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Document of
The World Bank
Report No:
INTERNATIONAL BANK FOR RECONSTRUCTION AND DEVELOPMENT AND
INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT ASSOCIATION
PROJECT APPRAISAL DOCUMENT
ON A
PROPOSED GRANT
IN THE AMOUNT OF USD 16.2 MILLION
TO THE
REPUBLIC OF TAJIKISTAN
FOR A
FOURTH GLOBAL PARTNERSHIP FOR EDUCATION FUND GRANT
GPE-4
October 3, 2012
This document has a restricted distribution and may be used by recipients only in the performance of their
official duties. Its contents may not otherwise be disclosed without World Bank authorization.
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CURRENCY EQUIVALENTS
(Exchange Rate Effective July 12, 2012)
Currency Unit = Tajikistan Somoni
US$1 = TJS 4.77
TJS1 = US$ 0.21
FISCAL YEAR
January 1 – December 31
ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS
ADB Asian Development Bank
ARU Analysis and Education Sector Reform Development Unit
AKF Aga Khan Foundation
AOE Academy of Education
CAS Country Assistance Strategy
CWs Civil Works
DA Designated Account
DAFR Department for Accountancy and Financial Reporting
DCC Department of Capital Construction
DPB Department of Planning, Budget Implementation and Forecasts in Education
DPL Development Policy Lending
DPSA Department of Personnel and Special Affairs
DPGS Department for Pre-School and General Secondary Education
EA Environmental Assessment
EC European Commission
ECD Early Childhood Development
ECE Early Childhood Education
EGRA Early Grade Reading Assessment
ELC Early Learning Center
EMF Environmental Management Framework
EMIS Education Management Information System
EMP Environmental Management Plan
EdMP Education Modernization Project
EPDF Education Program Development Fund
ESFCAU Education Sector Fiduciary Capacity Assessment Update
FTI Fast Track Initiative
GBAO Gorno- Badahshan Autonomous Oblast
GDP Gross Domestic Product
GPE Global Partnership for Education Grant to Tajikistan
GPE-4 The Fourth Global Partnership for Education Grant to Tajikistan
GIZ Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit
HMU Head of Methodological Unit
ICB International Competitive Bidding
ICR Implementation Completion Report
HE Higher Education
3
IDA International Development Association
IFRs Interim un-audited Financial Reports
INSET IN-Service Training
ISA International Standards on Auditing
JCSS Joint Country Support Strategy
KfW German Development Bank
LEDG Local Education Donor Group
LEG Local Education Group
M&E Monitoring and Evaluation
MOE Ministry of Education
MOF Ministry of Finance
MTEF Mid Term Expenditure Framework
MTR Mid Term Review
NGO Non-governmental Organization
NSED National Strategy for Education Development
NTC National Testing Center
OECD Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development
OSI Open Society Institute (Soros Foundation)
PAD Project Appraisal Document
PCF Per Capita Financing
PDO Project Development Objective
PMU Project Management Unit
POM Project Operational Manual
PRSP Poverty Reduction and Poverty Paper
PTAs Parents-Teachers Associations
QLP Quality and Learning Project (USAID funded)
RAP Resettlement Action Plan
RED Rayon Education Department
RIITT Republican Institute for In-Service Teacher Training
RMTC Republican Methodological and Training Center
RFD Rayon Financial Department (RayFO)
RPF Resettlement Policy Framework
RRS Rayons of Republican Subordination
SIC State Investment Committee
SIL Specific Investment Lending
TA Technical Assistance
TLMs Teaching-Learning Materials
TORs Terms of Reference
TRF Textbook Revolving Fund
TRS Textbook rental system
UEE University Entrance Examination
UNICEF United Nations Children’s Fund
USAID United States Agency for International Development
VET Vocational Education and Training
WB World Bank
Regional Vice President: Philippe H. Le Houerou
Country Director: Saroj Kumar Jha
Sector Director: Ana L. Revenga
Sector Manager: Alberto Rodriguez
Task Team Leader: Saodat Bazarova
4
COUNTRY
FOURTH GLOBAL PARTNERSHIP FOR EDUCATION FUND GRANT
GPE-4
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
II. STRATEGIC CONTEXT ...............................................................................................11
A. Country Context .......................................................................................................... 11
B. Sectoral and Institutional Context ............................................................................... 12
C. Higher Level Objectives to which the Project Contributes ........................................ 16
III. PROJECT DEVELOPMENT OBJECTIVES ..............................................................17
A. PDO............................................................................................................................. 17
B. Project Beneficiaries ................................................................................................... 18
C. PDO Level Results Indicators ..................................................................................... 18
IV. PROJECT DESCRIPTION ............................................................................................18
A. Project Components .................................................................................................... 18
B. Project Financing ........................................................................................................ 25
1. Lending Instrument ..................................................................................................... 25
C. Lessons Learned and Reflected in the Project Design ................................................ 26
V. IMPLEMENTATION .....................................................................................................28
A. Institutional and Implementation Arrangements ........................................................ 28
B. Results Monitoring and Evaluation ............................................................................ 31
C. Sustainability............................................................................................................... 32
VI. KEY RISKS AND MITIGATION MEASURES ..........................................................34
A. Risk Ratings Summary Table ..................................................................................... 34
B. Overall Risk Rating Explanation ................................................................................ 34
VII. APPRAISAL SUMMARY ..............................................................................................35
A. Economic and Financial Analyses .............................................................................. 35
B. Technical ..................................................................................................................... 38
C. Financial Management ................................................................................................ 39
D. Procurement ................................................................................................................ 40
E. Social (including Safeguards) ..................................................................................... 40
5
F. Environment (including Safeguards) .......................................................................... 41
Annex 1: Results Framework and Monitoring .........................................................................43
Annex 2: Detailed Project Description .......................................................................................47
Annex 3: Implementation Arrangements ..................................................................................58
Annex 4: Operational Risk Assessment Framework (ORAF) .................................................73
Annex 5: Implementation Support Plan ....................................................................................78
Annex 6: Economic and Financial Analysis ..............................................................................80
Annex 7: Summary of the FTI and Development Partners Operations .................................88
Annex 8: Preparation Schedule ..................................................................................................93
6
PAD DATA SHEET
Tajikistan
Global Partnership for Education (GPE)-4 (P131441)
PROJECT APPRAISAL DOCUMENT
EUROPE AND CENTRAL ASIA
ECSH2
Basic Information
Date: 12-Jul-2012 Sectors: General education sector (85%), Pre-primary
education (15%)
Country Director: Saroj Kumar Jha Themes: Education for all (100%)
Sector
Manager/Director: Alberto
Rodriguez/Ana L.
Revenga
Project ID: P131441 EA
Category: B - Partial Assessment
Lending
Instrument: Specific Investment
Loan
Team Leader(s): Saodat Bazarova
Joint IFC: No
Borrower: Republic of Tajikistan
Responsible Agency: Ministry of Education
Contact: Mr. Nuriddin Saidov Title: Minister
Telephone
No.: Email: [email protected]
Project Implementation
Period: Start
Date: 01-Apr-2013 End
Date: 31-Mar-2016
Expected Effectiveness
Date: 01-Apr-2013
Expected Closing Date: 31-Mar-2016
Project Financing Data(US$M)
[ ] Loan [ ] Grant [ X ] Other
[ ] Credit [ ] Guarantee
For Loans/Credits/Others
Total Project Cost (US$M): 16.20
Total Bank Financing (US$M): 0.00
7
Financing Source Amount(US$M)
Borrower 0.00
Global Partnership for Education Fund 16.20
Total 16.20
Expected Disbursements (in USD Million)
Fiscal Year 2013 2014 2015 2016 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000
Annual 0.70 6.70 8.35 0.45 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
Cumulative 0.70 7.40 15.75 16.20 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00
Project Development Objective(s)
To contribute to improving the learning conditions in preschool and general education.
Components
Component Name Cost (USD Millions)
1. Increasing access to quality early childhood education
programs 1.70
2. Upgrading general education content 1.75
3. Improving learning environments 11.00
4. Strengthening system capacity 1.75
Compliance
Policy
Does the project depart from the CAS in content or in other significant
respects? Yes [ ] No [ X ]
Does the project require any waivers of Bank policies? Yes [ ] No [ X ]
Have these been approved by Bank management? Yes [ ] No [ ]
Is approval for any policy waiver sought from the Board? Yes [ ] No [ X ]
Does the project meet the Regional criteria for readiness for implementation? Yes [ X ] No [ ]
Safeguard Policies Triggered by the Project Yes No
Environmental Assessment OP/BP 4.01 X
Natural Habitats OP/BP 4.04 X
Forests OP/BP 4.36 X
Pest Management OP 4.09 X
Physical Cultural Resources OP/BP 4.11 X
Indigenous Peoples OP/BP 4.10 X
Involuntary Resettlement OP/BP 4.12 X
8
Safety of Dams OP/BP 4.37 X
Projects on International Waterways OP/BP 7.50 X
Projects in Disputed Areas OP/BP 7.60 X
Legal Covenants
Name Recurrent Due Date Frequency
Description of Covenant
Conditions
Name Type
Negotiations
There could be more FM conditions ( see Annex 3, Financial Management)
Effectiveness
Description of Condition
The Recipient has hired two FM consultants to assist the Chief Accountant of the MOE.
The Project Operational Manual, satisfactory to the Bank, has been adopted by the Recipient.
The Recipient has upgraded its automated accounting system for the Project with built-in controls,
and capacity to generate interim unaudited financial reports (IFRs) satisfactory to the Bank.
The Letter Agreement has been executed and delivered on behalf of the Recipient and has been
duly authorized or ratified by all necessary governmental action.
Team Composition
Bank Staff
Name Title Specialization Unit
Joseph Paul Formoso Sr. Finance Officer Senior Finance Officer CTRLA
Imelda Mueller Operations Analyst Operations Analyst ECSH2
Adam Shayne Lead Counsel Lead Counsel LEGLE
John Otieno Ogallo Sr. Financial Management
Specialist Sr Financial Management
Specialist ECSO3
Roxanne Hakim Sr Anthropologist Sr Anthropologist ECSS4
Gabriel C. Francis Program Assistant Program Assistant ECSHD
Dilshod Karimova Procurement Analyst Procurement Analyst ECSO2
Saodat Bazarova Sr. Operations Officer Team Lead ECSH2
Arcadii Capcelea Sr. Environmental Specialist Senior Environmental Specialist ECSS3
Sachiko Kataoka Education Economist Education Economist ECSH2
Shodi Nazarov Financial Management
Analyst Financial Management Analyst ECSO3
9
Ayshe Muratova E T Temporary E T Temporary ECCTJ
Non Bank Staff
Name Title Office Phone City
Rajiv Aggarwal STC- Achitect Dehli
Gerard Peart ST- M&E Toronto
Ruslan Amanbaev Civil engineer Dushanbe
Shuhrat Mirzoev Economist Dushanbe
Locations
Country First
Administrative
Division
Location Planned Actual Comments
Institutional Data
Sector Board
Education
Sectors / Climate Change
Sector (Maximum 5 and total % must equal 100)
Major Sector Sector % Adaptation
Co-benefits % Mitigation
Co-benefits %
Education General education sector 85
Education Pre-primary education 15
Total 100
I certify that there is no Adaptation and Mitigation Climate Change Co-benefits information applicable
to this project.
Themes
Theme (Maximum 5 and total % must equal 100)
Major theme Theme %
Human development Education for all 100
Total 100
Public Private Partnership
Private Capital Mobilization
No
Gender Flag
Does the activity support (select all that apply)
X Analysis and/or consultation X Specific actions to address the X Mechanisms to monitor gender
10
on gender related issues distinct needs of women and
girls, or men and boys, or
positive impacts on gender gaps
impact to facilitate gender-
disaggregated analysis
Not Applicable
11
II. STRATEGIC CONTEXT
A. Country Context
1. Tajikistan is a small, low-income and landlocked country in Central Asia with a
population of 7.6 million (in 2011), and a GNI per capita of USD 800. It has abundant water
resources but only 7% of its total land area is arable; high mountain ranges make communication
between different parts of the country difficult, especially in winter. It is prone to natural
disasters and is regularly affected by floods, landslides, earthquakes, and droughts.
2. A former Republic of the Soviet Union, it achieved Independence in 1991 and underwent
a period of severe civil unrest and economic contraction during the 1990s until peace accords
were signed in 1997. Since then the country’s political regime has been stable, the economy has
grown steadily and setbacks in education have been partially reversed. GDP grew on average by
7.9% annually during 2000-10, though the economy experienced difficulties during 2007-2009
as a result of fiscal deficit starting in 2007, supply side shocks in 2007-8 (steep increases in
global fuel and food prices) and the global economic crisis starting in 2008-9. Growth was 7.4%
in 2011, and GDP is projected to grow by 6% annually during 2012-15. Headcount poverty
figures declined from 72 % in 2003 to 54 % in 2007. Nonetheless the country remains among
the poorest in the region.
3. The population is young, growing and predominantly rural. Thirty-seven percent of the
population is under 14 years of age. The average annual population growth over the past five
years was two percent, with a total fertility rate of 3.3 in 2010. Seventy-three percent of the
population lived in rural areas in 2011, an increase from 68 % in 1990.
4. The number of jobs available in the economy grew by 0.9% on average in recent years, far
short of the number needed to create full employment and provide opportunities for graduates
entering the economy. Up to 40% of the working population seeks work abroad, mostly in
Russia, and remittances account for roughly half of GDP. The skills profile of the country’s
workers remains relatively poor. Many skilled workers left Tajikistan after Independence and
vocational and tertiary participation rates have declined; whereas 35% of the generation aged 55-
64 completed vocational or higher education, this is true for only 26% of the generation aged 24-
44 years.
5. The central Government comprises the presidential administration, ministries, and
committees. The sub-national administration consists of four types of units—oblasts
(regions/provinces), towns, rayons (rural districts), and jamoats (subdistricts). There are 4
oblasts and oblast-level entities and 68 rayons. Rayon – is the smaller administrative unit after
Oblast1. Tajikistan functions as a heavily centralized state with the most social services provided
by sub-national deconcentrated units.
