learning outcomes remain significantly poorer for children from disadvantaged background and in particular EM children. Vietnam has made impressive progress towards achieving the Education For All (EFA) goals. Significant expansion of primary education expenditures has been accompanied by large increases in gross enrolment rates for both the majority population and ethnic minorities. While there is evidence for a narrowing of the gap between rich and poor, and majority population and ethnic minorities, a wide gap remains: First, whilst Vietnam's overall primary enrolment rate is now near universal overall, the rate for EM children is just 80 percent. Second, while primary 1 completion rates in 2008 were 92 percent for Kinh, they remained at 78.2 percent for children from EM groups (see Figure 2). Gaps are even wider at lower secondary level. Third, Grade 5 learning assessments in 2001 and 2007 provide evidence for wide and growing gaps in learning outcomes between Kinh and non-Kinh (World Bank, 201 1b). This is confirmed by data from the Young Lives panel survey which reveals that EM children and children from poor households had completed fewer grades and performed considerably poorer in a literacy test administered as part of the survey than children in the sample overall.' In summary, promoting EFA in Vietnam today means promoting learning for a relatively small group of highly disadvantaged children, in particular EM children. Figure 2. Completion rates across population groups and years Primary Completion Rate Lower Secondary Completion Rate 100.0 (11 year olds) 100.0 (15 year olds) 80.0 80.0 60.0 60.0 40.0 40.0 20.0 20.0 0.0 0.0 1992 1998 2004 2006 2008 1992 1998 2004 2006 2008 m Kinh & Chinese a Minorities * Kinh & Chinese a Minorities Source: World Bank (2010) 4. Experience suggests that poor education outcomes may be due to unequal starting conditions of children entering primary school, pointing to the need for interventions at pre- primary level to correct for this. International evidence suggests that investments into Early Childhood Development (ECD) have a significant impact on subsequent educational outcomes.2 Recent analysis confirms this for Vietnam as well, showing that access to preschool improves primary completion rates for rural and EM children (World Bank, 201 1b) and that an early childhood education (ECE) intervention for disadvantaged children that focuses on teacher training in child-centered teaching methods and good parenting promotion in conjunction with nutrition interventions had beneficial effects on test scores (Watanabe et al., 2005). ECD interventions that aim at developing the cognitive, motor, behavioral and language skills help to promote greater equality of starting conditions when children enter primary education. And, whilst these benefits are felt across the population, evidence suggests that focused ECE programs particularly benefit the most disadvantaged children (Dearing et al., 2009). 1 Young Lives is a long-term, multi-country research project focusing on the changing nature of childhood poverty. The project includes Ethiopia, Peru, India (Andhra Pradesh), and Vietnam. It follows two cohorts of children in each country, born in 1994/5 and 2001/2 over a period of 15 years. 2 See, for example, Carneiro and Heckman (2003), or Berlinski, Galiani and Gertler (2009), who estimate that one year of pre- primary school in Argentina increased average test scores of third grade students by 8 percent. 2 5. While enrolment in some form of preschool for children aged 5 appears relatively high in Vietnam, the poor and ethnic minorities make less use of preschool services. ECE in Vietnam is provided primarily through over 12,000 cr&ches and kindergartens. According to administrative data, the enrolment rate in preschool for 5-year-olds stood at more than 98 percent in 2008, with 90 percent attending full year preschool programs. Analysis from two rounds of the Vietnam Young Lives survey in four provinces confirms this relatively high preschool enrolment rate, but indicates that EM children are significantly less likely to go to school even when controlling for household resources (Young Lives, 2008). Differences also remain between poor and non-poor households, though less by urban and rural location and not by gender (See Box 2 for information on gender and ECE). Overall, the evidence suggests that EM children and children from poor households face challenges very early in primary education which could be addressed through more and higher quality preschool programs. However, it is precisely those children that need high quality preschool education the most who appear not to be getting it sufficiently. 6. Preschool provision is mixed between public, semi-public, and private preschools. In 2010, the number of public preschools accounted for 58 percent of the total number of preschools (12,711 schools) in Vietnam, and semi-public preschools accounted for 32 percent of the total number of preschools country-wide, whereas private preschools only account for only 10 percent. In 2011, due to the government's instruction to convert semi-public preschools to public preschools, the share of public preschools increased to 75 percent and semi-public preschools decreased to 14 percent, while private preschools remained constant at 11 percent. All preschools (both public and non-public institutions) for Vietnamese children in Vietnam must follow the same regulations in terms of organizational and management structures, ECE curriculum, class sizes, teacher children ratio, and minimum qualifications of teachers. Every preschool has to report to the district Bureau of Education and Training (BOET) as its direct education administrating agency and is subject to school evaluation and accreditation policies. All preschools teachers (both in public and non-public institutions) must have a minimum 2-year professional training diploma in ECE, and are entitled to annual professional development programs provided by the government. The Government Program 7. The Government of Vietnam recognizes the importance of ECE and has made it a core element of its education sector development agenda. The draft Education Development Strategy 2011-2020 promotes as one of its objectives to complete universal ECE for five year old children and reach universal ECE for 4-year-old children by 2020. Over the last ten years, there has been a significant increase in the Government's focus on the quality and availability of ECE in Vietnam, culminating in the approval of a program on "Universal Early Childhood Education for 5-year-old Children 2010-2015" (Prime Minister Decision 239/2010/Qd-Ttg). The Government defines "universal preschool" not just in terms of enrolment. Rather, accreditation of a province for having achieved universal preschool for 5-year-old children is based on multiple criteria. The enrolment target is 95 percent, with 85 percent of 5-year-old children enrolled in full day preschool expected to benefit from full-day provision. The attendance target is 90 percent. The incidence of underweight malnutrition (weight for age) is not expected to exceed 10 percent. It is also stipulated that physical infrastructure, material supplies, and teacher qualification should be in line with established standards. The Government expects that all provinces will meet these criteria by 2015. 3 8. The Government's preschool program, Decision 239, aims to expand school readiness through a focus on expansion of coverage, in particular among disadvantaged children, and improvements in quality. Its general objective is to ensure "that almost all children of 5 years of age in all areas can go to school on full day, full school year, so that they are well prepared both physically and mentally, with adequate language ability to enter the 1st grade". It focuses on four themes: (i) promoting supply through construction of standard classrooms, functional rooms and kindergartens; (ii) provisioning of play sets and teaching aids; (iii) promoting quality through an expansion of teacher training; and (iv) promoting demand through sponsoring of lunch subsidies of disadvantaged children aged 5. Decision 60/201 1/Qd-Ttg on ECE development policies for 2011-2015 augments Decision 239 by expanding funding to lunch sponsorship for disadvantaged children aged 3 and 4, the employment of contract teachers and principals and professional development for teachers and ECE managers employed in non-public institutions. Among the targets of Decision 239 for 2015 are to: (a) ensure enrolment in full day, full year preschool of 85 percent of 5-year-old preschool children and 70 percent of 3 to 4-year-old preschool children; (b) improve the quality of education and children care for 5-year-old classes, reducing the percentage of malnourished children, aiming toward the target of 100 percent children at ECE schools experiencing the new ECE curriculum; (c) improve the quality of kindergarten teachers, ensuring that 100 percent of teachers for children of 5 years of age meet the standard in 2015, setting the goal of 50 percent of teachers graduated from kindergarten teaching colleges, 80 percent of teachers above the average professional standards in 2015. (d) increase the number of provinces meeting the criteria of the Universal Early Childhood Education for children of 5 years age from 55 percent in 2010 to 85 percent in 2012 and 100 percent in 2015. 9. Vietnam introduced a new curriculum for ECE in 2009. The old ECE curriculum was "teacher-led", with the teacher designing whole class activities from a predetermined activity list. The new curriculum is based on research which shows that the most effective forms of ECE have opportunities for "child-led" learning, with a small group activity and teachers focused on achieving outcomes for the individual child. The new curriculum has potential to substantially lift quality of ECE if it is effectively implemented across the country. At the same time, the new curriculum will be challenging for poorly trained teachers to implement and for implementation for disadvantaged children. While there is designated training for teaching staff, it is recognized that this is insufficient to prepare teachers for teaching the new curriculum, in particular those working with disadvantaged children. 10. As part of strengthening ECE, the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) is placing a strong focus on quality promotion. MOET recently adopted new "Regulations on Standards for Assessing the Education Quality of Preschools" which will serve as a framework for promoting, measuring, and reporting on quality of service delivery and instruction in preschools. The regulations set out a system of three levels of quality, with quality level 1 denoting the basic, minimum quality level. It is understood that many preschools in disadvantaged areas currently do not meet level 1. 4 11. While Vietnam's main early childhood policy priority initially is to expand preschool services for children aged 3-5 and improve their quality, the authorities recognize the importance of early years interventions focused on children aged 0-3. MOET is committed to partner with other agencies over the medium-term in strengthening the strategic policy framework for ECD, developing models for community-based services and promoting an integration of education, nutrition, and parenting programs. 12. The indicative financing target for Decision 239 at its inception was VND 14,660 billion or about US$700 million over a 6-year period beginning in 2010. Investment and recurrent funding was to be made available from state, provincial, and community budgets (including Official Development Assistance), as well as the Education National Target Program (ENTP) 2011-2015, which provides annual investment financing to provinces to address educational disadvantage. The Government's actual financial commitment to achieving Decision 239's ECE goals has almost exceeded initial plans during the program's first 2 years already. During the period 2010-2011, Government reports VND 11,743 billion in state and local spending on ECE activities and an additional VND 1,678 billion in ECE spending by ENTP. This financial commitment represents annualized spending of about VND 6,710 billion or US$320 million on achievement of the Government's ECE goals. Box 1. Assessing school readiness with the Early Development Instrument (EDI) The concept of school readiness captures the degree to which a child possesses the cognitive and socio-emotional abilities necessary to learn and succeed in school. Early childhood education interventions aim to contribute to increasing the school readiness of children as they transition into primary school. As part of the preparation of SRPP, MOET conducted a school readiness assessment at the end of the 2011/12 school year based on the Early Development Instrument (EDI) with support from the Offord Centre for Child Studies at McMaster University in Canada and the World Bank. The EDI, developed by the Offord Centre, measures early childhood development for five year-old children across five domains of physical health and well- being, social competence, emotional maturity, language and cognitive development, and communication and cognitive development. The EDI is a rating assessment where teachers fill out questionnaires about students; it is not a direct test administered to children. However, there is 10 years of research establishing the validity of EDI both in terms of being correlated with various direct cognitive tests and being a predictor of future learning achievement. This assessment has been adapted and applied in 15 countries including low, middle, and high income countries. The implementation of the EDI in Vietnam was led by MOET with a team consisting of MOET ECE officers as well as experts from the Vietnam National Institute of Education Sciences (VNIES) and local consultants. The sample included 8,400 children across 100 districts. District ECE officers in the selected districts were trained by the team and in turn trained teachers to fill out the questionnaire for their students. Because existing staff were used to implement this survey, there is now capacity for future rounds of the assessment. The assessment provides a baseline for the SRPP: It showed that 24 percent of 5 year-old children in preschool are "vulnerable" in terms of school readiness (vulnerability in EDI is defined as the share of children in preschool aged 5 that are in the lowest decile of at least one early childhood developmental domain). The aim of ECE policy is to reduce this share and thereby increase overall school readiness of children aged 5. The assessment also reveals that preschool at present does not make up for differences in starting conditions between children. The assessment shows that large differences in vulnerability exist over different levels of mother's education, a proxy for socio-economic status. For example, 59 percent of children whose mother does not have any education are vulnerable which is almost twice as high as for children whose mother has only primary and more than 5 three times as high for children whose mother has attained lower secondary or higher. Large differences across ethnicity are also revealed: 45 percent of ethnic minority children are vulnerable in contrast to 19 percent of non- ethnic minority children. At the same time, the assessment also showed that the share of vulnerable children was lower among children attending full day preschool with lunch as opposed to attending only half-day. The findings from the baseline EDI assessment provide a solid underpinning for the government's reform program and will be used as a tool for monitoring school readiness under the program, as well as for the PDO results indicator for SRPP. C. Higher Level Objectives to which the Project Contributes 13. Improving education outcomes for the entire population is an important element of Vietnam's broader economic and social development agenda. This entails the strengthening of ECE and the promotion of school readiness. Vietnam's new 5-year and 10-year development plans give prominence to human resources development. In particular, the Socio-Economic Development Strategy 2011-2020 identifies human resources development as one of three strategic breakthrough measures, including the expansion of ECE. The School Readiness Promotion Project (SRPP) supports the "Opportunity" pillar of the World Bank-Vietnam Country Partnership Strategy 2012-2016. Its approach of strengthening Vietnam's preschool system is in line with the directions from the World Bank's Education 2020 Strategy "Learning for All". 14. The Government's interest in World Bank involvement in its ECE program is the results focus that SRPP brings to the initiative. The Government will use this results focus to justify its rapidly increasing financial commitment to ECE, to monitor the impact of its funding commitment and to target resources on geographic areas and groups where additional support is needed to achieve its goal of universal enrolment and improved school readiness. H1. Project Development Objectives A. Project Development Objective (PDO) 15. The objective of the Vietnam School Readiness Promotion Project (SRPP) is to raise school readiness for 5 year old children, in particular for those most vulnerable to not succeeding in a school environment, through supporting selected elements of Vietnam's Early Childhood Education (ECE) program. 16. School readiness refers to the degree to which a child possesses the cognitive and socio- emotional abilities for learning and succeeding in school (see also Box 1); those who are the most vulnerable to not learning and succeeding in school are those whose cognitive, socio- emotional and physical development is most lagging. The project will support the implementation of key elements of the Government's program to universalize preschool for 5 year-old children (Program 239, complemented by Decision 60) with the aim to enhance school readiness. 6 a. Project Beneficiaries 17. The project beneficiaries are disadvantaged children aged 3-5. The SRPP will help focus resources and attention on preschools with low capacity to deliver quality services for the most vulnerable children in line with the new ECE curriculum. These preschools are often in disadvantaged areas with high shares of EM children, children from less educated parents and from poorer households who are the most likely to be vulnerable in terms of school readiness. b. PDO Level Results Indicators 18. The proposed PDO results indicators are: * Reduction in the share of 5 year-old children who are vulnerable (defined as in the bottom decile in at least one early childhood developmental domain defined by the 2012 baseline distribution) on the EDI school readiness assessment; and * Increase in the number of provinces achieving universal preschool for 5-year-old children as per Government regulations. 19. The proposed PDO results indicators will also be monitored by progress in three intermediate results areas, as follows (see Annex 1 for details): * Expanded Full Day Preschool Enrolments: Enrolment of children aged 3,4, and 5 in preschool will increase towards near universal participation in full-day preschool being achieved for 5-year-olds by 2016; * Improved Capacity for Preschool Quality Assurance: Preschools will be conducting self-assessment and be accredited according to the newly adopted "Regulations on Standards for Assessing the Education Quality of Preschools"; and * Strengthened Preschool Teacher and Manager Professional Expertise: Teachers and preschool education managers will complete newly developed ECE professional development program modules. III. Project Description A. Project components 20. The project is structured into two components: The main investments will be under Component 1 and will provide on-budget results-based financing to support the implementation of the Government's school readiness promotion interventions. Component 2 will provide capacity building to support implementation and monitoring of the project and further policy development for ECE. The two components are summarized as follows: 21. Component 1: Promoting School Readiness for Disadvantaged Children (US$95m). On-budget funding will support the implementation of key elements of the Government's ECE program (Program 239, complemented by Decision 60). The SRPP will reimburse Government investments under the following eligible expenditure programs: 7 (a) lunch subsidies3 for disadvantaged children aged 3-54, which will encourage participation and full day preschool attendance; and (b) salaries, including social and health insurance contributions, for contract preschool teachers to ease the shortage of teaching staff. 