The World Bank India: ICDS Systems Strengthening & Nutrition Improvement Program (ISSNIP) (P121731) REPORT NO.: RES35898 RESTRUCTURING PAPER ON A PROPOSED PROJECT RESTRUCTURING OF INDIA: ICDS SYSTEMS STRENGTHENING & NUTRITION IMPROVEMENT PROGRAM (ISSNIP) APPROVED ON SEPTEMBER 6, 2012 TO REPUBLIC OF INDIA HEALTH, NUTRITION & POPULATION SOUTH ASIA Regional Vice President: Annette Dixon Country Director: Junaid Kamal Ahmad Senior Global Practice Director: Timothy Grant Evans Practice Manager/Manager: Rekha Menon Task Team Leader: Mohini Kak, Deepika Nayar Chaudhery The World Bank India: ICDS Systems Strengthening & Nutrition Improvement Program (ISSNIP) (P121731) BASIC DATA Product Information Project ID Financing Instrument P121731 Investment Project Financing Original EA Category Current EA Category Not Required (C) Not Required (C) Approval Date Current Closing Date 06-Sep-2012 30-Aug-2022 Organizations Borrower Responsible Agency Republic of India Ministry of Women and Child Development Project Development Objective (PDO) Original PDO To support the Government of India and participating states to (i) strengthen the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) policy framework, systems and capacities, and facilitate community engagement, to ensure greater focus on children under three years of age; and (ii) strengthen convergent actions for improved nutrition outcomes. Current PDO To improve the coverage and quality of ICDS nutrition services to pregnant and lactating women and children under 3 years of age OPS_TABLE_PDO_CURRENTPDO Summary Status of Financing Net Ln/Cr/Tf Approval Signing Effectiveness Closing Commitment Disbursed Undisbursed IBRD-88390 30-Mar-2018 07-May-2018 11-Jun-2018 30-Aug-2022 200.00 9.41 190.59 IDA-51500 06-Sep-2012 05-Nov-2012 26-Nov-2012 30-Aug-2022 106.00 83.33 9.11 The World Bank India: ICDS Systems Strengthening & Nutrition Improvement Program (ISSNIP) (P121731) Policy Waiver(s) Does this restructuring trigger the need for any policy waiver(s)? No The World Bank India: ICDS Systems Strengthening & Nutrition Improvement Program (ISSNIP) (P121731) I. PROJECT STATUS AND RATIONALE FOR RESTRUCTURING 1. Project Status: Following the mission in October 2018, the project PDO and IP ratings were downgraded from “Satisfactory” to “Moderately Satisfactory” due to (a) slow progress towards the achievement of the pending 8 DLI targets amounting to approximately US$9.11 million from the original project (Cr.5150-IN) and; (b) delays in scaling up and initiating new activities under the Additional Financing (Ln.8839-IN) which was approved in March 2018. The delays were largely the result of extremely intensive efforts by the Ministry of Women and Child Development (MWCD), Government of India (GoI) to organize launch workshops across the country for the additional financing, known as the POSHAN Abhiyaan (or National Nutrition Mission). This unintentionally led to delays in the actual implementation and scale up of project interventions across States. 2. Over the past several months, implementation progress has picked up pace. Since October 2018, the project has achieved 2 pending DLI targets under the original project (amounting to US$1.8 million) and has reported achievement of 11 DLI targets under the additional financing (AF) to the World Bank and the DLI verification agency. Upon verification of the reported achievement by the independent verification agency (IVA), the project will be able to disburse an additional US$ 21 million. This will result in the project achieving 15 percent disbursement (US$30 million) within 7 months of effectiveness. 3. Rationale for Restructuring: This restructuring is being proposed based on a request put forward by the MWCD, GoI through the Department of Economic Affairs, GoI for the following reasons: a. To replace one of the 11 Priority States identified under the project, the state of Odisha with the state of Tamil Nadu. While the project coverage is 315 districts across 36 States/UTs of India, under the AF, for administrative feasibility, 11 priority states were considered for state-level DLIs. These included the original project states of Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, and Uttar Pradesh and three new states - Odisha, Gujarat, and Karnataka. The selection of these states was based on a ranking of states with the highest number of districts with a high burden of undernutrition from among the 315 project districts. The total number of districts within these identified priority states constituted approximately 81 percent of the AF districts and disbursements were linked against the achievement of results in these states (through DLIs). Further, to ensure commitment from the states towards the achievement of the DLIs, the MWCD was expected to enter into a MoU with each Priority State to facilitate the implementation of Project activities including the DLIs and DLI Targets. However, since project initiation, the State of Odisha has not demonstrated any commitment to implement the project, despite active follow up by the MWCD, and has not signed the MoU (all other priority states have signed the MoU). This will prevent the MWCD from achieving agreed DLI targets for the State of Odisha. Given the delays and the apparent lack of commitment by the state, the MWCD has proposed to replace Odisha by the State of Tamil Nadu. The selection of Tamil Nadu is based on the original selection criterion of the 11 priority states, i.e. those with the highest number districts with a high-burden of undernutrition. b. Modification to the DLI verification protocols. The current DLI verification