The World Bank Improving Inclusion in Secondary and Higher Education (P168911) Environmental and Social Review Summary Appraisal Stage (ESRS Appraisal Stage) Public Disclosure Date Prepared/Updated: 04/30/2019 | Report No: ESRSA00125 Apr 30, 2019 Page 1 of 10 The World Bank Improving Inclusion in Secondary and Higher Education (P168911) BASIC INFORMATION A. Basic Project Data Country Region Project ID Parent Project ID (if any) Argentina LATIN AMERICA AND P168911 CARIBBEAN Project Name Improving Inclusion in Secondary and Higher Education Practice Area (Lead) Financing Instrument Estimated Appraisal Date Estimated Board Date Education Program-for-Results Financing Borrower(s) Implementing Agency(ies) Ministerio de Hacienda Ministerio de Educacion, Cultura, Ciencia y Tecnologia Proposed Development Objective(s) Public Disclosure The objectives of the Operation are to (i) reduce dropout rates in basic and higher education among the most vulnerable; and (ii) strengthen the Borrower’s education evaluation systems. Financing (in USD Million) Amount Total Project Cost 340.00 B. Is the project being prepared in a Situation of Urgent Need of Assistance or Capacity Constraints, as per Bank IPF Policy, para. 12? No C. Summary Description of Proposed Project [including overview of Country, Sectoral & Institutional Contexts and Relationship to CPF] The scope of the proposed Operation would be to support a subset of Government Programs (GP) from 2019 to 2023, clustered around two results areas under a PforR component (US$300 million) and a Component that would use the IPF instrument (US$40.1 million). The total cost of the activities under the Operation is estimated at about US$1.133 billion, of which US$341 million would be financed through the Bank loan. Component 1: Program for Results Results Area 1. Improving the management and monitoring of PROGRESAR scholarships (IBRD: US$290 million, Total: US$1.1 billion). This Results Area would improve the targeting, management, monitoring and efficiency of PROGRESAR through the financing of PROGRESAR scholarships. Results Area 2. Supporting the National Student and Teacher Apr 30, 2019 Page 2 of 10 The World Bank Improving Inclusion in Secondary and Higher Education (P168911) Evaluation Systems (IBRD: US$10 million, Total: US$13 million). This Results Area would support the Borrower’s national evaluation systems for students, teachers and teacher training institutes, through the financing of annual census-based APRENDER student evaluations for the period 2020-2023, teacher evaluations for teacher training scholarships, and teacher and teacher training institute evaluations under ENSEÑAR. Component 2: IPF Component 2: Strengthen the Borrower’s Institutional Capacity for the Design, Implementation, and M&E of PROGRESAR, ENSEÑAR, APRENDER, and ASISTIRÉ (US$40.1 million). The objective of this Component would be to secure the long-term implementation sustainability of the GP supported in Component 1, and to support the scale-up and evaluation of a dropout prevention program. This component would provide support to the MECCyT’s existing budget, with the possibility of crowding in resources during implementation. The Component would improve the quality of implementation and support improvements in the programs’ design to increase their effectiveness. D. Environmental and Social Overview D.1. Project location(s) and salient characteristics relevant to the ES assessment [geographic, environmental, social] The IPF will be implemented at the national level, over a diversity of jurisdictions with different environmental, social and institutional settings. This IPF will neither finance nor support any civil works activities. In this sense, the activities supported by the Technical Assistance (TA) are not expected to have any negative environmental impacts. Social risks are linked to potential exclusion of vulnerable students either by inefficiencies in the outreach strategies aimed at these groups, or by conscious or unconscious discrimination processes under the current system. The IPF will finance TA to strengthen the institutional capacity of National Directorate of Scholarships, the National Team of ASISTIRE (e.g. improving of information and management systems; impact evaluation) and the Secretariat of Education Evaluation (support to the process of evaluation and accreditation of teacher training technical institutes development, including Public Disclosure the development of standards, training of external peer reviewers, development of data base, pilot implementation of external evaluation, and the institutional strengthening of the National Evaluation Commission of Teacher Training Institutes). The Project will include teachers' and students' representatives into the stakeholder engagement process to avoid any potential tension associated to the latest activities. This consultation process is included in the Stakeholder