22. A series of disbursement-linked indicators (DLJs) have been identified, corresponding to the three intermediate results areas outlined above. On-budget funding in Component I will be released annually against the achievement of these indicators and evidence of eligible expenditure under the defined Eligible Expenditure Program (EEP). The DLJs and their associated disbursement amounts are presented in Table 1. Each indicator is linked with a disbursement amount. Several DLJs (DLJs 2, 4, 5 and 8) are scalable and extend over more than one year. Annual disbursements will be dependent on the progress achieved towards the final target. A detailed description of each DLI, as well as the protocol for verification of compliance for each DLI, can be found in Annex 2. Table 1. Disbursement-linked indicators under Component 1 for SRPP (per review period) 1 2 3 4 TOTAL Results A: DLI 1 [US$lOm]: DLI 2 [US$30m]: Vietnam makes demonstrated progress in Expanded Full Day MOET has achieving its target of increasing the share of 5-year-old children Preschool completed a enrolled in preschool that benefit from full-day provision to 80 Enrolments baseline report on percent; US$5 million to be made available up to an aggregate enrolments of 3-5 amount not exceeding US$30 million for each confirmed one and 5-year-old percentage point increase in the share of 5-year-old children in children in full day preschool that benefit from full-day provision above the US$40m preschool based on established baseline under DLI 1 school year 2011/2012 data disaggregated by province, gender, and ethnic minority status Results B: DLI 3 [US$5m]: DLI 4 [US$15m]: Vietnam makes demonstrated progress in Improved Capacity MOET has adopted achieving its target of 90 percent of preschools have undertaken for Preschool guiding regulations selfassessment; US$ 0.17 million to be made available up to an Quality Assurance for preschool aggregate amount not exceeding US$15 million for each quality self- confirmed one percentage point increase in the share of schools assessments and conducting formal self-assessment over the previous school year external accreditation for US35m preschools DLI 5: [US$1m]: Vietnam makes demonstrated progress in achieving its target of 40 percent of preschools achieving accreditation at Level 1; US$ 0.375 million to be made available up to an aggregate amount not exceeding US$ 15 million for each confirmed one percentage point increase in the share of schools achieving Level 1 accreditation Results C: DLI 6 [US$5m]: DLI 7 [US$6m] DLI 8 [US$9m]: Vietnam makes Strengthened MOET has issued a Vietnam has made demonstrated progress in achieving its US$20m Preschool Teacher decision approving demonstrated target of 90 percent of preschool 3Please refer to Box 6 in Annex 2 for the justification to finance lunch subsidies as per OP/BP 6.00 for allowing food expenditures. 4 Decision 239/2010O/Qd-Ttg and Decision 60/201 1/QD-TTg specifies that 3, 4, and 5-year-old children: (i) whose parents are residents in frontier and mountainous areas, island villages, specially disadvantaged districts and villages; (ii) fom poor families; (iii) whose parents both died; or (iv) who are disabled with economic difficulties receive a subsidy of VND 120,000/month for lunch at school from the government budget during the time attending school, but not exceeding 9 months per school year. 8 and Manager the plan for progress in management and teaching staff that have Professional professional achieving its completed the priority modules of the new Expertise development for target of training ECE professional development program preschool teachers at least 2,000 aimed at improving teaching practice for and education trainers to deliver ethnic minority and highly disadvantaged managers in the the approved children; US$0.1 million to be made period of 2013-2015 priority modules available up to an aggregate amount not aimed at improving aimed at exceeding US$9 million for each confirmed teaching practice for improving one percentage point increase in the share of minority and highly teaching practice preschool management and teaching staff disadvantaged for ethnic that have completed the priority modules children minority and highly disadvantaged children; US$ 60,000 to be made available up to an aggregate amount not exceeding US$6 million for each one percent progress toward achieving the training target Notes: Full day means two sessions per day with lunch served at school. Disbursements against progress under DLIs 2, 4, 5, 7 and 8 will be per full percentage point. Any increases above a full percentage point but not constituting a full additional percentage point will be rounded down to the nearest full percentage point for the purposes of that year's disbursement, but be counted towards the next disbursement. All1 DLIs are subject to independent annual verification. For all DLIs (except DLIs 1, 3 and 6) the first payment under each DLI shall be made based on the results achieved above the established baseline for the respective DLL' and all subsequent payments shall be calculated based on the additional results achieved above the most recent results verified and accepted by the Association and used in the calculation of the previous payment 23. Component 2: National Early Childhood Education Policy Development and Capacity Building (US$5m). The project will also finance technical assistance (TA), training expenditures, and operating costs to support capacity building and the further development of ECE policy over the coming years. Specifically, it will provide support for ECE policy development and capacity building including: (a) strengthening planning and reporting systems for ECE; (b) strengthening professional development for ECE personnel, including the preparation of a new professional development program; (c) development of ECE policy and regulation, including the development and piloting in selected locations in Vietnam of a new community-based Early Childhood Development service model for children age 0 to 3 years old; (d) independent verification and performance audits of the Disbursement Linked Indicators reporting; (e) financial management capacity-building for the purposes of the results-based financing under Part 1 of the Project; and (f) Project management, monitoring and evaluation. Component 2 will have a traditional SIL disbursement design. 24. The TA activities and the DLIs are linked in a critical implementation path which reflects a results chain leading towards the PDI and the PDO. Most TA activities are concentrated in the first years of project implementation. 9 Figure 3. Critical path of Component 2 investments and intermediate results A: Expanded Full-Day Preschool Enrolments and Attendance 1 2 3 4 DLI 1 (US$10m, action): DLI 2 [US$ 30m]: Vietnam makes demonstrated progress in achieving its target of increasing the MOET has completed a baseline share of 5-year-old children enrolled in preschool that benefit from full-day provision to 80 report on enrolments of 3-5 percent; US$5 million to be made available up to an aggregate amount not exceeding US$30 E a and 5-year-old children in full- million for each confirmed one percentage point increase in the share of 5-year-old children in Day day presc o1 based on school preschool that benefit from full-day provision above the established baseline under DLI 1 Prol year 2011 2012 data disaggrega ed by province, and gender, an I ethnic minority st at us. IL 3Z TA 2.o1.1 Strengthening preschool and district-level planning and reporting on ECE B: Improved Capacityfor Preschool Quality Assurance DI3[USS 5m]: MOET has DLI 4 [USS 15m]: Vietnam makes demonstrated progress in achieving its target of 90 percent of adopted guiding regulations for preschools have undertaken self-assessment; USS 0.17 million to be made available up to an preschool quality self- aggregate amount not exceedingUSS15 million for each confirmed one percentage point increase assessmpnts and external in the share of schools conducting formal self-assessment over the previous school year >- Preschool DLI 5: [US$ 15Sm]: Vietna makesd demostrated progress in achieving its target of 40 percent of Quality preschools achieving a reditation atLeovel 1; USS 0.375 million to be made available up to an aggregate amount not xceeding US$ 15 million for each confirmed one percentage point increase in the share of schools achieving Level 1 accreditation TA 2.1.1 Strengthening preschool and district-leVel planning and reporting on ECE C: Strengthened Preschool Teacher and Manager Professional Expertise 1 2 3 4 DLI 6 [US$ 5m]: MOET has DLI 7 [US$ 6m] Vietnam has DLI 8 [USS 9m]: Vietnam makes demonstrated progress in issued a decision approving the made demonstrated progress in achieving its target of90 percent of preschool management and plan for professional achieving its target oftraining teac ing staffthat have completed the priority modules of the developm t for preschool at least 2,000 train s to deliver new ECE professional development program aimed at improving teachers aDd education the approved priori y modules teaching practice for ethnicminority an ighly disadvantaged Strengthened managers in the periodpof 2013- aimedat improving eaching children; US$ 0.1 million to beava eupto an aggregate Preschool 2015 aimea at improving practice for ethnic inority and amount not exceeding US 9 million f each confirmed one Teacher and teaching piactice for minority highly disadvantage t children; percentage point increase in the shat preschool management Manager and highly disadvantaged US 60,000 to be de and teaching staffthat have compe ed the priority modules Professional children available up tor an a egate Expertise amount not exceedi g US$ 6 million for each on percent progress toward ach ving the training target7 TA 2.2.3 Evaluation and TA 2.2.2 Preparation of professional development p ograms for Revision of Professional ECE staff Development Programs TA 2.2.1 Policy options for modernizing the ECE pe sonnel ttraining system 10 B. Project Financing a. Lending Instrument 25. The SRPP is a Specific Investment Loan (SIL) in the amount of SDR 65.1 million (US$100 million equivalent), which is expected to be implemented over a period of 4 years. It co-finances the Government's universal ECE for 5-year-old children's program under its main component, Component 1, through the provincial Departments of Education and Training (DOET) and district BOET. Project funding under Component 1 represents approximately 10 percent of the Government's overall annual spending on ECE activities under Program 239 and Decision 60. b. Project Financing 26. The World Bank's reimbursements of Government expenditures on its preschool program would be limited to a single pooled EEP that has been assessed by the Bank to have adequate fiduciary arrangements. The pooled EEP has been limited to subsidies for disadvantaged children for school lunches, and engagement of contract teachers and assistants. Financing for these activities has been determined to have suitable internal controls and is subject to regular oversight by MOETs and DOETs. Supporting documentation for disbursements would include evidence that payments have been made against EEPs by MOET, provinces, districts or schools. An independent audit agency will be contracted to carry out annual audits of the State Budget Execution for these two activities in the EEP in a timely and reliable manner. 27. The World Bank will disburse a total of US$95 million for Component 1 in annual installments into the State Treasury (ST) against MOET's reporting on the achievement of DLIs and of eligible expenditures under the EEP. Should MOET's reporting be incomplete or of insufficient quality or should the agreed results not be achieved in full, the World Bank reserves the right to withhold all or part of the respective DLI allocation. Likewise, disbursements will be adjusted in case eligible expenditures under the EEP are lower than the planned annual SRPP installment. 28. Designated joint circulars will be prepared by MOET and Ministry of Finance (MOF) to guide the implementation of the EEP and to provide a basis for annual allocations from the state budget. Joint Circular 29/2011, already approved, guides the implementation of lunch subsidies for 5 year-old children, while a Joint Circular on Decision 60 to guide the implementation of lunch subsidies for 3 and 4 year-old children and salaries for contract teachers will be adopted in early 2013. MOET retains the right to withhold funding for those provinces that fail to report adequately and report on achieved progress. At present there are fifty provinces which are receiving budget transfers from the central government. They have considerable populations of disadvantaged children. Provinces that are receiving budget transfers from the central government have been designated as eligible to receive funding under Component 1. 29. Funding for Component 2 will be disbursed into a designated account which will be replenished periodically against eligible expenditures. 11 c. Project Costs 30. The project's US$100 million contribution to Vietnam's preschool program from 2013- 2016 would represent about a 14 percent share of the Government's estimated US$700 million investment commitment under Decision 239 (2010-2015). It would represent an even smaller share (about 10 percent) - of the Government's overall expected ECE spending effort during the 4-year project period based on actual expenditure reporting to date. C. Lessons Learned and Reflected in the Project Design 31. The project design incorporates lessons from international experience on how to make preschool work for disadvantaged children. These include, inter alia: (i) having sufficient teachers that have been trained to provide effective support to disadvantaged children, particularly those from ethnic minorities; (ii) using an adequate child development curriculum which focuses on effective classroom practices; (iii) maximizing involvement of parents in child learning; and (iv) regularly assessing outcomes in terms of school readiness and child development (Schweinhart, 2009a). It also builds on important innovations developed and supported for primary education under the Vietnam Primary Education for Disadvantaged Children (PEDC) Project by applying them to the preschool system. These include the definition of a basic quality accreditation level, as well as the incorporation of EM teaching assistants, where appropriate. 32. The choice of an on-budget, results-based financing mechanism takes into account lessons from previous experience with education projects in Vietnam. The Implementation Completion Report (ICR) to the PEDC Project attributed problems with sustainability to implementation arrangements separate from the government's own mechanisms. The ICR argues that a program coordinated directly by the MOET through its technical departments (as opposed to through a Project Coordinating Unit [PCU]), and directly through the DOETs (as opposed to through provincial PCUs) would have provided greater sustainability and internalization of the very capacity that the project helped develop" (World Bank, 2011 a). IV. Implementation A. Institutional and Implementation Arrangements 33. The SRPP is expected to be implemented over a 4-year period between 2013 and 2016. The disbursements will follow agreed reporting formats and dates. The overall responsibility for implementation of the SRPP rests with MOET. Under Component 1, the provinces are responsible for the planning and implementation in line with the joint circulars which contain the expenditure programs. The activities under Component 2 will be managed centrally by MOET through a traditional implementation unit arrangement. 34. Reporting against achievement of DLIs and performance audits of DLI result reporting are expected to be finalized by the end of October in each project year. This deadline will be preceded by a meeting between the World Bank and MOET in July of each year in which a detailed schedule for DLI evaluation and monitoring will be agreed. TA under Component 2 12 will be focused on supporting this process. The World Bank would confirm evidence of DLI achievement and expenditure against agreed EEPs by the end of each calendar year. Depending on results, delayed or partial (scalable) disbursements would be approved, if appropriate, based on an agreed formula. The World Bank would also allow early disbursements based on evidence of early achievement of the DLIs and proof of EEP execution (see Annex 3 for detailed description of DLI and eligible expenditure reporting and verification). B. Results Monitoring and Evaluation 35. The project will allocate funding under Component 2 to strengthen monitoring and evaluation, and reporting in MOET, as well as in provinces and districts. First, it will support conducting school readiness assessments based on the EDI at mid-point, and the end of the project. A baseline assessment was already conducted during project preparation. This will allow assessing whether the SRPP meets its intended development objective of improved school readiness for disadvantaged children and yield important insights for overall ECE policy development. Second, it will support the improvement of the reporting mechanism on preschool quality and progress towards achieving accreditation for Level 1 according to the new "Regulations on Standards for Assessing the Education Quality of Preschools". Third, it will support the office of the Vietnam National Institute of Education Sciences (VNIES) to monitor and verify MOET and DOET reporting on preschool enrolments and other results indicators. Fourth, it will support independent performance assessment of the self-accreditation process in a random sample of schools and districts. The strengthening of the reporting systems will be supported by TA under Component 2. C. Sustainability 36. Vietnam is committed through its universal ECE program to expanding preschool enrolment, in particular among disadvantaged children, and improving its quality as one of the country's priority investment goals. Increasing financial commitments to the program are likely to be sustainable, contingent on the Government being able to demonstrate results. The SRPP is designed to help government prioritize spending on improved quality, as well as on better targeting of program resources. It will also help the Government to justify its investment in preschool by documenting results. The SRPP will build administrative, auditing, and reporting capacity to improve the results focus. Capacity built under SRPP will also be expected to inform the design of continued support for the preschool program in the second phase, even if donor funding is not required or sought. V. Key Risks and Mitigation Measures A. Risk Ratings Summary Stakeholder Risk Low Implementing Agency Risk - Capacity Substantial 13 - Governance Substantial Project Risk - Design Substantial - Social and Environmental Moderate - Program and Donor Low - Delivery Monitoring and Sustainability Substantial Overall Implementation Risk Substantial B. Description 37. The overall risk is rated as Substantial (see Annex 4), for the following reasons. The SRPP is innovative in its results-based, on-budget design which will be novel for the government agencies involved. However, implementation arrangements have been chosen to avoid parallel project implementation mechanisms that have contributed to slow implementation, high transaction costs and low expectations of sustainability with traditional SIL designs in Vietnam. 38. Risk will be reduced by utilizing existing government processes. Required procedures for use of funds are reflected in guiding joint circulars for Program 239 and Decision 60. Reporting and auditing measures will also be agreed to allow Government to monitor compliance with the joint circulars. 39. The delivery monitoring risk is also substantial. Local planning, investment, reporting, and financial management, including audit, capacities vary across provinces and are weak in the less developed ones. While the SRPP focuses on enhancing reporting systems, there are risks that this will not result in sufficiently strong systems in time. The mitigation mechanisms for these risks are twofold. First, the project itself supports a strengthening of planning and reporting under the Government's program. Second, the SRPP will finance considerable capacity building under Component 2, particularly in the area of administrative reporting. 40. The sustainability risk associated with the SRPP is low. The project design has in part been deliberately chosen based on sustainability concerns and the aim to build on and strengthen government systems to plan and implement ECE policies for disadvantaged children beyond the lifetime of the project. The project aims to demonstrate the effect of focused action to improve quality of ECE provision for disadvantaged children on their improved school readiness and to do so as part of the government policy implementation mechanism as opposed to through a separate, ring-fenced project. VI. Appraisal Summary A. Economic and Financial Analysis 41. There is substantial established evidence from developed and developing countries on the beneficial effect of quality ECE and development interventions on cognitive ability, years of schooling attained and subsequent earnings (Naudeau et al., 2010). This is particularly true for 14 children from disadvantaged background, making investments in ECE not just an economically sound, but also an equity-promoting investment. The design of the SRPP-supported program reflects this evidence, and the program is expected to result in increases on preschool enrolment among disadvantaged children and increases in cognitive ability. 