The World Bank Implementation Status & Results Report IMPROVING HOUSEHOLD SURVEYS AND ADMINISTRATIVE DATA IN SUDAN: STATISTICAL CAPACITY BUILDING (P167988) IMPROVING HOUSEHOLD SURVEYS AND ADMINISTRATIVE DATA IN SUDAN: STATISTICAL CAPACITY BUILDING (P167988) AFRICA | Sudan | Poverty and Equity Global Practice | Recipient Executed Activities | Investment Project Financing | FY 2019 | Seq No: 1 | ARCHIVED on 01-Feb-2020 | ISR40484 | Implementing Agencies: Central Bureau of Statistics, Republic of Sudan Key Dates Key Project Dates Bank Approval Date: 22-Dec-2018 Effectiveness Date: 31-Jan-2019 Original Closing Date: 30-Jun-2020 Revised Closing Date: 30-Jun-2020 pdoTable Project Development Objectives Project Development Objective (from Project Appraisal Document) The objective of the project is to strengthen the capacity of the Central Bureau of Statistics to improve the quality of household poverty survey data, and to improve the availability and quality of existing administrative data in the education and health sectors. Has the Project Development Objective been changed since Board Approval of the Project Objective? No Overall Ratings Name Previous Rating Current Rating Progress towards achievement of PDO -- Moderately Satisfactory Overall Implementation Progress (IP) -- Moderately Satisfactory Implementation Status and Key Decisions Component 1: Improving the Quality of Household Poverty Survey Data. This component has eight activities. The first activity provides consultancy support to CBS in writing up the Poverty Measurement Methodology Concept Note for Sudan. The international consultant recruited for this activity started in December 2019, and the inception draft report was submitted and shared with CBS through a technical workshop on December 18, 2019. The final report is expected to be delivered by March 2020 and will be discussed with relevant stakeholders (including the Government, development partners, donors, and researchers) and documented to be used for the next household survey. A new timeline will be agreed with the consultant with the aim to complete the work by March 2020 instead of February 2020 as initially planned. The second activity involves a comprehensive training on the entire process of conducting a household poverty survey, from preparation through implementation to dissemination. The hands-on-training will involve developing draft questionnaires for the next household survey (the Household, Community and Market questionnaires). An international consultant has been hired for this task and started work on the December 21, 2019 with a kick-off meeting with CBS team to assess CBS capacity and develop a training plan. Since then, the plan has been finalized based on CBS staff and the World Bank team comments. The training is planned to start in the second week of February for 10 days, and draft questionnaires are expected to be available in March 2020. The third activity is training on GIS and mapping to strengthening the technical and operational capacities of CBS GIS team to plan and implement the next household surveys in line with international standards. This activity has been completed, with eight CBS staff having received training on GIS and Mapping in Amman (Jordan) in December 2019. The remaining activities under this component are sequenced to be implemented once the training on muti-topic household survey has been finalized. These activities are training on sampling design, advanced training in Census and Survey Processing System (CSPro), training in Survey Solutions, pre-test of the questionnaires, and pilot household poverty survey. The trainings will take place in this sequence starting mid-February 2020 and expected to be wrapped up by June 2020. In view of preparing for the next household survey, a two-day workshop on the lessons learned from the 2014/2015 National Household Budget and Poverty Survey (NHBPS) was conducted in Khartoum from December 17-19, 2019 involving staff from CBS central office as well as CBS Directorates from all 18 states of Sudan. Six papers (covering each of the six regions) were presented on lessons learned and recommendation were made for improving 2/1/2020 Page 1 of 6 The World Bank Implementation Status & Results Report IMPROVING HOUSEHOLD SURVEYS AND ADMINISTRATIVE DATA IN SUDAN: STATISTICAL CAPACITY BUILDING (P167988) the next survey. Finally, the project has purchased various IT equipment as planned (21 printers, 3 photocopiers, 260 antivirus software), with plans to complete the purchase of Firewalls and CCTV by the end of January 2020. Component 2: Data analysis, reporting and dissemination. This component comprises seven activities. The first activity involves training of CBS new recruits (young graduates) and existing CBS staff on Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint to build good foundation for report writing, preparing tables, and creating graphs. The activity started early April 2019 and had to be suspended that same month because of project suspension policy mentioned above, resuming in October 2019. The trainees were divided into three groups, of which two had finished the training and were evaluated before and after the training. The third group will start on January 26, 2020 and finish by end of February 2020. Thirty staff from the Ministry of Defense were supposed to join the training, but due to the political situation of the country they could no longer participate because of their work schedule. The second activity is the advanced English training course that aims to help improve the writing skills of CBS staff. Following a call for expression of interest, three firms are being