The World Bank CLEAR Center at the University of Wits (P149309) REPORT NO.: RES45577 RESTRUCTURING PAPER ON A PROPOSED PROJECT RESTRUCTURING OF REGIONAL CENTERS FOR LEARNING ON EVALUATION AND RESULTS IN ANGLOPHONE AFRICA (CLEAR) PROJECT APPROVED ON DECEMBER 11, 2013 TO THE UNIVERSITY OF THE WITHWATERSTAND, JOHANNERSBURG, SOUTH AFRICA INDEPENDENT EVALUATION GROUP EASTERN AND SOUTHERN AFRICA REGION Regional Vice President: Hafez M. H. Ghanem Country Director: Marie Francoise Marie-Nelly Global Director: Sophie Sirtaine Practice Manager/Manager: Jozef Leonardus Vaessen Task Team Leaders: Ketevan Nozadze, R Jason Thomas Mayfield The World Bank CLEAR Center at the University of Wits (P149309) ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS AA Anglophone Africa AfrEA The African Evaluation Association AFRED African Evaluation database APNODE The African Parliamentarians’ Network on Development Evaluation CLEAR Centers for Learning on Evaluation and Results COVID-19 Coronavirus Disease ECD Evaluation Capacity Development GEI Global Evaluation Initiative GIMPA Ghanaian Institute of Management and Public Administration IPDET The International Program for Development Evaluation Training MDTF Multi-donor Trust Fund M&E Monitoring & Evaluation PDO Project Development Objective PFM Procurement and Financial Management POT Parliamentary Oversight Tool RBM Results-based Management RF Results Framework RP Restructuring Paper RVP Regional Vice President SDG Sustainable Development Goals VOPE Voluntary Organization for Professional Evaluation UNICEF United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund The World Bank CLEAR Center at the University of Wits (P149309) BASIC DATA Product Information Project ID Financing Instrument P149309 Investment Project Financing Original EA Category Current EA Category Approval Date Current Closing Date 11-Dec-2013 26-Feb-2021 Organizations Borrower Responsible Agency Centre for Learning on Evaluation and Results for The University of the Witwatersrand Anglophone Africa (CLEAR-AA) at Witwatersrand Univ Financing (in USD Million) FIN_SUMM_PUB_TBL SUMMARY Total Project Cost 0 Total Financing 0 Financing Gap 0 DETAILS -NewFin3 Project Development Objective (PDO) Original PDO The objective of the Project is to enhance the capacity of the Center for Learning on Evaluation and Results for Anglophone Africa (CLEAR-AA) at the Graduate School of Public and Development Management (P&DM) of the University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, to develop and provide high quality Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) capacity development services on national and regional level basis. Current PDO The World Bank CLEAR Center at the University of Wits (P149309) The objective of the project is three-fold: (i) strategic clients gain knowledge in, and the motivation to use M&E methods, approaches, tools, and findings; (ii) other M&E capacity providers gain knowledge on evaluation capacity development (ECD) from CLEAR's experience on what works and what doesn't in ECD; and (iii) the CLEAR Center works towards achieving institutional and financial viability. OPS_TABLE_PDO_CURRENTPDO Summary Status of Financing (US$, Millions) Net TF Approval Signing Effectiveness Closing Commitment Disbursed Undisbursed TF-16358 12-Jun-2014 12-Jun-2014 12-Jun-2014 26-Feb-2021 4.20 4.20 0 Policy Waiver(s) Does this restructuring trigger the need for any policy waiver(s)? No I. PROJECT STATUS AND RATIONALE FOR RESTRUCTURING A. Introduction 1. This restructuring paper (henceforth, RP) proposes an extension of the CLEAR Center for Anglophone Africa (CLEAR-AA, P149309) project’s closing date by eight months, from February 26, 2021, to October 28, 2021 and an additional financing of US$750,000. CLEAR-AA is being implemented by the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa. The University of the Witwatersrand has been the host institution for CLEAR’s Center for Anglophone Africa since 2012. 2. The current grant was approved in December 2013 in the amount of US$3.0 million. Before the original closing date of December 2018, the project was extended by two years until December 2020, and provided additional financing of US$1.2 million, to respond to a high demand for its services and products. The project has disbursed 100 percent, but the Center has continued providing services to meet the increased demand. In December 2020, the grant was extended for another two months with an expectation that further extension and additional financing will be granted once the parent trust fund is extended. The committee of the Multi- Donor Trust Fund for Regional Centers for learning on Evaluation and Results (TF071407, parent trust fund) has agreed to grant additional financing of US$750,000 to CLEAR-AA to expend on existing results and meet the demand in the region. However, the committed US$750,000 will be processed in two phases as there are not enough funds in parent trust fund TF071407 at this time. In this phase, only US$397,325 will be granted to CLEAR AA. Thus, the grant agreement for this additional financing only refers to an additional amount of US$397,325. The remaining US$350,000 will be processed in the next two months, by when those funds are expected to become available. 