PROJECT INFORMATION DOCUMENT (PID)



PROJECT INFORMATION DOCUMENT (PID)

APPRAISAL STAGE

Report No.:39838

|Project Name |Second Basic Education Project (Additional Financing) |

|Region |LATIN AMERICA AND CARIBBEAN |

|Sector |Early Childhood Education (45%); Primary Education (20%); Secondary Education (20%); |

| |Decentralization (15%) |

|Project ID |P105555 |

|Borrower(s) |GOVERNMENT OF PANAMA |

|Implementing Agency |Project Coordination Unit |

| |Address: Albrook Edificio 869 |

| |Republic of Panama |

| |Panama |

| |Contact Person: Dora Berrocal |

| |Tel: (507) 315-1995/315-1996/315-1997. |

| |Fax: (507) 315-1217, |

| |Email: proedbas@meduca.gob.pa |

|Environment Category |[ ] A [ ] B [X] C [ ] FI [ ] TBD (to be determined) |

|Date PID Updated | |

|Date of Appraisal Authorization | |

|Date of Board Approval | |

1. Country and Sector Background

Panama is a nation of stark contrasts. With a population of about 3 million and per capita GDP that ranks it as an upper-middle income nation, Panama’s extreme inequality means that almost 40 percent of the population live in poverty and one sixth are destitute. Panama enjoys sophisticated financial and service sectors and its famous canal is considered a world-class operation, but its public administration systems remain underdeveloped, its civil service weak, and a portion of the economy remains sheltered, serving only the domestic market and lacking the dynamism to generate adequate jobs and growth.

Despite averaging 3.5 percent annual real GDP growth between 1997 and 2003, ambitious poverty reduction programs adopted by successive administrations and some progress in reducing extreme poverty, moderate poverty rates in Panama remained practically unchanged.

Most human development indicators have also failed to improve significantly during the period of sustained growth between 1997 and 2003. Disparities in education are also present in Panama, especially in secondary schooling. The country has achieved impressive high degrees of literacy and primary enrollment, but indigenous communities lag far behind. Only 67 percent of the indigenous can read and write, and net primary enrollment rates in indigenous communities, although high, are significantly lower than in the rest of the country.

Differences in secondary enrollment between the poor and non-poor have narrowed between 1997 and 2003, but are still very large. While 84 percent of non-poor secondary school age children are enrolled, more than half of the poor in the same age group are not in school, or are still lagging behind in primary school. For the indigenous poor, the difference is even more striking. Only 26 percent of them are enrolled in secondary school. Policies aimed at increasing access to secondary school by the poor, and especially the indigenous, may therefore be effective in reducing poverty in the long run.

2. Objectives

The additional financing proposed no changes to the original project objectives of: (i) improving the quality and efficiency of basic education; (ii) improving equity of access to preschool and basic education; (iii) expanding coverage of preschool and early childhood education; and (iv) strengthening the planning, supervision and policy-making capacity of MEDUCA.

3. Rationale for Bank Involvement

The additional resources are needed for the Government to scale up the activities already in progress. Despite gains in net enrollment rates in both pre-primary and secondary education over the past seven years, coverage in both areas remains deficient, especially in extremely poor and isolated areas. The majority of underserved students reside in indigenous, rural, or marginalized urban areas--the same populations that would benefit from this additional financing. Moreover, the proposed activities would contribute to the national goals of universalizing educational coverage of 5-year-olds by the year 2009 and increasing coverage of 3- and 4-year-olds. Furthermore, while the project has made headway in developing and distributing materials for multigrade schools, such schools make up 74 percent of the total in the country. As such, the project would need to continue these efforts in order to eventually meet the needs of all multigrade and indigenous schools.

1. In addition to scaling up project impact and effectiveness, the additional financing would have the added benefit of serving as bridge until a new loan is prepared. The GoP does not want to delay the continuation and scaling-up of program activities, especially of those currently taking place in poor and indigenous areas of the country where the need is greatest and the program has already shown good results. The additional financing would prepare for the transition away from the Project Coordination Unit, and would generate evaluative information that could provide a foundation for defining the strategic direction of a new project. Finally, there is a strong rationale for expanding some key elements of the project, especially given the need to supplement the supply of non-formal preschool centers to meet demands created by the Red de Oportunidades CCT program in poor, underserved, and isolated areas.

4. Description

The project consists of three project components: (i) Improvement of Education Quality; (ii) Expansion of Early Childhood Education; and (iii) Institutional Strengthening.