1 E.g. Khatlon oblast’s population is 2.7 million. Khatlon oblast comprises 26 rayons.
12
B. Sectoral and Institutional Context
6. The key educational levels of the education system in Tajikistan are pre-school, general
and professional education:
Education levels Education Institutions Age Grades Duration
years
Pre-school Development
and Education
Nursery 1-3 - 3
Kindergartens & Early
Learning Centers (3)4-6 - (4) 3
General education:
Primary (1-4), basic (1-9)
and general (1-11) schools.
7-17 1-11
Mandatory basic 7-15 1-9 9
Incl. primary 7-10 1-4 4
High school 16-17 10-11 2
Professional education: Primary and Secondary
VET institutions, lyceums,
colleagues, Universities,
Institutes, Academies etc.
Primary VET 16 + - 1-3
Secondary VET 16+ - 2-4
Higher education 18+ - 5-6
7. The pre-school enrolment rate achieved a historic high of 16.7% in 1990. However, the
events following Independence led to a decline in the number of children enrolled from 141,500
in 1991 (in 944 institutions) to 51,600 in 1999 (in 523 institutions). The number of children
enrolled started to increase in the early 2000s, such that in 2010 there were 62,500 children aged
3-6 years (of which 44% were girls) enrolled in 488 kindergartens (450 are publicly-funded (by
the local budgets) and 38 - by state enterprises) and 14,860 children in 707 Early Learning
Centers.2 The net enrollment rate is currently 8.9%, the lowest rate in the region.
3
8. Roughly 80% of enrolled children attend publicly-funded state kindergartens, which offer
a full range of care and education services that are provided on an all-day basis, and generally
operate with 15-20:2 pupil:teacher/caregiver ratios. Three quarters of these kindergartens are in
urban areas. Though they are open to all children living in the catchment area, space and/or
budget constraints may restrict enrolment; the payment of supplementary fees may also hinder
access for poorer households. Most of the remaining enrolled children attend early learning
centres (ELCs), which provide only education services, usually on a half-day basis. ELCs are
predominantly located in rural areas. The opening of ELCs is the main source of recent
increases in access to pre-school. They are generally supported at start-up by aid agencies, local
Government and communities; tend to rely on parental fees to cover recurrent charges; and
operate with higher pupil:teacher ratios. The private sector is still in its infancy.
9. The pre-school sector faces many constraints, including a shortage of well-trained teachers
and specialists, a lack of adequate teaching-learning materials (TLMs) and furniture, and
dilapidated or lacking infrastructure and facilities. Funding is exiguous by historical and
regional standards: in 2010, only 2.5% of public education spending was allocated to the sector.
2 The ELC figures are for 2012.
3 World Bank, 2012, SABER-Early Childhood Development Country Report: Republic of Tajikistan (draft).
13
There is some concern as to the quality and effectiveness of pre-school. A recent assessment of
reading abilities among a sample of primary grade children found that those who had attended
pre-school only performed significantly better on one indicator – unfamiliar word reading -
compared to those who had not.4
10. Basic education is mandatory, starts at age seven years and lasts nine years: four years of
primary and five years of lower secondary. There are two years of upper secondary education.
Together, grades 1-11 is referred to as general secondary education. In 2010, there were
approximately 1.7 million students (grades 1-11) studying in 3,7475 schools with 93,600
teachers. Enrolment and completion of the primary cycle were near universal, with gender
parity. Enrollment rate in grade 9 (the last year of basic level - compulsory) was more than 90%.
However, the dropout rate for girls in grade 9 is 4%6 and the grade 9 graduation rate for girls
(number of female graduates/ 16 YO female population) is only 88%. The effectiveness of the
education system could be improved. For instance, the above-mentioned EGRA found that 30%
of girls and 31% of boys in Grade Two did not meet national standards for reading fluency,
rising to 45% and 56%, respectively, in Grade Four. Further, the EGRA concluded that students
struggled with inferential questions, indicating low levels of critical thinking and reading
comprehension. A different assessment concluded that basic education graduates have relatively
poor employment and wage prospects.7 Many factors contribute to the relatively poor
performance of the education system
11. Curriculum8. The education curriculum has relatively few hours of instruction yet places
a heavy emphasis on languages. There are in total 5,632 hours of instruction required for
students aged 7-15 years, compared to 6,747 hours in the Russian Federation and, on average,
7,384 hours in OECD countries. The difference is more pronounced at the primary level, where
2,142 hours are required in comparison to 3,079 hours for OECD countries. In Grade Two,
students start a second language (Russian for Tajik-speaking children and vice versa); in Grade
Three, they start a third language (often English); and in Grade Four, Tajik mother-tongue
students learn a third, Persian script. In contrast, no OECD country (not even those that are
multilingual) imposes a mandatory third language by the third grade. At the lower secondary
level, students are assigned a large number of courses without electives; this prevents a focus on
essentials and may encourage superficial learning. For instance, students are expected to take
17-18 courses in each of Grades Eight and Nine. In contrast, OECD countries require 9-13
subjects at the lower secondary level.
12. The curriculum is moving from being knowledge-based towards being competency-based,
and some work has been done to articulate the learning outcomes implicit in the primary
education program and selected subjects at the secondary level. However, there is still
substantial work to be done to relate curricular material to context and application, and to design
the curriculum around clearly articulated competencies. Some support materials have been
4 Tvaruzkova, M. and Shamatov, D., 2011. Review of Early Grade Teaching and Skills. The Kyrgyz Republic and
Tajikistan. Final Report. USAID: Bishkek and Dushanbe. 5 Including boarding and specialized schools
6 I.e. 96% of girls who begin 9
th grade graduate it successfully
7 De Laat, J. et al., 2011. Drivers of Secondary Education Participation in Tajikistan: the Link with Poverty, Labor
Market and Migration Outcomes. World Bank: Washington DC. 8 In Tajikistan context, curriculum includes standards and programs
14
produced to introduce the curricular changes made so far to district-level methodologists and
inspectors, but little work has been done as yet to build school staff capacities.
13. Teaching-learning materials. There are no reported significant gaps in textbooks
availability in the major languages and subjects, the result of prior donor support and financing
generated by the textbooks rental scheme. However, it is widely acknowledged that
supplementary materials are in short supply, particularly visual aids and consumables. At the
primary level, age-appropriate reading materials are also in short supply; at the secondary level,
equipment and materials for science laboratories and labor classes are lacking.
14. Teaching-learning practices. Teaching-learning techniques have traditionally focused
on the teacher passively transmitting information to students, though the education system is
moving through the revision of in-service teacher training courses towards broadening the
teacher’s range of technique to include more active learning. Professional development
opportunities are very limited. While teachers are entitled to 108 hours of in-service training
every five years, the in-service teacher training institutes have sufficient capacity to cover at
most one half of eligible teachers.
15. Teacher incentives. The quality of students who go to the teacher’s colleges is
compromised by the poor prospects now associated with the teaching profession. Education
sector wages in 2010 were on average US$ 55.7 per month. While this is the highest average
wage among the social sectors, it is lower than the national average wage (US$ 80.9) and is the
equivalent of 82% of per capita GDP. This is one factor that makes it difficult to produce, attract
and retain qualified professionals to the sector: 28% of teachers working in the primary and
secondary levels do not have the prescribed pre-service training qualifications. Further, while
some part of the wage can be tied to the execution of professional tasks, in general there is no
systematic link between a teacher’s performance and salary; indeed, there is no commonly
accepted method by which to measure performance. The MOE has included analytical work in
its medium-term Action Plan to prepare the introduction of a performance-based incentive
scheme.
16. Learning environments. Four per cent of students are enrolled in three-shift schools,
with the bulk of the remainder being enrolled in two-shift schools. This double or triple use of
facilities is one of the constraints on increasing the number of classroom hours. Space
constraints are likely to tighten in coming years as a result of demographic pressure. The
number of children aged under one year (currently just under 200,000) has been increasing on
average by 2.6 per cent over the past three years, and internal population shifts are creating
additional demands in some urban areas. The MOE plans building 1,000 new schools by 2020 to
accommodate population growth. The physical state of many schools is poor. The MOE
estimates that out of 3,747 schools in the country 18% are in emergency conditions, while 30%
are requiring major rehabilitation work. The stock of furniture is old, much of it dating from the
Soviet period.
There are also constraints on system effectiveness.
15
Data and information for decision-making and strategic planning. The MOE has a
functioning Education Management Information System (EMIS) as a result of support from past
FTI grants. There are eight modules containing information on students, staff and facilities; the
information can be disaggregated to school level, and the analysis and reporting of data are
automated at district, oblast and central level. The MOE publishes Annual Education Statistics
Book based on the EMIS data which is popular among the government and partners’ agencies.
The main challenge is to build staff capacities to use the information system for decision-making
and strategic planning.
17. There is as yet no system for regularly measuring learning achievements in order to
gauge education system effectiveness. The Government of Tajikistan established the National
Testing Centre (NTC) in 2009 and mandated it to monitor learning achievements and to establish
an University Entrance Examination (UEE). The NTC is focused on introducing the UEE in
2014, and will only thereafter begin to conduct regular assessments of learning in basic
education.
18. Public spending. The Government’s commitment to education is reflected in its budget
which has been steadily increased as % of GDP: 4.1% in 2006; 4.3% in 2008, and 4.5% in 2009
(including Public Investment Program (PIP) and Non-Budgetary Funds (NBF)). It was 4.0% in
2010 comprising 19.9% of the state budget (excluding PIP). The share of capital expenditures in
the social sectors allocated to education increased from 53.8% (2005) to 70.8% (2009). Despite
these increases, the levels of financing are inadequate to meet system needs. The funding gap to
implement the MOE’s medium-term Action Plan (2012-14) which covers all levels of education
is estimated at US$ 131 million (out of a total US$ 512 million)9. This gap is mainly due to huge
needs in infrastructure upgrade and equipment provision.
19. The efficiency and equitable distribution of public spending has increased in recent years
as a result of the introduction of per capita financing (PCF), which now covers all general
secondary schools (the result of support from the FTI grants). For instance, the average class
size in the final wave of schools adopting PCF increased from 19.4 in 2009 (before PCF) to 20.7
in 2012 (two years after adoption). In terms of equity, whereas in 2010 only 82% of all general
secondary schools had an approved budget in line with the formula-based budget10
, in 2011 95%
of schools had a PCF-compliant budget. The switch to PCF provides greater budgetary
autonomy to schools and gives responsibility to school management to manage resources
effectively and efficiently, and to work closely with communities on school development
planning, budget formation and expenditures monitoring. However, approximately only one-
sixth of school directors have received adequate training on financial management and
pedagogical leadership.
20. Ministry structure and management capacities. The structure of the MOE is
characterized by insufficient delegation and an excessive burden on senior management;
administrative functions remain embedded alongside education-system functions. A functional
9 Without recurrent expenditures.
10 Being in compliance was defined as having a budget that was 95% or greater of the budget as calculated using the
PCF formula. This cut-off is based on the regulation that districts are entitled to reallocate up to 5% of the district-
level budget, while ensuring that no school receives less than 95% of the budget as calculated by the PCF formula.
16
review of the MOE was conducted with a previous FTI grant and some recommendations were
acted upon (notably the creation of an EMIS department), but further recommendations are still
under review by the Government. It is acknowledged that management capacities require
strengthening, including to use system information for decision-making and strategic planning,
to execute fiduciary responsibilities, in human resources management, and to manage contracts.
There are also four regional (Oblast) and 68 district (Rayon) Education Departments. Here too
management capacities require reinforcement.
Government strategy and program
21. The Government’s National Strategy for Education Development (NSED) up to 2020 was
approved in July 2012. Its main goal is to create the conditions to ensure universal access to
relevant and quality education. There are three main priorities: (i) to modernize the curricula;
(ii) to re-organize the education system; and (iii) to ensure equal access to quality education.
The NSED identifies five implementation mechanisms to achieve its aims: the development of
the material and technical base; the development and introduction of new educational
technologies; the strengthening of staff capacities; the modernization of the management system;
the use of new financing mechanisms; and the promotion of social partnerships in education.
22. The MOE’s medium-term Action Plan (2012-14) is designed to be in line with the NSED
2020. At the pre-primary level, the Action Plan aims to revise the pre-primary education
standards and content; to modify the legal-regulatory framework to facilitate the expansion of
pre-school services including in the private sector; to build the capacities of pre-school teachers;
and to open and equip early learning centres (ELCs). The Action Plan aims to increase the pre-
school enrolment rate by eight percentage points by 2014.
23. In general education, the Action Plan’s main priorities are to introduce a competency-
based primary curriculum starting in 2013-14, and to prepare a competency-based secondary
curriculum ready for introduction starting in 2015-16. The Action Plan also intends to create
more vocational learning opportunities; to increase the number of available student places by
100,000; and to improve learning environments through the rehabilitation and construction of
schools, and the provision of learning equipment and materials
C. Higher Level Objectives to which the Project Contributes
24. Previous GPE (FTI) Grants to Tajikistan. This is the fourth grant to Tajikistan from
GPE (formerly known as Education For All Fast Track Initiative Catalytic Fund – EFA-FTI CF).
Past FTI grants in Tajikistan have had a catalytic effect on the mobilization and improvement in
the use of national and international resources. The FTI also made possible the elaboration of
the NSED in 2006, providing a strategic framework, action plan and identification of needed
resources, which has facilitated a coordinated and strategic sector program in education. The
first two grants (FTI-1 and FTI-2) were fully disbursed and successfully completed in 2007 and
2010, accordingly. The on-going grant (FTI-3) will be completed by mid 2013. Donor reviews
have assessed implementation of the three grants as satisfactory. Together, these grants have
supported: improved physical learning environments for 37,000 students; alleviation of furniture
17
shortages affecting around 100,000 students; publication of 1,663,500 textbooks in 27 titles, thus
eliminating the shortage of Tajik language textbooks in major subjects; further development and
national introduction of per capita financing reforms resulting in improved pupil to teacher
ratios, a reduction in the wage bill share at school level, transparency in the local budgeting
process, and an increase in funds for discretionary use by schools to improve the learning
environment and education quality; establishment of an Education Management Information
System (EMIS); and improved management and fiduciary capacities within the MOE. Summary
table with the FTI Grants series activities is in the Annex 7.