Engagement Plan. The TA will also support costs related to the implementation of the APRENDER’s evaluation. APRENDER (the national systems of education quality assessment) is a census-based student standardized learning assessment that covers the last grades of primary and secondary education. An environmental and social assessment with focus on all the TA activities was carried out by the Government and was published on the Borrower's website and the Bank's external website on April XX, 2019. D. 2. Borrower’s Institutional Capacity The MECCyT has more than 20 years of experience working with World Bank Safeguards through the implementation of two investment operations focused on rural education and three operations to enhance secondary education besides other social inclusion and social protection programs that included educational outcomes. For this Operation the National Directorate of Scholarships will have two professionals focused on the implementation of the environmental and social aspects of the Project, in addition to the support of other institutional teams like the National Directorate of Socio-educative Policies, that includes the team working with intercultural bilingual education (EIB) and other working on generating better opportunities for students with disabilities. No additional hiring will be required to implement activities and actions included in the Project design. Nevertheless, the MECCyT's record on citizen engagement and beneficiary feedback has been moderately satisfactory since although it has several informal and formal channels to address questions, complaints and/or proposals from different stakeholders; it lacks a consolidated grievance and redress mechanism (GRM) that would allow to continuously monitor and evaluate the efficiency of the activities supported by the Program.The activities under this IPF will require the MECCyT engage in a Apr 30, 2019 Page 3 of 10 The World Bank Improving Inclusion in Secondary and Higher Education (P168911) participatory approach, which might entail strengthening its citizen engagement and beneficiary feedback mechanisms. The consolidation of all existing grievance redress channels into a single GRM for the entire Program has been included as an action in the Project’s ESCP. This consolidated GRM will interact with processes within and outside the MECCyT. In this context, the PROGRESAR Scholarship will continue having its own GRM managed by ANSES, the National Social Security Agency. ANSES has a very active citizen engagement approach and a strong GRM that includes a webpage (https://www.anses.gob.ar/becas-progresar), a toll-free number (130), more than 450 offices countrywide, and official accounts in main social networks (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram). In addition, the MECCyT created a helpdesk with its own communication channels including a webpage (https://becasprogresar.educacion.gob.ar), a toll-free telephone number (0800-999-1066) and other telephone lines ((+5411) 4129-2038 / 2046 / 2048 / 2075) to complement ANSES own channels. All these channels will also be consolidated in the single GRM mentioned above. The National Directorate of Scholarships is already engaging stakeholders to inform these decisions. Preliminary consultations with vulnerable groups have already provided relevant data (e.g. indigenous communities required to review the due dates for inscription, afro-descendant youth requested to improve the outreach strategy within their communities, and trans community members required to change the age threshold). II. SUMMARY OF ENVIRONMENTAL AND SOCIAL (ES) RISKS AND IMPACTS A. Environmental and Social Risk Classification (ESRC) Moderate Environmental Risk Rating Low Public Disclosure This IPF will neither finance nor support any civil works activities. In this sense, the activities supported by the Program are not expected to have any negative environmental impacts. No rehabilitation or construction of new infrastructure or other actions having an impact on the environment will be financed through the TA. The Project will be implemented at the national level, over a diversity of jurisdictions with different environmental, social and institutional settings. However, the overall risks and potential adverse environmental impacts are considered not significant. Social Risk Rating Moderate The Project is expected to have only positive impacts on vulnerable and systematically excluded groups and no negative social effects. The MECCyT has experience working with World Bank Safeguards and has received ESF training. Nevertheless, the support to these programs will require the MECCyT to carry out a participatory approach and this might require further strengthening of its social communication processes, citizen engagement and beneficiary feedback mechanisms, to ensure inclusion and active participation of beneficiaries from vulnerable groups and