The World Bank Implementation Status & Results Report Liberia Youth Opportunities Project (P146827) Liberia Youth Opportunities Project (P146827) AFRICA WEST | Liberia | Social Protection & Jobs Global Practice | IBRD/IDA | Investment Project Financing | FY 2016 | Seq No: 10 | ARCHIVED on 29-Mar-2021 | ISR45326 | Implementing Agencies: Republic of Liberia, Ministry of Youth and Sports, Liberia Agency for Community Empowerment Key Dates Key Project Dates Bank Approval Date: 06-Nov-2015 Effectiveness Date: 30-Sep-2016 Planned Mid Term Review Date: 25-Mar-2019 Actual Mid-Term Review Date: 15-Apr-2019 Original Closing Date: 31-Dec-2020 Revised Closing Date: 30-Jun-2021 pdoTable Project Development Objectives Project Development Objective (from Project Appraisal Document) The Project Development Objectives are to improve access to income generation opportunities for targeted youth and strengthen the government' capacity to implement its cash transfer program. Has the Project Development Objective been changed since Board Approval of the Project Objective? Yes Board Approved Revised Project Development Objective (If project is formally restructured) To improve access to income generation opportunities for targeted youth. Components Table Name Pre-Employment Social Support and Small Business Support:(Cost $3.23 M) Community Livelihood and Agriculture Support:(Cost $7.26 M) Capacity Building for Cash Transfer Program:(Cost $0.18 M) Project Implementation and Coordination:(Cost $2.83 M) Overall Ratings Name Previous Rating Current Rating Progress towards achievement of PDO Moderately Satisfactory Satisfactory Overall Implementation Progress (IP) Moderately Satisfactory Satisfactory Overall Risk Rating Moderate Moderate Implementation Status and Key Decisions T The Youth Opportunities Project (YOP) has reached about 93 percent (14,024) of the originally targeted (15,000) youth beneficiaries. Under the Community Livelihood and Agricultural Support (CLAS) component, beneficiaries across all 15 Counties in Liberia have cultivated about 5,100 hectares of land with various food crops. Under the Small Business Support (SBS) sub-component, around 2,800 youth in urban Montserrado 3/29/2021 Page 1 of 7 The World Bank Implementation Status & Results Report Liberia Youth Opportunities Project (P146827) county have benefited from business skills training and startup grants. This number includes 647 youth who completed apprenticeships in various trades with local businesses and master trainers. Under the Pre-Employment Social Support (PESS) sub-component, a total of 476 youth who completed pre-employment skills training under Round 1 implementation, have been re-enrolled into the project and provided business skills training along with business startup grants to begin their own businesses in their various communities. As part of the Government of Liberia’s COVID-19 response, YOP underwent a minor restructure in December 2020 to position it to better support beneficiaries. The restructure was aimed at creating flexibilities in enrollment mechanisms and increasing support to existing beneficiaries under Component 1 (Pre-Employment Social Support/PESS and Small Business Support/SBS), as well as increasing support to beneficiaries of Component 2 (Community Livelihood and Agriculture Support/CLAS) to compensate for exchange rate fluctuation experienced in the last quarter of 2020. Per the restructure, all new mass mobilization activities for recruitment under Component 1 of the project were cancelled in order to minimize the threat of spreading COVID-19 through community gathering. However, the project increased support to 476 beneficiaries who graduated from Round 1 of PESS by re-enrolling them to benefit