3. The objective of the project is three-fold: (i) strategic clients gain knowledge in, and the motivation to use monitoring and evaluation (M&E) methods, approaches, tools, and findings; (ii) other M&E capacity providers gain knowledge on evaluation capacity development (ECD) from CLEAR's experience on what works and what doesn't in ECD; and (iii) the CLEAR Center works towards achieving institutional and financial viability. The The World Bank CLEAR Center at the University of Wits (P149309) ratings for the Progress towards the achievement of the Project Development Objectives (PDOs) and Implementation Progress are satisfactory as per the Implementation Status and Results Report (ISR) from February 2021. The project was implemented in full alignment with the PDO and went beyond the targets that were set at its conception. Recent analysis of project performance demonstrates that CLEAR-AA has the potential to contribute even more to the achievement of the PDO, leveraging what has been achieved over the past years to the benefit of more institutions and people and partnering with country systems that have not previously been directly supported. 4. CLEAR-AA has expanded its country programs and developed deeper partnerships with existing and prospective partners such as the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the World Food Programme, and the Ghanaian Institute of Management and Public Administration. In addition to this, the Center has become a member of the newly launched Global Evaluation Initiative (GEI). Through this global partnership, supported by the World Bank and UNDP, the Center has access to global M&E Networks and is expected to lead M&E work-program in the region. Key achievements of the CLEAR AA within the existing grant include, among others: (a) Successful collaboration with 101 country governments to strengthen and support their Evaluation Systems. Monitoring and Evaluation Situational Analyses were carried out in countries of Uganda, Liberia, Tanzania, Zambia, Lesotho, Malawi and Madagascar. In other examples of this work, the Center collaborated with the University of Zambia in the review of their Post Graduate Diploma in M&E and Executive Short Course in M&E and the Kenyan National Evaluation guidelines were reviewed and accepted by the Monitoring and Evaluation Department in National Treasury and Planning. These guidelines are set to be presented at the Kenya M&E conference in April 2021. (b) Strengthened partnerships with established regional networks that are helping create a culture of evidence use across governments, civil society, and nongovernmental organizations (civil society organizations (CSOs) and non-governmental organizations (NGOs)), parliaments, and higher education institutions. Following training events and technical assistance engagements, many of which have been offered online, tracer studies have indicated that 90 percent of clients have rated the extent to which they have found CLEAR interventions useful and relevant as "high" or "significant". As part of this work, CLEAR AA has made progress on the development and piloting of the African Parliamentary Oversight Tool (POT) and completed a study examining how M&E data information and evidence are being used by countries for adaptive management of climate change. (c) Despite the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, substantial progress has been made by the Center in its capacity to adapt, generate and disseminate knowledge through various activities. The Center has an active research and learning program, which includes a range of webinars, trainings, curriculum reviews and the development of a variety of knowledge products (blogs, learning notes, academic articles and research reports). (d) The Center recently partnered with the Centre for Research on Evaluation, Science and Technology, and successfully updated the African Evaluation database (AFRED) with new evaluation reports, academic articles from 19 Anglophone Africa countries. (e) In November 2020, the Center hosted the Africa Evaluation Indaba (a virtual evaluation festival) attended by M&E practitioners and evaluation stakeholders from across the world. (f) CLEAR-AA has continued its work to support the Collaborative Curriculum Development Project. In Accra, Ghana, the project convened a meeting with 39 academics from 11 countries and 23 universities to review the first draft of a harmonized postgraduate M&E curriculum that aims to make it easier to assess the quality 1 Botswana, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Namibia, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia. The World Bank CLEAR Center at the University of Wits (P149309) and appropriateness of post-graduate qualifications. To date, 19 universities have committed to using elements of the curriculum to build their postgraduate programs in M&E, illustrating the demand for professionalization within the sector. 