42. There is a strong case for government intervention in the promotion of ECE to address market failures. The market for ECE typically fails in four major areas: (i) externality - parents place less importance on quality preschool education as would be socially desirable; (ii) coordination failure - on the one hand, demand for childcare is typically segmented and diffuse geographically, while, on the other hand, supply costs are high and step-fixed (due to natural as well as legal ceilings on child groups), making it difficult for a provider to fill the capacity as would be needed for profitable operation; (iii) information asymmetry - parents cannot easily identify high quality care; and (iv)financing/credit market failures - parents cannot afford to pay for fees and costs associated with their children's participation in preschool. 43. SRPP will support recurrent expenditures required to implement Decision 239 which, if achieved, will improve the quality of ECE services being provided to 3 to 5-year-olds and enroll 70 percent of 3 and 4-year-olds and 95 percent of 5-year-olds (and 85 percent in full day preschool). Cost benefit analysis suggests that the recurrent portion of Decision 239 would have considerable returns, even under conservative assumptions. Decision 239 interventions, with SRPP support, are expected to improve the cognitive ability of students and grade progression. As a result of this, and under conservative assumptions, SRPP-supported investments would yield an estimated 19 US dollar per dollar spent at a discount rate of 5 percent and an internal rate of return of 14.3 percent (see Table 2; for more detail, view Annex 7). An average scenario and a World Bank client country average scenario are also shown in Table 2. These take the average for all studies listed in Annex 7 for the first and an average for World Bank client countries only for the second scenario; this latter scenario serves as an optimistic example and yields a very high internal rate of return (IRR). Analysis in Annex 7 also shows that the intervention is similar in cost-effectiveness compared to, for example, a reduction in class size by 10 pupils - an intervention which has also been found to have similar positive effects on cognitive ability. Table 2. Cost benefit under various scenarios Impacts on Cognitive Ability Internal rate of Progression (standard Return to Return (IRR) Benefit Cost Rates deviation Cognitive Scenario Ratio (times higher) higher) Ability (%) Conservative 14.3 18.9 1.02 0.07 5.0 Average 16.5 27.5 1.04 0.18 19.5 Bank client country average 16.9 29.4 1.05 0.25 19.5 44. Through its impact on progression rates and subsequent enrolment, the government would incur a future stream of additional costs depending on the size of the project's impact. Total additional cost is the per student cost multiplied by the additional number of students at 15 each level as a result of the impact of the interventions on reduced dropout rates. Under optimistic assumptions about the impact of this project on grade progression, the maximum additional cost to the government would be 3.3 percent of recurrent education expenditure in 2025. 45. The economic and financial analysis is likely to underestimate the true returns. This is for reasons of data ability and completeness of the model. Positive effects of ECE on health status, documented in several studies around the world, have not been reflected, as have effects on reduced crime or greater likelihood of employment of parents. B. Technical 46. The project supports a key priority of the Government of Vietnam - human resource development. The project reinforces the focus of the universal ECE for 5-year-old children's program on the most disadvantaged children and weakest preschools and supports specific measures which promote improvements of the quality of preschool learning for more children. The project design incorporates interventions which are aligned with international best practice. 47. The SRPP takes the approach of building on and enhancing Vietnam's preschool system. Specifically, the results-based financing design aims to further Vietnam's policy planning and implementation mechanisms for early childhood education and development at every level. It supports enhanced monitoring and reporting of enrolment and quality developments in preschools. Through a results-based financing mechanism, the SRPP provides incentives for the utilization and reporting of self-assessments, while TA and external performance audits should strengthen capacity for their use. Moreover, school readiness assessments based on the internationally used EDI at baseline, mid-point, and the end of the project will ensure a close focus on the development objective and deepen the knowledge of the dimensions of school readiness and non-readiness. 48. The focus on strengthening of preschool services for children from disadvantaged background aged 5 reflects the immediate priorities of the Government as laid out in Decision 239. However, the authorities are aware of the need to also pay attention, in a further step, to ECD service provision for children aged 0-3 and their parents. This is why, under Component 2, the SRPP supports the development and pilot testing of integrated community-based ECD services for children aged 0-3 which will inform the development of an overall strategic framework for ECD in Vietnam over the medium-term. C. Financial Management 49. The FM assessment has concluded that MOET will maintain adequate financial management arrangements acceptable to the World Bank and provide reasonable assurance that the proceeds of the project will be used for the purposes for which the credit is granted. Specifically, activities under the EEP meet the minimum Bank financial management requirements, as stipulated in BP/OP 10.02. The key risks identified are: (i) weak budgeting and planning capacity which may result in inadequate budgeted resources for implementation; (ii) weak financial reporting capacity of the spending units which may result in inaccurate, unreliable 16 and delayed financial reporting from spending units; (iii) lack of monitoring of internal controls implementation and internal audit which may not prevent or detect the misuse of program's resources; (iv) limitations of scope (limited access to accounting records and reports maintained by State Treasury) may result in low quality of audit reports; and (vi) the results reported for disbursement may not be reliable. 50. The key actions to mitigate the identified risks are: (i) A Joint/ Inter-Ministerial Circular issued clarifying the roles and responsibilities of relevant authorities and agencies at local level which should include guidance on budgeting, financial reporting and auditing; (ii) The Interim Financial Reports (IFRs) will be prepared by the State Treasury (on the uses of funds), the Debt Management and External Finance Department (on the receipt of funds), consolidated by MOET following a template acceptable by the Bank; (iii) Technical Assistance provided to MOET to provide a roadmap to build Internal Audit capacity and to pilot the IA activities on an agreed scope in selected spending units; (iv) the Financial Audit will be performed annually by an independent auditing agency acceptable to the Bank following the TOR acceptable to the Bank; and (v) The reporting on Disbursement Linked Indicators (DLIs) will be verified by VNIES according to the TOR acceptable to the Bank. In addition, (vi) the appointment of the Chief Accountant for Component 2- National Early Childhood Education Policy Development and Capacity Building (Component 2, off-budget component) with adequate accounting background, qualification and experiences (was completed by Negotiations) and (vii) the FM Guidance covering FM arrangement for Component 2 should be developed (refer to Annex 3 for more details). D. Procurement 51. A Procurement Capacity and Risk Assessment (PCRA) of the MoET's Department of Planning and Finance was conducted during project preparation. The main procurement risks identified for the proposed project are (i) PIA's tendency to follow the national public procurement procedures rather than the Bank's Guidelines when there is conflict between them which may cause irregularities and incompliance; and (ii) possible delays at all stages of procurement cycle and contract implementation due to lack of familiarity with Bank procurement procedures and policies. However, considering that majority of the Bank financing (95%) will be disbursed against result-based "non-procurable" items (such as salaries and lunches), the procurement risk may be rated as "medium" after taking the following mitigation measures: (i) assigning qualified and experienced procurement staff; (ii) taking intensive training by the PIA staff on Bank procurement procedures and documentation requirements; and (iii) recruiting qualified procurement consultant as needed. An initial Procurement Plan for the first 18 months of project implementation, available as a separate project document, was prepared by the PIA and accepted by the Bank at the negotiations. More details of the procurement arrangements are provided in Annex 3. E. Social (including safeguards) 52. The decision of the Government to focus on developing ECE is based on the recognition of its importance in helping to strengthen school readiness, subsequent learning outcomes, and ultimately, social inclusion and greater equality of opportunity. This is particularly true for 17 disadvantaged children and children from ethnic minorities (EM), and experience in Vietnam and around the world suggest that, if appropriately designed, ECE will be an important contributor to promoting their life chances. The SRPP design builds on this rationale. 53. Due to the SRPP's focus on educational disadvantage and EM groups, the World Bank's safeguard policy on indigenous peoples (OP 4.10) is triggered. The project's aim is to improve school readiness, including disadvantaged children who are in many cases children from EM groups, and it supports government interventions which are sensitive to the needs of EM children. The majority of project beneficiaries are expected to be from EM background. Given that the majority of project beneficiaries are from ethnic minority groups, the elements of an Ethnic Minority Development Plan (EMDP) have been included in the overall project design and a stand-alone EMDP was not prepared. For example, teaching according to the new curriculum for target EM groups will be part of a new professional development program for teaching staff to make sure EM children benefit from teaching in a way that is culturally appropriate to them. To enhance the participation of those currently not participating in preschool (these are often EM children), the project will support the gradual achievement of basic quality standards which include the provision of lunch and other measures to incentivize the participation of EM children, which in turn, enhances the enrolment and attendance. 54. A social assessment (SA) was conducted as required by OP 4.10, and was part of project preparation. The SA was conducted both for Kinh and ethnic minorities, focusing on eight selected provinces. The SA identifies demand and supply constraints to improving preschool services for disadvantaged children, and assessed if there are any potential adverse impacts from the project-supported interventions. Where the SA was conducted with EM peoples, consultations (as part of the SA) were carried out in a free, prior and informed manner through in-depth interviews, focus groups discussions, in-class participative observations, and visits to selected households. The consultation results indicate that there is broad community support from EM peoples for the project-supported interventions (please see more on the SA results in Annexes 2 and 3). 55. During project implementation, as a principle of ensuring inclusion, participation and cultural suitability, (including monitoring and evaluation) further consultations will be held with selected stakeholders from EM groups to solicit their views and comments on project activities. The consultation methods to be used will be appropriate to social and cultural traits of EM groups that the consultation target, with particular attention given to parents and teaching staff (who have more time interacting with children). They will be provided with relevant information about the project in a culturally appropriate manner during project implementation, monitoring and evaluation to promote their meaningful participation and sense of ownership. By enabling participation of relevant EM stakeholders during project planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation, the project can ensure that EM people receive social and economic benefits that are culturally appropriate to them. 18 Box 2. SRPP and gender Available data suggest that Vietnam's early childhood education system does not suffer from significant gender inequalities overall, though there are some variations by locality and family background. Gross national enrolment rates for preschool are roughly equal: 47 percent of the enrolled are girls, in line with population shares. However, the national and regional averages mask some variation between provinces, with some provinces having significantly lower girl enrolment shares than others. For example, girls make up only 32 percent of the enrolled in Dak Nong province and 38 percent in Thanh Hoa. While these are provinces with high EM enrolment shares, there are other provinces with even higher EM enrolment shares which have equal enrolment between girls and boys. Among those enrolled in preschool, girls are less likely than boys to be vulnerable on early child development domains captured by the EDI school readiness assessment (see Box 1.). They make up 42 percent of the vulnerable, while boys make up 58 percent. There is no statistically significant difference in the gender gaps among EM and ethnic Kinh. Only among those vulnerable in the communication and general knowledge domain does the gender difference vary for EM: 44 percent of ethnic Kinh boys are in the lowest decile of the communication and general knowledge dimension compared to 32 percent for girls, while 77 percent of both EM boys and girls are in the lowest decile of the communication and general knowledge dimension (i.e. there is no gender difference for EMs). The SRPP is a gender-informed project. Gender disaggregated enrolment and school readiness statistics have been collected at baseline and will be collected annually or at mid-term and end of the project. Findings from the EDI will be used to inform MOET's ECE policy formulation. Provincial enrolment rates highlight remaining inequities and put the spotlight on provinces' efforts to rectify those. F. Environment (including safeguards) 56. The SRPP will not finance any major civil works and is, therefore, not expected to have any significant, irreversible or major environmental impacts. The only civil works it will finance are repairs and physical adaptation of existing facilities in four small community-based model ECD service centers under Component 2. These activities are of a small-scale nature. The lessons learnt from the ongoing School Education Quality Assurance Program (SEQAP) and the recently closed PEDC project shows that this nature and scale of investment have minor or no adverse environmental impacts. The potential minor impacts included dust and generation of construction waste associated with civil works of classrooms. These impacts were minimal, localized and mitigated by incorporating good civil works practices, including proper housekeeping measures, proper storage and disposal of excavated earth materials, and pollution control. To support MOET in mitigating any potential environmental impacts due to the minor civil works activities in the four ECE service centers, Environmental Codes of Practice (ECOPs) have been prepared. The ECOPs provide guidelines which outline simple rules and procedures regarding identification, monitoring and mitigation of possible environmental impacts associated with small civil works activities. MOET also has experience in the application of mitigation measures against civil work impacts during the implementation of the PEDC and SEQAP projects. G. Other Safeguards Policies triggered (if required) Not applicable. 19 Annex 1: Results Framework and Monitoring Vietnam School Readiness Promotion Project (P117393) Results Framework Project Development Objectives PDO Statement The objective of the Vietnam School Readiness Promotion Project (SRPP) is to raise school readiness for 5 year old children, in particular for those most vulnerable to not succeeding in a school environment, through supporting selected elements of Vietnam's Early Childhood Education (ECE) program. Project Development Objective Indicators .Data Responsibility Cumulative Target Values D / fo Source/ for Unit of .End Methodolog Data Collection Indicator Name Core Measure Baseline YR1 YR2 YR3 YR4 Et Frequency Measure Target y Reduction in the share of 5 year- old children Designated who are school vulnerable (in readiness the bottom 10 the otto 10Mid-term assessment MOET, DOET percent in at Percentage 24.00 24.00 22.00 Mid-erm a n M OET leastone 2.00 and end (Early and BOET least oneDelom developmental et domain defined nt by the 2012 baseline distribution) on 20 the EDI Number of provinces achieving universal Number 10.00 10.00 15.00 29.00 50.00 50.00 annual MOET MOET preschool for 5 year-old children Intermediate Results Indicators Data Responsibility Cumulative Target Values Sore fo Source/ for hdicator Name Core Unit of . End Methodolog Data Collection MeasureNam CreBaseline YR1 YR2 YR3 YR4 TagtFrequency Measure Target y Rate of DOET/MO enrolment in ET preschool of 5 Percentage 96.40 96.40 96.80 97.20 97.50 97.50 Annual r t DOET/MOET year-old re children Share of 5 year- old children enrolled in ET ET preschool Percentage 73.70 73.70 76.00 78.00 80.00 80.00 Annual DOET/MOET benefiting from re full-day provision Increase in the share of DOET/MO preschools having been Percentage 0.00 0.00 0.00 25.00 40.00 40.00 Annual eT DOET/MOET accredited at re least for level 1 quality level 21 Share of preschool teachers having successfully DOET/MO completed the Percentage 0.00 0.00 0.00 50.00 90.00 90.00 Annual ET DOET/MOET priority modules reporting of the system professional development program Share of preschool education managers having DOET/MO successfully ET completed the Percentage 0.00 0.00 0.00 50.00 90.00 90.00 Annual reporting DOET/MOET priority modules system of the professional development program 22 Annex 1: Results Framework and Monitoring Vietnam School Readiness Promotion Project (P117393) Results Framework Project Development Objective Indicators Indicator Name Description (indicator definition etc.) Reduction in the share of 5 year-old children who are Early Development Instrument, a rating type assessment for measuring school vulnerable (in the bottom 10 percent in at least one readiness of a population of children, covering five domains of child well-being developmental domain defined by the 2012 baseline distribution) on the EDI Number of provinces achieving universal preschool for 5 According to Decision 248 / QD-BGDDT, dated 01 May 2011 of the Minister of year-old children Education and Training Intermediate Results Indicators Indicator Name Description (indicator definition etc.) Rate of enrolment in preschool of children aged 5 Enrolments as per MOET reporting format Share of 5 year-old children enrolled in preschool Enrolments as per MOET reporting format benefiting from full-day provision Increase in the share of preschools having been Accreditation statistics as per MOET reporting regulations accredited at least for level 1 quality level Share of preschool teachers having successfully Completion reporting data as per MOET reporting format completed the priority modules of the professional development program Share of preschool education managers having Completion reporting data as per MOET reporting format successfully completed the priority modules of the professional development program 23 Annex 2: Detailed Project Description Vietnam: School Readiness Promotion Project (P117393) 1. The SRPP is a Specific Investment Loan (SIL) in support of the implementation of the Government's "Universal Early Childhood Education for 5-year-old Children 2010-2015" Program (Decision 239) to promote better school readiness outcomes for disadvantaged children. Project focus and design 2. The Government's preschool program and the SRPP design recognize that enhanced, targeted efforts are necessary in educationally disadvantaged areas to help improve school readiness of disadvantaged children, in particular EM children. These efforts include: (i) more and better trained teachers and managers, ensuring more child-focused, developmentally effective classroom practices which are mindful of needs of EM children and consistent with the government's new ECE curriculum; and (ii) the implementation of interventions reflected in the new quality standard system for preschools. 