25. The fourth Global Partnership for Education (GPE-4) Grant builds on achievements of the
previous grants, continue some of the activities and support new areas like Early Childhood
Education complementing work started with other development partners such as UNICEF, AKF,
USAID and OSI.
26. The Grant contributes to achievement of the following goals of the NSED to: (i) increase
coverage and quality of early childhood education; (ii) modernize general education content by
increasing its relevance and moving from a knowledge- to a competency-based model; (iii)
improve teachers effectiveness; (iv) improve existing schools physical infrastructure and build
1,000 new schools to accommodate population growth; and (v) strengthen management
capacities of the education system and the system's efficiency.
27. The Grant is consistent with the objectives of the Tajikistan’s Country Partnership
Strategy (CPS) for FY 10-13 as follows:
(a) Objective I, Result 2, maintain access to education services particularly for the poor
and vulnerable. Public spending on education is insufficient to meet sector needs
including increasing access to preschool and the rehabilitation of infrastructure.
(b) Objective II, Result 8, enhance human capital potential strengthening the quality of
education services. The strengthening of Tajikistan’s stock of human capital has
significant positive implications for medium-term growth. A critical area identified in
the CPS is to improve management capacity, upgrade teachers’ qualification, and
focus educational results on competencies thus providing better job opportunities for
school graduates.
28. The proposed operation is also consistent with crosscutting initiatives identified as crucial
to support CPS objectives such as strengthening transparency and accountability in public
financial management by maintaining gains of the financing reforms and upgrading directors’
skill in overall school management and financial management (Result 10).
III. PROJECT DEVELOPMENT OBJECTIVES
A. PDO
29. The Project Development Objective is to contribute to improving the learning conditions
in pre-school and general education.
18
B. Project Beneficiaries
30. The Project will benefit four main groups. The Project’s main beneficiaries will be the
students who will gain from the improved learning conditions, particularly those enrolled in the
ELCs, state kindergartens and general education schools where some combination of teacher
training, mentoring, teaching-learning materials and civil works (CWs) and furniture will be
provided. The Project will benefit the teachers at the ELCs and general education schools
(primary section) through professional development activities to strengthen their skills and
qualifications in teaching and mentoring. The Project will benefit Directors of general education
schools and state kindergartens through professional development activities to strengthen their
skills and qualifications in school management. Finally, the education system managers will
benefit from the management capacity strengthening activities and an expanded EMIS.
C. PDO Level Results Indicators
31. The proposed project development indicators (PDIs) are:
(a) The number of children enrolled in the Early Learning Centres with improved
learning conditions. Learning conditions are understood to include the education
program standards and content, teaching-learning materials and practices, and the
physical environment.
(b) The number of primary students enrolled in the schools with improved learning
conditions. As stated above, learning conditions are understood to include the
education program standards and content, teaching-learning materials and practices,
and the physical environment.
(c) The number of students who benefited from physical infrastructure upgrades.
(d) EMIS data used for analysis by MOE.
IV. PROJECT DESCRIPTION
A. Project Components
GPE-4 will have four components, as described below.
Component One: Increasing access to quality early childhood education programs (US$
1.70 million equivalent; 10.5% of total project cost)
32. The objective of this component is to increase access to affordable and quality early
childhood education (ECE) programs. As such this component will finance: i) an analysis of the
pre-school sector; ii) the reinforcement of state kindergartens and early learning centers; and iii)
where possible, expansion of the latter. The Department of Pre-School and General Secondary
Education (DPGS) is responsible for the component implementation. DPGS will work in close
19
collaboration with AOE and RIITT. The Project will finance technical assistance to support the
DPGS to implement activities.
33. The Project will finance technical assistance to support information gathering, analysis
and policy/legal work in four areas. First, the TA will describe the structure and organization of
the sector, including the different kinds of institutions operating and the services they provide.
Second, an evaluation of existing pre-school services will be conducted among a randomized and
representative sample of institutions including ELCs and state kindergartens so as to further
develop sectoral policy and clarify the model that will be supported for scale up. The evaluation
will cover such matters as the start-up process (including teacher training, TLMs provision etc.);
costs and revenues; legal status; and operations. The evaluation will build on prior analytical
work that has been done by the MOE with development partners’ support (UNICEF, WB
SABER-ECD). Third, the financing of the sector will be analyzed in order to elaborate policies
that facilitate the sustainable expansion of access to pre-school services. Fourth, the legal-
regulatory framework will be reviewed and revised in order to put ELCs on a sound legal
footing, encourage the expansion of private sector services, and generally foster an increase in
the supply of early childhood education services.
34. The Project will also finance the establishment or reinforcement of 250 community-
supported ELCs benefitting at least 5,000 children and all 450 existing state kindergartens
benefitting at least 9,00011
children, including the training and mentoring of its teachers and the
provision of a package of essential teaching-learning materials. In total, the component will
provide benefits to 14, 000 children in ELCs and kindergartens comprising more than the
equivalent of 20% of all children enrolled in the ELCs and kindergartens in 2010. The support to
the establishment/reinforcement of ELCs and kindergartens will take place subsequent to the
findings of the evaluation of existing pre-school services.
35. The Project will finance the contracting of a non-governmental organization (NGO) to
mobilize beneficiary communities to establish an ELC or reinforce an existing ELC. The
mobilization will include support to the Rayon Education Department (RED) and local
stakeholders to raise awareness about early childhood education, with an emphasis on including
girls; to identify a physical space for locating the ELC and, if needed, conclude arrangements for
its rehabilitation; to negotiate an agreement among local stakeholders to cover the recurrent costs
of operating the ELC; to recruit a suitable teacher to work in the ELC; and to resolve local legal
issues enabling the ELC to be established and operate on a secure legal footing. The NGO will
also periodically visit the communities during the first academic year of operation to provide
support as needed and ensure that all agreements are implemented.
36. The Project will also finance the delivery of an integrated package of teacher training,
mentoring and teaching-learning materials and equipment to 250 ELCs and 450 state
Kindergartens. The in-service teacher training program will be delivered to one teacher from
each beneficiary ELC and state kindergarten (700 in total), who will also receive printed
methodological guidance materials; and each institution will receive complementary in-school
mentoring visits by course trainers. In order to build the capacities of the RIITT, a training-of-
trainers course will be provided to RIITT staff. The full package of materials and furniture will
11
Assuming each ELC and one group in the kindergarten enrolls at least 20 pre-school children each.
20
be provided to all beneficiary ELCs, while the state kindergartens will be provided only with the
reading and other pedagogical materials.
37. All three elements of the package – teacher training, mentoring and teaching-learning
materials – will be based on interventions already positively evaluated as effective, and will be
designed to complement and reinforce one another. The beneficiary rayons will include those
that are relatively poor and that are not already covered for ECE by donors. The communities
selected will be rural and will include on a priority basis those that have already opened an ELC
without donor support. They will also demonstrate a commitment to financially sustain the
recurrent costs of the ELC, and to provide adequate physical space to operate an ELC; any minor
rehabilitation works will be locally supervised and carried out at the expense of local
stakeholders in compliance with the MOE’s Environmental Management Framework (EMF)
approved by the Bank.
Component Two: Upgrading general education content (US$ 1.75 million; 10.8% of total
project cost)
38. The objective of this component is to focus the general secondary education program on
competencies and broaden the teaching-learning process to encompass active learning and
formative assessment techniques. There are two sub-components, which focus on the primary
and secondary levels, respectively. The Department of Pre-School and General Secondary
Education (DPGS) is responsible for the component’s implementation. The DPGS will work in
close collaboration with AOE and RIITT.
39. By September 2012, all primary grades in the country will receive new modern textbooks
for math and languages which were developed with support from the WB-funded Education
Modernization Project (EdMP IDA Credit 3759-TJ / IDA Grant H037-TJ). During the academic
year 2012-13 the Academy of Education will, with support from the LEDG including FTI-3,
produce an advanced draft of the upgraded standards and program for general secondary
education that is gender-neutral, more competency-based and relevant to the modern world and
that incorporates life skills.
Sub-component one: Upgrading primary education content and practices (US$ 1.59 million)
40. The MOE will formally introduce the revised primary education standards and content
starting in the 2013-14 academic year. To support its introduction, the Project will finance
several activities: communication campaign to raise awareness about the education content
modernization, teacher training and provision of the TLMs. Around 2,000 primary school
teachers (7.4% of all primary teachers) will be trained: Deputy Directors and Heads of
Methodological Units (HMUs) for the primary grades and advanced teachers. These staff has
teaching duties and will also be expected to provide mentoring support and in-service instruction
to the remaining primary grades teachers in their school. In-service teacher training staff of the
RIITT will also be trained on how to deliver the revised in-service training course for primary
teachers. The course will cover the new primary education standards and program, particularly
how to use standards for lesson planning and measure their mastery, and how to use the new
textbooks; as well as a range of active learning techniques and formative assessment. Although
21
the teachers’ pre-service institutions will not be supported by the Project, the teaching staff of
those institutions will be invited for the RIITT’s courses as well. The Project will also finance
the printing and distribution of teacher methodological guidance manuals to all schools.
41. All district-level primary grades methodologists will be trained on how to support teachers
to deliver the revised standards and content. All district- and school-level methodologists will be
provided with a methodological support manual. School inspectors will receive an orientation on
the revised standards and content, so as to ensure that the inspection process reinforces the
introduction of the revised primary program.
42. The Project will finance the procurement and distribution of a package of essential
teaching-learning materials for primary grades, for approximately 3,700 schools. An evaluation
of the effects on teaching-learning practices of the teacher training, teaching-learning materials
and revised education program will also be financed. The evaluation will be based on a
randomized and representative sample (including control). It will be carried out at baseline and
at a follow-up stage. It will include structured observations to gather information on teaching-
learning practices, and will also collect information on the training status of teacher, availability
of teaching-learning materials, and availability and use of revised education program.
Sub-component 2.2: Upgrading secondary education content (US$ 0.16 million)
43. Building on the work on new standards and programs in 2012/2013 academic year, the
Project will finance the piloting of the education program in one subject of the secondary school
(G5-11): Mathematics. Piloting activities will include technical assistance, training participating
teachers, monitoring visits, periodic seminars with participants, and collecting and consolidating
findings. Based on the findings, the working group will finalize the secondary education
standards and program for Mathematics. The working group will also revise supporting
documents and courses to be compliant with the revised program, including a methodological
guidance manual for the teacher, a manual for methodological support staff, a monitoring and
evaluation guide for inspects, and in-service training courses for teachers and methodological
support staff. Further, where needed, the working group will identify a list of essential
supplementary teaching-learning materials to complement the textbooks. Where such materials
are not available, the working group will develop new materials.
44. The Project will also finance the elaboration of guidelines on textbooks development and
review in the context of competency-based curricula, and train textbooks authors and evaluators
on the development and appraisal of textbooks.
Component Three: Improving learning environments (US$ 11.00 million; 67.9% of total
project cost)
45. The objective of this component is to increase access to improved learning environments
in general secondary education. As such, this component will finance the construction or
rehabilitation of premises in approximately 40 schools, and provide them with furniture, to the
benefit of approximately 10,600 students12
. The Project will finance technical assistance to assist
12
Calculations are in Annex 6
22
the Department of Capital Construction (DCC) to implement sub-component 3.1, as well as a
team of engineers to supervise work sites. It will also finance hiring a design firm to adjust
standard designs to specific work sites. The schools’ design will be done under the ongoing FTI-
3 once the sites are identified. FTI-3 will also finance a qualified person to assist the MOE in
developing site-specific Resettlement Action Plan (RAPs) if needed.
Sub-component 3.1: Civil works (US$ 10.00 million; 61.7%% of total project cost).
46. This sub-component will finance the construction or rehabilitation of premises in
approximately 40 schools. The beneficiary districts and schools will be selected using the
following key criteria which will be detailed in the Project Operations Manual. The districts
selection criteria will include having a relatively high proportion of schools that are in
emergency condition or requiring substantial rehabilitation; having a relatively low share of
capital investments for schools, as measured on a per-student basis; being subsidized by the
central/oblast budget (i.e. being relatively poor); and, where applicable, having fulfilled all prior
commitments to schools as part of FTI-financed civil works. School selection criteria within
selected districts will include state schools that are temporarily located in private houses or
railway carriages, or that are in emergency condition or requiring substantial rehabilitation; that
have not received substantial support for infrastructure upgrade from any source during the last
15 years; and that have a five-year projected enrolment of not less than 240 students. District
and school performance in allocating funds for school maintenance will also be taken into
account. To minimize supervision cost and improve quality of the works selected rayons and
schools will be located in clusters.
47. An Environmental Management Plan (EMP) will be prepared for each work site prior to
tender, in compliance with the EMF developed by the MOE for the FTI-3 and updated for the
GPE-4. The Department of Capital Construction (DCC) will be responsible for monitoring the
EMPs. Each site-specific EMP will be developed as part of the engineering design
documentation for each work site, and included in the contract. Each work site will also be
reviewed to check if it falls under the terms of the Resettlement Policy Framework (RPF)
developed by the MOE for the FTI-3 and adjusted for the GPE-4. Where relevant, a RAP will be
prepared and implemented prior to the start of the works. For screening the sites against the RPF
checklist (developed for FTI-3 and updated for GPE-4) the MOE will hire a qualified person
knowledgeable about local legislation and Bank policies and procedures with regard to
involuntary resettlement issues (with FTI-3 funds). That person will also monitor implementation
of the RAPs (if any) under GPE-4.
The sub-component will be implemented by the DCC of the MOE.
Sub-component 3.2: Furniture (US$ 1.00 million).
48. This sub-component will finance purchase and distribution of furniture to all beneficiary
schools in sub-component 3.1. Each beneficiary school will receive a full set of furniture,
including classroom desks and chairs for students and teacher, blackboards, and shelving; and
furniture for the Director’s office, teacher’s room, and the library. A Third Party Verification
(currently ongoing) of the works, goods and services supplied under FTI Grants series will
23
advise the MOE and LEDG on whether the technical specifications for the furniture procured in
the previous FTI Grants should be improved.