from business skills training and business startup grants. Additionally, 580 youth who expressed interest in participating in Round 2 implementation of SBS but were not enrolled owing to limited space, were randomly selected from administrative data in the Project MIS and enrolled under Round 3 of SBS. Youth operating existing businesses under Rounds 2 and 3 of SBS received US$100 business stimulus grant per beneficiary in response to the negative economic impact of COVID-19 on small businesses, especially in Montserrado County which has so far recorded the highest number of cases in Liberia. Lastly, the restructure also provided for a labor subsidy top-up of US$25 per beneficiary for over 6,300 rural youth enrolled under the CLAS component of the project. The top-ups were aimed at compensating beneficiaries from losses due to the exchange rate fluctuation at the end of 2020. Risks Systematic Operations Risk-rating Tool Risk Category Rating at Approval Previous Rating Current Rating Political and Governance Substantial Substantial Moderate Macroeconomic Substantial Substantial Moderate Sector Strategies and Policies Substantial Moderate Moderate Technical Design of Project or Program Substantial Moderate Moderate Institutional Capacity for Implementation and Substantial Moderate Moderate Sustainability Fiduciary Substantial Moderate Moderate Environment and Social Substantial Moderate Moderate Stakeholders Substantial Moderate Moderate Other Moderate Substantial Moderate Overall Substantial Moderate Moderate Results PDO Indicators by Objectives / Outcomes Improve access to income generation opportunities for targeted youth IN00948540 3/29/2021 Page 2 of 7 The World Bank Implementation Status & Results Report Liberia Youth Opportunities Project (P146827) ►Targeted urban youth operating small business with support from the project (Number, Custom) Baseline Actual (Previous) Actual (Current) End Target Value 0.00 2,286.00 3,289.00 3,400.00 Date 01-May-2015 06-Jul-2020 17-Mar-2021 30-Jun-2021 IN00948698 ►Share of small business with support from the project that are operational for more than 6 months (Percentage, Custom) Baseline Actual (Previous) Actual (Current) End Target Value 0.00 61.00 86.00 75.00 Date 01-May-2015 06-Jul-2020 17-Mar-2021 30-Jun-2021 Overall project outcomes IN00948539 ►Direct project beneficiaries (Number, Custom) Baseline Actual (Previous) Actual (Current) End Target Value 0.00 12,926.00 14,042.00 15,000.00 Date 01-May-2015 06-Jul-2020 17-Mar-2021 30-Jun-2021 IN00948696 Female beneficiaries (Percentage, Custom Supplement) Baseline Actual (Previous) Actual (Current) End Target Value 0.00 50.00 51.00 50.00 IN00948697 ►Beneficiaries of Safety Nets programs (number) (Number, Corporate) Baseline Actual (Previous) Actual (Current) End Target Value 0.00 10,120.00 10,638.00 10,000.00 Date 01-May-2015 06-Jul-2020 17-Mar-2021 30-Jun-2021 IN00948699 ►Beneficiaries of Labor Market programs (number) (Number, Custom) Baseline Actual (Previous) Actual (Current) End Target Value 0.00 2,806.00 3,386.00 3,400.00 Date 01-May-2015 06-Jul-2020 17-Mar-2021 30-Jun-2021 IN00948700 ►Share of project beneficiaries satisfied with project interventions (Percentage, Custom) 3/29/2021 Page 3 of 7 The World Bank Implementation Status & Results Report Liberia Youth Opportunities Project (P146827) Baseline Actual (Previous) Actual (Current) End Target Value 0.00 0.00 96.00 70.00 Date 01-May-2015 19-Dec-2019 17-Mar-2021 30-Jun-2021 IN00948701 Females (Percentage, Custom Supplement) Baseline Actual (Previous) Actual (Current) End Target Value 0.00 0.00 97.00 70.00 IN00948702 Males (Percentage, Custom Supplement) Baseline Actual (Previous) Actual (Current) End Target Value 0.00 0.00 95.00 