3. The preschool quality standard system supported by the SRPP reflects lessons from international experience (see Box 3) and feedback from stakeholders in Vietnam consulted during the preparation of the project. Project preparation involved: (i) an identification report based on consultations with MOET and provincial and district authorities as well as preschool staff and communities in five provinces in January-March 2010; (ii) a multi-stakeholder workshop on lessons and implications for the project design in Hanoi in March 2010; (iii) a needs assessment and social assessment study by the National Institute of Education Science (see Box 4); and (iv) TA to MOET on the development of the new quality standard system for preschools (for a summary of TA provided during project preparation, see at the end of annex 4). Box 3: How to make preschool work for disadvantaged children - main points from international experience * Have sufficient teachers that have been trained to provide effective support to disadvantaged children * Use a good child development curriculum which focuses on effective classroom practices * Maximize involvement of parents in child learning * Regularly assess outcomes in terms of school readiness and child development * Culturally inclusive classrooms and teaching for ethnic minorities Source: Schweinhart, L. (2009). Ingredients of effectiveness. In I. Siraj-Blatchford, & M. Woodhead (Eds.). Effective early childhood programmes. Early Childhood in Focus (4). Milton Keynes: Open University. 24 Box 4: Main findings on preschool demand and supply constraints from the needs assessment and social assessment for SRPP In September and October 2010, the Vietnam National Institute of Education Science (VNIES) conducted an in- depth qualitative study of the perceptions and demand constraints in ECD and education services for the purposes of informing the further development of preschool policy in Vietnam. This was through focus group discussions involving parents, ECE teachers, caregivers, preschool education managers, local community leaders, local government leaders, businesses, preschool principals in both private and public preschools, and family daycare groups. The analysis was conducted in three industrial zones in Binh Duong Province, Dong Nai Province, Vinh Phuc as well as five remote and poor rural communes in Hoa Binh, Hung Yen, Ha Tinh, Binh Thuan, and Dong Thap. Supply constraints: Respondents mentioned the following as key constraints in improving access and quality in ECE: lack of classrooms, lack of educational materials, lack of teachers, teachers do not speak EM languages, unqualified teachers and education managers, ineffective teacher professional development, limited types of preschools, uneven quality of teaching, no land for expanding preschool networks due to lack of preschool planning, and high incidents of malnutrition among children. Demand constraints: Parents reported the following key reasons why they or their neighbors do not send their children to preschool: * Space: Access to preschools in the surveyed areas are mainly limited to the 5-year-olds as there are few places left for the younger age groups (2-4) even when parents want to send their children to preschools. * Lunch availability and full day schooling: Preschool hours are not suitable for working parents, as they have to come and fetch their children 4 times a day (when full day learning is organized without lunch provided) and locations of some preschools are too far from their home. * Poverty: Parental contributions are often too high for poor households even with government subsidies so some cannot afford to send their children to preschools. Some parents are also too poor to afford proper feeding for children. * Parenting skills and parental involvement: Some parents have little parenting skills (including nutrition, hygiene, and child development). Some parents have low appreciation and little knowledge of the roles of preschools in their child development. Some parents think that preschools are not necessary until 5 years old (when they must send their children to preschool). * Safety and access: some preschools are not safe for sending children (too close to big roads, no fence, close to ponds, accessibility is not convenient (parents do not have time for taking children to preschools, and there are many channels and springs on the way...). * Migrant worker constraints: Children of migrant worker parents in industrial zones are discriminated from accessing low fee, high quality public-funded preschools in industrial zones (private ones are too expensive and normally unregistered, illicit services). Source: VNIES (2010), An Assessment ofSupply and Demand Constraints to ECE in Vietnam Project components Component 1: Promoting School Readiness for Disadvantaged Children (US$95m) 4. Implementation of Component I will follow a results-based design. Disbursements will be made based on the incurring of actual expenditures and the achievement of prior agreed results which are recorded as disbursement-linked indicators (DLIs). DLIs will comprise improvements in the design (actions), and functioning (intermediate results) of ECE policy against which disbursements would be made. Achievement of the DLIs would gradually lead to the achievement of the PDO of greater school readiness over the project period. Project 25 disbursements would reimburse eligible expenditure line items in the EEPs, (i) lunch subsidies for disadvantaged children aged 3-5, which will encourage participation and full day preschool attendance5; and (ii) salaries, including social and health insurance contributions, for contract preschool teachers to ease the shortage of teaching staff. The main characteristics of the disbursement mechanism are: (a) each DLI is associated with a specific US$ value that will be disbursed upon achievement of the indicator; (b) MOET will provide evidence of achievement of each DLI; (c) MOET will provide evidence that eligible expenditures to be reimbursed (greater than or equal to the achieved DLI value) have been incurred and paid; and (d) the World Bank will disburse the amount triggered by the DLIs that have been met against eligible expenditures. TA on implementation support will be available under Component 2 of the SRPP to MOET, provinces and districts. 5. 1.1 Expanding Full Day Preschool Enrolments: The SRPP will support Government efforts to enhance reporting and monitoring of enrolments of children aged 3-5 in preschool and aged 5 in full-day preschool and promote the increase of enrolments, monitored annually at commune, district, provincial, and national levels. Review Disbursement-linked Definition of the DLI Protocol to Evaluate Compliance of the DLI period Indicator (DLI) Data source: MOET report based on provincial DLI 1 rUS$10m]: DLI 1 This DLI will be met when DOET reports. Procedures: the MOET Project (US$10m,MOET has completed a baseline Coordinator will be responsible for confirming completed actin Mot ha inventory of enrolments of 3-5 the reports fom provincial DOETs on the com ete a ba ne reprt and 5-year-old children in enrolments of 3-5 and 5-ye-old children in e old children in full day preschool (with 5-year-olds in preschool for each district and province for preschool based on school y full-day preschool) based on school ye 2011/2012 and sending the report to prechol bse onschol ew school yewr 2011/2012 data the World Bank. VNIES will then conduct an 2011/2012 data disaggregated disaggregated by province, independent performance audit of enrolment by province, gender, and gender, and ethnic minority reporting in a sample of provinces according to ehimioiysau.status, agreed terms of reference and report back to the World Bank and MOET. DLI 2 rUS$30mw: Vietnam makes demonstrated progress Data source: MOET report based on provincial in achieving its twrget of DOET reports. Procedures: the MOET Project increasing the share of 5-yewr- Each one pecnaepit Coordinator (i) collects reports fr7om provincial old children enrolled in pncr verctge p DOETs on the enrolments of 3-5 and 5-yew-old preschool that benefit from ianc reare old the 011/1 children in preschool for each district and children in preschool that province at the end of the school ye (June); percent; US$5 million to be provision (ii) produces an annual regular report on 24 made available up to an wibee r d ful da enrolments 3-5 and 5-yewr-old children in 2-4saggegd will be a rd ce, point increase in the saeo prvsowilbcluatd end-August of each yew. VNIES will then ethnic minrit status.ofth 5-year-old children in frmthed ieor conduct an independent performance audit of preschool that benefit from venrolment reporting in a sample of provinces full-day provision above the according to agreed terms of reference and established baseline under report back to the World Bank and MOET. 6. 1.2 Improving Capacity for Preschool Quality Assurance: SRPP will support efforts by provincial and district authorities' in helping move preschools towards quality level 1 s Please refer to Box 6 below for the justification to finance lunch subsidies as per OP/BP 6.00 for allowing food expenditures. 26 according to the new "Regulations on Standards for Assessing the Education Quality of Preschools". The project financing will be built around measuring, through the use of preschool self-assessments, and reporting on gradual quality improvements towards eventual readiness for accreditation of preschools at the level 1 quality standards for preschools. The project will support at the outset the first self-assessment by preschools under the new quality standard system of all preschools which will yield a baseline of where they stand vis-d-vis the level 1 standard and which can guide investments towards achieving level 1. This self-assessment will be based on a checklist of indicators which include those that are presented in box 5. Preschools are expected to repeat self-assessments every year following the same methodology, providing a monitoring mechanism to capture progress of preschools towards readiness for accreditation at level 1. Provinces will also monitor and report on the numbers of previously unaccredited preschools which are accredited at level 1 for the first time. Review Disbursement-linked Definition of the DLI Protocol to Evaluate Compliance of the DLI period Indicator (DLI) This DLI will be met when DLI 3 [US$5m]: MOET has MOET has adopted Circular adopted guiding regulations 07/201 /TT-BGDDT and Procedure: Evidence of formal adoption of 1 for preschool quality self- Circular 45/201 1/TT-BGDDT Circular 07/2011/TT-BGDDT and Circular assessments and external regulating the Procedure and 45/201 1/TT-BGDDT accreditation for preschools Cycle of Kindergarten Education Quality Accreditation. DLI 4 [US$ 15m]: Vietnam makes demonstrated progress Data source: MOET report based on provincial in achieving its target of 90 DOET reports. Procedure: the MOET Project percent of preschools have Each one percentage point Coordinator produces a report on the undertaken self-assessment; US$ 0.17 million to be made increase in the share of implementation of the preschool self-assessment available up to an aggregate preschools successfully carrying which will be sent to the World Bank upon 2 amountout self-assessment from the completion of the DLI target. VNIES will then million for each confirmed baseline of the previous year conduct an independent performance audit of one oreach onired will be rewarded by a preschool self-assessment and reporting in a on te perne oin incease disbursement of US$ 0.17m. sample of provinces according to agreed terms of in the share of schools reference and report back to the World Bank and conducting formal self-MET assessment over the previous school year. DLI 5: [US$ 15m]: Vietnam makes demonstrated progress in achieving its target of 40 Data source: MOET report based on provincial percent of preschool . s Each one percentage point DOET reports. Procedure: the MOET Project achieving accreditation at increase in the share ofCoordinator produces a report on the Level 1; US$ 0.375 million to pnreshoe aein a ee l 1 implementation of the preschool accreditation be made available up to an cpreschools fhe asel program which will be sent to the World Bank 3-4ou sccelfassesnt from the sln aggregate amount not upon completion of the DLI target. VNIES will exceeding US$ 15 million for oereviou wi ll isburse then conduct an independent performance audit each confirmed one disbursement of preschool accreditation in a sample of percentage point increase in US 5mtprovinces according to agreed terms of reference the share of schools achieving and report back to the World Bank and MOET. Level 1 accreditation over the previous school year. 7. 1.3 Strengthening Teacher and Manager Professional Expertise: SRPP will support the development of the content and delivery mechanism of the professional development program for ECE teachers and managers for the period 2013-2015 and the successful completion of the program of at least 90 percent of ECE teachers, teaching assistants, and principals. The 27 program will be managed by DOETs and is expected to be delivered by ECE professionals with qualification and experience, senior lecturers from the provincial teacher training institutes and specialists from MOET who will be prepared for this under Component 2 (see below). The program aims to equip teaching staff and principals with the professional expertise necessary to teach according to the new curriculum in highly disadvantaged contexts, including for EM children. District education officers and principals will receive training on planning and reporting of ECE indicators. Review Disbursement-linked Indicator (DLI) Definition of the DLI Protocol to Evaluate Compliance of the period DLI DLI 6 [US$ 5m]: MOET has issued aDLI will be met decision approving the plan for when the famework and Procedure: MOET Project Coordinator dresiona pprvgelopln for pecol delivery mechanism for submits the decision on the professional professional dvelomngr re the professional development program to the World Bank 1teachers and education managers in the perid o 203-205 amedat iproing development program is for review and comment. period of 2013-2015 aimed at improving dee aifcoyt teaching practice for minority and highly teeWrd ank. disadvantaged children wl B Data sources: MOET report based on DLI d7 [US$ 6m] Vietnam has made provincial DOET and training provider demonstrated progress in achieving its ,00 rofnes rerdet reports. Procedures: the MOET Project target of training at least 2,000 trainers to 100of tah taret Coordinator will (i) collect reports from deliver the approved priority modules evelopen pogn provincial DOETs and training providers aimed at improving teaching practice for perntfa oin to 2 ethnic minority and highly disadvantaged againststhe2baseineof trainer program; and (ii) produce an annual children; US$ 60,000 to be made available antthe eiosyearlill be report which will be sent to the World up to an aggregate amount not exceeding oBank. VNES will then conduct an US$ 6 million for each one rewarded by a independent performance audit of training progress toward achieving pe ts dsrmnoU completion in a sample of provinces target according to agreed terms of reference and report back to the World Bank and MOET. Data sources: MOET report based on provincial DOET and training provider DLI 8 [US$ 9m]: Vietnam makes reports. Procedures: the MOET Project demonstrated progress in achieving its Coordinator will (i) collect reports from target of 90 percent of preschool provincial DOETs and training providers on0he%mplmetatonhfetetrofssina management and teaching staff that have Each one percentage deelmentaincluding completed the priority modules of the new point increase in the infomstiono)the nu rn ECE professional development program share of management inotf wo the enrolled and copentae aimed at improving teaching practice for and teaching staff from eachsmodulehofhte pnrogram and boee 3-4 ethnic minority and highly disadvantaged the baseline of the ofol certe pro due an children; US$ 0.1 million to be made previous year will be annual rerepr n the available up to an aggregate amount not rewarded by a impleenao o the exceeding US$ 9 million for each disbursement of US$ dementprog h il confirmed one percentage point increase in 0.1im thelWorldmBnk. VNogrDi will tbe condu the share of preschool management andfrom tecigstaff that have completed the an independent performance audit of the pririteahingvi execution of the professional development program in a sample of provinces according to agreed terms of reference and report back to the World Bank and MOET. 28 Box 5: Minimum Criteria to guide principals in participating preschools in the move towards achieving Level 1 preschool quality standard (Circular 07/2011/TT-BGDDT) Organizing and Managing Preschools * The school has the organizational structure in compliance with the regulations of the Preschool Charter. * The school's number of campuses, class groups, and children follow the regulations in the Preschool Charter (school has less than 07 satellite campuses, children are classified by age groups and provided with full day schooling with lunch, class sizes follow Preschool Charter) * The school complies with guidelines and policies of the Communist Party and the regulations of the Government and local authorities and education managing units of all levels; successfully implementing emulation movements waged by the education sector and local units. * The school operates academic managing tasks in accordance with the regulations by the MOET. * The school pays attention to health care activities for children and staff. * The school ensures absolute security and safety for children and staff. Management, Teachers and other staff * The principal and vice principal meet all of requirements as stipulated in the Preschool Charter (have a minimum of a 2-year diploma in early childhood and participates in the professional development program of education management; have at least five years of teaching experience for principals and three years of teaching experience for vice-principals) and are capable of organizing care and education activities. * The school has sufficient teachers and all teachers have a minimum of a 2-year diploma in ECE, have knowledge of local community culture, languages of local EM groups where they work, and basic knowledge of inclusive education for disabled children. Thirty percent of the school teachers have higher training qualifications. * Teachers provide care and education activities for children in accordance with MOET's regulations (using the ECE Curriculum). Infrastructure and Equipment * The school has multi-function rooms, bedrooms, and corridors meeting safety requirements of MOET (adequate light and airy, non-slippery paved floor, sufficient furniture, and learning equipments). * Furniture, learning materials, and teaching equipment must be adequate and appropriate for the effective implementation of a learning program for every child and are regularly maintained, replaced and upgraded. School, Family, and Society Relations * The school has parents' representative committees for each class and for the school, which operate in accordance with the Parent Representative Committee Charter, to improve the quality of care and education for children. * Teachers and/or teaching assistants discuss the progress of every child with their parents or caregivers frequently. * The school organizes relevant parenting activities and measures to guide parents in children care and education at home. Care and Education Outcomes * Children have physical development achieving the targets set out in the ECE Curriculum. * Children have cognitive development achieving the targets set out in the ECE Curriculum. * Children have linguistic development achieving the targets set out in the ECE Curriculum. * Children actively and positively take part in art performance activities, having some basic skills and ability to absorb, express feelings about music and creative arts. * Children are confident and know how to express feelings and personal ideas, cooperate with friends, confident in communication, and being polite to adults. 29 Component 2: National Early Childhood Education Policy Development and Capacity Building (US$5m) 8. 2.1 Strengthening Planning and Reporting Systems (US$1.5m): This sub-component will strengthen the evidence-based planning and reporting capacity on ECD indicators to help improve government monitoring of ECE provision and to underpin the operation of the SRPP. Funding will support the following activities: (a) 2.1.1 Strengthening preschool and district-level planning and reporting on ECE. Capacity building with the support of international and national consultants would be provided to improve the planning, implementation, and reporting on ECE. This would include: (i) a review of weaknesses of the existing reporting system and recommendations of how to strengthen it; and (ii) TA and training on the preparation of district ECE development plans and preschool self-assessment. Capacity building would occur over the life of the project. (b) 2.1.2 Strengthening the measurement of school readiness outcomes. The key outcome indicator for the project is the improvement in school readiness of 5-6 year old children at the transition from preschool to Grade 1 of primary school. This will be measured by the EDI, a school readiness assessment, and complemented by the monitoring of dropout and repetition rates for Grade 1 children. With the support of international and national consultants a designated sample-based school readiness assessment has been developed on the basis of the EDI and was administered at baseline at the end of the 2011/2012 school year. It will be repeated at mid-term and the end of the SRPP. 9. 