The World Bank Guinea Bissau: The Quality Education for All Project (P160678) REPORT NO.: RES39210 DOCUMENT OF THE WORLD BANK RESTRUCTURING PAPER ON A PROPOSED PROJECT RESTRUCTURING OF GUINEA BISSAU: THE QUALITY EDUCATION FOR ALL PROJECT APPROVED ON JULY 31, 2018 TO THE REPUBLIC OF GUINEA-BISSAU EDUCATION AFRICA Regional Vice President: Hafez M. H. Ghanem Country Director: Nathan M. Belete Regional Director: Amit Dar Practice Manager/Manager: Meskerem Mulatu Task Team Leader(s): Emily Elaine Gardner The World Bank Guinea Bissau: The Quality Education for All Project (P160678) I. BASIC DATA Product Information Project ID Financing Instrument P160678 Investment Project Financing Original EA Category Current EA Category Not Required (C) Not Required (C) Approval Date Current Closing Date 31-Jul-2018 31-Oct-2023 Organizations Borrower Responsible Agency The Ministry of Education, Higher Education, Youth, The Republic of Guinea-Bissau Culture and Sports Project Development Objective (PDO) Original PDO The Project Development Objective is to improve the teaching and learning environment in grades 1-4 in targeted schools in Guinea-Bissau. Summary Status of Financing Net Ln/Cr/Tf Approval Signing Effectiveness Closing Commitment Disbursed Undisbursed IDA-D3640 31-Jul-2018 03-Oct-2018 21-Dec-2018 31-Oct-2023 10.70 .98 9.38 TF-A7392 11-Jul-2018 03-Oct-2018 21-Dec-2018 31-Oct-2023 4.30 .35 3.95 Policy Waiver(s) Does this restructuring trigger the need for any policy waiver(s)? No I. SUMMARY OF PROJECT STATUS AND PROPOSED CHANGES The World Bank Guinea Bissau: The Quality Education for All Project (P160678) 1. Guinea-Bissau Quality Education for All Project (PEQPT,P160678): PEQPT was approved by the World Bank Board of Executive Directors on July 31, 2018 and signed by the Country Director and the Prime Minister of Guinea- Bissau on October 3, 2018. The project became effective on December 20, 2018. The project is comprised of two grants totaling US$15 million: SDR 7.5 million (US$10.7 million equivalent) financed by a World Bank IDA Grant and US$4.3 million financed by a Global Partnership for Education (GPE) Grant. The project was designed to address some of the most critical and urgent challenges facing the primary education system in the short-term, while incrementally taking steps to support several activities and reforms aimed at improving the overall quality and efficiency of the education system. Specifically, the project aims to improve the teaching and learning environment in grades 1-4 in targeted schools in Guinea-Bissau by: (1) strengthening school management practices at the local level; (2) improving the quality of instruction by supporting teacher management reforms, reforming the school curriculum for grades 1-4 including scripted teaching lessons, and delivering in-service teacher training; (3) strengthening the capacity of the Ministry of Education to manage the education system at the central, regional, and sub-regional levels; and (4) undertaking a series of analytical studies and surveys aimed at providing the knowledge-base and data required to inform key reforms in the sector. 2. Project Preparation Advance (PPA) for PEQPT: Prior to the signing of the project in October 2018, the Government received a Project Preparation Advance (PPA) (IDA V2140) to finance some key activities and begin to set up the Project Implementation Unit (PIU). However, due to political instability and wide-spread teacher strikes, the education sector was almost completed paralyzed. By the time the Project became effective in December 2018, the Project had only spent SDR 127 of the total SDR 370,000. Following the parliamentary elections in March 2019, implementation began to improve. The improved political situation and the new leadership have been able to prevent further teacher strikes for the time being. The Project has now successfully (i) recruited the Project Coordinator, Procurement Specialist and Accountant for the Project; (ii) purchased some basic equipment and vehicles; (iii) finalized Terms of Reference and advanced on several key recruitments for technical assistance; (iv) collected data and selected the primary schools which will participate in the pilot of the new education curriculum in grades 1-4; and (v) begun work to support the implementation of the new teacher career ladder (Carreira Docente) and other teacher reforms. 