to avoid any kind of discrimination that might be present in the current system. As stated above, the MECCyT needs to strengthen these processes and mechanisms to ensure the successful and inclusive implementation of the Project. The Stakeholder engagement process is providing inputs that are useful to generate strategies to avoid, minimize or mitigate the risks mentioned above. B. Environment and Social Standards (ESSs) that Apply to the Activities Being Considered B.1. General Assessment Apr 30, 2019 Page 4 of 10 The World Bank Improving Inclusion in Secondary and Higher Education (P168911) ESS1 Assessment and Management of Environmental and Social Risks and Impacts Overview of the relevance of the Standard for the Project: The Project includes technical assistance to the MECyT that will include activities to support the institutional capacity building of both PROGRESAR and ASISTIRE teams and to the Secretariat of Education Evaluation, particularly a program that aims to ensure quality of education in tertiary education Institutions. During preparation, an environmental and social assessment was prepared by the Government to analyze risks associated to the TA and determine the need to define a communication or consultation strategy that may contribute to avoid, minimize or mitigate those potential risks. The social assessment carried out by the borrower identified potential risks for disadvantaged or vulnerable groups (i.e. Afrodescendants, people with disabilities and people belonging to LGBTI groups) and women. The main challenges related to these groups are linked to the lack of reliable data and to unidentified sources of exclusion. After the first round of consultations, the Government incorporated changes into the form, to be able to identify the students belonging to these groups. TA activities will take into account the findings of this assessment to avoid or minimize risks and potential negative impacts. In addition, the ESCP includes actions to enhance the identification of potential beneficiaries of the Program and the dissemination of information about the benefits of the scholarships. It also includes a study to define the Program's coverage and prioritization scenarios with an analysis on these vulnerable groups. The Operation will neither finance nor support any civil works activities. In this sense, the activities supported by the TA are not expected to have any negative environmental impacts. ESS10 Stakeholder Engagement and Information Disclosure Public Disclosure The borrower prepared a Stakeholder engagement plan that includes consultations with other government institutions and organizations from the civil society. These consultations included the National Institute of Indigenous Peoples Affairs, the Human Rights Secretary of the Ministry of Justice (including its referents for afro descendant people and for LGBTI population, as well as the National Agency for Disability) and other areas of the MECCyT that do not have a role in project implementation but which can offer valuable information to the social assessment, including the identification of barriers, such as the National Directorate for Socio-educative Policies. The plan also includes consultation with organizations from the civil society that represent vulnerable groups such as indigenous peoples’ representatives, members of the afro-descendant community, members of the LGBTI community and organizations related with people with disabilities. The Plan also includes actions that the borrower will carry out during Project implementation. B.2. Specific Risks and Impacts A brief description of the potential environmental and social risks and impacts relevant to the Project. ESS2 Labor and Working Conditions Activities under the Technical Assistance are not expected to have any negative impacts related to labor and working conditions. The applicable national legal framework is in general materially consistent with the principles of ESS2. the Project will be mainly implemented by Staff from the MECCyT (Government Civil Servants), consultants (ASISTIRÉ facilitators), and contracted workers (workers from the audit firm that will be contracted to carry out independent audits for the Operation). As per applicable legislation, working conditions for the three groups are materially consistent with ESS2. Nevertheless, MECCyT will prepare documents compiling Labor Management Procedures and Apr 30, 2019 Page 5 of 10 The World Bank Improving Inclusion in Secondary and Higher Education (P168911) Occupational Health and Safety Procedures (including those related to emergency preparedness and response), which will be proportional to the risks associated to the Project design and in compliance with the applicable national legal framework. In all cases the MECCyT will ensure that al workers under this Operation have access to a GRM intended for them. ESS3 Resource Efficiency and Pollution