2.2 Strengthening Professional Development for ECE Personnel (US$1m): The Government of Vietnam is in the process of overhauling professional development for ECE personnel in Vietnam to make it reflective of modem best practice. This sub-component will support these intentions in three ways: (a) 2.2.1 Policy options for modernizing the ECE personnel training system: The ECE personnel training system in Vietnam is under pressure to change, driven by the new ECE curriculum, the recognition that current training is insufficiently focused on effective classroom practice, and the need to recruit and train personnel for teaching in ethnic and linguistic minority communities. This sub-component will support TA from international experts for comprehensive reviews into: (i) teacher training and other professional development policies in selected countries with strong early childhood systems; (ii) training curriculum for both full-time pre-service and part-time in-service training; (iii) training content and methods, to ensure that training addresses essential competencies, including those related to teaching of EM children and children with disabilities; (iv) the selection criteria for, and duration of, pre-service training; (v) measures to build the capacity of trainers and lecturers and others as needed; (vi) exploration of potential college equivalencies and formal credentials for training programs occurring outside of the higher education system; and (vii) improvements to data on all aspects of the teacher training system. Given that the current training system is not producing sufficient ECE teachers of EM backgrounds, policy options will be developed to increase the number of EM teachers. 30 (b) 2.2.2 Preparation of professional development programs for ECE staff In preparation of the professional development activities under the SRPP, technical assistance will support the elaboration of the modules of the professional development program for teaching staff and managers. * Development of the professional development programs: MOET will form a national team of ECE experts, consisting of academics, practitioners and MOET staff, who will with support from international experts develop the professional development program modules. The new programs will help address gaps in current ECE training, with special emphasis on disadvantaged and EM settings. The design will incorporate current knowledge about essential content and evidence-based practices for early childhood professional development. Training for principals and district education officials will also include quality standards associated with the national implementation of new 'Standards for Preschool Evaluation'. * Training of trainers for the professional development programs: An intensive "Training of Trainers" session will be conducted by the national team of experts to prepare current ECE lecturers at provincial teacher training institutes-who already work with ECE college students from similar areas-to serve as future trainers of ECE teachers, principals, and education managers and to deliver the professional development program for ECE staff. (c) 2.2.3 Evaluation and Revision of Professional Development Programs. The first priority modules of the professional development program will be reviewed after the first two years of implementation with the involvement of the expert teams that developed the training packages. 10. 2.3 Developing Early Childhood Education Policy and Regulation (US$1.5m): This sub-component will finance the support from international and national consultants as well as workshops on the further development of ECE policy and regulations, including on a strategy for early childhood development and as per the needs that will arise through the course of the implementation of the program. Also included are workshops for sharing best practice among implementing provinces. (a) 2.3.1 Technical assistance for the development of an early Childhood Development Strategy: The increased access to quality ECE for disadvantaged children supported under the SRPP, together with national actions taken by the Government of Vietnam, is expected to lead to improved school readiness of children. However the level of improvement is likely to be constrained if the children are malnourished, or have other health and developmental problems that remain unaddressed. Indeed, even lack of sufficient cognitive stimulation at home in their families, can be detrimental. This sub- component would support the development of a strategy for ECD, which would guide the setting of priorities at the national level and the delivery of services at the local level over the next 10 years. With a primary focus on disadvantaged children and improved coordination, it would link the health, care and education policies and strategies for children together with early childhood workforce and parenting strategies. 31 (b) 2.3.2 ECE best practice sharing workshops and study visits: This sub-component can support regular gatherings of key experts in ECE to share experience from the implementation of the SRPP and other national and international experience to inform national policy development in ECE and ECD. (c) 2.3.3 Model community-based ECD services for children aged 0-3: This sub-component will support the development of a model of community-based 0-3 ECD provision that integrate parenting support, nutrition, child care, and other services in one program. This model would be adapted from international experience for the Vietnam context. The sub- component would further more support the testing of this model in four interested provinces across four regions. This support would cover advisory services from national and international experts as well as minor civil works (repairs and adaptation of existing facilities), material supplies and staff costs for four community-based ECD centers. 11. 2.4 Project Management, Financial Audits and Independent Performance Audit (US$1m): This will finance limited expenses required to manage the project, including remuneration of fiduciary staff as well as financial audits. It will also support TA related to audits and financial management. (a) 2.4.1 Project management: Project management costs related to the implementation of Component 2 as well as the reporting and oversight of the overall Project will be covered. These will include a program coordinator and international program advisor and up to three national program officers. (b) 2.4.2 Financial management and audit: The project will finance financial audit by an independent auditing agency. It will also provide capacity building for accounting and support staff on financial management and internal audit related to the implementation of the SRPP joint funding circulars. (c) 2.4.3 Independent performance audit: This sub-component will finance the performance audit of DLI reporting by the VNIES who will report to MOET and the World Bank. 32 Box 6: Justification of allowing food expenditures in the form of lunch subsidies as eligible expenditures in accordance with OP/BP 6.00 Lunch subsidies under the Program 239 and Decision 60 are part of the eligible expenditure program for SRPP financing. Allowing food expenditures in the form of lunch subsidies as eligible expenditures under the project were authorized by the Regional Vice President in accordance with OP/BP 6.00. Bank Financing Guidelines to Staff (April 16, 2004) state that Bank funding of food expenditures may be appropriate if the provision of food is an essential and integral part of a project that is designed, among other things, to: (1) reduce or prevent poor school performance and (2) facilitate a systemic transition by supporting for a limited time the continued delivery of a critical education program previously provided by public sector enterprise. The guidelines also state that the provision of food should be (3) the most feasible and cost-effective alternative toward accomplishing the objective, (4) effectively targeted, and (5) monitored to minimize distribution of food to populations outside the target group. Program 239 and Decision 60 encourage full day preschool provision by, among other activities, providing lunch subsidies to disadvantaged children. Eligibility for the lunch subsidy is as follows: (i) children whose parents are residents in frontier or mountainous areas, island villages, or designated disadvantaged districts and villages; (ii) children from registered poor families; (iii) orphans, and (iv) disabled children with economic difficulties. Disadvantaged children will receive a subsidy of VND 120,000/month for lunch at school from the government budget during the time attending school, but not exceeding 9 months per school year. Lunch subsidies are either provided directly to parents or to the preschools to purchase and prepare lunch. The social assessment of the project has confirmed that providing basic lunches for the most disadvantaged students will be a critical factor and cost- effective alternative to retain them in preschool. Moreover, empirical research conducted during preparation of the SRPP suggests that full day preschool attendance with lunch is associated with higher school readiness in children. As such, funding lunch subsidies is an essential and integral part of the project, essential to create an adequate learning environment and incentive for attendance for poor students during the transition to full day preschool provision. Thus the project meets the requirements provided for application of OP 6.00. Funding for lunches under SRPP is not a food distribution activity where large amounts of food aid will be purchased and distributed centrally. Procurement for food will be conducted locally by the school in line with government joint circulars, reviewed by the Bank. To enhance cost-effectiveness and sustainability, food will be bought and prepared locally, involving local communities. 33 Annex 3: Implementation Arrangements Vietnam: School Readiness Promotion Project (P117393) I. Project institutional and implementation arrangements A. Project administration mechanisms 1. The MOET is the implementing agency and responsible for the overall implementation and reporting. A small Project Management Unit (PMU) will be created within the MOET Department of Early Childhood Education. It will be coordinated by the MOET Department of Planning and Finance. Component 1: Promoting School Readiness for Disadvantaged Children 2. The overall responsibility for the implementation of Component 1 rests with MOET, as presented by the PMU. However, provinces are responsible for implementing Decision 239. They are responsible for allocating resources, implementing the program, and reporting on results. Provinces have the incentive to allocate resources to those districts facing the biggest challenges in order to increase their chances of being certified by MOET as a "universal preschool for five year-old children" province. Component 2: National Early Childhood Education Policy Development and Capacity Building. 3. The activities under this component will be managed centrally by MOET in a traditional off-budget arrangement, but with input from critical stakeholders including provincial governments, academic institutions and practitioners. 4. Most preparatory activities under Component 2 will be conducted in years one and two of project implementation. Some preparation activities are expected to be funded from the Vietnam Project Preparation Technical Assistance Facility (PPTAF) which would be conducted prior to effectiveness of the SRPP. The exact split of funding for activities between PPTAF and SRPP are subject to detailed planning, with the aim of making the transition to SRPP implementation as smooth as possible. B. Financial Management, Disbursements, and Procurement a. Financial Management (FM) 5. A "High" FM risk rating was assigned to the project at the appraisal stage. The assessment identified the following key risks of the Project: (i) weak budgeting and planning capacity which may result in inappropriate budgeted resources for implementation; (ii) weak financial reporting capacity of the spending units which may result in inaccurate, unreliable and delayed financial reporting from spending units; (iii) lack of monitoring of internal controls implementation and internal audit which may not early prevent or detect the misuse of program's 34 resources; (iv) limitations of scope (limited access to accounting records and reports maintained by State Treasury) may result in low quality of audit reports; and (vi) the results reported for disbursement may not be reliable. 6. The table below identified the FM actions required. Required action Timing 1. Joint/ Inter-Ministerial Circular Acceptable Draft by Negotiation. A Joint/ Inter-Ministerial Circular issued clarifying the roles and Issuance by 30 June 2013. responsibilities of relevant authorities and agencies at local level which shall include guidance on budgeting, financial reporting and auditing. 2. IFR template Agreed at Negotiation Development and agreement of templates of the Interim Financial Reports and Annual Financial reports between the Bank and relevant ministries/ agencies. 3. Internal Audit Mobilization within 6 months after Technical Assistance provided to MOET to provide a roadmap to build signing of the Financing Agreement Internal Audit capacity and to pilot the IA activities on an agreed scope in selected spending units. 4. Financial Audit The Financial Audit performed annually by an independent auditing agency Auditing Agency appointed within six following the TOR acceptable to the Bank. months after signing of the Financing Agreement. 5. Disbursement Linked Indicator The Disbursement Linked Indicators (DLIs) verified by an Agent according Memorandum Signed between VNIES to the TOR acceptable to the Bank. and MOET hy 30 June 2013. 6. Chief Accountant Completed Chief Accountant for Component 2 with adequate accounting background, qualification and experiences appointed. 7. FM Guidance for Component 2 Completed FM Guidance for Component 2 covering FM arrangements of the component issued as part of the Project Operations Manual. 7. The MOET is the implementing agency and responsible for the overall implementation and reporting. A small PMU will be created within the MOET Department of Early Childhood Education which is responsible for (i) the financial management of the Component 2 (off budget component) and (ii) coordinate with MOET Department of Planning and Finance in terms of the Project Financial Management. 8. For Component 1, the semi-annual IFRs will be prepared by ST, Debt Management and External Finance Department, consolidated by MOET and sent to the Bank in accordance with the templates agreed with the Bank at the Negotiation within 3 months after the end of reporting period. For component 2, the quarterly IFRs will be prepared by the PMU and sent to the Bank within 45 days of the quarter end. 9. The Project Financial Statements and will be audited by an independent auditing agency acceptable to the Bank in accordance with TORs acceptable to the Bank. The Audited Financial Statements and Auditor report will be submitted to the Bank within 6 month after the year end. The cost of the audit will be funded by the Project. 35 10. Under the project, Technical Assistance will be provided to MOET to provide a roadmap to build Internal Audit capacity in Education Sector and to pilot the IA activities on an agreed scope in selected spending units of the Project. 11. The table below details the allocation of IDA Financing Category Amount of the Amount of the Financing Financing Financing Percentage Allocated Allocated (expressed in (expressed in US$) SDR) (1) Eligible Program Expenditures under Part 1 of the Project and MOET achievement of the following DLls: (a) DLI 1: a satisfactory baseline report on US$ 10,000,000 6,510,000 100% enrolments of 3-5 and 5-year-old children in full day preschool based on school year 2011/2012 data disaggregated by province, gender, and ethnic minority status (b) DLI 2: increasing the share of 5-year-old US$5,000,000 for 3,255,000 for each 100% children enrolled in preschool that benefit from full- each confirmed one confirmed one day provision to 80 percent above the established percentage point percentage point baseline under DLI 1 increase up to an increase up to an aggregate amount aggregate amount not to exceed not to exceed US$30,000,000 19,530,000 (c) DLI 3: adoption of guiding regulations for US$5,000,000 3,255,000 100% preschool quality self-assessments and external accreditation for preschools (d) DLI 4: 90 percent of preschools (above the US$170,000 for 110,670 for each 100% current baseline of 0 percent) have undertaken self- each confirmed one confirmed one assessment percentage point percentage point increase up to an increase up to an aggregate amount aggregate amount not to exceed not to exceed US$15,000,000 9,765,000 (e) DLI 5: 40 percent of preschools (above the US$375,000 for 244,125 for each 100% current baseline of 0 percent) have achieved each confirmed one confirmed one Level 1 Accreditation percentage point percentage point increase up to an increase up to an aggregate amount aggregate amount not to exceed not to exceed US$15,000,000 9,765,000 (f) DLI 6: issuing a decision approving the plan US$5,000,000 3,255,000 100% for professional development for preschool teachers 36 Category Amount of the Amount of the Financing Financing Financing Percentage Allocated Allocated (expressed in (expressed in US$) SDR) and education managers in the period of 2013-2015 aimed at improving teaching practice for minority and highly disadvantaged children (g) DLI 7: training at least 2,000 trainers US$60,000 for 39,060 for each 100% (above the current baseline of zero ("0") to deliver each confirmed one confirmed one the approved priority modules aimed at improving percentage point up percentage point up teaching practice for ethnic minority and highly to an aggregate to an aggregate disadvantaged children amount not to amount not to exceed exceed 3,906,000 US$6,000,000 (h) DLI 8: 90 percent of preschool US$100,000 for 65,100 for each 100% management and teaching staff (above the current each confirmed one confirmed one baseline of 0 percent) have completed the priority percentage point percentage point modules of the new ECE professional development increase up to an increase up to an program aimed at improving teaching practice for aggregate amount aggregate amount ethnic minority and highly disadvantaged children not to exceed not to exceed US$9,000,000 5,859,000 (2) Eligible Expenditures under Part 2 of the US$ 5,000,000 3,255,000 100%o Proj ect TOTAL AMOUNT us$ 100,000,000 65,100,000 b. Disbursements 12. Project funds for the Component 1 will be reimbursed/transferred to the MOF through an account maintained in State Bank of Vietnam in US dollar which then will be converted to Vietnamese dong and transferred to ST for further channeling to ministries, provinces, and districts using the ST systems and procedures. The disbursement method to be used is Reimbursement. The reimbursement for Component 1 will be made upon the achievement of the DLIs and documentation of eligible expenditures which will be based on the Interim Financial Reports. 13. The following table is the planned disbursement schedule of Component 1 IFR reports used as basis for disbursement Amount World Review DLI verification Disbursement (USD Bank Period report date Reporting Period Due Date date mil) FY 1 31-Dec-12 Apr-Jun; Jul-Dec 12 31-Mar-13 Jul-13 6 14 2 31-Dec-13 Jan-Jun; Jul-Dec 13 31-Mar-14 Jun-14 25 14 3 31-Dec-14 Jan-Jun; Jul-Dec 14 31-Mar-15 Jun-15 32 15 4 31-Dec-15 Jan-Jun; Jul-Dec 15 31-Mar-16 Jun-16 32 16 37 DLI reporting and verification 14. SRPP disbursements will follow a clear annual process. For the first review period (2012) a report on DLI 1 (preschool enrolment rates for school year 2011-2012) was submitted to the World Bank at the end of July 2012. Based on this report, VNIES will verify the accuracy of enrolment reporting in a sampling survey of provinces, districts and schools. This performance audit is expected to be completed by May 31, 2013. MOET submitted the proof required for DLIs 1, 3 and 6 by January 22, 2013. SRPP is expected to become effective and make its first reimbursement of eligible expenditures in July 2013 based on confirmation by the Bank that reporting on enrollment rates (DLI 1) has been verified and DLI outputs (DLI 3 and DLI 6) are satisfactory. For subsequent annual review periods MOET would submit a report on achievement of the DLIs following the end of each school year, but by no later than August 31 of each year. Based on this report, VNIES would undertake a performance audit of the DLIs achieved during the period September 1 through October 31 of each year. The audit report would be submitted to Government and the World Bank by December 1 of each year. The World Bank would confirm evidence of DLI achievement and expenditure against agreed EEP's by the end of each calendar year. Delays in submission of DLI reports and verification would delay reimbursements. 