5. Looking ahead the Center plans to continuously adapt its offerings to respond to developments and innovations in the evaluation community (such as COVID-19 and calls to better address climate change and gender inequality). CLEAR-AA will continue to develop and implement new ways to deliver sustained support in places where ECD and the use of evidence have previously been limited but which have strong potential to grow. The Center will achieve this intention through its approach of working closely with country governments, multi-lateral agencies and civil society partners to strengthen country systems. In addition, as COVID-19 persists, a strong focus will be placed on convening virtual events and processes to generate and share knowledge. Rationale for Restructuring 6. The sudden onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, where governments have been forced to make quick decisions that may have severe effects on societies, has increased the need for sound, evidence-based policy decisions. As a consequence, the pandemic has resulted in a deepened interest in the work done by CLEAR-AA and intensified general demand for its work in strengthening country systems. It has also given its program renewed urgency which the Center is determined to respond to with the right level of heightened engagement. The grant extension and additional financing are well timed to allow the Center to meet this increased demand and to improve and sophisticate its offering while prioritizing the role of countries themselves in leading the building of systems and shifting their policy-making cultures to take greater account of evidence. The response by CLEAR-AA during the extension period will include shifts in the Center’s working modalities to make provision for more online forms of engagement and other innovations prompted by the pandemic. The PDO and project components remain unchanged, except for some project activities, which have been adapted to accommodate COVID-19 impacts as well as the renewed focus on building country- owned and country-led systems. The Results Framework (henceforth, RF) has been revised, where several indicator targets have been increased to reflect how the additional financing will contribute to even better results. 7. The additional financing and closing date extension proposed for this project will allow CLEAR-AA to leverage its internal capacity to help more governments cope with the current health crises through better evidence informed decision making. In addition to this, successful completion of this project will position the Center well to contribute to the recently launched Global Evaluation Initiative (GEI) by the World Bank in which the Center is already collaborating. The new activities under the proposed additional financing include the following:  CLEAR-AA will continue building strategic country programs based on M&E Situation Analyses and the formulation of Capacity Strengthening Strategies and Plans, which are being thoughtfully and diligently implemented by the Center. Additional activities to help strengthen parliamentary M&E capacities and oversight processes are well underway with local partners. CLEAR AA will produce a book to share their practices and lessons learned on this. POT is being piloted in Kenya and Zambia. A book documenting these experiences is also nearing publication.  The Collaborative African Curriculum program is proceeding well and is being piloted in two universities – Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda and the University of Zambia. CLEAR-AA is designing a Master’s program in Evaluation, and additional universities in Lesotho and Namibia are being targeted to develop similar curricula and programs to enhance and promote local M&E expertise throughout the Anglophone African region; The World Bank CLEAR Center at the University of Wits (P149309)  CLEAR AA will provide analytics, develop training materials and disseminate knowledge on country system strengthening activities  CLEAR-AA will develop new analytics and engagement plans in partnerships VOPEs and local partners focusing on COVID-19 relevant themes as needed.  CLEAR AA will develop and strengthen capacity building training materials and provide online sessions.  CLEAR AA will update its African Evaluation Association database (AfrED) and use this platform for future work in the region.  CLEAR AA will also invest in hiring new staff and strengthen project implementation capacities. 8. In sum, the rationale for extension and additional financing is based on the following: (a) The demand for the project remains strong: CLEAR-AA has a proven track record of successfully working with a range of state, non-state, and international partners across Africa to build M&E capacity and share best practice knowledge drawn from deep contextual understanding. (b) The impact of COVID-19 has heightened demand for sound and evidence-based decision-making, and the need for evaluation capacity development programs such as those provided by CLEAR-AA. Moreover, the pandemic has entailed increased costs of program delivery, as the Center has had to pivot to online modes of engagement. The Center’s experience has been that while funds have been saved on travel costs, online and remote support is ultimately more expensive since it requires more costly expertise in the preparation and development stages and needs to be provided over a protracted and more sustained period. (c) The overall performance of CLEAR-AA has been satisfactory, and it is reasonable to expect that implementation will continue to be satisfactory in the future. An extended timeline, additional activities, and additional financing will help the Center further contribute to PDO achievement and reinforce its financial and institutional sustainability. 