The sub-component will be implemented by the Administrative and Logistical Department of the
MOE.
Component Four: Strengthening system capacity (US$ 1.75 million; 10.2% of total project
cost)
The objective of this component is to strengthen the capacities at the central and local levels to
manage the education system.
Sub-component 4.1: Management capacity strengthening (US$ 0.12 million).
49. This sub-component will finance training, technical assistance and study tours to
strengthen further capacities of the MOE. The capacities to be strengthened will include
fiduciary and contracts management; the use of EMIS data for decision-making and strategic
planning; the development of an M&E system for the NSED including analytical reports on
implementation; and the revision/updating of the NSED medium-term Action Plan.
The sub-component will be implemented by the Department of Personnel and Special Affairs
(DPSA).
Sub-component 4.2: Directors training (US$ 0.80 million).
50. This sub-component will finance the training of approximately 1,900 directors of general
secondary education schools in financial management and pedagogical leadership (around 50%
of total number of directors in the country), and of approximately 450 directors of state
kindergartens in financial management (100%). RIITT staff trainers will also go through a
‘training of trainers’ course, to build the RIITT capacities in directors training. General
secondary school directors will come from districts not previously covered by FTI grants or
donor projects. The financial management course teaches directors to manage schools in the
framework of PCF. The pedagogical leadership course teaches directors to enhance pedagogy in
the school. Given the MOE’s plans to expand PCF to the state kindergartens the kindergarten
directors will receive a condensed training on financial management, using an adapted module.
51. The sub-component will be implemented by the RIITT. The Project will finance technical
assistance to support the RIITT to implement the activities of this component, as well as the
teacher training activities in Components One and Two.
Sub-component 4.3: Per capita financing (US$ 0.194 million).
52. This sub-component will finance the extension of PCF to the pre-school sector and the
reinforcement of PCF in general education. In the pre-school sector, the Project will support the
extension of PCF to all state kindergartens in two phases, building on the results of an ongoing
24
PCF pilot supported by UNICEF. Activities supported by the Project will include the revision of
the legal-regulatory framework; orientation workshops for key staff in the REDs, RFDs, and
state kindergartens; and in-depth training for new kindergarten accountants. A PCF database
will be maintained, containing budgetary and expenditures data for all state kindergartens as well
as indicators on resource usage (e.g. group sizes). The Project will finance technical assistance
at central and oblast-level to support the MOE, REDs, RFDs and state kindergartens to shift to
PCF.
53. In the general education sector, the Project will finance technical assistance to reinforce
the operation of PCF. The main tasks of the TA will be to provide support to the MOE, REDs
and schools at key stages of the budgeting cycle to ensure compliance with PCF procedures; to
monitor the operation of PCF; and to analyze budgets, expenditures and key indicators of
resource usage to report on system performance under PCF.
54. In order to create an institutionally sustainable capacity to orient new school accountants
and support existing school accountants on how to work within PCF, the Project will build the
capacities of the Chief Accountant of the RED, the RED economist, and the education officer of
the Rayon Treasury Office.
The sub-component will be implemented by Department of Planning, Budget Implementation
and Forecasts in Education (DPB).
Sub-component 4.4: Education management information system (US$ 0.086 million).
55. This sub-component will finance the extension of the EMIS to three new sectors: pre-
school, VET, and HE. In each of these sectors, the Project will finance technical assistance to
design and operationalize three modules: students, staff and facilities. The Project will finance
the materials and printing costs required to introduce new questionnaires, as well as trainings on
software usage, data entry and forwarding, and reporting. It will also finance the printing and
translation of statistical digests produced by the EMIS Department.
The sub-component will be implemented by the EMIS Department.
Sub-component 4.5: Project management (US$ 0.55 million).
56. This sub-component will ensure that Project activities are implemented on time and in a
satisfactory manner. The Project will finance the hiring of a Project Coordinator to oversee and
coordinate activities, working in close coordination with the Deputy Ministers and Heads of
Departments. The Project will also finance the hiring of technical assistance in the following
areas: general assistance to the Project Coordinator; procurement; financial management and
disbursement; monitoring and evaluation; and translation and secretarial services. The
consultants on procurement, financial management and disbursement, and monitoring and
evaluation will be placed in the units responsible for these functions within the MOE.
57. The Project will finance incremental operational costs incurred by the MOE as a result of
project implementation, communication expenses (if these are not covered under their respective
25
components) and monitoring compliance with the safeguards policies. The Project will finance
the costs of project monitoring and evaluation, as well as the annual financial audit.
B. Project Financing
1. Lending Instrument
58. GPE-4, like FTI-1, FTI-2 and FTI-3, will be financed under a Specific Investment Loan
instrument. There will be no pooled financing or co-financing in the Project. However, as the
Project will support implementation of the Government’s NSED Medium-Term Action Plan and,
in particular, the Master Plans to expand access to quality ECE, to upgrade the general education
program, and to expand PCF to pre-school level, as well as the State Program on School
Infrastructure Investments, there will be parallel financing from different Local Education Group
(LEG)13
members.
Project Cost and Financing
Project Components Total
(US$ million) Percentage of
Project Cost
Component One. Increasing access to quality early
childhood education programs 1.70
10.5%
Component Two. Upgrading general education content 1.75 10.8%
Sub-component 2.1: Upgrading primary education content and
Practices
1.59
Subcomponent 2.2 Upgrading secondary education content 0.16
Component Three. Improving learning environments 11.00 67.9%
Sub-component 3.1: Civil works 10.00
Sub-component 3.2: Furniture 1.00
Component Four: Strengthening system capacity 1.75 10.8%
Sub-component 4.1: Management capacity strengthening 0.12
Sub-component 4.2: Directors training 0.80
Sub-component 4.3: Per capita financing 0.19
Sub-component 4.4: Education management information system 0.09
13
LEG comprises the Government and in-country development partners working in education.
26
Sub-component 4.5: Project management 0.55
TOTAL 16.2 100%
C. Lessons Learned and Reflected in the Project Design
59. Building on experience. The proposed project design incorporates lessons learned from
the previous FTI Grants, education sector interventions supported by the WB and other
Development Partners in Tajikistan, and interventions throughout the region. The Project
activities either scale up or follow up successful interventions of previous FTI Grants and
operations supported by Development Partners in the country and/or the region, which can be
found in Annex 7.
60. The constraints on adopting a Sector-Wide Approach (SWAp) and the need for close
sectoral cooperation. There are three major constraints on adopting a full SWAp approach and
using pooled funds and country systems. First, past sectoral fiduciary capacity analyses
concluded that Tajikistan’s country systems still have shortcomings so they cannot be fully used
under a SIL. Second, some Development Partners are either reluctant or cannot (due to internal
regulations) pool resources. Third, the MOE is concerned that the amount of control it has over
directing project funds to investment priorities will be diluted if project funds were not
transferred through a Designated Account. Thus while the LEG recognizes that the SWAp is an
ideal towards which it continues to strive, the proposed Project will be a typical SIL-type
operation and may be some elements of the country systems. Nonetheless, the MOE and its
Development Partners have over the past five years recognized the benefits of close cooperation
in support of a sectoral strategy and action plan, and have greatly improved their coordination.
This closer cooperation has been catalyzed by the FTI Grants. For this reason the proposed
Project was designed to be part of a portfolio of projects to support the NSED 2020 and
implementation of the medium-term Action Plan. Moreover, many of the project activities
(especially in Components One, Two and 4.3) are part of the detailed sub-sectoral Master Plans
that are supported by other Development Partners and have been jointly elaborated and approved
by the LEG.
61. Complementarity and synergy. The design and evaluation of the Development Partners’
projects have reinforced the importance of designing project activities to complement one
another so as to create synergy. Building on this, the support to Early Learning Centres
(Component 1.1) and the primary grades (Component 2.1) is designed to incorporate at least
three complementary interventions: improved education programs, capacity building of teachers,
and the provision of teaching-learning materials. These inputs are designed to work as an
integrated package to improve education effectiveness.
62. An underlying rationale of the use of teaching/learning packages is the lesson learned that
textbooks – though available – are not sufficient to carry the content of the education programs.
Supplementary teaching-learning materials are needed to enable students to achieve the learning
standards stipulated by the curriculum. For instance, there are insufficient age-appropriate
reading materials in language textbooks, necessitating the supply of supplementary reading
materials. The supply of such supplementary materials was supported in FTI-3 and highly
27
appreciated, and will be supported again in the proposed Project. Similarly, the in-service
teacher training and methodological support systems lacks quantitative and technical capacity to
meet basic in-service needs of teachers; less than half of teachers receive any in-service training
every five years, and mentoring support for teachers is generally weak. Therefore the packages
included in the proposed Project provide for support to improve the quality of the relevant in-
service teacher training course, build the RIITT’s capacity to deliver the course, expand
coverage, and combine it with either outside mentoring support (as in Component 1) or building
the capacities of schools to provide methodological support to teachers (as in Component 2.1).
63. The design of supervision and monitoring. The previous FTI Grants were instrumental
in developing and improving procedures and instruments for supervision and monitoring. In
particular, the MOE elaborated and improved work-site records for supervising works, standards
for site inspections and records-keeping, and procedures for checking that supervision records
and site visits are conducted according to standard. In the area of training, the MOE developed
tools and mechanisms for monitoring logistics, participant satisfaction, trainer quality, and
participant performance. Further, the FTI Grants helped to promote a culture of monitoring and
evaluation within the MOE, such that activities are generally only supported if provision is made
for M&E. Accordingly, the M&E instruments and procedures developed in prior FTI Grants will
be integrated into the current Project, as well as various complementary M&E exercises (e.g. an
evaluation of training effectiveness in changing teaching-learning practices).
64. The importance of information for strategic planning and decision-making. The
successful development and operationalization of the Education Management Information
System (EMIS) supported by the previous FTI Grants increased the MOE’s appreciation of this
tool. This created a demand for capacity building on the analysis of information, and for
extending the tool to other sub-sectors. Both of these demands have been reflected in the Project
design (Components 4.1 and 4.4).
65. School designs. Experience with civil works under previous FTI Grants led to
improvements in schools designs, such as reinforced roofing, safer electrical wiring and others.
FTI-3 designs also incorporated innovations in insulation, which are currently being reviewed for
effectiveness by the MOE and LEDG. All positively reviewed innovations, as well as
recommendations of the technical supervisions by the Bank, will be incorporated into the designs
used in Component Three.
66. Introduction of per capita financing (PCF). The design and introduction of PCF in
general education was supported by previous FTI Grants. Several lessons were learned during
that time, pertaining to the effectiveness of PCF in promoting budgetary autonomy and
efficiency; the value of decentralized technical assistance to support education institutions and
local authorities at key stages of the budget cycle; the utility of a database of budget data and
school inputs to monitor PCF performance; and the need to build institutional capacity at the
district level to support new accountants to use the PCF system. These lessons drove the
introduction of PCF for State Kindergartens in Component 4.3, and influenced the design of
component activities.
28
67. Design of accountability reforms. Three strategies have been used widely around the
world to enhance accountability and improve learning outcomes: i) information for
accountability; ii) school-based management; and iii) teacher policies that link pay to
performance. FTI-3 supports interventions in the information for accountability area through
training for PTAs on PCF and school budget formation and EMIS data sharing with key
stakeholders, and in the area of school-based management through the capacity building of
school Directors. The latter activity will be continued in the GPE-4; also analytical reports based
on the EMIS data will be shared and discussed with key stakeholders. The MOE has included
some analytical work in its medium-term Action Plan to develop a performance-related pay
system.
V. IMPLEMENTATION
A. Institutional and Implementation Arrangements
68. Management and implementation arrangements of the GPE-4 will be substantially the
same as those under FTI-3. The MOE will be responsible for decision-making and
implementation with its own staff and draw, where needed, on technical assistance to augment
fiduciary, management and other technical capacities for implementation. Each Grant
component will be implemented by the MOE unit which, as per the MOE regulations, has
primary responsibility for the component activities and report to their respective deputy minister.
While all three deputy ministers will oversee implementation of the respective Grant activities,
overall project coordination and implementation will be under the responsibility of the Deputy
Minister on Economic Issues. He will be supported by a Project Coordinator and an Assistant to
the Project Coordinator. The Department for Accountancy and Financial Reporting (DAFR), the
Procurement unit and the Analysis and Education Sector Reform Development Unit (ARU) will
continue responsibility for financial management (FM), procurement, and the Project monitoring
and evaluation respectively, and will be supported by FM, procurement and M&E consultants.
The Deputy Ministers, the Project Coordinator, the Assistant to the Project Coordinator, DAFR,
Procurement unit, ARU and respective consultants for these units constitute the Project
Coordination Team. The Grant will continue funding a Secretary who provides administrative
and translation support to the Project Coordination Team. Also, where needed, the MOE units
responsible for implementing particular Project components will be supported by consultancy
services to support implementation; they will be placed in those units.
69. The need for augmenting capacity of the MOE is based on certain factors. First, the
staffing levels of the MOE and its subordinate agencies were not originally designed to
implement projects and the extra work they entail. This applies particularly to the DPGS
(Component One), the DCC (Component Three) and the RIITT (Components 1, 2 and 4.2).
Second, some of the components will work on reforms, the design and initial implementation of
which do not come under the terms of reference of MoE staff and which are naturally the domain
of consultants. This applies particularly to the DPG (Component 4.3) and the EMIS Department
(4.4). It will be among the terms of reference of all technical assistance hired to augment MOE
capacities to transfer knowledge and skills to MOE staff.
29
70. Reporting arrangements of the MOE will be preserved: staff and consultants of
departments/units with implementation responsibilities will report to their Head;
Department/Unit Heads will report to the relevant Deputy Minister; and the Deputy Ministers
will report to the Minister. The Departments/Units will also provide information pertaining to
project budget and the project implementation progress as required to the DARF and ARU
respectively. The Departments/Units will closely work with the Procurement unit on all
procurement related matters. Also, the Project Coordinator will be empowered by Ministerial
decree to oversee, coordinate and receive reporting on the project activities implemented by the
various departments/units of the MOE, working in close coordination with the Deputy Ministers;
and to support the departments/units as needed in the implementation of activities.