Prevention and Management The outcome of E&S screening did not identify any potential risks and/or impacts relevant to ESS3. No rehabilitation or construction of new infrastructure or other actions having an impact on the environment will be financed through this IPF. In this context, the Project will not make use of resources like water, energy and/or raw materials, and it is not expected that any activities financed by the Project will generate any kind of pollution. ESS4 Community Health and Safety The outcome of E&S screening did not identify any potential risks and/or impacts relevant to ESS4. No rehabilitation or construction of new infrastructure or other actions having an impact on the environment will be financed through this IPF. In this context is not expected to generate any negative impact on the community health and safety. ESS5 Land Acquisition, Restrictions on Land Use and Involuntary Resettlement The outcome of E&S screening did not identify any potential risks and/or impacts relevant to ESS5. The Technical Public Disclosure Assistance will not require land acquisition that would result in the impacts covered under this Standard. ESS6 Biodiversity Conservation and Sustainable Management of Living Natural Resources The outcome of E&S screening did not identify any potential risks and/or impacts relevant to ESS6. This IPF will finance technical institutional capacity building. In this context is not expected to generate any negative impact on the Biodiversity Conservation and Living Natural Resources. ESS7 Indigenous Peoples/Sub-Saharan African Historically Underserved Traditional Local Communities The Technical Assistance will be focused on strengthening the institutional capacity of the National Directorate of Scholarships, the National Team ASISTIRÉ, and the Secretariat of Education Evaluation. Moreover, this IPF will also support costs related to the implementation of APRENDER. It is not expected that any of the activities related to PROGRESAR or ASISTIRÉ will have direct negative impacts on Indigenous Peoples. The main challenge related to these groups is linked to the lack of reliable data and to unidentified drivers of exclusion. For that reason, these groups will be part of the stakeholder engagement process that will include consultations with the National Indigenous Peoples Council and the Autonomous Indigenous Peoples Education Council. Relevant recommendations that may result from these processes will be taken into consideration for the final design of the activities and will be consolidated in an Indigenous Peoples Plan to be developed by MECCyT. In addition, the PforR Program Action Plan includes actions to enhance data on these groups by enhancing the Government’s ability to generate data on beneficiaries, with particular focus on IPs and other vulnerable groups. APRENDER is a national standardized test that does not have any Apr 30, 2019 Page 6 of 10 The World Bank Improving Inclusion in Secondary and Higher Education (P168911) impact on IPs. The team doesn't have knowledge of any specific complaints from indigenous peoples so far, regarding the implementation of this test. This issue will also be addressed during consultations with stakeholders. ESS8 Cultural Heritage The outcome of E&S screening did not identify any potential risks and/or impacts relevant to ESS8. The TA will finance improvement of information and evaluation systems and technical institutional capacity building. In this context is not expected any possibility of directly or indirectly affecting tangible or intangible cultural heritage. ESS9 Financial Intermediaries The outcome of E&S screening did not identify any potential risks and/or impacts relevant to ESS9. The TA will not involve the use of Financial Intermediaries. C. Legal Operational Policies that Apply OP 7.50 Projects on International Waterways No The Project will not affect international waterways as defined in the Policy. Therefore, this Policy is not triggered. OP 7.60 Projects in Disputed Areas No The Policy is not triggered because the Project will not be implemented in areas known to involve disputed areas. Public Disclosure III. BORROWER’S ENVIRONMENTAL AND SOCIAL COMMITMENT PLAN (ESCP) DELIVERABLES against MEASURES AND ACTIONs IDENTIFIED TIMELINE ESS 1 Assessment and Management of Environmental and Social Risks and Impacts Asistire - Assessment and identification of key barriers and drivers for teens and youth between 12 and 20 years old to engage in a significative educational trajectories. Identification, assessment and mapping 12/2019 or root causes of dropout, to address them from different levels and members of the community. Progresar - Assessment and validation of quota strategy. 