Education Quality: $2,013,988 ($1,935,679 from IBRD and $78,309 from GoP).

a) Educational Materials: Development of materials and teacher training for multigrade and bilingual schools; furnishing and equipping of multigrade schools;

b) Distance Education (telebásica): Continued expansion of the telebásica program in grades 7, 8, and 9;

c) Infrastructure: External supervision of the quality and completion of civil works; evaluation of the infrastructure subcomponent.

d) Scholarships: The scholarship component would continue in its current form, administered and awarded by IFARHU (Instituto para la Formación y Aprovechamiento de Recursos Humanos).

Early Childhood Education: $4,154,178 ($2,317,009 from IBRD and $1,837,169 from GoP).

a) Non-formal Preschools (CEFACEI): Expansion of the CEFACEI program to include 125 new groups reaching 3,125 more children, bringing the total number of children benefited from this program since 2001 to 66,064; training of community educators (promotoras) and parents' associations (COPAMACEs)

b) Home-based early childhood education: Continue to provide early childhood education to children living in remote and isolated areas by establishing 50 new groups benefiting 900 more children; capacity building for parent leaders and development and distribution of high quality and culturally relevant educational materials

Institutional Strengthening: $558,200 ($534,790 from IBRD and $23,410 from GoP).

a) Build on the success of the SIAREH system established under the Second Basic Education Project, growing its scope and coverage by adding new modules and funding its continued maintenance.

b) Create a digital documentation center to scan and house all official documents pertaining to MEDUCA and human resources.

c) Train officials of MEDUCA in the collection and use of official statistics, and continue to support the internal reorganization, modernization and decentralization of the Ministry.

Project Coordination: $273,722 ($212,522 from IBRD and $61,200 from GoP).

The additional financing would continue to support the PCU under current arrangements.

5. Financing

|Source: |($m.) |

|BORROWER |2.0 |

|IBRD |5.0 |

| Total |7.0 |

6. Implementation

Overall project management would remain under the current arrangements. The project would continue to be implemented by the Ministry of Education under the same institutional and operational arrangements that have been established for implementation of the Second Basic Education Project. Financial and administrative responsibility would continue to rest primarily with the Project Coordination Unit (PCU) operating under the office of the Minister of Education, and with close accompaniment by the World Bank. The one exception would be that of the scholarship component, which would be fully integrated into the budget of the Ministry of Education, but would continue to operate under the same guidelines as before.

7. Sustainability

The additional financing triggers $2 million of counterpart funding, as well as an additional $2 million for payment of instructors and $500,000 for scholarship program directly incorporated into the MEDUCA budget. The absorption of these recurring costs into the official budget demonstrates that sustainability through government financing of recurrent costs associated with new and expanded educational programs is being achieved.

8. Lessons Learned from Past Operations in the Country/Sector

The proposed AF takes several lessons from the current project. First, there would be greater collaboration among the various implementing units of the MEDUCA, who would integrate some of the training, and monitoring and evaluation activities of the project in order to improve efficiency and ensure impact. Training for multigrade and indigenous teachers would also take place jointly. In addition, the National Directorate of Information Technology, which is carrying out the institutional strengthening component, would incorporate into its information systems the systematization of all of the CEFACEIs in order to ensure that all new centers are included in the country's official statistics, thereby mainstreaming the CEFACEIs into the national early childhood program. Finally, evaluations will be carried out for all subcomponents.

9. Safeguard Policies (including public consultation)

|Safeguard Policies Triggered by the Project |Yes |No |

|Environmental Assessment (OP/BP 4.01) |[X] |[] |

|Natural Habitats (OP/BP 4.04) |[ ] |[X] |

|Pest Management (OP 4.09) |[ ] |[X ] |

|Cultural Property (OPN 11.03, being revised as OP 4.11) |[ ] |[X] |

|Involuntary Resettlement (OP/BP 4.12) |[ ] |[X] |

|Indigenous Peoples (OP/BP 4.10) |[X] |[ ] |

|Forests (OP/BP 4.36) |[ ] |[X ] |

|Safety of Dams (OP/BP 4.37) |[ ] |[X ] |

|Projects in Disputed Areas (OP/BP 7.60) |[ ] |[X ] |

|Projects on International Waterways (OP/BP 7.50) |[ ] |[X] |

10. List of Factual Technical Documents

To be completed during Appraisal.

11. Contact point

Contact: Alexandria Valerio

Title: Sr. Education Specialist

Tel: (202) 473-0914

Fax: (202) 522-1201

Email: avalerio@

12. For more information contact:

The InfoShop

The World Bank

1818 H Street, NW

Washington, D.C. 20433

Telephone: (202) 458-4500

Fax: (202) 522-1500

Email: pic@

Web:

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