71. The Table below presents the implementation responsibilities of the MOE Departments,
by component.
Components Managing / Implementing Unit
1 ECE Dep. For Pre-school and general Secondary Education (DPGS).
AOE and RIITT will be directly involved in implementation 2 Education Content
3.1 CWs Dep. of Capital Construction (DCC)
3.2 Furniture Dep. of Marketing and Assets (DMA).
4.1 Capacity
Strengthening
Dep. of Personnel and Special Affairs (DPSA)
4.2 Directors Training Republican Institute for In-service Teacher Training (RIITT)
4.3 PCF Department of Planning, Budget Implementation and Forecasts
in Education (DPB)
4.4 EMIS Education Management Information System (EMIS)
Department
C4.5 Grant Management Deputy Minister on Economic Issues; Dep. for Accountancy
and Financial Reporting (DAFR); Procurement unit; Analysis
and Education Sector Reform Development Unit (ARU)
72. Grant implementation will benefit from capacity building and system development
supported by prior FTI grants. MOE staff has been trained in financial management and
accounting, procurement, civil works management, data analysis and strategy development, and
monitoring and evaluation. The MOE has also developed management and reporting systems for
grant implementation, and has time-tested operational procedures for supervision/monitoring and
evaluation, particularly for civil works, provision of materials, training (including effectiveness)
and education financing. Moreover, the EMIS is fully operational and provides data on all key
inputs at school, district and national levels.
73. In some cases, the Project will finance the provision of technical assistance to
implementing Departments.
The DPGS, to support the implementation of Component One, particularly to manage the
work of the firm hired to do analytical work and the NGO hired for community
30
mobilization; the TA will also periodically monitor the process of establishing or
reinforcing ELCs at community level.
The DCC, to supervise civil works.
The DPB, to monitor and advise on the introduction of PCF for state kindergartens, to
support the operation of PCF in general education and advise on fine-tuning PCF design,
and to build the capacities of local authorities to support schools and kindergartens.
The RIITT, to ensure the technical quality of the Component One training module, and to
support the organization, logistics and monitoring of trainings.
The EMIS Department, to develop and operationalize the modules for the new sectors that
will be covered by EMIS during the project.
74. All consultants will report to the Head of the Department/Agency in which they are
placed, and work in close collaboration with the Project Coordinator. The placement, use and
terms of reference of all technical assistance financed by the Project to support implementation
will be amplified in the Project Operations Manual.
Partnership arrangements
75. The Local Education Group (LEG) consists of the MOE and donor partners. It meets
regularly under the direction of the Minister of Education, to ensure adequate sector coordination
in support of the Government’s education strategy and the MOE’s medium-term action plans.
LEG will incorporate discussion of the Project in its regular meetings, to monitor progress,
identify and resolve bottlenecks, and to ensure that complementary activities supported by donor
partners are progressing satisfactorily. The education donor partners also meet regularly as part
of the Local Education Donors Group (LEDG), under the direction of the GPE Coordinating
Agency (currently UNICEF). The LEDG will incorporate discussion of the Project during its
meetings, to review progress in implementation.
76. Project components are designed to support the MOE’s NSED 2020 and in particular the
medium-term Action Plan (2012-14). This is also true for activities supported by donor partners
of the MOE in their respective programs of cooperation. In this way, the donors cooperate in a
SWAp-like manner. Many activities supported by donor partners therefore serve a preparatory
or complementary role to the Project components. All such activities have been captured in
Master Plans jointly elaborated and agreed to by the LEG, particularly for the development of
Early Childhood Education (affecting Component One), the reform of the content of general
education programs (affecting Component Two), and the expansion of per capita financing to
cover state kindergartens (affecting Component 4.3).
77. Implementation of particular components will therefore be executed in close coordination
with complementary donor-supported interventions in that area, in line with the agreed relevant
Master Plan. Component One will be supported by activities undertaken by AKF, UNICEF and
USAID, particularly to revise the ECE program, the in-service teacher training program, and the
list and specifications of the essential teaching-learning materials and equipment that ELCs
should receive; and to develop new age-appropriate teaching-learning materials particularly for
reading. Component Two will be supported by activities undertaken by FTI-3, UNICEF and
USAID, particularly to produce revised primary education standards, and program, and
31
associated supporting documentation and innovative in-service training courses; USAID will
also support improve reading delivery systems including development of supplementary
teaching-learning materials. Component 4.3 will be supported by UNICEF, particularly to
finalize and periodically review the per capita formula for state kindergartens. More details on
these Master Plans are provided in the respective sections of Annex 2 (Detailed Project
Description).
B. Results Monitoring and Evaluation
78. The Project’s monitoring and evaluation will have three dimensions. First, the MOE
through its Project Coordination team and implementing departments will collect information on
project inputs, outputs and outcomes enabling the calculation of all indicators of the results
framework and progress reporting. Responsibility for ensuring that the results framework
indicators are reported on a timely basis will reside primarily with the Analysis and Research
Unit (ARU). The ARU will be provided with an M&E technical assistant, who will be part of
the Project Coordination team. In general, each implementing department will be given
responsibility for ensuring that the ARU has the necessary information to establish the value of
indicators according to the required periodicity and disaggregation. Where technical assistance
has been assigned to a department to assist in implementation, this TA will be responsible for
supporting the department to report on indicators.
79. The results framework will form the basis of the project M&E framework operations
manual (OM). The manual will build on the FTI-3 Operations Manual, and include detailed
information on all indicators, including a formal definition, data source, and the regularity and
level of disaggregation with which each must be generated. Further, the OM will include key
process indicators to track the delivery of inputs. The Manual will also describe internal
procedures for implementing departments for monitoring and reporting on project activities.
These will include procedures to govern the monitoring of ELCs supported in component 1; the
engineering supervision of civil works sites in component 3 and Third Party Quality Assurance
TA for the CWs supervision hired by the MOE; the PCF monitoring of kindergartens, schools
and district education departments in component 4.2; and the EMIS monitoring of reporting
institutions in component 4.3. The ARU will periodically monitor records-keeping at civil works
sites. The ARU will also be responsible for monitoring three aspects of all training courses,
including logistics, participant satisfaction, and the quality of trainers. The RIITT will be
responsible for keeping data on all training participants, including their performance on entry and
exit tests.
80. The Government requires quarterly reporting on projects. The Project Coordinator will
also produce bi-annual reports for submission to the World Bank, describing the implementation
of activities in relation to plan, constraints encountered and actual or proposed solutions, and the
status of results framework and process indicators. The reports will include information on the
Project’s financial implementation and will be produced in the format included in the POM
approved by the Bank.
81. Second, the Bank will carry out at least two implementation support missions per year.
These missions will, among other things, gauge progress against the Project’s Annual
32
Implementation Plan; monitor the inputs, outputs, and intermediate outcome indicators; and meet
with the Local Education Group (LEG) to ensure continuous sectoral coordination and discuss
partner agency contributions that complement project activities. The missions will assess issues
arising from the implementation process and agree on the next steps to address them. The
missions will include the active involvement of DPs who will be supporting the MOE to
implement its medium-term Action Plan in the areas covered by the proposed Project. A mid-
term review will be conducted to assess progress and agree on any needed mid-course
adjustments. An implementation completion review will be carried out by the end of the
implementation period to allow the gathering of information for the preparation of the
Implementation Completion Report (ICR). The LEG will participate actively in the mid-term
and end-term reviews, with donors being identified to lead in component areas where they have
expertise. As with past FTI grants, the GPE Coordinating Agency and the Supervising Entity
will work in close collaboration throughout Project implementation to monitor progress and
report to the Secretariat.
82. Third, in terms of outcomes, the Proposed project will measure the use of EMIS data for
decision-making and policy development by the MOE; the development of the EMIS has been
supported by previous FTI grants, and a solid foundation has been created to enable its use over
the next three years. The project will finance an evaluation of the impact of Component Two
activities on primary classroom teaching-learning practices and management. A baseline and
follow-up survey will be carried out during project implementation. While the results of the
survey will be closely monitored by the MOE to make adjustments to the design and/or delivery
of in-service teacher training, if needed, they will not be incorporated as a project outcome
indicator. For Component One, the in-service training will be complemented with on-site
mentoring visits, which will be structured to include observation of teaching-learning practices.
The reports on these visits will provide information to evaluate the effectiveness of the in-service
training and introduce needed adjustments to training, but again it will not be incorporated into a
project outcome indicator. For both Components One and Two, given the lead times required to
provide the teacher training in the context of a short project life (three years), one cannot expect
with certainty a significant and measurable change in teaching-learning practices during project
implementation.
83. One of the priorities of the Government’s NSED is that the management of the education
system be oriented around achieving results. Therefore the MOE will monitor closely the results
of the future-round of the Early Grade Reading Assessment (EGRA). The EGRA may provide
some insight into the impacts of activities financed under Components One and Two. Further,
the National Testing Centre (NTC) is expected to introduce sample-based measurements of basic
education learning achievements starting in 2015/2016, and the MOE will monitor these closely
as well. However, neither of these exercises will be used for project outcome indicators as the
project activities are too limited in scope and time to have a significant impact on learning within
the project’s timeframe.
C. Sustainability
33
84. The proposed Project is designed to be sustainable in terms of: political, strategic and
policy commitments; finance; and generating stakeholder support for the education sector.
85. All proposed activities of the Project support the Government’s 2020 sectoral strategy,
and are an integral part of the MOE’s medium-term Action Plan (2012-14) and sub-sectoral
Master Plans for developing Early Childhood Education (ECE) and modernizing general
education programs (2012-16). As such, the Government’s commitment to the Project is strong
and sustainable.
86. All work to develop and deliver education program standards and content, as well as any
associated supported documents (e.g. teacher methodological guidance) and in-service training
courses, is led by the MOE and its subordinate agencies and therefore will be formally approved
by the MOE and its subordinate agencies. As such, they will then become part of the body of
official documentation and in-service training, and will be supported by the state budget. This
will cover relevant activities in Component One, Two and 4.2.
87. The proposed support to EMIS (Component 4.4) will result in new modules being
incorporated into a system that is currently supported by MOE staff and budget. However, as
noted in the ORAF and previous reviews of FTI Grants, the sustainability of the EMIS faces a
challenge. In order to operate and maintain the system, as well as the underlying hardware, the
MOE requires highly qualified technical staff and resources for purchasing consumables and
hardware replacements. The MOE needs to clarify how it will attract qualified staff to operate
the EMIS, perhaps either through changes in the salary structure for technical staff or by
contracting out such services. With respect to system maintenance, the Centre for Information
Technologies and Communications (CITC) was established with a mandate to provide technical
support to the education sector. In order to put the CITC on a sound financial footing, the MOE
plans on hiring TA to assist the CITC in developing a business plan clarifying what legal
changes to its status are required, if any, to enable it to generate revenues; and on how it can
market its services. More generally, the LEDG continues to recommend that the Government’s
policy on e-governance address these issues, which affect all sectors of Government.
88. The proposed support to communities (in Component 1) to reinforce or open an Early
Learning Centre will be predicated upon local stakeholders demonstrating a commitment to
establish permanent premises for ECE, resolve local legal issues, and cover the recurrent costs of
operating the ELC. The Project will also monitor the extent to which these commitments are
fulfilled (through the NGO to be contracted) and, where feasible, provide support to local
stakeholders to clarify and carry through with operational aspects of the commitments.
89. Under Component Three, only the sites where the school and/or the local authority have
made a formal commitment to maintain the building will be selected for civil works. This same
practice was adopted under prior FTI Grants, and field visits have indicated that buildings have
been satisfactorily maintained. As part of the evaluation of the FTI series of Grants, the World
Bank has hired, with Education Program Development Fund (EPDF), a third party to evaluate
the state of maintenance of schools that have benefited from civil works. The findings will be
used to improve, if needed, GPE-4 site selection criteria, maintenance agreements, and follow-up
to monitor and enforce agreements.
34
90. The proposed Project supports interventions in per capita financing to make resource
allocation more equitable and transparent, and to improve the efficient use of resources. Under
Component 4.3, the Project will support the extension of PCF to state kindergartens, reinforce
the operation of PCF at the general education level, and build the capacities of local authorities
to support schools to operate PCF. Experience under prior FTI Grants (which supported the
design and introduction of PCF reforms) showed that these reforms led to greater community
support for schools, a more efficient use of resources, and a greater focus at school level on
improving learning conditions. Further, Components One and Two aim to improve the
conditions of learning and the quality of education. Together these should contribute to
increasing stakeholder commitments to education. As such, the proposed Project support to
extend and reinforce PCF, and to improve learning conditions, should contribute to the sector’s
long-term sustainability.
VI. KEY RISKS AND MITIGATION MEASURES
A. Risk Ratings Summary Table
Risk Rating
Stakeholder Risk Moderate
Implementing Agency Risk
- Capacity Substantial
- Governance Moderate
Project Risk
- Design Moderate
- Social and Environmental Low
- Program and Donor Low
- Delivery Monitoring and Sustainability Substantial
- Other (Optional)
- Other (Optional)
Overall Implementation Risk Substantial
B. Overall Risk Rating Explanation
91. The Project’s overall implementation risk is considered substantial. As indicated in more
detail in the Operational Risk Assessment Framework (ORAF) in Annex 4, the following are the
main risks and mitigation measures.
92. One of the key risks rated as substantial is associated with the weak overall capacity of
the implementing agency especially in the fiduciary and contract management areas. The Grant
35
will follow the same financial management (FM) and procurement procedures as the ones in
FTI-3 and use the same FM automated system. The Grant will also fund training for key MOE
staff on management, fiduciary and M&E (component 4.1). Training on procurement for the new
key MOE staff is on-going under FTI-3. The FTI-3 will complete operationalization of the M&E
system and development of the contract management system which will migrate to GPE-4.