15. Given the legal relation between MOET and VNIES, a conflict of interest situation may arise if VNIES is not given full independence from MOET in the conduct of its performance audit. Therefore, the MOET confirmed that VNIES will conduct the performance audit exercise in full independence and without any interference and/or influence by MOET in the process. VNIES will issue its final reports concurrently to MOET and the World Bank. The World Bank may, as part of its project supervision responsibility, independently verify the accuracy of both the DLI reporting and VNIES's performance audits. Eligible expenditure reporting and verification 16. For the first review period (April 1, 2012 to December 31, 2012) MOET will work with the Ministry of Finance to provide the Bank with Interim Financial Reports (IFRs) against SRPP eligible expenditures for this period. The Bank will only disburse against DLI indicative amounts to the extent that disbursements are offset against sufficient eligible expenditure. The first reimbursement would be expected in the first half of 2013. For subsequent review periods, MOET will work with the Ministry of Finance to provide the Bank with IFR's of eligible expenditure for six month periods of January-June and July-December of each year. The template of the IFRs has been provided to the MOET. The Withdrawal Applications and IFRs will be considered by the Bank for reimbursement once a year, with the Withdrawal Applications and IFR's to be submitted by March 31 of each year. Reimbursement of eligible expenditures will depend on completion and verification of the DLIs which will be submitted annually by December 1. Eligible expenditures for each calendar year will also be formally audited and the report submitted to government and the World Bank by June 30 of the following year. Any discrepancies between the audited accounts and the interim financial reports would need to be refunded to the Bank. 38 17. A Joint Circular on Financial Management of the project under Component I will clarify explicitly the roles and responsibilities of the concerned agencies at the local and central level in terms of financial management with the following suggested contents: Guidance on planning and budget allocation; Procedures on disbursement, the relations between disbursement, disbursement linked indicators and interim financial reports; Financial Reporting Arrangement including IFRs and annual financial reporting; Internal Audit arrangement; Financial Audit and Performance arrangement. 18. The following points are important to note: * If the DLIs are partially achieved during the reviewing period, then the partial achievement will be reimbursed as follows: o If the World Bank is satisfied that any DLI (except DLIs 1, 3 and 6) has been partially achieved by the end of the respective reporting period, then the World Bank may, at any time, by notice to the Recipient, decide, in its sole discretion, to authorize the withdrawal of such portion of the amount of the Financing then allocated to said DLI which corresponds, in the opinion of the World Bank, to the percentage of achievement of said DLI; o if the World Bank is not satisfied that any DLI has been fully achieved by the end of the respective reporting period, then the World Bank may, at any time, by notice to the Recipient, decide, in its sole discretion, to: (i) authorize the withdrawal of all or a portion of the unwithdrawn proceeds of the Financing then allocated to said DLI (except DLIs 1, 3 and 6), at such later date (prior to the Closing Date) if and when the World Bank shall be satisfied, on the basis of evidence acceptable to the World Bank, that the DLI for any subsequent period (if applicable) in respect of the same DLI has been fully achieved; (ii) reallocate all or a portion of the proceeds of the Financing then allocated to such DLI to any other DLI(s); and/or (iii) cancel all or a portion of the proceeds of the Financing then allocated to such DLI; and o for all DLIs (except DLIs 1, 3 and 6) the first payment under each Category shall be made based on the results achieved above the established baseline for the respective DLI, and all subsequent payments shall be calculated based on the additional results achieved above the most recent results verified and accepted by the World Bank and used in the calculation of the previous payment. Disbursements against progress under DLIs 4, 5, 7 and 8 will be per full percentage point. Any increases above a full percentage point but not constituting a full additional percentage point will be rounded down to the nearest full percentage point for the purposes of that year's disbursement, but be counted towards the next disbursement. * Any ineligible expenditure which is subsequently identified will be need to be refunded directly to the Credit Account. 19. Project funds for Component 2 will be disbursed via Advances. The PMU will open a Segregated Designated Account (DA) at a commercial bank acceptable to the World Bank. The DA will be denominated in United States Dollars (US$). The DA will have a fixed ceiling of USD 1,000,000. Supporting documentation required for documenting eligible expenditures paid 39 from the DA will be the Statement of Expenditure (SOE) and a List of payment against the contracts that are subject to the Bank's prior review, together with Records. The frequency for documenting expenditures paid from the DA will be quarterly. The Reimbursement, Special Commitment, and Direct Payment disbursement methods will also be available to be used under Component 2. The Minimum Application Size for Reimbursements, Special Commitments and Direct Payments will be US$ 100,000 equivalent. Retroactive Financing 20. No withdrawal shall be made for payments made prior to the date of the Financing Agreement; except that withdrawals, up to an aggregate amount not to exceed XDR 13.02 million [$20,000,000 equivalent], may be made for payments made prior to this date but on or after April 1, 2012. 21. The Project will have a Disbursement Deadline Date (final date on which World Bank will accept applications for withdrawal from the Recipient or documentation on the use of Credit proceeds already advanced by the World Bank) four months after the Closing Date. This "Grace Period" is granted in order to permit the orderly project completion and closure of the Credit account via the submission of applications and supporting documentation for expenditures incurred on or before the Closing Date. Expenditures incurred between the Closing Date and the Disbursement Deadline Date are not eligible for disbursement, except as otherwise agreed with the World Bank. a. Procurement 22. Procurement capacity and risk assessment. A procurement capacity and risk assessment of the Department of Planning and Finance (DPF), the focal department for the project preparation and implementation under the Ministry of Education and Training (MoET) has been carried out during project preparation. The assessment revealed that the project implementing agency (PIA) has gained necessary procurement experiences through implementation of several projects financed by the Bank such as School Education Quality Assurance Program, Primary Education for Disadvantaged Children Project. Nevertheless, the experience from implementation of these projects has indicated that (i) the staff to be assigned by MOET to execute the proposed project may be unfamiliar with the Bank procurement procedures and may not have prior experience in implementing the Bank financed project; and (ii) the PIA's capacity to carry out procurement in a timely manner, including planning, managing and monitoring, is generally weak. 23. The main risks identified by the PCRA are: (i) The PIA's tendency to follow the Vietnam Public Procurement Law and regulations rather than the Bank Guidelines, when there are conflicts between them, which may cause irregularities and incompliance as well as delays; (ii) The PIA staff's lack of familiarity with Bank procurement procedures and policies, which may cause incompliance and delays; (iii) The PIA's weak procurement planning and monitoring which may cause delays. 40 24. To mitigate the above risks, the following actions were agreed between the Bank and the PIA during project preparation. Actions Responsibility Time frame 1 Assigning procurement officer with adequate PIA Early stage of qualifications and procurement experience implementation 2 Providing procurement training PIA & the Early stage of Bank implementation 3 Recruiting Procurement Consultants as PIA Early stage of needed implementation 25. Based on the PCRA and recent public procurement assessment, the risks inherent in the country's public procurement system are high. However, considering that majority of the Bank financing (95%) will be disbursed against result-based "non-procurable" items, the procurement risk at the project level may be rated substantial and the residual risk, after the above measures have been taken, would be medium. 26. Applicable Guidelines. For contracts financed in whole or in part by the IDA Credit under the Project, procurement shall be carried out in accordance with the World Bank's Guidelines: Procurement of Goods, Works, and Non-Consulting Services under IBRD Loans and IDA Credits & Grants by World Bank Borrowers dated January 2011 (the Procurement Guidelines); Guidelines: Selection and Employment of Consultants under IBRD Loans and IDA Credits & Grants by World Bank Borrowers dated January 2011 (the Consultant Guidelines); and the provisions stipulated in the Financing Agreement. 27. Procurement thresholds. The thresholds for procurement methods and Bank prior review are presented in the following table: Expenditure Contract Procurement Method Bank Prior Review Category Value (US$) >=500,000 ICB All the ICB contracts <500,000 NCB First contract and all contracts >= Goods US$ 400,000 <100,000 Shopping First contract NA DC All DC contracts >=5,000,000 ICB* All the ICB contracts <5,000,000 NCB* First contract; and all contracts >= Works US$ 3,000,000 <200,000 Shopping First contract NA DC All DC contracts Consultant >=200,000 QCBS, QBS, FBS, LCS All contracts >= US$ 200,000 for 41 Services <200,000 QCBS, QBS, FBS, LCS firms; all contracts >= US$ 50,000 or CQS for individuals; and all SSS NA SSS contracts. NA IC Notes: ICB - International Competitive Bidding LCS - Least Cost Selection NCB - National Competitive Bidding CQS - Selection Based on Consultants' Qualification DC - Direct Contracting SSS - Single (or Sole) Source Selection QCBS - Quality and Cost Based Selection IC - Individual Consultant selection procedure QBS - Quality Based Selection NA - Not Applicable FBS - Fixed Budget Selection * No ICB and NCB contracts for works are anticipated at the time of project appraisal. 28. Procurement under Project Component 1. This component is designed on result- based financing against prior agreed disbursement linked indicators. Majority of the IDA credit (95 percent) will be allocated to this component to finance "non procurable" items such as salaries and lunches. As such, no procurement activities will be involved. 29. Procurement under Project Component 2 and Procurement Plan. 5 percent of the IDA credit (or US$5million) is allocated for this component to finance goods, small works and consultant services. An initial Procurement Plan, available as a separate project document, has been prepared by the PIA. It was reviewed and accepted by the Bank at the negotiations. The Procurement Plan will be updated annually or as needed. Each update will be subject to the Bank prior review before implementation. The initial Procurement Plan plus the subsequent updates will be published on the World Bank's external website in line with the requirements of the Bank Guidelines. 30. Bank post review. Contracts not subject to prior review will be subject to post-review as per procedures set forth in paragraph 5 of Appendix 1 of the Procurement Guidelines and Consultant Guidelines. The post review will be carried out annually based on a rate of 20 percent. This rate may be adjusted periodically during project implementation based on performance of the PMU. C. Environmental and Social (including safeguards) Social 31. Due to the SRPP's focus on educational disadvantage and ethnic minority (EM) groups, the World Bank's safeguard policy on indigenous peoples (OP 4.10) is triggered. The project's aim is to improve school readiness, including disadvantaged children who are in many cases children from EM groups, and it supports government interventions which are sensitive to the needs of EM children. The majority of project beneficiaries are expected to be from EM background. Given that the majority of project beneficiaries are from ethnic minority groups, the elements of an Ethnic Minority Development Plan (EMDP) have been included in the overall project design and a stand-alone EMDP was not prepared. 42 32. Social Assessment. Project preparation was informed by a social assessment study which was conducted from September to November 2010 in eight selected provinces, including Hung Y6n, Hod Binh, Vinh Phic, Hd TTnh, D8ng Nai, Binh Duorng, D8ng Thdp, and Binh Thudn. Qualitative methods (in-depth interviews, focus group discussion, field and participant observation) were employed to consult potential project stakeholders, including parents, school teachers/assistant, governmental officers and other relevant stakeholders. EM peoples (who are potential beneficiaries of the project) were invited to participate in a free, prior and informed consultation process throughout this study. Altogether, there were 187 in-depth interviews, 8 focus group discussions, and 32 in-class observation sessions of teachers' and children's activities, 24 visits made to homes, and more than 8 villages visited to consult both Kinh and EM peoples who are potential project beneficiaries. 33. This social assessment identifies demand and supply constraints for ECE so as to improve preschool services for disadvantaged children. Specifically, it aims to: i) explore the perceptions of the need for improved ECE from a wide range of stakeholders: school teachers/assistants, parents, and relevant governmental officers at project level and central level; ii) examine the constraints/challenges to improving ECE, particularly in educationally disadvantaged districts; and iii) assess specific needs at local level (services) and central level (policy) and recommend intervention measures that help improve ECE in project target areas. Recommendations from the social assessment also helped define methods to ensure participation and access to opportunities on the part of EM beneficiaries during implementation, including the need for capacity building for government agencies and teaching staff who would be working with EMs, types of incentives culturally appropriate to EM households to enhance EM children school enrolment and attendance, including incentives such as lunch. Findings of the social assessment were disclosed and disseminated by MOET nationwide, i.e. across all provinces receiving support under SRPP, before project appraisal and are subject to ongoing local and national level consultations around the implementation of Program 239 and Decision 60. 34. It was found that, while all stakeholders attach great importance to ECE, they face constraints and challenges that impede ECD among children from 3-5 years of age. These include existing poor school/classroom conditions, limited and low-quality school supplies/facilities, limited teaching quality/school management, under-trained teachers/assistants, unfavorable child-teacher ratio, under-nutritious meals, and difficulties on the part of parents in accessing/affording better early childhood education services. At the policy level, key challenges are: (i) how to have a consistent master/investment plan that suits existing socioeconomic conditions of educationally disadvantaged areas, access to financial resources; (ii) how to implement the investment plan effectively to improve the affordability and access to better ECE services in disadvantaged areas of Vietnam; and (iii) how to replicate lessons learned. 35. Consultation with Ethnic Minority Peoples. During the study, selected EM stakeholders were invited to participate in this consultation process to explore their difficulties related to ECE. The consultation was conducted using appropriate methods to ensure that EM peoples are engaged in free, prior, and informed consultations that are culturally appropriate to them. The consultation results indicate that there is broad community support from EM peoples for project implementation. 43 36. Framework for Ensuring Free, Prior, and Informed Consultation with the affected Indigenous Peoples' Communities during Project Implementation. The project aims to improve school readiness for disadvantaged children, particularly EM children, through activities that are expected to lead to more children attending preschools and receiving higher quality education and care. Therefore, cultural, socioeconomic characteristics specific to EM peoples were incorporated in project design and will be reflected during implementation. For example, teaching according to the new curriculum for target EM groups will be part of a new professional development program for teaching staff to make sure EM children benefit from teaching in way that is culturally suitable to them. To enhance the participation of those currently not participating in preschool (these are often EM children), the project will support the gradual achievement of basic quality standards which include the provision of lunch and other measures to incentivize the participation of EM children, which in turn, is expected to enhance enrolment and attendance. 37. As a principle of ensuring inclusion, participation, and cultural suitability, consultations will be held during project implementation with selected stakeholders from EM groups, including parents, teaching staff/assistants, school masters, governmental officers, community leaders to solicit their views and comments on project activities. The consultation methods to be used will be appropriate to social and cultural traits of EM groups that the consultation target, with particular attention given to parents, teaching staff (who have more time interacting with children). These groups of peoples will be provided with relevant information about the project in a culturally appropriate manner during project implementation and monitoring and evaluation to promote their meaningful participation and sense of ownership. 38. By enabling participation of relevant EM stakeholders during project planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation, the project can ensure that EM people receive social and economic benefits that are culturally appropriate. Costs for implementing these measures will be integrated into project budget plan. The project's expected intermediate outcome will be monitored and measured as part of the project's result framework and monitoring, and will be reviewed annually, as well as at mid-term and final evaluation of the project. The project's overall desired outcome, improved school readiness, will be measured at baseline, mid-term, and end of the project. The inputs/information for monitoring and evaluation will have participation of relevant EM stakeholders to ensure there is a free, prior, and informed consultation with the EM beneficiaries. Environmental 39. The SRPP will not finance any major civil works and is, therefore, not expected to have any significant, irreversible or major environmental impacts. The only works it will finance are repairs and physical adaptation of existing facilities in four small community-based model ECD service centers under Component 2. The lessons learnt from the ongoing SEQAP and the recently closed PEDC shows that this nature and scale of investment have minor or no adverse environmental impacts. They are normally limited to the construction phase including dust and generation of construction waste associated with civil works. MOET is responsible for setting construction standards of educational facilities and monitoring implementation activities. To support MOET in mitigating any potential environmental impacts due to the minor civil works 44 activities in the four ECE service centers, Environmental Codes of Practice (ECOPs) have been prepared and disclosed. The ECOPs provide guidelines which outline simple rules and procedures regarding identification, monitoring and mitigation of possible environmental impacts associated with small civil works activities. MOET also has experience in the application of mitigation measures against civil work impacts during the implementation of the ongoing PEDC and SEQAP projects. D. Monitoring & Evaluation 40. Strengthening monitoring and evaluation are at the heart of the SRPP, which aims to improve government reporting mechanisms on the quality of preschools and enrolments and attendance. Moreover, the SRPP will support administering a school readiness assessment instrument at baseline, mid-term, and closing of the project. The reporting of intermediate results indicators on an annual basis as per the results-based financing arrangement as well as school readiness outcome monitoring at baseline and mid-term, will provide valid measures of progress in meeting the project's development objective. Information on reporting of data related to disbursement-linked indicators can be found in Annex 2. PDO-level results indicator monitoring 41. The results monitoring for quality under the SRPP will rely on the use of the EDI. EDI is a school-based rating of a child's readiness to attend school conducted by the teacher covering five domains of cognitive and socio-emotional development. It is an assessment specifically designed for monitoring and evaluating ECD investments. It was developed by the Offord Centre for Child Studies at McMaster University in Canada and has been used in many countries in the developed and developing world. Fernald et al. (2009) cite studies by the creators of EDI showing reasonable predictive power for other measures of cognitive and socio-emotional development in Canada and Australia. The instrument provides a readiness score of children sampled from schools as well as the percent of children deemed "not ready" for school using a cut-off based on a percentile from either the sampled or a reference population. It is a rating type assessment for measuring school readiness of a population of children; the instrument is a checklist filled out for each sampled child by preschool teachers at the end of the school year. Because it is a rating type assessment, it requires no interaction between the child and a trained specialist, only between the trained specialist and a teacher, and is therefore cost effective. It covers five developmental domains: physical health and well-being, social competence, emotional maturity, language and critical thinking skills, and communication skills and general knowledge. 