9. Based on the Center’s performance, the Multi-donor Trust Fund’s (MDTF TF071407) Committee agreed to an additional financing of US$750,000 and a closing date extension to October 28, 2021. This approval from donors testifies to the value-added and continued support to CLEAR-AA’s performance and leading role in the ECD space for Anglophone African countries. II. DESCRIPTION OF PROPOSED CHANGES B. New activities proposed under existing grant components 10. This restructuring paper proposes an extension of the CLEAR-AA project’s closing date by eight months, from February 26, 2021, to October 28, 2021 with additional financing amounting to US$750,000 to be provided in two phases. There are no changes to the project’s components, but their names are revised and scope will be enhanced, leveraging the new financial resources and timeframe, to meet growing demand, as follows: (a) Component 1: CLEAR-AA Capacity Building  Work in this area encompasses all the activities used to enable the Center to operate effectively, including salaries and other costs. During the proposed extension period, this will include the The World Bank CLEAR Center at the University of Wits (P149309) recruitment of an additional staff member to improve contract management and oversight given the increased demand to provide CLEAR AA services.  While the Center already has a highly effective operations and administrative team which supports the diverse activities being implemented, the intention in the extension period is to scale up the work of this unit by adding capacity, hiring staff to facilitate virtual delivery and establish a strong Project Management Unit so that the Center has capacity to secure, conclude and implement collaborative projects with a range of international and local partners, including institutions in the GEI and elsewhere  CLEAR-AA will entrench its Country Programs by strengthening regional and international collaboration networks and foster strategic partnerships with Voluntary Organizations for Professional Evaluation (VOPEs). These country programs are a diverse and exciting package of carefully designed activities that vary from country to country depending on the context, the needs identified by the Center’s in-country partners and their appetite for engagement. Building country systems is an important precondition for successfully implementing CLEAR AA’s work-program. (b) Component 2: Capacity Building Services  CLEAR-AA will provide additional capacity building events that address evidence and evaluation methods relevant to post-pandemic situations and builds upon existing African Evaluation models.  Work on the Collaborative African Curriculum project will continue and with the support of the grant, be expanded and extended and the lessons from the pilots in Uganda and Zambia will be shared. Possibilities in Namibia, and Lesotho are currently being explored.  CLEAR AA will further update its AfrED which will make African data more easily available to M&E practitioners globally. The database was established in 2015 and updated in 2020 and will be expanded to include literature on M&E in Africa and add a component on African evaluators. It will also see the scope of the database extended to include a number of additional countries. The searching and tagging functions on the database will also be enhanced. The Center will also be completing an innovative project on data governance for M&E in Africa.  Parliamentary capacity building: The ongoing in-country capacity strengthening program for the Parliament of Zambia will be expanded to include peer learning exchanges to develop tailored capacity strengthening programs (including needs analysis, strategy development, implementation and evaluation) for parliaments in other countries. The parliamentary projects will be linked to the Country Program’s projects to leverage existing networks. In addition, work being done in Kenya on Parliamentary support will be continued and the lessons shared regionally.  The new activities will support preparation and dissemination of the M&E knowledge in the book on “Experiences in Strengthening Evidence Use in African Parliaments”. CLEAR AA will develop training materials based on the book content. (c) Component 3: Monitoring and Evaluation  CLEAR AA will provide analytics, develop training materials and disseminate knowledge.  CLEAR-AA will develop new analytics and engagement plans in partnerships VOPEs and local partners focusing on COVID-19 relevant themes as needed.  CLEAR AA will develop and strengthen capacity building training materials. The World Bank CLEAR Center at the University of Wits (P149309) 11. The proposed additional financing, closing date extension, and expanded scope for this project, as described above, will not require changes in the procurement or financial management conditions or arrangements, and no new safeguard policies will be triggered. 