protocol for the AF to evaluate achievement of the DLI and data/result verification includes state specific targets. With the change of State mentioned above, the protocol needs to be updated to delete targets for Odisha and include targets for Tamil Nadu. Furthermore, the MWCD has proposed that all central level DLI targets that relate to the issuance of technical guidelines be verified by the World Bank task team, as the verification agency is not suitably qualified The World Bank India: ICDS Systems Strengthening & Nutrition Improvement Program (ISSNIP) (P121731) to do so. The current verification agency, engaged through a Bank-executed Trust Fund1 linked to the project, is skilled as a data audit and survey firm and does not possess the required technical knowhow to review technical guidelines. Verification of technical and programmatic guidelines is possible through the World Bank Task Team which has both the technical capacity and scope to do so, supported by the associated Trust Fund. The central level DLIs proposed for verification by the World Bank are outlined in Table 1 below: Table 1: Central Level DLIs for which IVA is proposed as the World Bank DLI DLI Target DLI 3: Grievance redress 3.1: MWCD has developed standard operating procedures for grievance mechanism for improved citizen redress mechanism and transmitted them to all states. engagement strengthened DLI 5: Mass and mid-media 5.1: MWCD has completed an assessment of prevalent nutrition customs campaigns reinforcing nutrition and practices among vulnerable groups in states as per approved behavior change implemented methodology to support development of communication content. DLI 6: ICDS functionaries achieve 6.1: MWCD has developed guidelines for performance-based AWW milestones for receiving incentives. performance-based incentives 6.2: MWCD has developed guidelines and mechanisms for group and state performance-based incentives. DLI 7: Convergent nutrition action 7.1: MWCD has developed guidelines for convergent nutrition actions plans developed and and issued them to all states. operationalized DLI 8: Program management, 8.1: MWCD has developed and issued to all states updated supervision monitoring and evaluation guidelines for improved monitoring by ICDS program officials. systems strengthened 4. Additionally, a modification in the verification protocol of DLI target 3.4 under the original project (Cr.5150-IN) is proposed to reflect changes in the communication plan made by the MWCD during the course of project implementation. The MWCD updated its media plan to make it more comprehensive with a mass and mid-media component and approved a media plan that included airing of 3 TV and 3 Radio spots for eight weeks instead of the earlier stated 5 TV and 5 radio spots. It further included a mid-media campaign that focused on 5 key messages (IFA consumption, maternal diet diversity, early and exclusive breastfeeding, and complementary feeding). It is thus proposed to revise the protocol to reflect this modified media plan. This will enable a confirmation of achievement of the DLI 3.4 under the original project. II. DESCRIPTION OF PROPOSED CHANGES 5. In light of the above, the following changes are proposed through this restructuring: a. An amendment of the Loan Agreement (Ln.8839-IN) to update the definition of Priority States under the project, replacing the State of Odisha with the State of Tamil Nadu. b. An updating of the AF (Ln.8839-IN) DLI verification protocol to (i) delete targets for Odisha and replace them with targets for Tamil Nadu in the column detailing the protocol to evaluate achievement of the DLI and 1 A multi-donor Trust Fund – Partnership for Nutrition Results in India The World Bank India: ICDS Systems Strengthening & Nutrition Improvement Program (ISSNIP) (P121731) data/result verification; and (ii) replace the IVA with the World Bank as the verification entity for the central level DLI targets listed in Table 1. c. An updating of the DLI verification protocol of the original project (Cr.5150-IN) to modify the verification protocol of DLI target 3.4 from “The IVA will confirm with the communication from the Directorate of Advertising and Visual Publicity (DAVP) to MWCD that mass media campaign comprising 5 TV spots and 5 radio spots developed for and approved by MWCD has been broadcast as per the approved media plan for a period of at least eight weeks” to “The IVA will confirm (a) through the communication from DAVP to MWCD that mass media campaign comprising 3 TV spots and 3 radio spots approved by MWCD as per the approved media plan has been broadcast for a period of at least eight weeks; and (b) through state dissemination reports that mid- media content on 5 key messages has been deployed through a mid-media campaign in 8 project states.” 6. The updated DLI protocols of the AF and the original project are attached to this restructuring paper. III. SUMMARY OF CHANGES Changed Not Changed Disbursements Arrangements ✔ Other Change(s) ✔ Implementing Agency ✔ DDO Status ✔ Project's Development Objectives ✔ Results Framework ✔ Components and Cost ✔ Loan Closing Date(s) ✔ Cancellations Proposed ✔ Reallocation between Disbursement Categories ✔ Disbursement Estimates ✔ Overall Risk Rating ✔ Safeguard Policies Triggered ✔ EA category ✔ Legal Covenants ✔ Institutional Arrangements ✔ Financial Management ✔ The World Bank India: ICDS Systems Strengthening & Nutrition Improvement Program (ISSNIP) (P121731) Procurement ✔ Implementation Schedule ✔ Economic and Financial Analysis ✔ Technical Analysis ✔ Social Analysis ✔ Environmental Analysis ✔ IV. DETAILED CHANGE(S) .