3. Second Phase of the West Africa Regional Fisheries Program in Cabo Verde, the Gambia, Guinea-Bissau and Senegal (WARFP, P161906): This regional project was aimed to increase the flow of relevant information among the selected countries in the region, improve the rules for access in priority fisheries, and increase the post-harvest value of catch. Preparation for the WARFP Phase 2 began in November 2016. After the Project's objective, scope and potential activities were jointly agreed upon in early 2017, PPA funds were made available to countries. With these funds, country teams began preparing their respective project descriptions, implementation arrangements, budgets, indicators and safeguard instrument. The pre-appraisal mission for this project took place in October 2018. However, in December 2018, all four countries received a letter from the World Bank informing them that following a pipeline review exercise aimed at ensuring greater selectivity and focus on strategic priorities, World Bank Senior Management decided to pause nearly 30 regional projects in the pipeline (including WARFP) until further notice. In June 2019, the World Bank shared with the countries the final decision to discontinue WARFP. 4. WARFP PPA for Guinea-Bissau: Project preparation for WARFP in Guinea-Bissau began in October 2017. A PPA of US$1 million (IDA V0900) was provided to the Government of Guinea-Bissau, which supported various studies required for the preparation of the project, the elaboration of statutory and legal documents, the hiring of PIU members, participation in regional stakeholder workshops, and the development of the monitoring framework, as well as environmental and social safeguards. When Bank Senior Management decided to pause WARF in December 2018, a total of US$ 644,556 (approximately SDR 467,710) of the PPA had already been spent. Following the final decision in The World Bank Guinea Bissau: The Quality Education for All Project (P160678) June 2019 to discontinue the preparation of the WARFP, the World Bank sent another letter to the Guinea-Bissau Ministry of Finance in July 2019 suggesting repayment of the PPA through two options: (i) repaying the amount due using government funds; or (ii) requesting the repayment of the PPA through another World Bank-funded project in Guinea-Bissau. Given the fragility and weak macroeconomic context in the country, the first option was not feasible. Ultimately, the World Bank and the Government of Guinea Bissau jointly decided to reimburse the spent funds under the PPA for WARFP through another IDA-financed project. On August 6, 2019, the World Bank received a formal request from the Government of Guinea-Bissau requesting for the money from the WARFP PPA to be reimbursed using the funds under the PPA of PEQPT. 5. Restructuring of PEQPT: This restructuring is requested in order to allow the Government of Guinea-Bissau to use the IDA grant (IDA D3640) under PEQPT to repay the WARFP PPA (IDA V0900). The restructuring will require: (i) the creation of a new category under IDA D3640 (Category 3) specifically for the refinancing of the WARFP PPA and (ii) the reallocation of SDR 472,710 from both category 1 and category 2 under IDA D3640 to the new category 3. The current undisbursed amount under the PEQPT PPA financing category (category 2) is SDR 369,873. This amount will be reallocated to category 3. In addition, in order to refinance the full US$644,555 (approximately SDR 467,710) of the WARFP PPA, an additional SDR 102,837 will need to be reallocated from category 1 to category 3. This brings the total amount to be reallocated under category 3 to SDR 472,710, which includes an extra SDR 5,000 in case of any variations in the exchange rate. After the refinancing is finalized, any remaining amount under category 3 will be available for use under category 1. 6. Potential future changes to PEQPT: Beyond the changes to accommodate the payment of the WARFP PPA, there are no additional changes being made to PEQPT at this time. A mid-term review of the Project is planned for early FY21. At that time, it will be determined if another restructuring will be required to improve Project performance and increase the ability to achieve the PDO. It is also expected that the recruitment of various technical assistance and other large contracts will be finalized by the time of the mid-term review. This information will enable the team to determine if there is now in fact a financing gap due to the reallocation of the funds for WARFP and if so, whether a change in scope or cancellation of some activities may be required. II. DETAILED CHANGES REALLOCATION BETWEEN DISBURSEMENT CATEGORIES Current Current Actuals + Proposed Disbursement % Ln/Cr/TF Expenditure Allocation Committed Allocation (Type Total) Category Current Proposed IDA-D3640- Gds,Wks,Ncs,Cs, 001 Trg,Oc ,Sch 7,130,000.00 24,750.77 7,027,163.00 70.00 70.00 Currency: Grants XDR The World Bank Guinea Bissau: The Quality Education for All Project (P160678) Refund of Preparation 370,000.00 126.84 127.00 0 Advance Refund of Preparation Advance for the proposed WARFP Phase 2 0.00 0.00 472,710.00 0 Project Preparation Advance No. V090-GW Total 7,500,000.00 24,877.61 7,500,000.00