93. The second risk rated as substantial is associated with sustainability of some activities
supported by the Project: alternative ECE models may prove to be of high cost to poor families
or not adequate in quality, MOE may not have the resources to maintain school infrastructure
and/or to supply required pedagogical inputs with the new standards, and EMIS may be not
sustainable due to low salaries for the qualified IT specialists. This is a recurrent concern for
which limited alternatives are under the Project's control. The PCF will continue to encourage a
more efficient use of resources; the introduction of the ECE model will be preceded by a
thorough evaluation of the models including their sustainability in terms of MOE and users; and
the Project will continue supporting MOE in terms of making its efforts sustainable.
94. Sustainability of a MIS is a generic cross-sectoral issue. MOE plans on hiring TA to
assist its IT center to come up with a sustainability plan (income generation enabling to attract
and retain qualified IT staff.
95. The next risk is associated with a high turnover in the MOE and in the sector in general
(teachers, principals, rayon education staff) which compromise investments in human resources.
Public Administration Reforms (including wage reforms and staff promotion) supported by the
Bank address those issues at the national level. However, the reform is expected to be more
effective in the medium term. TA for professional development opportunity for the MOE and
respective sector staff built in the Project design could be an incentive for the staff retention. On-
going Third Party verification funded by the EPDF should advise about percentage of teachers
and school principals who got training under the previous FTI Grants and have left their
positions. However, it does not answer question on the reasons of staff turnover.
96. Finally, the Project will support two technically complex interventions – reinforcement
and expansion of ECE models and revision of curriculum and standards. This may be complex
for MOE in terms of implementation, particularly since human resources are scarce. Technical
assistance will be built into project design and the Development Partners will bring in their
expertise and experience in advising the Government.
VII. APPRAISAL SUMMARY
A. Economic and Financial Analyses
97. The economic analysis assesses the rationale and effectiveness of the proposed activities,
while the financial analysis examines the impact of the GPE-4 investment on public education
spending and its financial sustainability.
98. Economic Analysis. Component 1: Increasing access to quality early childhood
education (ECE) programs. There has been enough evidence that the cognitive and non-
36
cognitive skills developed in early childhood form the basis for future learning and labor market
success. ECE is essential to help young children be better prepared to learn and succeed in
school. Nevertheless, public spending on preschool education has been limited to only 2.5% of
the overall education budget.14
This contributes largely to a low preschool enrollment rate (aged
3-6) which was only 8.9% in 2010/11 - the lowest level in the region.15
While the country clearly
needs to increase access to ECE, the current full-time kindergarten model is too expensive,
inefficient, and inequitable for any sizable expansion. As alternatives, several half-day preschool
programs have been developed and piloted. This component will first support a comprehensive
sector analysis, including preschool mapping, financial analysis, an evaluation of the quality of
the alternative programs, and legal framework. Based on the analytical work, it will help the
Government develop a realistic expansion plan and invest in the most cost-effective, affordable,
and sustainable preschool models.
99. Component 2: Upgrading general education content. In Tajikistan, access to basic
education is almost universal, but different student assessment results reveal poor student
learning. One of the most essential elements for good quality education is teachers. In general
schools, 63.2% of teachers have higher education, and 25.3% - secondary professional.16
However, twenty eight percent of teachers do not have the prescribed pre-service training
qualifications, i.e. although they have professional education they are not certified to teach
subjects which they teach. Teaching-learning techniques have traditionally focused on the
teacher transmitting information to passive students. Therefore, it is crucial that the teachers will
have access to quality in-service training programs oriented towards broadening the teacher’s
range of technique to include more active learning. This component will support in-service
teacher training for primary school teachers, revision of teaching plans (courses and hours by
grade), and improvement of the quality of production and distribution of pedagogical support
materials. The in-service training program for primary grades teachers will be revised in
accordance with new primary grades content – more competencies oriented (including life
skills). It is expected that it will directly benefit 2,000 primary school teachers (7.4% of all
primary teachers), and indirectly more than 50,000 primary students (7.4% of all primary
students) and more in the following years.17
It is expected that improved teaching quality at basic
education level will bring about cognitive benefits and greater long-term schooling outcomes in
terms of higher test scores, higher enrollment in secondary and tertiary education, deeper
understanding of education materials, as well as lifelong outcomes reflected in higher rates of
employment and higher expected earnings upon graduation.
100. Component 3: Improving learning environments. The total school-aged population is
expected to continue increasing approximately by 10,900 annually between 2012-15.18
This
alone requires additional 33019
classrooms to be established every year. Moreover, according to
14
Central Treasury accounts, Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Tajikistan. 15
Statistical Bulletin of the Education Sector of the Republic of Tajikistan. Ministry of Education of the Republic of
Tajikistan, 2011; EMIS, 2010. 16
Ibid. 17
Ibid; staff calculations. 18
Population figures by age groups between 2001-2011 are taken from State Agency on Statistics of the Republic of
Tajikistan (as historical reference), whereas TFR and population growth rates are referenced from the U.N.
Population Division's "World Population Prospects: The 2010 Revision." 19
10,900 new students / 22-25 students per class group = 500 class groups / 1.5 shifts = 330 classrooms
37
the MOE estimations 18% of schools are in emergency conditions, while 30% of schools require
major rehabilitation work. Given the large scale of capital investment needs, and persuaded by
the economic crisis in 2009, the Government started investing more heavily in capital
infrastructure in social sectors as part of its anti-crisis job creation measures. Total public
investment is expected to remain on average at US$42.8 million per annum in 2012-1520
, but this
is far below the needs. Consisting of about 8-9% of the annual public investment, it is expected
that this component will newly establish or rehabilitate 320 classrooms in total and directly
benefit 10,600 students (and more in the following years) in poor learning conditions.21
101. Component 4: Strengthening system capacity. One of the tangible achievements of the
previous FTI series is the establishment of the Education Management and Information System
(EMIS) database for general education. This component will support the MOE in expanding the
EMIS to contain more comprehensive database, including aggregate fiscal statistics,
demographic indicators and key macroeconomic variables, and covering other levels of
education. The expanded EMIS will further strengthen MOE’s ability to make data-based policy
decisions, taking into account efficiency and cost-effectiveness of their investment. In particular,
high-quality data is essential to evaluate and refine the existing per capita funding (PCF)
formula, and develop a new formula for preschool education. The latter will be an important step
towards the development of a nationwide costing methodology for preschool education.
102. Financial Analysis. The Government’s strong commitment to the development of the
education sector can be observed in the increasing public spending on education in the recent
years. Between 2005 and 2011, public spending on education doubled in real terms, increasing as
a percentage of GDP from 3.4% (2007) to 4.8% (2011),22
which is just around the average for
low to lower middle income countries, but slightly below the ECA regional average (around
4.5%). In general education (about 70% of total education budget), public spending per student is
low both in terms of absolute figures and as a share of GDP per capita – PPP $159 per student
and 12%, accordingly in 200823
.
103. To meet the capital investment needs, the education share of public spending on capital
expenditure for social sectors increased from 53.8% in 2005 to 70.8%t in 2009, and is expected
to remain high at 68.9% in 2012.24
Yet, the funding gap to implement the MOE’s medium-term
Action Plan (2012-14) which covers all levels of education is large, estimated at US$ 131
million. This gap is mainly due to huge needs in infrastructure upgrade and equipment supply.
104. Given the circumstances, GPE grants will continue playing a crucial role in filling the
financial gap, particularly in implementing reforms addressing sector-specific needs to improve
quality and overall system efficiency. The proposed project will invest US$16.2 million over
three years (including US$10.0 million for infrastructure), or US$5-6 million per year on average
(including US$3-4 million for infrastructure). This will be equivalent to about 1.8% of total
20
Central Treasury accounts, Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Tajikistan. 21
Calculations are in Annex 6 22
Excluding PIP. Central Treasury accounts, Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Tajikistan; IMF Staff Report,
May 2012. 23
In 2010: 14% in Tajikistan; 22.9% in Kirgyzstan, UNESCO database. 24
Central Treasury accounts, Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Tajikistan; IMF Staff Report, May 2012.
38
annual average of education budget (excluding externally financed PIP, US$ 297 million on
average between 2012 and 2014) and about 7.7% of capital annual spending on education
(excluding externally financed PIP, US$ 42.8 million on average).25
The importance is given to
eliminate inefficiencies in public expenditure allocations (e.g., PCF), expand access to quality
preschool education, improve education content and quality and improve learning environments
(e.g., school rehabilitation and construction), increase overall management and teaching
competency levels (e.g., in-service teacher training and school director training), and strengthen
analytical base at the central Government level (e.g., EMIS).
B. Technical
105. The proposed Project is designed to support the implementation of key education sector
priorities as outlined in the Government’s NSED 2020 and associated medium-term Action Plan
(2012-14). These priorities are: improving access to pre-school education; upgrading education
programs; improving the material and technical conditions of schooling; and modernizing the
management of the education system. Project activities are also embedded within detailed
sectoral Master Plans of Action developed by the MOE for the development of the pre-school
sector, upgrading of the basic education program and expansion of the PCF to the state
kindergartens, as well as the State Program on School Infrastructure Investments. The NSED,
Plans and Program are supported by a range of Development Partners. Therefore the proposed
Project has been designed to be part of an integrated approach to supporting the Government’s
development plans for the sector.
106. Project design was informed by various analyses and evaluations of constraints in the
education sector and effective solutions to resolve them. Among the sources one can cite the
2011 Early Grade Reading Assessment;26
an evaluation of the effectiveness of ECE in early
learning centers;27
an analysis of the results of the 2008-9 National School Census and the 2008-
10 EMIS data sets;28
evaluated pilots and results of the implementation of the first generation of
the IDA financed education projects in Central Asia; the evaluation of the USAID-supported
Quality Learning Project;29
and the findings of the System Assessment and Benchmarking for
Education Results (SABER) in Early Childhood Development undertaken in Tajikistan.30
These
various studies and evaluations highlighted the need to expand access to early childhood
education, and identified the general model design required for effectiveness; the need to
upgrade the education programs to make them more competency-based and relevant to the
modern world, and identified models for new programs combined with in-service training and
the supply of teaching-learning materials to complement the textbook; and to address the
25
Central Treasury accounts, Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Tajikistan. 26
Tvaruzkova, M. and Shamatov, D., 2011. Review of Early Grade Teaching and Skills. The Kyrgyz Republic and
Tajikistan. Final Report. USAID: Bishkek and Dushanbe. 27
Institute for Professional Development (GBAO), 2011. Increasing children access to early learning opportunities:
Impacts on children, parents and communities. AKF/UNICEF: Dushanbe. 28
Agranovich, M.L., 2010. Analysis of the National School Census and Education Management Information System
Data. MOE: Dushanbe. A follow-up report on the 2010 EMIS data set is forthcoming. 29
Creative Associates International, 2012. USAID/Quality Learning Project, Tajikistan, Final Impact Assessment
Report 2012 (draft). USAID: Bishkek/Dushanbe 30
World Bank, 2012, SABER-Early Childhood Development Country Report: Republic of Tajikistan (draft).
39
education system’s infrastructural constraints. The cost estimates for the Grant were based on
detailed itemization and estimated quantification of inputs for each activity, using unit costs that
are in line with national and international norms.
107. Project design also incorporates lessons learned from the three previous FTI Grants, as
previously mentioned in this document.
C. Financial Management
108. All fiduciary functions for the Project, including financial management and disbursement,
will be carried by the Ministry of Education (MOE). The MOE currently acts as the
implementing agency under the Fast Track Initiative Catalytic Fund Project (FTI-3) and the
Additional Financing for the Education Modernization Project (EMP AF). An assessment of the
financial management arrangements for the Project was undertaken in July 2012, which
confirmed that the FM arrangements currently do not yet fully meet the Bank’s necessary FM
and disbursement requirements. However, upon complying with the agreed action plan the MOE
is expected to meet the Bank's fiduciary requirements. These conditions include upgrading the
existing automated accounting system to be used by MOE for project accounting, budgeting and
reporting under GPE-4; recruiting two suitably qualified FM consultants to provide technical
assistance to the Chief Accountant of MOE and updating the existing Financial Management
Operational Manual for the Project.
109. The MOE will open a Designated Account (DA) denominated in US$ for administering
Grant funds in a commercial bank acceptable to the World Bank. The ceiling for the Designated
Account and other disbursement details will be provided in the Disbursement Letter. The MOE
will submit quarterly interim un-audited financial reports (IFRs) that will be generated by the
accounting system based on formats agreed with the World Bank. The reports, to include
Statement of Sources and Uses of Funds, Uses of Funds by Project activities (Components &
Expenditure Categories) and Statement of DA, will be submitted to the World Bank within 45
days of the end of each quarter, with the first reports under the proposed Project being submitted
after the end of the first full quarter following initial disbursement. Draft formats of these IFRs
will be prepared and agreed with the MOE during an appraisal.
IMPORTANT: Location of the DA in a commercial bank option is appraised by the WB FM
team. However, this is not the final option as the parties have not come to a consensus on the
matter before the GPE-4 Application package submission. Location of the DA (either in a
commercial bank or in the Treasury) will be discussed during the next Bank FM mission (fall
2012) and confirmed at Negotiations in case of the funds approval.
110. The annual audited financial statements together with the auditor’s opinions and the
management letter will be provided to the Bank within six months of the end of each fiscal year,
or from the end of the Project’s closing date. An audit of the Project will include the project
financial statements, SOEs and DA Statement. The cost of the audit will be financed from the
project funds. Following the Bank’s formal receipt of the audited financial statements from the
Client, the Bank will make them available to the public in accordance with the Bank’s Access to
40
Information (AI) Policy through its website. In addition, the Client will publish the audit reports
in a manner satisfactory to the Bank.
D. Procurement
111. The MOE will retain responsibility for procurement under the project. The Bank
conducted an assessment of the capacity of the MOE to implement procurement activities as well
as the Procurement Risk Assessment and Management System (P-RAMS). Procurement
performance under the ongoing projects has been satisfactory during the past years. The MOE
had sufficient capacity of the procurement department supported by the consultant. However,
the recent staff reshuffle has weakened existing procurement capacity in the Ministry. The newly
appointed procurement staff as well as technical specialists of the departments involved in the
process will need to continue getting trainings in procurement of goods/works and consulting
services in accordance with the 2011 Bank's Guidelines and contract management. Moreover, to
mitigate procurement risks identified, procurement packages will be consolidated to maximize
interest from reputable bidders; advertising policy will be established; regular physical
inspections by Bank supervision mission will be conducted; public disclosure and transparency
provisions of the Bank’s Guidelines will be enforced. An initial procurement plan covering the
entire project period will be developed and agreed between the Borrower and the Project Team
by negotiations. Details of procurement arrangements are presented in Annex 3.