considered for the activity, which is expected to start early February for a duration of one month. The plan is to train 40-60 CBS staff dividing them into the groups based on level of proficiency. The third activity is training in econometrics and modeling, which has already been completed with seven CBS staff from the Modeling department having received training on Time Series Analysis in Cairo (Egypt in December 2019). Three activities: formulation and adaptation of data dissemination, training on basic data analysis, and training on poverty measurement are planned to be conducted by the consultant who is developing the Poverty Measurement Methodology, between mid- March and June 2020. The final activity, web developing, aims to improve and maintain CBS website to include a microdata portal access in line with open data principles. CBS has drafted the ToR to hire a firm to start this activity in mid-February. This component initially included two activities: training on small area estimation which was dropped because the World Bank team with CBS GIS staff produced a poverty mapping report using small area estimation (through a separate World Bank analytical project); and training on Structured Query Language which was dropped as it was no longer a priority at the moment. Component 3: Improving Availability and Quality of Existing Administrative Data in the Education and Heath Sectors. The PIU with the World Bank team has organized two meeting with the Ministry of Health (MoH) and Ministry of Education (MoE) and agreed on the activities under this component. In addition, a core team composing of seven staff two from MoH, two from MoE and two from CBS plus the supervisor from the PIU, has been formed. This component includes two activities. The first activity provides training sessions to the CBS, MoE and MoH staff to assess the availability and quality of existing administrative data, develop strategy plan for improvement and scale up, develop mentoring tools to track performance and conduct user satisfaction survey to gauge the impact of the activity. An international consultant has been identified and is expected to start the consultancy early February. This component also involves a study tour abroad for the core team to visit an African country to learn from best practices in administrative records. Component 4: Project Management. This component includes funds and activities related to project management to strengthen CBS fiduciary functions (procurement and financial management) and project management capabilities as well as logistical support to the project activity. The PIU FM officer has been trained under the previous statistical capacity building project and is now working under close supervision from the World Bank FM specialist. The procurement officer was also been trained under the previous project and is working closely with the World Bank STEP champion and Procurement specialist. The World Bank procurement specialist provided a one-day orientation session to the established CBS selection committee on procurement procedures in March 2019. The committee comprises of five CBS staff and has successfully evaluated all consultant and vendor applications since the beginning of the project. The Financial Management assessment rated the PIU as Satisfactory rating. The project had so far disbursed USD 220,033.23 representing 44.00 % of the approved grant amount of US$500,000. The disbursement was negatively impacted by the suspension of disbursements upon applying the Bank Operation Policy no. OP7.30 following the political instability in the country during the December 2018 revolution. The political situation has now changed with the formation of the new government and the Sovereignty Council. Accordingly, the Bank lifted the disbursement suspension and the project started submission of withdrawal applications. The project has presented a clear detailed plan to spend the remaining balance of the grant before the project closing date. Banking arrangements are in place as the project uses the same Designated Euro account and local currency account of the previous project no. P152016. Account recording is up to date. The first IFR to be submitted by the project is that for the quarter ending December 31,2019, which will be due on February 14, 2020. As the project’s financial officer is acquainted with the IFR preparation and accounts recording is always kept updated, the submission of the report is not expected to be delayed. The first audit report to be submitted by the project is that for the year ending December 31,2019, which will be due on June 30, 2020. Engagement with the auditors and submission of the financial statements to the auditor is expected to be done by February 29,2020. As the project’s financial officer is acquainted with the annual financial statements’ preparation, no problem is expected to occur regarding the preparation and submission of the annual financial statements to the auditor and the audited financial statements to the Bank. The ISR rating of the project is Satisfactory (S). The mission assessed implementation of procurement activities as Moderately Satisfactory, with procurement risk remaining “High”. The mission reviewed procurement activities undertaken by the project to date. Specifically, activities undertaken after the World Bank lifting of mission suspension and the resumption of portfolio disbursement from September 2019 were reviewed to assess the progress and status of procurement. The project progress report that includes the procurement status and details of procurement, contracts signed, contracts ongoing and contracts yet to be