The World Bank Monitoring Post Ebola Recovery Funds: A Focus on Service Delivery (P162166) REPORT NO.: RES47534 RESTRUCTURING PAPER ON A PROPOSED PROJECT RESTRUCTURING OF MONITORING POST EBOLA RECOVERY FUNDS: A FOCUS ON SERVICE DELIVERY APPROVED ON AUGUST 28, 2018 TO OXFAM IN SIERRA LEONE SOCIAL SUSTAINABILITY AND INCLUSION AFRICA WEST Regional Vice President: Ousmane Diagana Country Director: Pierre Frank Laporte Global Director: Louise J. Cord Practice Manager/Manager: Senait Nigiru Assefa Task Team Leader(s): Gloria Malia Mahama, Ann-Sofie Jespersen The World Bank Monitoring Post Ebola Recovery Funds: A Focus on Service Delivery (P162166) ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS CBOs Community Based Organizations CSOs Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 CPF Country Partnership Framework FQE Free Quality Education GoSL Government of Sierra Leone GoSL GRM Grievance Redress Mechanism GRM ICT Information, Communication Technology ICT IGR Institute for Governance Reform IGR LCs Local councils MERL Monitoring Evaluation and Learning SDI Service Delivery Index TOC Theory of Change TF Trust Fund US$ United States Dollar WBG World Bank Group The World Bank Monitoring Post Ebola Recovery Funds: A Focus on Service Delivery (P162166) BASIC DATA Product Information Project ID Financing Instrument P162166 Investment Project Financing Original EA Category Current EA Category Not Required (C) Not Required (C) Approval Date Current Closing Date 28-Aug-2018 31-Aug-2021 Organizations Borrower Responsible Agency Oxfam in Sierra Leone Oxfam in Sierra Leone 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 project's development objective is to empower citizens through social accountability interventions, to improve the utilization of post-Ebola recovery funds in the health and the education sectors in targeted districts of the member country. OPS_TABLE_PDO_CURRENTPDO The World Bank Monitoring Post Ebola Recovery Funds: A Focus on Service Delivery (P162166) Summary Status of Financing (US$, Millions) Net TF Approval Signing Effectiveness Closing Commitment Disbursed Undisbursed TF-A8495 28-Aug-2018 18-Apr-2019 18-Apr-2019 31-Aug-2021 .68 .48 .21 Policy Waiver(s) Does this restructuring trigger the need for any policy waiver(s)? No I. PROJECT STATUS AND RATIONALE FOR RESTRUCTURING A. Status of Grant 1. The Project experienced initial delays to start implementation as envisaged in August 2019. Despite that, the team has made progress in raising awareness of service delivery issues through the launch of the first Service Delivery Index (SDI) that was launched in March 2021. Since then, the project has built partnerships and increased awareness on service delivery gaps with Government officials, particularly in the ministries of health and education, parliament, civil society organizations and community-based organizations. 2. Oxfam in collaboration with Institute for Governance Reform (IGR), have been implementing the project in Sierra Leone since early 2020. To solicit buy-in early that year, the team embarked on appraising Ministers of Education and Health and their parliamentary committees on the project. The team conducted field assessments to engage local councils, chiefdom elders, district heads of health and education on the project and secure their support. At the end of that year the Team observed that the context was changing from post - Ebola recovery, which had been the dominant issue during project design - to COVID19 management and response. 3. In 2020 the project was re-designed to reflect the priorities of the newly elected Government of Sierra Leone (GoSL) and its response to the COVID19 pandemic of 2020. The new government instituted a Free Quality Education (FQE) Program, while continuing to expand the Free Health care policy instituted under the previous administration. The WBG CPF has considered this to ensure alignment between Government of Sierra Leone priorities in education and health and the initiatives of other donors. The project paper was revised using a Service Delivery Index (SDI) to measure the impact of COVID-19 on education and health services, thereby adapting to new realities. 4. The Project has made progress in building policy maker awareness of service issues facing disadvantaged communities. The project team launched launched its first Service Delivery Index (SDI) on 24th March 2021. The SDI was based on primary data gathered in December 2020 from a country wide survey of 3,960 households, field visits to 490 peripheral health and 660 schools, and interviews with service staff in all constituencies country wide. The World Bank Monitoring Post Ebola Recovery Funds: A Focus on Service Delivery (P162166) The project is engaging stakeholders using the results of the SDI to implement positive dialogue at the community, local government and national levels. 5. The project team will implement a series of activities in the next FY. An SDI is planned for late 2021, to provide a means of benchmarking progress. The Team will support the development of a local Grievance Redress Mechanism (GRM), and undertake critical Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MERL) activities. To support the project MERL system, discussions on the recruitment of an external firm are at an advanced stage. The contracted firm will assist in rationalizing the Project’s Theory of Change (TOC) and the final selection of indicators that will be tracked across the life of the project life span. The project will also explore Information, Communication Technology (ICT) to embed feedback and build capacity of service providers to respond to citizen complaints. A. Rationale For Extension of Project Closing Date The reason for the requested extension to from August 2021 to March 2022 is: 6. Oxfam as the project implementing agency is planning a series of activities to implement in 2021, including launch of another SDI later in 2021 and undertaking several activities around areas of monitoring and evaluation, knowledge management and grievance redressal. The project is also engaging parliamentary committees on education and health to deliberate issues of the annual SDI in parliament to influence change. For a CSO to influence high level power structures with the mandate and authority to influence policies on service delivery is a novelty in Sierra Leone that needs to be sustained. Through the GPSA, the World Bank is creating a field for learning for state institutions and citizens and the partnership is helping Sierra Leone deepen democratic accountability and make service delivery effective. 