E. Social (including Safeguards)
112. Gender. The Government of Tajikistan is committed to gender equity in education. Its
MDGs include gender parity in general secondary education enrollment and adult literacy rates.
At the pre-primary level, girls constitute 48% of enrollment. Gender parity in enrollment has
been achieved in Grades 1-8, but more boys complete Grade 9 than girls (92% vs. 88%). In
terms of learning achievements, the 2011 Early Grade Reading Assessment (EGRA)31
found that
girls performed better than boys in reading ability and comprehension. For instance, in Tajik
language at Grade Four, 45% of girls and 56% of boys did not pass standards for reading
fluency.
113. The proposed Project has built gender into the design so as to promote gender equity, as
follows. In Component 1, community mobilization to reinforce or establish ELCs will
emphasize girls’ participation. Further, the ECE program supported under the Project to deliver
in the ECEs and state kindergartens is gender neutral. In Component 2.1, the primary education
standards and program has been gender-audited and revised to ensure gender neutrality, and all
supplementary reading materials will be vetted to avoid gender bias. In Component 2.2, the
secondary curriculum has been gender-audited, and the further development of the secondary
Mathematics program and standards supported by the Project will be done so as to ensure gender
31
Tvaruzkova, M. and Shamatov, D., 2011. Review of Early Grade Teaching and Skills. The Kyrgyz Republic and
Tajikistan. Final Report. USAID: Bishkek and Dushanbe.
41
neutrality. In Component Three, all new schools will include separate sanitary facilities for girls.
In Component 4.4, the new EMIS modules that will be developed will enable gender
disaggregation of data, thus enabling more gender-sensitive policy development and strategizing.
The Project will track and monitor some indicators (like number of children enrolled at an Early
Learning Centre with improved learning conditions; number of additional qualified pre-primary
and primary teachers resulting from project interventions) disaggregated by gender.
114. As the new constructions may require land acquisition, the Project triggers OP 4.12. To
be ready for any potential resettlement issues, the Government has updated a Resettlement Policy
Framework (RPF) prepared for FTI-3. Per World Bank requirements the RPF has been disclosed
and consulted in the country before appraisal. The RPF will be used as a screening device for all
activities involving temporary or permanent land acquisition. In the event that such land
acquisition results in temporary or permanent restrictions in land use, loss of access to resources
or services or affects any physical property, trees or crops, the affected persons will be consulted
and informed and Resettlement Action Plans (RAPs) will be developed. Since the previous
projects did not need to trigger OP 4.12, the Ministry does not have experience with resettlement,
So, if needed, an expert will be hired to assist the MOE in the development and implementation
of RAPs any.
115. In the event that land acquisition affects livelihoods, the Project will undertake
consultation with the affected persons and prepare RAPs. In case of a new school construction
(in a settlement that previously lacked a school), a thorough social analysis of the catchment area
will be undertaken with special emphasis on identifying issues and needs of vulnerable sub-
sections such as minority ethnic groups, female headed households, girl students and
handicapped.
F. Environment (including Safeguards)
116. According to the World Bank safeguards policy on environmental assessment (EA, OP
4.01) the Project is rated as Category B as it may generate some environmental and social
impacts. The planned rehabilitation and construction of educational premises will be of
small/medium scale and not expected to cause significant or irreversible negative social and
environment impacts. While these impacts are expected to be mostly positive (improving
learning conditions and comfort, reduced student sick days), the Project might also generate
some adverse impacts which will be associated with air pollution, dust, noise, construction
wastes, asbestos, occupational hazards, etc. All these adverse impacts are minor, temporary, site
specific, and can be easily avoided and/or mitigated during project implementation. To address
these impacts the Project will apply the updated Environmental Management Framework (EMF)
which was prepared and applied for its predecessor, the Tajikistan Fast Track Initiative Catalytic
Fund Grant 3 project (FTI – 3) project and updated for GPE-4. The EMF: (i) outlines the general
anticipated environmental risks and impacts and associated mitigation measures, (ii) describes
the process and provide specific guidance on contents for preparation of Checklist
Environmental Management Plan (EMP) and site-specific EMPs; and (iii) indicates institutional
responsibilities for preparation, review/approval, implementation and monitoring/reporting of the
EMPs. Additionally the EMF includes a new short section describing the requirements on
42
handling asbestos material. As construction of buildings in new sites carries additional risks
associated with selection of the site, the EMF also includes a new section that provides a
negative list of sites which will be not allowed as a location for the new school sites. Per WB
requirements the EMF has been disclosed and consulted in the country before appraisal.
117. The Project will have no impacts on Forests and Natural Habitats as all activities will be
implemented within the existing settlements. The client also confirmed the Project will not
support any activities involving buildings which might be considered as Physical Cultural
Resources and thus OP 4.11 is not triggered.
43
Annex 1: Results Framework and Monitoring
Tajikistan
Global Partnership for Education (GPE)-4 (P131441)
Project Development Objectives
PDO Statement
The project development objective is to contribute to improving the learning conditions in pre-school and general education
(Nb. Learning conditions are understood here to include the education program standards and content, teaching-learning materials and practices, and the physical
environment).
.
Project Development Objective Indicators
Indicator Name Description (indicator definition etc.)
The number of children enrolled at an Early Learning
Centre with improved learning conditions
Indicator will measure the number of children who are enrolled at an Early Learning Centre supported by the
Project that satisfies the following criteria: the centre is equipped with essential teaching-learning materials;
there is a teacher who has successfully completed the in-service course on the ECE program; and the ECE
program is available and is being followed. (Nb. Here as with other indicators, successful completion means
receiving a pass mark on a final summative test designed by the RIITT.)
The number of primary students enrolled at a school with
improved learning conditions
Indicator will measure the number of primary students who are enrolled at a school supported by the Project that
satisfies the following criteria: a package of supplementary essential teaching-learning materials has been
provided; there is a teacher who has successfully completed the in-service course on the revised primary
education program; and the education program is available and being followed.
Number of students who benefited from physical
infrastructure upgrades
Indicator will measure the number of students enrolled in schools that are either newly built or rehabilitated.
Baseline represents results of the FTI-1, FTI-2 and FTI-3 (planned); targets – accumulative with GPE-4 planned
contribution
EMIS’s data used for analysis by MOE Indicator will measure whether the MOE analyzes information disaggregated by school, gender and age, which
is generated by the EMIS.
Intermediate Results Indicators
Indicator Name Description (indicator definition etc.)
44
C1: Number of additional qualified pre-primary teachers
resulting from project interventions
A core indicator that will measure the number of pre-primary teachers who are certified as having successfully
completed the in-service training course delivered with project support
C1: Percentage of pre-primary students benefiting from a
package of essential teaching-learning materials
Indicator will measure the number of pre-primary students (expressed as a percentage of all children enrolled in
pre-school education in 2010) who are enrolled at an ELC or kindergarten that received a package of teaching-
learning materials financed by the Project
C2a: Number of additional qualified primary teachers
resulting from project interventions
A core indicator that will measure the number of primary teachers who are certified as having successfully
completed the in-service training course delivered with project support
C2b: Percentage of primary school children who
benefited from provision of supplementary teaching-
learning materials
Indicator will measure the number of primary school children (expressed as a percentage of all enrolled primary
school children) who are enrolled at a school that received a package of teaching-learning materials financed by
the Project
C3: Number of additional classrooms constructed or
rehabilitated resulting from project interventions
A core indicator that will measure the number of classrooms rehabilitated or constructed. Baseline represents
results of the FTI-1, FTI-2 and FTI-3 (planned); targets – accumulative with GPE-4 planned contribution
C4. Development of the NSED monitoring system Indicator will measure whether the NSED monitoring system is in place proved by production of the reports on
the NSED Action Plan Implementation.
C4: Percentage of School Directors who upgraded their
knowledge in school management
Indicator will measure the number of School Directors (expressed as a percentage of all Directors) who
successfully complete the in-service course on school management. Will be disaggregated to distinguish
between Directors of kindergartens (KG) and Directors of general education schools (GE). Baseline for general
school Directors represents results of the FTI-2 and FTI-3 (planned); targets – accumulative with GPE-4 planned
contribution.
C4: Percentage of districts whose RED and RFD
representatives have been trained to provide PCF support
to education institutions
Indicator will measure the number districts (expressed as a percentage of the total number of districts) where at
least one representative from each of the RED, RFD and Rayon Treasury Office has been trained to provide PCF
support to education institutions
C4: Number of new EMIS modules generating a report
based on actual data
Indicator will measure how many modules (among those planned for design and operationalization) are
successfully completed, such that the final stage of generating a report based on actual data is achieved. There
are three new sectors to be covered by EMIS (pre-school, VET and HE); in each of these sectors, three modules
are planned (enrolment, personnel, and facilities).
45
Results Framework and Monitoring
.
Project Development Objective Indicators
Indicator Name Core Unit of
Measure Baseline
Cumulative Target Values
Frequency Data Source/
Methodology
Responsibility
for Data
Collection YR1 YR2 End Target
The number of children enrolled at an Early
Learning Centre with improved learning
conditions
Number 0 2,500 5,000 In 2nd and
3rd year
MOE supervision
reports. Number is
cumulative.
MOE
The number of primary students enrolled at a
school with improved learning conditions
Number 0 40,000 75,00032 In 2nd and
3rd year
MOE supervision
reports. Number is
cumulative.
MOE
Number of students who benefited from physical
infrastructure upgrades
Number 37,000 39,500 incl.
2,500 GPE-4
47,600 incl.
10,600 GPE-4
In 2nd and
3rd year
MOE supervision
reports. Number is
cumulative.
MOE
EMIS’s data used for analysis by MOE
Report
Education
statistical
books are
published
annually
Analytical
report based
on EMIS data
is prepared
and discussed
Once Report is available MOE
32
Updated programs and TLMs will be provided to all schools with primary grades; 2,000 teachers will be selected from 660 schools with 120 primary students
per school resulting in rounded down 75,000 primary students.
46
Intermediate Results Indicators
Cumulative Target Values Data Source/ Responsibility
for Data
Collection Indicator Name Core
Unit of
Measure Baseline YR1 YR2 End Target Frequency
Methodology
C1: Number of additional qualified pre-primary
teachers resulting from project interventions Yes
Number 0 350 700 In 2nd and
3rd year
MOE supervision
reports. Number is
cumulative.
MOE
C1: Percentage of pre-primary students benefiting
from a package of essential teaching-learning
materials
Percentage 0% 10% 20%
In 2nd and
3rd year
MOE supervision
reports. Percentage
is cumulative.
MOE
C2a: Number of additional qualified primary
teachers resulting from project interventions Yes
Number 0 1,000 2,000 In 2nd and
3rd year
MOE supervision
reports. Number is
cumulative.
MOE
C2b: Percentage of primary school children who
benefited from provision of supplementary
teaching-learning materials
Percentage 0% 50% 100% In 2nd and
3rd year
MOE supervision
reports. Percentage
is cumulative.
MOE
C3: Number of additional classrooms constructed
or rehabilitated resulting from project
interventions
Yes Number 750
810 incl.
60 GPE-4
1,070 incl.
320 GPE-4
In 2nd and
3rd year
MOE supervision
reports. Number is
cumulative.
MOE
C4. Development of the NSED monitoring
system. Report 0
Report is
produced
Report is
produced Annual MOE Report MOE
C4: Percentage of School Directors who upgraded
their knowledge in school management
Percentage GE: 30%
KG: 0%
GE: 40%
incl. 10%
GPE4
KG: 0%
GE: 60%
incl. 30%
GPE4
KG: 45%
GE: 75%
incl. 45%
GPE4
KG: 90%
Annual
MOE supervision
reports. Percentage
is cumulative.
MOE
C4: Percentage of districts whose RED and RFD
representatives have been trained to provide PCF
support to education institutions
Percentage 0% 100% 100% Once
MOE supervision
reports. MOE
C4: Number of new EMIS modules generating a
report based on actual data
Number 0 0 3 9 Annual
MOE supervision
reports. Number is
cumulative.
MOE
47
Annex 2: Detailed Project Description
Tajikistan
Global Partnership for Education (GPE)-4 (P131441)
Component One: Increasing access to quality early childhood education programs (US$
1.70 million; 10.5% of total project cost)
The objective of this component is to increase access to affordable and quality early childhood
education (ECE) programs.
The pre-school enrolment rate is the lowest in the region. The medium-term Action Plan calls
for an increase in coverage largely through the opening of new early learning centres (ELCs).
ELCs offer pre-school education in half-day shifts. They tend to use already existing facilities
(e.g. in schools), to have student:staff ratios of 15:1 or more, and to rely on parental fees
supplemented by contributions for local authorities and/or the hosting premises. They are less
expensive than state kindergartens, which generally offer full-day education and caregiving
services, and operate with much lower student:staff ratios.
Approximately 200 ELCs have opened over the past three years with donor support, and these
have all received a combination of in-service teacher training, mentoring and teaching-learning
equipment and materials. The first cohort of centers supported by AKF, with a 20:2 student:staff
ratio, was positively evaluated after one year as being effective. However, most donor-supported
ELCs operate with higher ratios and these have not been evaluated since their establishment. A
further 500 ELCs have been opened on the initiative of schools and local education authorities
without external support. Monitoring visits to a limited number of these sites indicated that the
quality of their services could be much improved, though there is no clear overall picture of the
state of these ELCs. All ELCs operate in a legal grey area, as the legal-regulatory framework
has not yet caught up with their appearance in the pre-school sector. The effectiveness of pre-
school education in general is a concern in light of the 2011 EGRA finding that primary school
children who had attended pre-school did not have better reading skills than children who had
not attended pre-school.