02/2020 Progresar - Identification of target population – Review of effectiveness of the questionnaire used to 12/2019 identify students belonging to vulnerable groups through the Scholarship registration form – Phase I Progresar - Identification of target population – Review of effectiveness of the questionnaire used to 02/2020 identify students belonging to vulnerable groups through the Scholarships registration form – Phase II Asistire – Conformation and training of interdisciplinary teams of promoters for the provinces selected 09/2019 to be part of the Program. ESS 10 Stakeholder Engagement and Information Disclosure Apr 30, 2019 Page 7 of 10 The World Bank Improving Inclusion in Secondary and Higher Education (P168911) Consultation with Indigenous Peoples Council and the Autonomous Indigenous Peoples Education 06/2019 Council. Develop a revised outreach strategy including graphic design, social networking, and workshops with 07/2019 focus on vulnerable groups. Enseñar. Continue with participatory processes related to Enseñar and the Auto-evaluation of Teachers Training Institutes, including consultation meetings with representatives school directors and teachers. 12/2020 Send annual report to the Bank. Consolidation of all existing grievance and redress channels into a single GRM for the whole Inclusive 07/2019 Education for Secondary and Higher Education Program Assessment of the new single GRM for the whole Inclusive Education for Secondary and Higher 12/2019 Education Program. ESS 2 Labor and Working Conditions Develop a GRM for Program Workers. 06/2019 Development of health and safety protocol for Program workers. 06/2019 Development of an Emergency Response and Preparedness Strategy. 06/2019 Public Disclosure Preparation of Labor Management Procedures Document for the Program. ESS 3 Resource Efficiency and Pollution Prevention and Management N/A. This Standard is not relevant for the Project. 03/2019 ESS 4 Community Health and Safety N/A. This Standard is not relevant for the Project. 03/2019 ESS 5 Land Acquisition, Restrictions on Land Use and Involuntary Resettlement N/A. This Standard is not relevant for the Project. 03/2019 ESS 6 Biodiversity Conservation and Sustainable Management of Living Natural Resources N/A. This Standard is not relevant for the Project. 03/2019 ESS 7 Indigenous Peoples/Sub-Saharan African Historically Underserved Traditional Local Communities Provide training to Asistire facilitators to identify risk students from indigenous communities and other 09/2019 vulnerable groups to and prepare a reengagement strategy that is culturally appropriate. Apr 30, 2019 Page 8 of 10 The World Bank Improving Inclusion in Secondary and Higher Education (P168911) Identify Schools that will implement Asistire and that a high level of indigenous peoples, to define a 06/2019 culturally appropriate strategy for their dropout students. Consultation with Indigenous Peoples Council and the Autonomous Indigenous Peoples Education 06/2019 Council. Development of an Indigenous Peoples Plan for the Program. 07/2019 Development of an outreach strategy with focus on indigenous peoples. 07/2019 ESS 8 Cultural Heritage N/A. This Standard is not relevant for the Project. 03/2019 ESS 9 Financial Intermediaries N/A. This Standard is not relevant for the Project. 03/2019 B.3. Reliance on Borrower’s policy, legal and institutional framework, relevant to the Project risks and impacts Is this project being prepared for use of Borrower Framework? No Public Disclosure Areas where “Use of Borrower Framework” is being considered: The Project is not currently intended to use the Borrower Framework. The Bank team is currently carrying out an assessment of Borrower’s framework for ESS2. The results of this assessment are expected to be ready before June 30, 2019. Once this assessment is ready, the team will engage with all relevant stakeholders and the final version of the assessment will be sent to CESSO for review and approval. After that process the Bank will define if it is possible to use Borrower framework on ESS2 for this Project. IV. CONTACT POINTS World Bank Contact: Santiago Scialabba Title: Program Analyst Telephone No: 5260+3742 / Email: sscialabba@worldbank.org Contact: Elba Lydia Gaggero Title: Senior Environmental Specialist Telephone No: 5260+3668 / Email: egaggero@worldbank.org Contact: Eleonora Beatriz Camalli Title: Consultant Telephone No: Email: ecamalli@worldbank.org Apr 30, 2019 Page 9 of 10 The World Bank Improving Inclusion in Secondary and Higher Education (P168911) Contact: Claudio Luis Daniele Title: Consultant Telephone No: Email: cdaniele@worldbank.org Borrower/Client/Recipient Borrower: Ministerio de Hacienda Implementing Agency(ies) Implementing Agency: Ministerio de Educacion, Cultura, Ciencia y Tecnologia V. FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT The World Bank 1818 H Street, NW Washington, D.C. 20433 Telephone: (202) 473-1000 Web: http://www.worldbank.org/projects VI. APPROVAL Task Team Leader(s): Marcelo Becerra, Francisco Haimovich Paz, Helena Rovner Public Disclosure Apr 30, 2019 Page 10 of 10