42. The baseline EDI was administered in early 2012, with funding from the Russia Education Aid for Development Trust Fund, so as to arrive at a baseline prior to project implementation. The 2012 assessment with a random sample of 8,400 children resulted in a baseline for the SRPP on the PDO level results indicator: 24 percent of children aged 5 in the sample were vulnerable in terms of their school readiness. Vulnerability is defined as being in the bottom decile of the distribution for at least one of the five early childhood development domains (see Box 1). The baseline assessment was led by MOET with a team consisting of MOET ECE officers as well as experts from VNIES and local consultants. District ECE officers 45 in the selected districts were trained by the team and in turn trained teachers to fill out the questionnaire for their students. Because existing staff were used to implement this survey, there is capacity for future rounds of the assessment. Follow-up and end-of-project assessments will be funded by the SRPP itself. Applying EDI at the beginning of the project and then subsequently throughout the project will provide policy makers with information on improvements in school readiness. Intermediate results indicator monitoring 43. The SRPP will monitor annual developments in enrolment in preschool based on a strengthened annual reporting from preschools to district and to provincial authorities. This will entail; (i) enrolment rates of children aged 3, 4, and 5 by district and city/province; and (ii) the absolute enrolment number of children in preschool by ages 3, 4, and 5 by school district, city/province, by public/non-public, half day/full day/boarding with lunch and by ethnic group and gender. Provisions will be made to report these data centrally through MOET, both in an aggregated format and disaggregated by districts. 44. The SRPP will monitor the gradual improvements in preschool quality through school accreditation at levels 1 and 2 and through preschool self-assessments. At the outset, each preschool will conduct a self-assessment with a simple checklist which will be validated by the district authorities to assess the current performance of all indicators presented in Box 1. This checklist would indicate how many indicators for quality level 1 standard are currently met or partially met. This will provide a baseline against which progress can be measured. It would thus measure its distance, or gap, between the status quo and quality level 1 at the start of the project. This gap analysis will orient district authorities on where to focus investments so as to move all preschools under its responsibility towards quality level 1 over time. Following this, each preschool will conduct an annual self-assessment to update the progress. By the last year of the project, a majority of preschools is expected to have been externally accredited at least at level 1.6 Under this approach, schools will report the check list to districts, districts will aggregate and report to provinces and provinces will aggregate and report to MOET. Reporting will present the number of preschools, in each district, that achieve less than nine criteria out of 17 required for accreditation at level 1 and the number of preschools accredited at least at level 1. Reporting will be by district, city/province and by public/non-public. MOET regulations foresee that results of self-assessments will be displayed in public so that communities and parents learn about the preschool's quality situation. 45. The SRPP will monitor the strengthening of professional expertise among ECE teaching staff and managers through the design and implementation of a new professional development program for ECE professionals. Reporting will include MOET reporting on the completion of policy actions and provinces' accounts of the number of teachers and managers trained by professional development module. It will also include reporting of the numbers of preschool teachers and managers of kindergartens and preschools by school districts, city/province, by public/non-public. 6 Accreditation currently is done through a panel of principals, district and provincial officials. It is expected that accreditation by 2016 will be handed over to an independent entity. 46 46. Lastly, the SRPP will monitor the recruitment of contract teachers at district and province levels to support more inclusive ECE provision. Assessment of monitoring and evaluation arrangements 47. Reporting and monitoring practices in preschool education in the past have been weak, but they are now improving. Preschools provide reports on enrolments to districts authorities twice annually - so as to allow calculating drop-out rates - but this information is typically aggregated at province and central level and does not allow sufficient disaggregation by districts and communes. While the system has been suffering from uneven reporting formats in the past, this is now being remedied with an identical and detailed reporting format. Moreover, the "Regulations on Standards for Assessing the Education Quality of Preschools" have only been adopted in early 2011, and reporting arrangements on self-assessment results are still being developed and remain untested. 48. The SRPP has been designed to further strengthen the reporting and monitoring and evaluation of a limited set of key data on ECE. It will thus contribute to obtaining more reliable basic information on preschool service delivery. First, by requiring the reporting of these data for the purposes of disbursements, the SRPP will lend importance to reporting and monitoring and evaluation. Failure to report, and failure to report accurately, will put at risk future funding from the program. Importantly, the reporting will be subject to independent third party verification. Second, the preparation of the SRPP has involved considerable TA on various aspects of ECE policy, including on quality standards and their assessment and reporting (see Table 3). Third, the SRPP under Component 2 will support further TA on strengthening monitoring and evaluation and reporting. This will involve comprehensively assessing strengths and weaknesses in current reporting of administrative data and information on ECE and options for strengthening as well as targeted training and capacity building for principals and local authorities on planning, monitoring, and reporting (including on preschool quality self- assessment). Table 3. Technical assistance on ECE in the context of preparation of SRPP Activity Outputs Description Analysis of ECED system Study Report: "Improving Access to This report was conducted to improve the and main challenges and Quality of Early Childhood understanding of the current ECED system of in Education Services for Vietnam" Vietnam, in particular service provision for disadvantaged children. The report proposes elements of a program to expand ECED services in Vietnam (in particular with a view to universalizing one year of preschool). The study was conducted from January- March 2010, with field visits to Hanoi, HCMC, Kien Giang, Cao Bang, and DakNong provinces Conference on ECED policy Conference proceedings Two-day multi-stakeholder conference in March 2010 directions with participation from three provinces to review ECED analyses and discuss options for strengthening the system, including through SRPP TA on ECE Quality Advice to MOET on approaches to The TA contributed to the development of the National Standards quality assurance in ECED, including Quality Standards for Preschool Accreditation which through written comments and four were approved in February 2011. consultation workshops 47 Needs assessment and social Report: "Needs assessment and social Preschool needs assessment and social assessment, assessment assessment for preschool services for including identification of demand and supply barriers disadvantaged children" for disadvantaged children in educationally disadvantaged districts in Hoa Binh, Hung Yen, Ha Tinh, Vinh Phuc, Dong Nai, Binh Duong, Dong Thap and Binh Thuan to provide a thorough understanding of possible barriers, both in terms of needs and supply sides, to ECE services in disadvantaged areas, especially to EM children. TA on ECE Teacher Development of a series of innovative Five thematic sets of DVDs in mathematics, poetry and Training Policy Assessment video teacher guides to assist ECE storytelling, outdoor activities, toys making and using, and Strategy Development teachers in implementing the new festival organization have been developed, applying ECE curriculum, in particular for best international practices and culturally relevance to disadvantaged children. Teacher guide Vietnam. These DVDs will be appraised and endorsed for teaching children with disabilities by MOET for future use ECE teacher training is being developed nationwide, including under SRPP. 48 Annex 4: Operational Risk Assessment Framework (ORAF) Vietnam: Vietnam School Readiness Promotion Project (P117393) Stakeholder Risk Rating Low Description: Risk Management: The project supports the implementation of the The project tracks results on key indicators relating to the Government's preschool Government's program to universalize preschool which universalization agenda and provides technical assistance on ECE policy development commands widespread support. There have been two and implementation. Further consultation among ECE policymakers, staff and local rounds of consultations with local level stakeholders level stakeholders on progress in the implementation of the program and in particular through participatory qualitative research on challenges related to disadvantaged children will be conducted during implementation. affecting preschool provision for the most disadvantaged children, and a multi-stakeholder workshop in Hanoi after identification. Project design incorporates findings from Both Not Yet Implementation Yearly these consultations as well as government program Due objectives. Capacity Rating Substantial Description: Risk Management: T .s Technical assistance in Component 2 will focus on building capacity for M&E. Bank eT ha n strted pe ation city ov a supervision will focus on results reporting related to the DLIs. series of Bank-funded operations, including the use of 'on- budget' funding under the SEQAP operation. Lessons Resp: Status: Stage: Recurrent: Due Date: Frequency: from ICRs have pointed to the importance of establishing Both Not Yet Due Implementation Yearly joint circulars and budget codes as part of 'on-budget' financing which has been reflected in SRPP. The capacity Risk Management: for monitoring and reporting on disbursement linked An inter-ministerial circular which spells out financial management guidance for indicators will be new to this operation and will therefore provinces will be approved by 30 June 2013. Responsibilities and procedures of be a focus on technical assistance and the Bank's financial reporting will be explicitly provided in the circular. Technical assistance will supervision effort (see section 4.4 below). be provided to MOET to provide a roadmap to build internal audit capacity and to pilot 49 the internal audit activities on an agreed scope in selected spending units. Expenditures The Financial Management Assessment identified the will be audited by an independent auditing agency in accordance with Terms of following key issues: (i) weak budgeting and planning Reference acceptable to the Bank. capacity; (ii) weak financial reporting capacity of the spending units; (iii) lack of internal audit and monitoring implementation of internal controls ; (iv) limitations in the Both Not Yet Due Implementation Yearly scope on the audit performed by the independent auditing agency and (vi) reliability of the results reported for disbursement. Component 1, funds mainly recurrent expenditures. MOET has proven experience with the procurement of technical assistance under Component 2. Governance Rating Substantial Description: Risk Management: The project will reimburse government investments that The project will rely on independent performance audits of results reporting which will are geared towards disadvantaged children. It will improve involve soliciting feedback and information from local communities and parents. Results the information base on ECE for disadvantaged children of preschool self-assessments will also be reviewed. by supporting intensive monitoring and reporting of increased access among disadvantaged groups (including minorities) and these indicators will be independently Both Not Yet Due Implementation Yearly verified. Preschools are also required to publish results of quality self-assessments locally. Under the SEQAP operation, MOET has demonstrated its capacity to work with the Ministry of Finance and with provinces/districts to finance priority programs in schools. MOET, MOF and State Treasury have demonstrated their ability to conduct financial reporting for on-budget financing. An Operational Manual spells out financial management and procurement rules governing Component 2. Risk Management: FM procedures will be specified in the inter-ministerial circular which will be adopted 50 by 30 June 2013. Internal audit capacity will be developed and external audits will be funded. Implementation of the joint circulars and the Operational Manual, as well as the internal and external audit reports, will be reviewed by the Bank during implementation support missions and remedial measures will be agreed with the implementing agencies. Resp: Status: Stage: Recurrent: Due Date: Frequency: Both Not Yet Due Implementation L Yearly Design Rating Substantial Description: Risk Management: A results-based disbursement design in support of a The joint guiding circulars will spell out requirements for planning, financing, reporting national program is new for the counterpart agencies. and auditing. Component 2 will support MOET's capacity to monitor and report on the However, MOET has successful experience with DLIs, as well as reporting on financial management. implementing donor funding 'on budget' under the SmlePetionr Paning, financing,' r ertg aResp: Status: Stage: Recurrent: Due Date: Frequency: SEQAP operation. Planning, financing, reporting and auditing capacities at the local level vary and are weak in Client Not Yet Due Implementation disadvantaged provinces. The need to monitor and verify Disbursement Linked Indicators adds to complexity in project design. Social and Environmental Rating Moderate Description: Risk Management: The Bank will review annually the effective targeting of resources on vulnerable groups Consla pioswt ethni MOri r entate hae and ethnic minorities and the overall impact of the project on these groups in terms of informed project design. MOET will monitor the impactacesndlrigouom. of the project on the vulnerable and ethnic minorities. Resp: Status: Stage: Recurrent: Due Date: Frequency: Construction could result in adverse environmental Client Not Yet Due Implementation effects. However, MOET and provincial and district authorities have experience with construction of school Risk Management: infrastructure from SEQAP and PEDC. ECOPs have been The Bank will monitor the impacts of the project on vulnerable people and ethnic made available to MOET. minorities, as well as the implementation of ECOPs. Resp: Status: Stage: Recurrent: Due Date: Frequency: 51 Bank Not Yet Due Implementation Program and Donor Rating Low Description: Risk Management: The Bank provides additional funding for an ongoing government program. No other donors are involved in the Resp: Status: Stage: Recurrent: Due Date: Frequency: project. Delivery Monitoring and Sustainability Rating Substantial Description: Risk Management: Training and capacity-building have been provided by Bank supervision will focus on DLI monitoring and reporting. other financing sources during preparation (specifically Resp: Status: Stage: Recurrent: Due Date: Frequency: PPTAF). Component 2 has been designed to provide technical assistance to assist MOET with results reporting Bank Not Yet Due Implementation and to build long term capacity for performance monitoring. Implementation Risk Rating: Substantial Comments: Implementation of the results-based approach will be challenging, despite the care taken during project preparation and reflected in project design; as such, implementation risk is rated substantial. The Bank will provide close implementation support to MOET. 52 Annex 5: Implementation Support Plan Vietnam: School Readiness Promotion Project (P117393) 1. Implementation support is a core element of the proposed partnership between the Government of Vietnam and the World Bank under the SRPP. Implementation support would involve continuous World Bank engagement in partnering with the Government in several dimensions: (a) A continuous partnership for the sectoral and technical aspects of implementing the three results areas (described in Annex 2). It will focus on enhancing performance management and helping to instill a culture of results monitoring. Implementation support for the sectoral and technical aspects would come from the continuous partnership of the proposed SRPP and ongoing policy dialogue in ECE. (b) Continuous fiduciary engagement, both for regular fiduciary (financial management) supervision of the qualified programs included in the EEP and for further support to the Government of Vietnam to continuously strengthen its monitoring and reporting systems. 2. Formal implementation support missions would be carried out twice a year (with regular Implementation Status Report), covering sectoral (technical) and fiduciary aspects. The Government and the World Bank will monitor and report on progress on the DLIs, as well as verification of the achievement of DLIs based on the review of independent performance audits. The Government and the World Bank will also monitor risks, updating the risk assessment as needed, as presented in the ORAF matrix in Annex 4. Implementation support missions would conduct in-depth stock-taking of performance to date (for the prior year), progress towards achieving the overall PDO, the time calibration of achievement of DLIs (and any adjustments needed in disbursement forecasts associated with projected achievement of remaining DLIs), and overall project implementation arrangements, identifying any adjustments needed. 1. The main focus in terms of support to implementation Time Focus Skills Needed Resource Estimate (US$) First 12 months Ensuring robust monitoring Education Specialist, 100,000 and evaluation systems and Economist, Monitoring collection of baseline data and evaluation specialist Designing professional Education Specialist, ECE development program for professional development ECE teaching staff and expert managers System of results reporting Education specialist, Economist, Financial Management Specialist Fiduciary aspects related to Financial Management component 2 Specialist, Procurement 53 Specialist 12-48 months Monitoring and verification Education specialist, 300,000 of DLIs and review of school Economist, Financial readiness assessment Management Specialist. Social safeguards Technical and policy dialogue Specialist related to ECE policy as reflected in the SRPP Social safeguards II. Skills Mix Required Skills Needed Number of Staff Weeks Number of Trips Education Specialist 20 4 Economist 12 Monitoring and 6 Evaluation Specialist FM Specialist 10 Procurement Specialist 3 Social Safeguards 4 Specialist 54 Annex 6: Economic and Financial Analysis Vietnam: School Readiness Promotion Project (P117393) Summary offindings 1. The project will support the recurrent portion of Decision 239 which if achieved will improve the quality of ECE services being provided to 3 to 5 year-olds and enroll 70 percent of 3 and 4-year-olds and 95 percent of 5-year-olds (of which 85 percent in full-day preschool). The main findings of the cost benefit and financial analysis of this program are as follows: (a) the project is expected to improve the cognitive ability of students and grade progression; (b) the project is expected to increase overall education costs to the government due to higher enrolments in future grades; (c) under conservative assumptions, the project would yield 19 dollars for each dollar spent at a 5 percent discount rate; (d) under optimistic assumptions about the impact of this project on grade progression, the maximum additional cost to the government would be 3.3 percent of recurrent education expenditure in 2025; (e) Decision 239 is similar in cost effectiveness as (as a benchmark) reducing class size by 10 students in terms of recurrent expenditure Anticipated benefits 2. The provision of a high quality ECE program will likely improve cognitive ability. There exist many studies showing improvements in cognitive ability, or measures related to cognitive ability such as test scores, internationally (Nadeau et al. 2010; Vegas et al. 2010; Schweinhart et al 2005; Campbell et al. 2002; Reynolds et al. 2002; Garces et al. 2002; Kagitcibasi 1992; Cueto and Diaz 1999). In Vietnam, a small scale study of two rural communes in Vinh Loc district in Thanh Hoa province in 2002 and 2003 found a statistically significant impact of an ECE intervention among stunted children. This study was a follow-up to an early nutrition intervention in 1999; of two communes that received the nutrition intervention in 1999, one commune was provided teacher training and material support to existing preschools. The study compared Raven's Progressive Matrices (IQ) test results and anthropometric indicators and found statistically significant higher test scores among stunted children. In addition to these studies, Table 4 presents several studies in which impact on cognitive ability, skills, IQ, or test scores can be calculated in terms of standard deviations (S.D.). 