7. This a 3-year project signed in April 2019 with an end date of August 2021 as the end date of the trust funding of the project was to end on that date. Plans were underway to extend to March 2022 in line with the 3-year implementation timeframe. However, Oxfam as part of its global strategic plan will be phasing out of Sierra Leone by March 2022. Even though the project was signed in April 2019, there was an initial delay of 9 months due in the signing of agreements and transfer of funds. Soon after project launch activities started in January 2020, the COVID19 pandemic hit Sierra Leone, and measures put in place by government restricted project implementation resulting in further delays. The project just completed the first annual SDI and is requesting an extension to allow for time to build on the results through mobilization, communication, and engagement of citizens at national, district and community levels. The project has established partnerships with GoSL actors, Parliament, Civil Society Organizations (CSO’s), and Community Based Organizations (CBO’s) to facilitate these engagements. Several key interventions are still pending including the M&E and Knowledge Management components, which will allow for the project to track progress and capture learning. 8. The project has been engaging with the parliamentary committees on health and education with the aim of having the annual Service Delivery Index debated in parliament. These discussions have so far proved fruitful, with the parliamentary committee membership committed to leading the process and to have the report debated in parliament. Parliamentary support and commitment will not only increase the profile of the SDI but also bring greater emphasis and attention to addressing service delivery in Health and Education. The World Bank Monitoring Post Ebola Recovery Funds: A Focus on Service Delivery (P162166) 9. The project has revised the Workplan and procurement plan to reflect the current context. With the ready procurement lined up, funds will be committed very quickly. The remaining USD 0.21M is expected to be exhausted with the implementation of the next SDI planned for November -December 2021 which will take a bigger funding allocation. 10. There are no overdue audits at this present time, the year 1 project audit is being finalized. II. DESCRIPTION OF PROPOSED CHANGES III. SUMMARY OF CHANGES Changed Not Changed Results Framework ✔ Loan Closing Date(s) ✔ Disbursement Estimates ✔ Implementation Schedule ✔ Implementing Agency ✔ Project's Development Objectives ✔ Components and Cost ✔ Cancellations Proposed ✔ Additional Financing Proposed ✔ Reallocation between Disbursement Categories ✔ Disbursements Arrangements ✔ Change in Overall Risk Rating ✔ Safeguard Policies Triggered ✔ EA category ✔ Legal Covenants ✔ Institutional Arrangements ✔ The World Bank Monitoring Post Ebola Recovery Funds: A Focus on Service Delivery (P162166) 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 Number of hospital and health care facilities that have improved their capacity to provide essential health care services in target districts Unit of Measure: Number Indicator Type: Custom Baseline Actual (Current) End Target Action Value 0.00 0.00 10.00 Revised Date 31-Jan-2017 29-Apr-2020 31-Mar-2022 Level of improvement in education services in target districts Unit of Measure: Percentage Indicator Type: Custom Baseline Actual (Current) End Target Action Value 0.00 0.00 60.00 Revised Date 16-Jul-2018 29-Apr-2020 31-Mar-2022 Intermediate Indicators IO_IND_TABLE Number of SDI recommendations adopted by GoSL and decentralised service delivery units in coordination and oversight of services Unit of Measure: Number Indicator Type: Custom The World Bank Monitoring Post Ebola Recovery Funds: A Focus on Service Delivery (P162166) Baseline Actual (Current) End Target Action Value 0.00 0.00 15.00 Revised Date 16-Jul-2018 29-Apr-2020 31-Mar-2022 Ratio of post-Ebola recovery service providers who proactively take steps to improve users satisfaction, access to and quality of services by end of project Unit of Measure: Percentage Indicator Type: Custom Baseline Actual (Current) End Target Action Value 0.00 0.00 20.00 Revised Date 16-Jul-2018 29-Apr-2020 31-Mar-2022 Increased Knowledge about politically informed social accountability strategies Unit of Measure: Number Indicator Type: Custom Baseline Actual (Current) End Target Action Value 0.00 0.00 5.00 Revised Date 16-Jul-2018 29-Apr-2020 31-Mar-2022 OPS_DETAILEDCHANGES_LOANCLOSING_TABLE LOAN CLOSING DATE(S) Original Revised Proposed Proposed Deadline TF Status Closing Closing(s) Closing for Withdrawal Applications TF-A8495 Effective 31-Aug-2021 31-Mar-2022 30-Jun-2022 OPS_DETAILEDCHANGES_DISBURSEMENT_TABLE DISBURSEMENT ESTIMATES Change in Disbursement Estimates Yes Expected Disbursements (In US$) Fiscal Year Annual Cumulative 2019 0.00 0.00 2020 274,000.00 274,000.00 The World Bank Monitoring Post Ebola Recovery Funds: A Focus on Service Delivery (P162166) 2021 0.00 274,000.00 2022 410,000.00 684,000.00 Note to Task Teams: End of system generated content, document is editable from here.