The World Bank Safety Net Systems for the Poorest (P132634) REPORT NO.: RES36365 DOCUMENT OF THE WORLD BANK RESTRUCTURING PAPER ON A PROPOSED PROJECT RESTRUCTURING OF SAFETY NET SYSTEMS FOR THE POOREST APPROVED ON JUNE 26, 2013 TO PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF BANGLADESH SOCIAL PROTECTION & LABOR SOUTH ASIA Regional Vice President: Hartwig Schafer Country Director: Robert J. Saum Senior Global Practice Director: Michal J. Rutkowski Practice Manager/Manager: Stefano Paternostro Task Team Leader: Kenichi Victor Nishikawa Chavez, Ashiq Aziz The World Bank Safety Net Systems for the Poorest (P132634) I. BASIC DATA Product Information Project ID Financing Instrument P132634 Investment Project Financing Original EA Category Current EA Category Partial Assessment (B) Partial Assessment (B) Approval Date Current Closing Date 26-Jun-2013 30-Jun-2019 Organizations Borrower Responsible Agency Department of Disaster Management,Bangladesh Bureau People's Republic of Bangladesh of Statistics Project Development Objective (PDO) Original PDO The Objective of the Project is to improve the equity, efficiency and transparency of major Safety Net Programs to benefit the poorest households. Summary Status of Financing Net Ln/Cr/Tf Approval Signing Effectiveness Closing Commitment Disbursed Undisbursed IDA-61370 15-Dec-2017 09-Jan-2018 29-Jan-2018 30-Jun-2019 245.00 137.22 105.41 IDA-52810 26-Jun-2013 04-Oct-2013 17-Nov-2013 30-Jun-2019 500.00 418.92 44.50 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 Safety Net Systems for the Poorest (P132634) The Project, which is in its sixth fiscal year of implementation, aims to improve the equity, efficiency and transparency of major safety net programs to benefit the poorest. These programs are the (i) Employment Generation Program for the Poorest (EGPP), (ii) Food for Work (FFW), (iii) Test Relief (TR), (iv) Vulnerable Group Feeding (VGF), and (v) Gratuitous Relief (GR), which collectively reach over twelve million households in Bangladesh. As of April 30, 2019, the Project has co-financed BDT 36.79 billion (USD 454.58 million) in wages paid to beneficiaries of the Employment Generation Program for the Poorest (EGPP) – the largest public works program in the country – which has created 183.95 million person-days of employment. This represents a 55.10% contribution to the Government’s total expenditure of BDT 66.77 billion towards EGPP beneficiary wages and the generation of 333.84 million person-days of employment (during the period FY 2014 to FY 2018). The EGPP currently reaches over 960,000 households in Bangladesh. Cumulative disbursement under the Project is approximately 78%, while Progress towards Achievement of the PDO has been rated “satisfactory” and Implementation Progress has been rated “moderately satisfactory” for more than twelve consecutive months. There are no outstanding audits and the Project complies with all legal covenants. Component 1 supports the Department of Disaster Management (DDM) under the Ministry of Disaster Management & Relief (MoDMR) to incrementally improve the performance of the abovementioned safety net programs via disbursement-linked indicators (DLIs) relating to (i) household targeting, (ii) administrative systems, and (iii) payment systems. Component 2 provides technical assistance to DDM to (i) utilize poverty data from the forthcoming National Household Database (NHD) to identify potential recipients of social assistance, (ii) establish a common safety net program management information system (MIS) for more efficient administration, and (iii) scale-up digital payments of program benefits. These activities support the achievement of DLI targets under Component 1, and thereby the equity, efficiency and transparency elements of the PDO. Component 3, implemented by the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) under the Statistics & Informatics Division (SID), supports the establishment and operationalization of the NHD – the country’s first universal social registry. A closing date extension was requested by the Government of Bangladesh on April 1, 2019. The proposed closing date extension of two years would be the second extension of the original financing (IDA 5281-BD), which was previously extended by eighteen months, and the first extension of the additional financing (IDA 6137-BD). The purpose of the proposed extension is to allow the completion of pending activities under all three Components, and thus the full utilization of the committed financing. In addition, the proposed extension would facilitate the establishment of a new safety net program to address negative economic and social impacts of the Rohingya crisis on host communities in the Cox’s Bazar district in Bangladesh, which would utilize existing implementation arrangements under DDM and BBS. The Government of Bangladesh has requested additional financing on April 1, 2019, for this purpose. Component 1 (Support to MoDMR Safety Net Programs): Approximately 90% of the allocation under the original financing (IDA 5281-BD) and approximately 50% of the allocation under the additional financing (IDA 6137-BD) has been disbursed. Significant progress has been made in meeting one DLI target under the original financing (valued USD 50 million equivalent) and three DLI targets under the additional financing (valued USD 96 million). Disbursement of values associated with the achievement of three of these outstanding DLI targets is expected within FY 2019. The proposed closing date extension would enable achievement of one final outstanding DLI target, and thus 100% disbursement under Component 1 which represents approximately 83% of the total Project cost. Component 2 (Strengthening of MoDMR Program Administration and Transparency): DDM is currently in the process of developing the common safety net program MIS, as well as the NHD MIS under the same contract. Both systems are expected to be deployed within FY 2019. Ahead of the rollout of the safety net program MIS, DDM has completed The World Bank Safety Net Systems for the Poorest (P132634) digitization of over 1,500,000 beneficiary records in its existing EGPP MIS, and thus met both targets under DLI 2 (Administrative Systems). This data would be migrated to the safety net program MIS when this is fully operational. Additionally, DDM is currently making digital payments of benefits under the EGPP in nineteen sub-districts, which satisfies the requirements of both DLI 3 (Payment Systems) targets. Due to the pending deployment of the NHD MIS, the use of poverty data for beneficiary targeting – under DLI 1 (Household Targeting) – has been delayed. The first target pertaining to this DLI (validation of DDM program beneficiary records against the NHD) is expected to be met within FY 2019 while the second target (actual selection of beneficiaries using NHD data) would only be achievable in FY 2020 ahead of the enrolment window for the relevant safety net programs. The proposed closing date extension would allow this activity to be completed. With regards to the proposed additional financing, a closing date extension is also expected to allow DDM to leverage its systems and field resources to support the rapid rollout of a new safety net program. Component 3 (Development of the NHD): BBS has completed nationwide data collection for the NHD in FY 2019 and established its data center. The NHD MIS is in its final development stage and administrative users at the BBS head office have been provided trained. Major pending actions include the migration of data from temporary servers to the NHD MIS at the data center once the system is fully functional, as well as training for district/sub-district offices. Poverty data is expected to be made available for prospective clients by early FY 2020. An agreement has been signed with the Local Government Division (LGD) to facilitate the identification of potential beneficiaries for its conditional cash transfer program (Jawtno), and a similar agreement will be signed with DDM. The proposed closing date extension would ensure continuity of resources to fully operationalize the NHD for DDM's existing programs, and would also be necessary to properly identify potential beneficiaries in Cox’s Bazar under a new safety net program. II. DETAILED CHANGES LOAN CLOSING DATE(S) Original Revised Proposed Proposed Deadline Ln/Cr/Tf Status Closing Closing(s) Closing for Withdrawal Applications IDA-52810 Effective 31-Dec-2017 30-Jun-2019 30-Jun-2021 30-Oct-2021 IDA-61370 Effective 30-Jun-2019 30-Jun-2021 30-Oct-2021