ICRR 12008 Report Number : ICRR12008 ICR Review Operations Evaluation Department 1. Project Data: Date Posted : 03/22/2005 PROJ ID : P034180 Appraisal Actual Project Name : Early Childhood Project Costs 35.12 18.7 Development US$M ) (US$M) Country : Kenya Loan /Credit (US$M) Loan/ US$M ) 27.8 14.6 Sector (s): Board: ED - Central Cofinancing government administration US$M ) (US$M) (34%), Pre-primary education (30%), Tertiary education (17%), Health (16%), Primary education (3%) L/C Number : CN015 Board Approval 98 FY ) (FY) Partners involved : Closing Date 06/30/2002 06/30/2004 Prepared by : Reviewed by : Group Manager : Group : Helen Abadzi George T. K. Pitman Alain A. Barbu OEDSG 2. Project Objectives and Components a. Objectives The objective was to improve quality and educability of children in poor Kenyan households through (a) improved child cognitive and psycho -social development; (b) improved child health and nutrition; (c) increased school enrollment at the appropriate age; and (d) reduced dropout and repetition rates in lower primary school. b. Components (a) Core service delivery support [covering all parts of Kenya; (Planned US$8.5m; actual $7.07 m) through improved teacher performance and community capacity building and mobilization . (b) Pilot components in selected geographical areas; (Planned US$10.3m; actual $7.03 m ) (i) Health and nutrition pilot to develop a replicable model of interventions at the community level to improve the health and nutrition status of preschool children; (ii) community grants pilot aimed to assist the poorest communities in developing early childhood education services and improving access to them for the neediest children; and (ii) preschool to primary school transition to address the high drop out rates between the 1st and 2nd grades in Kenya caused by the tougher learning environments in lower primary schools. (c) Project management (Planned US$9.7m; actual $4.60 m) for (i) institutional strengthening to provide the inputs for program management and implementation and (ii) monitoring and evaluation. c. Comments on Project Cost, Financing and Dates Objectives were not changed, but during the mid-term review activities were introduced such as AIDS education and infrastructure, including the construction of a large conference center in Nairobi . Training provision was reduced, and six of the eight outcome measures were dropped . The project received extensions totaling two years; 10% of the credit was to be canceled during mid-term review but remained available and was canceled at the end. About 23% of the project (US$13.2m) remained undisbursed. 3. Achievement of Relevant Objectives: Activities aimed at early childhood education were limited, and most objectives were not achieved . (a) Improved child cognitive and psycho-social development was not measured, and was probably not achieved. (b) Improved child health and nutrition was not measured and probably was not achieved. Nevertheless early childhood education services were implemented more effectively at the district and community level than at the central level. (c) Increased school enrollment at the appropriate age was partly achieved for early childhood education and primary school; Overall, there was a 27% increase in the provision of preschool education centers from 1997 to 2002, and enrollments more than doubled between 1997 and 2003. The preschool gross enrollment ratio in ages 3-6 years was 59.8% in 2003, up from 31.8% in 1999, but it was unknown how often children attended. The numbers of overage children in preschool centers reportedly decreased . Student-teacher ratios were reduced from 70.7 students in 1997 to 41.4 students per teacher in 2003. (d) Reduced dropout was not measured. Repetition rates in lower primary school remained high . Repetition rate was reduced slightly from 13% before the project to 11%. 4. Significant Outcomes/Impacts: -For the first time the Ministries of Health and Education worked on a project together . Despite obstacles, the community pilots have been developing replicable service delivery models that may improve practices in the long run. -The conditions in preschool centers visited by the ICR mission suggest that the overall quality of preschool experience was enhanced; there were better displays of learning materials as well as enhanced access to equipment and improved outdoor facilities . - Some teacher training targets were met, and were used as quality proxies in the project; 18,735 preschool teachers were trained by The end of the project, vs . the expected 13,000. Also, 18,732 teachers completed a 2-year training course (target was 13,500). 5. Significant Shortcomings (including non-compliance with safeguard policies): -Five thousand preschool centers were to be established, but only 3355 were in fact. 4314 centers were to be covered by health and nutrition interventions, but only 829 were in fact covered. Only 800 communities were mobilized to provide preschool education, 40% of the targeted 2000. Inadequate quality control and supervision of teachers as well as high teacher attrition rates created obstacles to achieving better psychosocial development for children . -Despite extensive teacher training, the proportion of Kenya's preschool teachers who are trained stands at 54.2%, compared with the original target of 70%. Targets for short-term training courses were substantially met (7,900 teachers vs. 8500 expected). Support and follow-up plans for teachers fell marginally short because only 52% of the trainers completed an induction course (vs. 60% expected). Many other professionals remained untrained; against a target of 75 district mobilizers 41 (55%) were trained; against a target of 300 district technical committees 88 (29%) were trained; 10,000 parents were trained against a target of 15,200. - After the mid-term review, conference centers were built for which there was no reasonable justification and that had little direct benefits to the preschool program . Most outcome measures were dropped and replaced with ‘proxy’ measures that were essentially output indicators . The pilot components were large but were not evaluated. - The community grants pilot had limited outcomes . 1480 centers were to be covered by the grants component, but only 90 were covered. Only 48 % of targeted committees were trained, 25% of preschool centers received their grants and 56% of centers had viable projects as a result of grants . --There were severe hurdles at the central level, such as ensuring a flow of funds to the districts and communities. The implementation arrangements were complex and the financing rules onerous . Implementation of all components was hampered by procurement and financial management problems . Important project inputs like drugs and equipment were only procured in the last year of the project . - The information systems under the project did not function effectively, and it was difficult to collect monitoring data. A 33% rate of return was calculated at appraisal through presumed savings at various levels, but it bore no basis in reality . 6. Ratings : ICR OED Review Reason for Disagreement /Comments Outcome : Unsatisfactory Unsatisfactory Institutional Dev .: Modest Modest Sustainability : Likely Non-evaluable Though preschool attendance has increased in the population, the low levels of teacher training and high attrition make long-term benefits uncertain. Bank Performance : Unsatisfactory Unsatisfactory The Bank authorized changes to the project which detracted from its goal of serving poor children Borrower Perf .: Unsatisfactory Unsatisfactory The government disbursed funds in infrastructure rather than health and education interventions and created obstacles for the communities that were willing to provide services to children . Quality of ICR : Satisfactory NOTE: NOTE ICR rating values flagged with ' * ' don't comply with OP/BP 13.55, but are listed for completeness. 7. Lessons of Broad Applicability: - Early childhood education projects are highly desirable and much needed to help poor children prepare for successful primary-school attendance. However, they often have complex arrangements, require extensive collaborative work among diverse stakeholders, and in low -income countries may be prone to failure. - It is possible to empower communities to carry out early childhood education . However, they need timely financial support as well as training and follow -up from the government. Simple project designs with simple fund-flow arrangements are needed when community involvement is required . - Preschool education teachers may be difficult to train and retain due to low remuneration and a limited educational background. To prevent attrition and wastage of training funds, better incentives,including better terms of employment, and non-monetary incentives should be implemented. 8. Assessment Recommended? Yes No 9. Comments on Quality of ICR: The ICR is thorough and very candid in its assessment of the project's failures.