initiated; covering Goods, Consultancy and Non-Consultancy services. The progress of procurement can be summarized as follows: six activities (representing 44% disbursement) out of a total of 19 activities planned procurements have been successfully executed or in an advanced stage; 10 activities (50%) are not yet started or at very initial stages; three activities need to be merged into one or connected to the achievement of another activity and are at the pre-contract stage. The project assured the Bank team that they will work assiduously to complete all procurements before the close of the project in June 2020. The mission team reminded of its availability for any procurement support in terms from the Bank side of STEP or any other procurement technicalities is needed “even if “ by assigning someone for direct support to ensure timely completion of all project procurement; and to ensure procurement working on daily basis on all issues related to ToRs, specifications, procurement committee meetings, evaluations ,award of contracts and contract signing. Bank assured that all project activities are “Post Review” and method thresholds as in the approved PP and PPSD and accordingly the Bank will carry a Project Procurement Post Review “PPR” in February 2020. 2/1/2020 Page 2 of 6 The World Bank Implementation Status & Results Report IMPROVING HOUSEHOLD SURVEYS AND ADMINISTRATIVE DATA IN SUDAN: STATISTICAL CAPACITY BUILDING (P167988) Risks Overall Risk Rating Risk Category Rating at Approval Previous Rating Current Rating Overall Moderate -- Moderate 5. Results Project Development Objective Indicators IN00801516 ►Strenghtened capacity of CBS to improve the quality of household poverty survey data as measured by CBS staff using skills they received from training to develop instruments for the next household pov (Yes/No, Custom) Baseline Actual (Previous) Actual (Current) End Target Value No -- No Yes Date 06-Dec-2018 -- -- 30-Jun-2020 IN00801517 ►Improved capacity of CBS to analyze data and prepare a basic report as measured by CBS staff having analyzed household survey data and prepared a basic survey report. (Yes/No, Custom) Baseline Actual (Previous) Actual (Current) End Target Value No -- No Yes Date 06-Dec-2018 -- -- 30-Jun-2020 IN00801518 ►Improved availability and quality of administrative data in education and health sectors by at least six (6) administrative records from education and health sectors have been quality controlled and f (Number, Custom) Baseline Actual (Previous) Actual (Current) End Target Value 0.00 -- 0.00 6.00 Date 06-Dec-2018 -- -- 30-Jun-2020 Overall Comments PDO Although the key results indicators have not been achieved yet, significant progress has been made and on track towards achieving the PDO by June 2020. Work is ongoing on all three core components to achieve the indicators and some intermediate results indicators reflect some of the progress made so far. 27% completed of scheduled trainings have been completed. Intermediate Results Indicators 2/1/2020 Page 3 of 6 The World Bank Implementation Status & Results Report IMPROVING HOUSEHOLD SURVEYS AND ADMINISTRATIVE DATA IN SUDAN: STATISTICAL CAPACITY BUILDING (P167988) IN00801519 ►Capacity building training plan implementation (Percentage, Custom) Baseline Actual (Previous) Actual (Current) End Target Value 0.00 -- 27.00 100.00 Date 06-Dec-2018 -- -- 30-Jun-2020 IN00801520 ►Women participation in trainings (Percentage, Custom) Baseline Actual (Previous) Actual (Current) End Target Value 0.00 -- 83.00 40.00 Date 06-Dec-2018 -- -- 30-Jun-2020 IN00801521 ►Methodology for poverty survey and measurement developed (Yes/No, Custom) Baseline Actual (Previous) Actual (Current) End Target Value No -- No Yes Date 06-Dec-2018 -- -- 30-Jun-2020 IN00801522 ►Draft questionnaires for the next household survey developed (Yes/No, Custom) Baseline Actual (Previous) Actual (Current) End Target Value No -- No Yes Date 06-Dec-2018 -- -- 30-Jun-2020 IN00801523 ►Pilot household poverty survey implemented (Yes/No, Custom) Baseline Actual (Previous) Actual (Current) End Target Value No -- No Yes Date 06-Dec-2018 -- -- 30-Jun-2020 IN00801524 ►Number of staff (CBS and MDAs) trained on data analysis and writing (Number, Custom) Baseline Actual (Previous) Actual (Current) End Target Value 0.00 -- 0.00 10.00 Date 06-Dec-2018 -- -- 30-Jun-2020 2/1/2020 Page 4 of 6 The World Bank Implementation Status & Results Report IMPROVING HOUSEHOLD SURVEYS AND ADMINISTRATIVE DATA IN SUDAN: STATISTICAL CAPACITY BUILDING (P167988) IN00801525 ►Assessment of the quality of existing administrative data on selected key indicators in education and health sectors completed and report prepared (Yes/No, Custom) Baseline Actual (Previous) Actual (Current) End Target Value No -- No Yes Date 06-Dec-2018 -- -- 30-Jun-2020 Overall Comments RE Work is ongoing for all these indicators and they are on track Data on Financial Performance Disbursements (by loan) Project Loan/Credit/TF Status Currency Original Revised Cancelled Disbursed Undisbursed % Disbursed P167988 TF-A9400 Effective USD 0.50 0.50 0.00 0.22 0.28 44% Key Dates (by loan) Project Loan/Credit/TF Status Approval Date Signing Date Effectiveness Date Orig. Closing Date Rev. Closing Date P167988 TF-A9400 Effective 08-Jan-2019 31-Jan-2019 31-Jan-2019 30-Jun-2020 30-Jun-2020 Cumulative Disbursements 2/1/2020 Page 5 of 6 The World Bank Implementation Status & Results Report IMPROVING HOUSEHOLD SURVEYS AND ADMINISTRATIVE DATA IN SUDAN: STATISTICAL CAPACITY BUILDING (P167988) Restructuring History There has been no restructuring to date. Related Project(s) There are no related projects. 2/1/2020 Page 6 of 6