55 Table 4. Impact of preschools on cognitive ability (or similar measure) in S.D. Program Study Impact Philippines ECD (ages 2,3) Program Armecin et al. 2006 0.28 - 0.43 U.S. Pre-kindergarten Magnuson et al. 2004 0.1 - 0.13 U.K. Preschools Samons et al. 2007 0.069 - 0.071 Argentina National Preschool Program Berlinski, Galiani, Gertler 2006 0.23 per year Bangladesh Rural Preschools (ages 4 - 6) Aboud 2006 0.13 - 0.17 3. The provision of a high quality ECE program to disadvantaged youths will likely increase the number of years of schooling attained. Several international studies have shown this (Nadeau et al. 2010; Vegas et al. 2010; Garces et al. 2002; Goodman and Sianesi 2005). Table 5 presents several studies where the average annual impact on progression rates can be 7 approximated . Table 5. Approximate average annual impact of preschools on progression rates Program Study Impact U.S. Perry Preschool (ages 3,4) Schweinhart et al. 2005 1.031 U.S. Carolina Abecedarian Program Campbell et al. 2002 in Vegas et al 2010 1.047 U.S. Chicago Childcare Program (ages 3,4) Reynolds et al. 2002 1.022 Turkish Early Enrichment Project (ages 3-5) Kagitcibasi 1992 in Vegas et al 2010 1.025 Uruguay National Preschool Program (ages 4,5) Berlinski, Galiani, Manacorda 2007 1.062 Brazil Preschool Program Curi and Menezes-Filho 2006 1.070 4. The likely increase in the number of years of schooling attained to disadvantaged youth would raise economic output. Numerous studies have found positive effects of preschool programs on earnings (Nadeau et al. 2010; Vegas et al. 2010; Schweinhart et al. 2005; Garces et al. 2002; Goodman and Sianesi 2005; Curi and Menezes-Filho 2006). The link between earnings and economic output arises from higher earnings indicating a more productive individual (Psacharopolous 1995). Hundreds of studies have shown the link between additional schooling and earnings (see Psacharaopoulos and Patrinos 2004). These studies typically estimate a "Mincerian" earnings function in which an individual's earnings are expressed as a function of his or her years of schooling and experience; these estimates reveal the relationship between an additional year of schooling and the additional earnings expected, in other words, the return to an additional year of schooling. Table 6 presents estimates of a Mincerian earnings function for Vietnam using the 2008 Vietnam Household Living Standards Survey (VHLSS) for individuals whose primary job takes up 6 to 10 hours per day. As shown, the pre-tax return to schooling is about 10.1 percent; if two individuals have the same amount of work experience but one has one more year of schooling than the other, then the one with one more year of schooling would have 10.1 percent higher earnings. This estimated rate of return to education is low compared to other 7 Typically, studies compare the percent completing high school or still enrolled at a certain age between those who attended a preschool program and those who did not; the average impact on progression rates can be approximated by taking the root of their ratios to the number of years of schooling they represent. For example, if 60 percent of preschool graduates completed grade 12 compared to 40 percent of non-preschool graduates, then average impact on progression rates is approximately the 12th root of 1.5, or 1.03. 56 countries. For example, the average rate of return, after taxes, for developing countries for which there are studies is 10.8 percent (Psacharapoulos and Patrinos 2004); before taxes, this international average is much higher. In an earlier study of the returns to education in Vietnam, Moock et al. (2002) also found low returns to education, and they attribute this to Vietnam's being a transition country and cited lower returns in other transition or command economies. Table 6. Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) estimates of a Mincerian earnings function Variable Coefficient 0.101*** Years of schooling (0.002) 0.072*** Experience (0.003) -.001*** Experience square (0.000) 4.837*** Constant (0.034) Observations 6,487 R-Square 0.300 Source: Authors calculation using the 2008 VHLSS. The dependent variable is log of earnings (converted to US$) and standard errors are reported in brackets. Coefficients that are statistically different from zero at the 0.01 level are denoted by ***. 5. The likely increase in cognitive ability for disadvantaged youth would also increase economic output. While there are hundreds of studies showing the link between years of schooling and education, there is now a growing body of literature estimating the link between cognitive ability, typically measured through test scores, and earnings. Similar to estimating the returns to years of schooling, these studies estimate the return, or increase in earnings, due to a one S.D. change in cognitive ability. Table 7 presents a summary of the after-tax returns to one S.D. increase in cognitive ability. Table 7. Estimated returns to a standard deviation increase in cognitive skills Program Study Impact Chile Patrinos and Sakellariou (2007) 0.17 Ghana Glewwe (1996) 0.14-0.30 Ghana Jolliffe (1998) 0.05-0.07 Kenya Boissiere et al. (1985), Knight and Sabot (1990) 0.19-0.22 Pakistan Alderman et al. (1996) 0.12-0.28 Pakistan Behrman et al. (forthcoming) 0.25 South Africa Moll (1998) 0.34-0.48 Tanzania Boissiere et al. (1985), Knight and Sabot (1990) 0.07-0.13 Average 0.17-0.22 Source: Table 7 in Patrinos and Psacharopoulos (2010) 57 6. Many other benefits of ECE programs have also been found in studies. For example, ECE programs have been shown to reduce crime and improve health. These translate into less public expenditure in the future (see Nadeau et al. 2010 and Vegas et al. 2010 for summaries). This analysis, however, will only focus on the benefits arising from improvements in cognitive ability and years of schooling, and subsequently earnings and economic output, in order to generate a lower bound estimate of benefits. Anticipated Costs 7. The total cost of implementing the recurrent portion of Decision 239 is estimated to be US$400.3 million over four years. Table 8 presents a breakdown. Table 8. Estimated Recurrent Cost of Achieving Decision 239 Total Units Unit cost per year (US$) Total (US $m) Training of ECE Teachers, Managers, Teaching Assistant Teachers 196,639 160 31.4 ECE Managers 30,211 160 4.8 Teaching Assistants 2,405 160 0.4 Total 36.6 Lunch for 3-5 year old children 3-4 year old children 379,206 52 19.7 5 year old children 304,740 52 15.8 Total 35.5 Additional Staff Salaries Teachers 22,811 864 19.7 Contracted Staff 9,600 864 8.3 Total 28.0 Total Annual Cost 100.1 Total Cost over Four Years 400.3 Source: MOET (27 9 correct-Bang tinh kinh phi DA MN_ENG.xls) Lunch for 3 -5 year-old children estimated at VND 120,000 per child for 9 months Staffsalaries estimated at VND 2 million per month for 9 months Contracted staff assumed to be twice estimated by MOET (4800 x 2) 8. The expected increase in progression rates will create additional schooling costs and foregone earnings. Foregone earnings will accrue if children stay in school longer instead of entering the labor market; the size of these costs depends on the impact of the project on progression rates. The impact on progression rates will also increase enrolment rates and the costs to government for schooling as well as costs to the households; Table 9 presents per student annual public recurrent cost and per student annual private expenditure. 58 Table 9. Public and private annual per student costs by level in 2008 (US$) Level Public Private Total Preschool 155.60 47.77 203.37 Primary 161.35 29.77 191.12 Lower Secondary 152.72 43.67 196.39 Upper Secondary 155.03 84.18 239.21 College 429.95 257.14 687.09 University 429.95 307.67 737.62 Source: Government of Vietnam 2009 for total public recurrent expenditure; UNESCO UIS for total enrolment in 2009 (incl. private); VHLSS 2008 for private expenditure Cost Benefit Analysis 9. Based on conservative assumptions, this project would yield an estimated US$27.6 per dollar spent. This is calculated by using a 5 percent discount rate. As described in the preceding section, the increase in years of schooling and cognitive ability will likely increase future earnings for (and future economic output from) the children in the targeted districts. These benefits, however, will be offset by the costs of the project and the costs associated with an increase in schooling: these include higher public expenditure, higher private expenditure, and the loss of earnings which the child would have earned had he or she began working instead of staying in school longer. The previous section presents estimates of these costs, but the impact of this project on the years of schooling attained and cognitive ability as well as the return to cognitive ability is unknown. For this reason, Table 10 presents estimates of the benefit-cost ratio (the number of dollars produced by the project for each dollar spent), as well as the internal rate of return, under three scenarios based on some core assumptions that are explained below. The first scenario is a conservative scenario and assumes that the impact of the project on cognitive ability, on progression from one grade to another, as well as the return to cognitive ability is the lowest from the results of other studies presented in the previous section. As demonstrated, these assumptions yield a benefit cost ratio of US$27.6 for every dollar spent and an internal rate of return of 15.0 percent. The second scenario is an average scenario based on the average of the impact of the project and the return to cognitive ability shown in the previous section, and the final scenario uses the average from studies of World Bank client countries which provides an optimistic scenario. Table 10. Cost benefit under various scenarios Impacts on Benefit Progression Rates Cognitive Ability Return to Cognitive Scenario IRR Cost Ratio (times higher) (s.d. higher) Ability (%) Conservative 14.3 18.9 1.02 0.07 5.0 Average 16.5 27.5 1.04 0.18 19.5 Bank client average 16.9 29.4 1.05 0.25 19.5 Benefit cost ratio calculated using a 5 percent discount rate. 10. The core assumptions underlying this cost benefit analysis provides a lower bound estimate of the benefits. As mentioned in the previous section, the benefits regarding reduced crime and health have been ignored by this analysis. In addition, this project ignores the benefits 59 of this project results from reduced grade repetition. Reduced repetition would reduce the cost of a child attaining a particular grade level and would enable the child to enter the labor market sooner with the same qualification increasing his or her earnings stream. However, since few of the studies on ECE reported impacts on repetition, the benefits of reduced repetition were ignored for this analysis. Table 11 summarizes the other assumptions core assumptions. Table 11. Core modeling assumptions Economic 1. Real income growth 6.5 percent annually 2. Real per student cost growth 5 percent annually from 2008 levels of Table 7 3. Returns to earnings and experience as in Table 4 4. Individuals earn from age 12 and up until age 55 Benefits 5. Preschool students enrolled between 2012 and 2015 will benefit 6. Only students that have at two three years of exposure to preschools will benefit; for one or two years of exposure, benefits ignored (70 percent of 4-year-olds) 7. Impact of project on repetition rates is ignored Education System 8. 98.3 percent of cohort enters primary school on time 9. 18.1 percent of Grade 12 attain 14 years of schooling and 12.1 percent attain 16 years (based on VHLSS 2008) Grade 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Progression rate (%) 95 97 97 97 98 94 95 93 73 91 95 18 Dropout / exit rate (%) 2.1 1.6 2.0 2.3 2.2 4.9 4.0 6.3 27.2 7.1 4.1 81.5 Income and growth costs based on EFA costing; progression and dropouts calculated from UNESCO Institute of Statistics data for 2006 and 2005. Primary entry based on percent of aged 10 to 15 with some primary. Financial Analysis 11. Through its impact on progression rates and subsequent enrolment, the government would incur future additional costs depending on the size of the project's impact; under an optimistic scenario of this project's impact, additional costs would be at most 4.7 percent of government recurrent expenditure in 2026. Figure 4 presents the additional schooling costs that would be incurred by the government under each of the different scenarios as percent of public recurrent expenditure. This assumes that the public private share of enrolment remains constant throughout lower secondary to university, and that per student costs grow at 4 percent from the levels reported above and that recurrent expenditure grows at 6.5 percent following the projections made by the VANPRO EFA Action Plan costing. As demonstrated, as more students stay in school longer, the additional costs to their enrolment are maximized around 2024. Under the optimistic scenario of impact on grade progression, the maximum additional cost incurred by the government would be 4.7 percent of recurrent expenditure. 60 Figure 4. Additional schooling costs by scenario as percentage of public recurrent education expenditure if Program 239 results are achieved 3.5 Bank client average scenario maximum: 3.33% CL Average scenario maximum: 2.6% 2.52 - 1.5 -Conservative scenario maximum: 1.2% 2015 2018 2020 2022 2024 2026 2028 2030 2032 2034 Year Cost Effectiveness Analysis 12. The interventions under this project are much more cost effective than a reduction in class size by 10 students. There are strong arguments for ECE programs being cost effective (Naudeau et al. 20 10; Vegas et al. 20 10), and the current literature suggests human development interventions are more cost-effective at younger ages (Camneiro and Heckman 2003). Berlinski et al (2006) compare the cost effectiveness of the Argentine pre-primary expansion to that of reducing class size by 10 students. The impact of reducing class size has been thoroughly studied and, consequently, provides a suitable altemnative intervention to benchmark the cost effectiveness of a project against. In their comparison, a reduction in class size translates into an increase in cognitive ability between 0.1 and 0.35 standard deviations citing several studies. Most of the studies presented in Table 5 show impacts on cognitive ability that fall into the same range. Table 12 presents the student capital and recurrent cost of reducing primary class sizes by 10 students in Vietnam. As can be seen the per student recurrent cost would be 109.51. The recurrent per student cost (using a minimum estimated number of beneficiaries) of decision 239 is slightly higher at 113.9 suggesting that it is similar in cost effectiveness. 61 Table 12. Cost to reducing student teacher ratio by 10 Teachers and Classrooms Needed Number of students (2010) 6,856,229 Number of teachers (2010) 326,148 Student teacher ratio (2010) 21 Number of new teachers needed 295,911 Number of classrooms (2010) 255,703 Classrooms per teacher (2010) 0.78 New classrooms needed for 0.78 per teacher 231,997 Capital Costs Construction cost per classroom (USD) 15,300 Total cost of new classrooms (USD thousands) 3,549,551 Total per student capital cost 517.71 Recurrent Costs Annual cost per teacher 2,294 Annual cost of teaching material per teacher 243 Total cost of new teachers per year (USD thousands) 750,804 Per student cost of new teachers 109.51 Per student cost of Decision 239 Number of 3 year-olds in preschool (lower bound estimate of beneficiaries) 878,581 Annual cost per beneficiary (USD) 113.9 62 Annex 7: Provincial Preschool Enrolments Vietnam: School Readiness Promotion Project (P117393) School year 2010/2011 2011/2012 Enrolm Percent Enrolm Percent Enrolm Percent Enrolm Percent ent rate age ent rate age ent rate age ent rate age Provinces/Cities 3-5 yo 3-5yo 5yo 5yo 3-5 yo 3-5yo 5yo 5yo full- full- full- full- day* day* day* day* (a) (b) (c) (d) (a) (b) (c) (d) National 77.7 59.0 94.5 66.1 82.2 65.9 96.4 73.7 Red River Delta 91.6 80.0 98.9 87.7 97.1 79.9 99.5 93.9 HAN6i 92.2 80.2 100.0 85.1 99.9 87.0 100.9 95.0 Vnh Phfic 94.6 86.3 99.9 97.6 98.5 87.7 99.9 99.7 Bic Ninh 92.0 82.6 99.3 88.3 99.3 31.2 99.9 98.3 Qudng Ninh 81.1 82.0 99.1 84.4 83.1 88.5 99.4 92.5 H6i Duang 90.4 68.1 98.7 80.0 92.5 69.8 99.6 81.6 H6iPhong 88.2 70.7 91.2 94.3 98.4 74.0 92.5 97.5 Hung Y6n 88.4 54.3 99.4 72.9 98.0 37.5 99.9 75.0 Th6i Binh 95.5 96.8 99.9 98.8 98.4 101.0 100.1 99.2 HA Nam 95.2 76.1 100.0 80.3 98.8 76.5 100.0 90.3 Nam Dinh 93.2 88.4 99.6 96.4 94.8 90.2 99.7 97.5 Ninh Binh 95.1 84.4 99.9 85.7 97.2 95.0 100.0 98.2 Northern Mountains and Northern Midlands 87.9 59.1 97.3 74.9 91.9 73.6 98.7 85.5 HA Giang 93.5 42.7 95.1 60.8 97.6 42.1 98.8 66.6 Cao Bing 81.8 58.7 94.9 71.8 88.3 59.8 95.4 72.3 Bic Kan 96.9 58.4 95.3 63.1 97.4 63.1 97.3 70.0 Tuy6n Quang 96.1 43.9 95.1 55.8 98.9 44.5 97.2 56.1 Ldo Cai 83.7 42.2 98.7 46.7 86.7 46.4 99.8 61.2 Y6n B6i 82.9 75.5 97.2 80.3 84.9 90.1 97.7 96.6 Th6i Nguy6n 84.8 92.0 98.2 95.4 91.5 95.5 99.9 98.1 Lang San 89.1 50.0 99.2 67.7 92.4 68.2 99.9 74.3 Bic Giang 91.9 87.6 98.4 98.3 96.9 98.4 99.7 98.7 Phf Tho 88.8 70.3 98.6 91.0 91.3 72.9 99.9 96.1 Di6n Bi6n 82.2 34.7 95.0 73.0 87.2 71.5 97.3 88.1 Lai Chdu 87.2 42.6 98.6 53.0 90.4 73.1 98.7 90.2 Son la 83.3 39.0 96.7 79.9 88.1 77.5 97.9 91.1 Hod Binh 94.1 61.2 98.3 62.0 97.0 85.0 99.8 96.1 North Central 78.0 48.0 95.0 58.3 80.2 57.1 96.8 70.0 Thanh Ho6 88.9 42.6 97.1 50.6 90.3 72.7 99.4 90.0 Ngh6 An 86.6 44.3 98.2 65.2 87.0 44.9 98.5 71.9 63 H Tnh 94.6 76.6 98.1 77.1 95.3 80.3 99.8 85.9 Quing Binh 91.9 65.0 96.5 76.2 92.6 77.6 99.1 80.0 Quing Tri 83.6 71.3 97.2 74.1 84.8 72.7 99.7 86.2 Thua Thi&n Hue 69.8 73.6 88.3 87.3 71.5 87.6 89.6 93.3 DA Ning 95.2 84.3 98.9 91.4 96.6 96.2 100.0 100.0 Quing Nam 71.1 56.8 92.2 82.4 74.0 63.9 96.2 97.6 Quing NgAi 67.8 21.5 81.7 35.7 68.4 23.3 84.0 47.1 Binh Dinh 66.3 10.2 94.0 13.3 69.8 7.4 97.3 14.2 Phti Yn 57.6 13.8 97.2 21.2 63.2 20.3 98.9 26.3 Khinh Hod 65.4 44.8 95.0 61.8 70.6 45.6 97.2 69.5 Ninh Thuin 61.0 40.0 95.0 46.9 63.8 47.2 97.2 57.9 Binh Thuin 68.7 41.4 90.9 43.1 70.4 42.2 97.6 43.2 Central Highlands 69.6 32.6 97.2 49.3 74.7 49.3 98.3 56.3 Kon Turn 82.1 36.4 98.8 38.7 84.8 37.7 99.7 45.3 Gia Lai 68.5 23.9 98.5 25.7 74.0 35.2 98.7 35.7 Dik Lik 66.2 51.8 95.5 71.0 71.9 57.9 96.7 79.5 Dfik Nng 62.4 15.7 96.6 20.2 67.1 16.8 97.6 20.8 Liim Dng 74.1 21.3 97.4 71.2 79.1 74.7 100.0 74.4 Southeast 70.7 80.2 88.4 83.0 76.2 84.9 90.6 86.4 Binh Phu&c 57.7 64.0 85.1 66.4 67.0 74.4 88.6 77.1 Tdy Ninh 53.9 38.0 88.5 51.3 57.8 27.3 93.3 56.9 Binh Duang 81.2 82.4 96.5 86.1 90.8 98.9 98.6 97.0 DO-ng Nai 68.8 76.5 80.4 78.2 74.3 78.1 81.9 81.6 BA Ria Viing Tdu 72.2 86.8 83.1 91.3 77.9 88.9 90.0 95.2 Tp Ho Chi Minh 73.7 86.6 91.3 90.6 77.9 91.2 92.3 90.9 Mekong Delta 62.1 29.7 90.6 36.1 66.8 34.7 94.1 42.0 Long An 60.7 45.5 92.2 48.2 62.2 47.7 98.8 53.0 Tien Giang 59.9 19.2 98.1 39.5 61.9 45.8 99.5 48.5 Ben Tre 73.5 26.6 98.1 29.8 74.3 28.0 99.8 34.3 Trd Vinh 65.7 29.7 92.0 37.0 68.4 30.0 97.8 43.0 Vnh Long 73.2 22.6 91.8 35.2 78.7 23.7 94.2 42.0 DO-ng Thip 61.4 36.8 93.1 36.4 75.1 37.2 96.2 38.0 An Giang 57.6 15.3 93.2 16.3 58.7 11.4 93.9 17.1 Ki6n Giang 47.4 28.0 73.2 30.0 53.4 28.4 76.7 37.0 Cfin The 71.8 51.2 93.9 54.3 75.5 71.8 98.4 77.3 Hdu Giang 60.5 10.2 92.1 14.3 78.1 12.9 96.7 16.5 S6c Tring 68.6 33.8 90.6 51.8 77.2 36.6 95.0 56.7 Bac Lieu 66.6 43.1 90.9 55.0 68.3 55.4 94.1 65.2 C Mau 51.5 25.6 74.2 30.4 52.6 26.2 85.3 31.9 Source: MOET Department of Planning and Finance. * Full-day (bAn tr6) means lunches are provided at preschools and the new ECE curriculum is used. 64 Annex 8: References Vietnam: School Readiness Promotion Project (P117393) Aboud, F. 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