12. Please note that the Data Sheet reflects components and current cost allocation of US$1.2M per previous additional financing commitment. The total current cost under the project components is US$4.2M. Upon approval of this additional financing, the total cost under the project components will be US$4.6M (upon processing phase one US$400,000) and US$4.9M (upon processing the remaining US$350,000). 1. Changes to Results Framework 13. CLEAR-AA indicators will remain the same. The only changes on the RF include an adjustment of targets for some indicators, which have been increased given the achievement potential of these targets with the additional financing and closing date extension, and adjustment of end target dates in line with the closing date extension. 14. The last ISR (February 2021) assessed low risk for the project implementation as the CLEAR center has now successfully moved to online platforms for their program delivery. III. SUMMARY OF CHANGES Changed Not Changed Results Framework ✔ Components and Cost ✔ Loan Closing Date(s) ✔ Additional Financing Proposed ✔ Disbursement Estimates ✔ Implementation Schedule ✔ Implementing Agency ✔ Project's Development Objectives ✔ Cancellations Proposed ✔ Reallocation between Disbursement Categories ✔ Disbursements Arrangements ✔ Change in Overall Risk Rating ✔ The World Bank CLEAR Center at the University of Wits (P149309) Safeguard Policies Triggered ✔ EA category ✔ Legal Covenants ✔ Institutional Arrangements ✔ Financial Management ✔ Procurement ✔ Other Change(s) ✔ Economic and Financial Analysis ✔ Technical Analysis ✔ Social Analysis ✔ Environmental Analysis ✔ IV. DETAILED CHANGE(S) OPS_DETAILEDCHANGES_RESULTS_TABLE RESULTS FRAMEWORK Project Development Objective Indicators PDO_IND_TABLE The Centre and its partners provide M&E capacity development services in at least 4 countries in the region Unit of Measure: Number Indicator Type: Custom Baseline Actual (Current) End Target Action Value 6.00 11.00 12.00 Revised Date 30-Jun-2013 06-May-2020 28-Oct-2021 At least 50% of the clients are from African countries other than South Africa Unit of Measure: Percentage Indicator Type: Custom Baseline Actual (Current) End Target Action Value 37.00 60.00 90.00 Revised Date 30-Jun-2013 06-May-2020 28-Oct-2021 The range of in-service capacity development programs implemented are increased Unit of Measure: Text Indicator Type: Custom The World Bank CLEAR Center at the University of Wits (P149309) Baseline Actual (Current) End Target Action Limited (mainly training Value in Results Based Increased Increased Revised Management) Date 30-Jun-2013 06-May-2020 28-Oct-2021 The mid-term review of the program yields satisfactory performance Unit of Measure: Text Indicator Type: Custom Baseline Actual (Current) End Target Action Satisfactory - Satisfactory - With Value No review at the time Implementing actions Revised actions for improvement for improvement Date 30-Jun-2013 30-Jun-2016 28-Oct-2021 The center’s clients in a survey rate the quality of their services highly Unit of Measure: Percentage Indicator Type: Custom Baseline Actual (Current) End Target Action Value 75.00 91.00 90.00 Revised Date 30-Jun-2013 06-May-2020 28-Oct-2021 Clients find the knowledge/skills/information they gained from the center’s services usable Unit of Measure: Percentage Indicator Type: Custom Baseline Actual (Current) End Target Action Value 79.00 80.00 90.00 Revised Date 30-Jun-2013 06-May-2020 28-Oct-2021 The Centre's costs will be funded through fees generated by training, advisory and evaluation services Unit of Measure: Percentage Indicator Type: Custom Baseline Actual (Current) End Target Action Value 0.00 25.00 40.00 Revised Date 30-Jun-2013 06-May-2020 28-Oct-2021 Intermediate Indicators The World Bank CLEAR Center at the University of Wits (P149309) IO_IND_TABLE NA Unit of Measure: Text Indicator Type: Custom Baseline Actual (Current) End Target Action Value NA NA NA No Change Date 30-Jun-2013 30-Jun-2016 30-Jun-2018 OPS_DETAILEDCHANGES_COMPONENTS_TABLE COMPONENTS Current Current Proposed Proposed Cost Action Component Name Component Name Cost (US$M) (US$M) Building a critical mass of M&E 0.21 Revised Monitoring and Evaluation 0.25 professionals Contributing to the availability and use of new knowledge on 0.95 Revised Capacity Building Services 0.34 M&E and capacity building for M&E Sustainability and M&E for the 0.04 Revised CLEAR-AA Capacity Building 0.16 project TOTAL 1.20 0.75 OPS_DETAILEDCHANGES_LOANCLOSING_TABLE LOAN CLOSING DATE(S) Original Revised Proposed Proposed Deadline TF Status Closing Closing(s) Closing for Withdrawal Applications 30-Jun-2018, 30- TF-16358 Effective 15-Jan-2017 Dec-2020, 26-Feb- 28-Oct-2021 28-Feb-2022 2021 OPS_DETAILEDCHANGES_ADDITIONAL_FINANCING_TABLE ADDITIONAL FINANCING Source Currency Amount USD Equivalent ECD FOR REGIONAL CENTERS(ECD) USD 750,000.00 750,000.00 Existing Net Commitment USD Amount 4,200,000.00 The World Bank CLEAR Center at the University of Wits (P149309) Total 4,950,000.00 OPS_DETAILEDCHANGES_DISBURSEMENT_TABLE DISBURSEMENT ESTIMATES Change in Disbursement Estimates Yes Expected Disbursements (In US$) Fiscal Year Annual Cumulative 2014 0.00 0.00 2015 0.00 0.00 2016 0.00 0.00 2017 0.00 0.00 2018 0.00 0.00 2019 0.00 0.00 2020 0.00 0.00 2021 0.00 0.00 2022 0.00 0.00