70.00 Intermediate Results Indicators by Components Pre-Employment Social Support and Small Business Support IN00948703 ►Youth receiving start-up grants (Number, Custom) Baseline Actual (Previous) Actual (Current) End Target Value 0.00 2,221.00 3,289.00 3,400.00 Date 01-May-2015 06-Jul-2020 17-Mar-2021 30-Jun-2021 IN00948706 ►Targeted urban youth completing pre-employment social support training under the project (Number, Custom) Baseline Actual (Previous) Actual (Current) End Target Value 0.00 520.00 520.00 520.00 Date 01-May-2015 06-Jul-2020 17-Mar-2021 30-Jun-2021 IN00948708 ►Share of targeted urban youth completing apprenticeships or vocational skills training (Percentage, Custom) Baseline Actual (Previous) Actual (Current) End Target Value 0.00 92.40 22.00 23.00 Date 01-May-2015 06-Jul-2020 17-Mar-2021 30-Jun-2021 Community Livelihood and Agricultural Support IN00948704 3/29/2021 Page 4 of 7 The World Bank Implementation Status & Results Report Liberia Youth Opportunities Project (P146827) ►Targeted rural youth completing life skills training under the project (Number, Custom) Baseline Actual (Previous) Actual (Current) End Target Value 0.00 7,224.00 10,000.00 10,000.00 Date 01-May-2015 06-Jul-2020 17-Mar-2021 30-Jun-2021 IN00948705 ►Average annual earning of targeted rural youth in CLAS (Amount(USD), Custom) Baseline Actual (Previous) Actual (Current) End Target Value 0.00 300.00 400.00 450.00 Date 01-May-2015 06-Jul-2020 17-Mar-2021 30-Jun-2021 IN00948707 ►Person-days in public works provided by the project (Days, Custom) Baseline Actual (Previous) Actual (Current) End Target Value 0.00 1,123,908.00 1,453,308.00 2,000,000.00 Date 01-May-2015 06-Jul-2020 17-Mar-2021 30-Jun-2021 IN00948709 ►Areas cultivated with support from the project (Hectare(Ha), Custom) Baseline Actual (Previous) Actual (Current) End Target Value 0.00 4,624.00 4,651.00 5,000.00 Date 01-May-2015 06-Jul-2020 17-Mar-2021 30-Jun-2021 IN00948710 ►Proportion of COCs that are active (Percentage, Custom) Baseline Actual (Previous) Actual (Current) End Target Value 0.00 100.00 100.00 80.00 Date 01-May-2015 06-Jul-2020 17-Mar-2021 30-Jun-2021 IN00948711 Rural (Percentage, Custom Supplement) Baseline Actual (Previous) Actual (Current) End Target Value 0.00 100.00 100.00 80.00 IN00948712 Urban (Percentage, Custom Supplement) Baseline Actual (Previous) Actual (Current) End Target Value 0.00 100.00 100.00 80.00 3/29/2021 Page 5 of 7 The World Bank Implementation Status & Results Report Liberia Youth Opportunities Project (P146827) Performance-Based Conditions Data on Financial Performance Disbursements (by loan) Project Loan/Credit/TF Status Currency Original Revised Cancelled Disbursed Undisbursed % Disbursed P146827 IDA-56210 Effective USD 10.00 10.00 0.00 8.96 1.16 89% P146827 TF-A9505 Effective USD 3.50 3.50 0.00 3.48 0.02 99% Key Dates (by loan) Project Loan/Credit/TF Status Approval Date Signing Date Effectiveness Date Orig. Closing Date Rev. Closing Date P146827 IDA-56210 Effective 06-Nov-2015 24-Feb-2016 30-Sep-2016 31-Dec-2020 30-Jun-2021 P146827 TF-A9505 Effective 29-Mar-2019 09-Apr-2019 29-Jun-2019 31-Dec-2020 30-Jun-2021 Cumulative Disbursements 3/29/2021 Page 6 of 7 The World Bank Implementation Status & Results Report Liberia Youth Opportunities Project (P146827) PBC Disbursement Achievement Disbursed amount in Disbursement % PBC ID PBC Type Description Coc PBC Amount Status Coc for PBC Restructuring History Level 2 Approved on 07-Apr-2020 ,Level Approved on 10-May-2020 ,Level 2 Approved on 07-Jul-2020 ,Level Approved on 22-Jul-2020 ,Level 2 Approved on 23-Dec-2020 ,Level Approved on 12-Jan-2021 Related Project(s) P169722-Liberia Youth Opportunities Project Additional Financing 3/29/2021 Page 7 of 7