Before supporting the further establishment of ELCs, it will be useful to take stock of the state of
the ELCs that were established without external support and to evaluate the effectiveness of the
ELCs in general and kindergarten services as they operate under normal conditions (without
donor support). This will clarify the model(s) of ELC that should be used for expansion,
including the modalities for its establishment and operation at the local level. Further, there is a
need to clarify the financing mechanisms and legal-regulatory framework that will facilitate the
expansion of pre-school services, including those offered by the private sector.
This component will therefore finance: i) an analysis of the pre-school sector; ii) the
reinforcement of state kindergartens and early learning centers; and iii) where possible,
expansion of the latter. The component will be implemented by the Department of Pre-School
and General Secondary Education (DPGS). The Project will finance technical assistance to
support the DPGS to implement activities.
48
The activities that will be supported by the Project are part of a Master Plan to expand ECE
access that has been agreed by the LEG. As part of this Master Plan, donor partners and the
MOE have committed to carry out preparatory activities to enable the smooth and effective
delivery of GPE-4 activities. The ECE program used in ELCs will be revised based on best
practices in currently operating ELCs, and will fill gaps in such areas as life skills and
foundational literacy knowledge and skills. The in-service teacher training course will be revised
to be in line with modifications to the ECE program, and will be approbated and formally
approved. Written methodological guidance for teachers will be produced. New reading
materials in Tajik that are suitable for children aged 4-6 years will be designed or adapted. The
list of materials and furniture/equipment to be provided to new ELCs, including specifications,
will also be reviewed and revised. These preparatory activities are being undertaken by the Pre-
School Technical Working Group of the Academy of Education, with support from the LEDG.
The Working Group’s membership includes representatives from the AoE, the DPGS, the RIITT,
and the LEDG (particularly AKF, UNICEF and USAID).
The proposed Project will finance technical assistance to support information gathering, analysis
and policy/legal work in four areas. First, the TA will describe the structure and organization of
the sector, including the different kinds of institutions operating and the services they provide.
This will include a mapping of operating ELCs, so as to clarify their needs for support and to
identify those centers in particular that will be supported for reinforcement/expansion. Second,
an evaluation of existing pre-school services will be conducted among a randomized and
representative sample of institutions including ELCs and state kindergartens so as to further
develop sectoral policy and clarify the model that will be supported for scale up. The evaluation
will cover such matters as the start-up process; costs and revenues; legal status; and operations.
The evaluation will build on prior analytical work that has been done by the MOE with
development partners’ support (UNICEF, WB SABER-ECD). Third, the financing of the sector
will be analyzed in order to elaborate policies that facilitate the sustainable expansion of access
to pre-school services. Fourth, the legal-regulatory framework will be reviewed and revised in
order to put ELCs on a sound legal footing, encourage the expansion of private sector services,
and generally foster an increase in the supply of early childhood education services.
The Project will also support the establishment or reinforcement of 250 community-supported
ELCs benefitting at least 5,000 children and all 450 state kindergartens benefitting at least
9,00033
children, including the training and mentoring of its teachers and the provision of a
package of essential teaching-learning materials. In total, the component will provide benefits to
14, 000 children in ELCs and kindergartens comprising more than the equivalent of 20% of all
children enrolled in the ELCs and kindergartens in 2010. The support to the
establishment/reinforcement of ELCs and kindergartens will take place subsequent to the
findings of the evaluation of existing pre-school services, i.e. in the second and third years.
The Project will finance the contracting of a non-governmental organization (NGO) to mobilize
beneficiary communities to establish an ELC or reinforce an existing ELC. The mobilization
will include support to the Rayon Education Department (RED) and local stakeholders to raise
awareness about early childhood education, with an emphasis on including girls; to identify a
33
Assuming each ELC and one group in the kindergarten enrolls at least 20 pre-school children each.
49
physical space for locating the ELC and, if needed, conclude arrangements for its rehabilitation;
to negotiate an agreement among local stakeholders to cover the recurrent costs of operating the
ELC; to recruit a suitable teacher to work in the ELC; and to resolve local legal issues enabling
the ELC to be established and operate on a secure legal footing. The NGO will also periodically
visit the communities during the first academic year of operation to provide support as needed
and ensure that all agreements are implemented.
The Project will also finance the delivery of an integrated package of teacher training, mentoring
and teaching-learning materials and equipment to 250 ELCs and all 450 state Kindergartens.
The package will be designed to improve teaching-learning practices to deliver the MOE’s ECE
program. The in-service teacher training program will be delivered to one teacher from each
beneficiary ELC and state kindergarten (700 in total). The training of teachers will be spread out
evenly over the second and third years of the project. Existing training capacity has been
analyzed and is adequate to accommodate the planned teacher beneficiaries; this is largely the
result of past support by AKF and UNICEF to build in-service training capacities for pre-school
teachers. The project will also include a training of trainers to reinforce and expand RIITT
capacities. All participant teachers will receive printed methodological guidance on delivering
the ECE program. The course will be complemented with in-school mentoring visits by course
trainers. The course will be based on the training designed by AKF and UNICEF, which is
provided in two sections; the mentoring visits occur once during the break between sections, and
twice after. The break between sections is meant to provide teachers with an opportunity to
apply what was learned during the first section of the course, and provide them with a practical
foundation for the second section. The materials and equipment will include reading and other
pedagogical materials, as well as toys and furniture. The full package of materials and furniture
will be provided to all beneficiary ELCs, while the state kindergartens will be provided only with
the reading and other pedagogical materials.
All three elements of the package – teacher training, mentoring and teaching-learning materials –
will be based on interventions supported by donor agencies and positively evaluated as effective.
They will be designed to complement and reinforce one another. The beneficiary rayons and
communities will be identified according to agreed criteria. The beneficiary rayons will include
those that are subsidized by the central or oblast budget (i.e. are relatively poor) and are not
already covered for ECE by donors. The communities selected will be rural and will include on
a priority basis those that have already opened an ELC without donor support. They will
demonstrate a commitment to financially sustain the recurrent costs of the ELC, and to provide
adequate physical space to operate an ELC; any rehabilitation works will be locally supervised
and carried out at the expense of local stakeholders.
Component Two: Upgrading general education content (US$ 1.75 million; 10.8% of total
project cost)
The objective of this component is to focus the general education program on competencies and
broaden the teaching-learning process to encompass active learning and formative assessment
techniques. There are two sub-components, for primary and secondary respectively, given that
the revision and introduction of the primary and secondary education programs are at different
50
stages of completion. The component will be managed by the Department of Pre-School and
General Secondary Education (DPGS) and implemented by AOE and RIITT.
Sub-component one: Upgrading primary education content and practices (US$ 1.59 million)
By September 2012, all primary grades in the country will receive new modern textbooks for
math and languages which were developed with support from the WB-funded Education
Modernization Project (EdMP) and which are ahead of the existing primary grades standards.
During the academic year 2012-13, the Academy of Education (AOE) will with FTI-3 support
finalize a Concept Paper on Education Standards that will define the standards structure and role,
and how they should be articulated and incorporated into general education programs. Based on
this, the AOE will revise the primary standards and education program, building on prior work
completed by the USAID-funded Quality Learning Project (QLP) that explicitly articulated
learning outcomes, provided indicators for measuring their mastery, and guided the teacher on
how to use the learning outcomes in lesson planning and execution. With a particular focus on
literacy and numeracy, math and life skills the AOE working groups will identify competencies
that are missing from the existing program. Further, the AOE will review the whole of the
primary program to identify which life skills should be integrated and how, and to ensure that the
program is gender-neutral. This revision work will be supported by the LEDG, including
USAID (early reading), UNICEF (life skills, gender issues) and the FTI-3 (other primary
subjects) grant. The GPE-4 will assist the AOE to consolidate inputs from different sites in one
primary grades package which will include standards, teaching plan and programs, teaching
guides, TLMs, and INSET package.
The working groups will also produce revised versions of supporting documents/courses,
particularly a methodological guidance manual for the teacher, a manual for methodological
support staff, a monitoring and evaluation guide for inspectors (of the Rayon Education
Department), and in-service training courses for teachers and methodological support staff.
Further, where needed, the working groups will identify a list of essential supplementary
teaching-learning materials to complement the textbooks. Where such materials are not
available, the working groups will develop new materials.
The MOE will formally introduce the revised primary education standards and content starting in
the 2013-14 academic year. To support its introduction, the Project will finance several
activities: communication campaign to raise awareness about the education content
modernization, teacher training and provision of the TLMs. Around 2,000 primary school
teachers (7.4% of all primary teachers) will be trained: Deputy Directors and Heads of
Methodological Units (HMUs) for the primary grades and advanced teachers. These staff has
teaching duties and will also be expected to provide mentoring support and in-service instruction
to the remaining primary grades teachers in their school. In-service teacher training staff of the
RIITT will also be trained on how to deliver the revised in-service training course for primary
teachers. This capacity enhancement will build on the work done by the previous FTI Grants
and the USAID-supported QLP project to create in-service training capacities on new curricular
and assessment approaches for teachers. The training will be spread out evenly over the three
years of the project; past experience with FTI-supported teacher training indicates that the RIITT
has adequate capacity to accommodate the planned number of trainees over three years. The
51
course will cover the new primary education standards and program, particularly how to use
standards for lesson planning and measure their mastery, and how to use the new textbooks; as
well as a range of active learning techniques and formative assessment. Although the teachers’
pre-service institutions will not be supported by the Project, the teaching staff of those
institutions will be invited for the RIITT’s courses as well. The Project will also finance the
printing and distribution of teacher methodological guidance manuals to all schools.
All district-level primary grades methodologists will be trained on how to support teachers to
deliver the revised standards and content. All district- and school-level methodologists will be
provided with a methodological support manual. School inspectors will receive an orientation on
the revised standards and content, so as to ensure that the inspection process reinforces the
introduction of the revised primary program.
The Project will also finance the procurement and distribution of a package of essential teaching-
learning materials for primary grades, for approximately 3,700 schools. The package will build
on the set of reading materials distributed as part of the FTI-3 grant, and the above-mentioned
materials identified or developed by the working groups. The selection process of new materials
will give due regard to the materials developed to foster early grade reading as part of the
USAID-funded Early Grades Reading project (scheduled to start in 2013). All materials will be
selected to address the mastery of learning standards not adequately addressed by the textbook.
An evaluation of the effects on teaching-learning practices of the teacher training, teaching-
learning materials and revised education program will also be financed. The evaluation will be
based on a randomized, representative and stratified sample of teachers and classrooms
(including control). It will be carried out at baseline and at a follow-up stage. It will include
structured observations to gather information on teaching-learning practices, and will also collect
the information required to calculate the relevant PDI (particularly training status of teacher,
availability of teaching-learning materials, and availability and use of revised education
program).
The in-service teacher training and methodological support courses and guidance materials, as
well as the package of supplementary teaching-learning materials, will be designed as an
integrated package of interventions that reinforce one another to build the primary teacher’s
capacities to deliver the revised standards and content. All Project activities, as well as the
preparatory and complementary activities outlined above, are part of a Master Plan to revise the
general education curriculum that has been agreed upon by the LEG.
Sub-component 2.2: Upgrading secondary education content (US$ 0.16 million)
With support from QLP, the AOE recently completed the restatement of the Grades 5-9
education standards and content for Tajik Language, Mathematics, Biology and Chemistry in a
new format that explicitly articulates learning outcomes. In the course of this restatement, it
became apparent that there were gaps in the standards, and there was room to make the standards
and content more relevant to students’ interests and needs. During the academic year 2012-13
the Academy of Education will, with support from the LEDG including FTI-3, work to fill these
gaps, modernize the standards and content, and ensure that the program is gender-neutral. The
52
result will be an advanced draft of the secondary education standards and program that is more
fully competency-based and relevant to the modern world, and that incorporates life skills.
Building on this work, the Project will finance the piloting and finalization of the education
program for Mathematics, grades 5-11. Piloting activities will include technical assistance,
training participating teachers, monitoring visits, periodic seminars with participants, and
collecting and consolidating findings. Based on the findings, the working group will finalize the
secondary education standards and program for Mathematics. The working group will also revise
supporting documents and courses to be compliant with the revised program (as described in the
previous sub-component). Further, where needed, the working group will identify a list of
essential supplementary teaching-learning materials to complement the textbooks. Where such
materials are not available, the working group will develop new materials. The AOE will build
on the good practices of the Mathematics working group to ensure quality in its other working
groups covering the rest of the secondary curriculum.
The Project will support strengthening capacity in the RIITT to deliver INSET courses for
teachers of Math as per the new standards and programs.
The Project will also finance the elaboration of guidelines on textbooks development and review
in the context of competency-based curricula, and train AOE staff, textbooks authors and
evaluators on the development and appraisal of textbooks. Finally, the Project will support a
review of the teaching plan, and make recommendations about restructuring and/or consolidating
courses as well as reallocating hours.
Component Three: Improving learning environments (US$ 11.00 million; 67.9% of total
project cost)
The objective of this component is to increase access to improved learning environments in
general secondary education. As such, this component will finance the construction or
rehabilitation of premises in approximately 40 schools, and provide them with furniture, to the
benefit of approximately 10,600 students. The Project will finance technical assistance to assist
the Department of Capital Construction (DCC) to implement sub-component 3.1, as well as a
team of engineers to supervise work sites. It will also finance hiring a design firm to adjust
standard designs to specific work sites. The schools design will be done under ongoing FTI-3
once the sites are identified. FTI-3 will also finance a qualified person to assist the MOE in
developing site-specific Resettlement Action Plan (RAPs) if needed.
Sub-component 3.1: Civil works (US$ 10.00 million; 61.7% of total project cost).
This sub-component will finance the construction or rehabilitation of premises in approximately
40 schools (approx. 320 classrooms) benefitting 10,600 students34
. The beneficiary districts and
schools will be selected using the following key criteria which will be detailed in the Project
Operations Manual. The districts selection criteria will include having a relatively high
proportion of schools that are in emergency condition or requiring substantial rehabilitation;
34
Calculations are in Annex 6
53
having a relatively low share of capital investments for schools, as measured on a per-student
basis; being subsidized by the central/oblast budget (i.e. being relatively poor); and, where
applicable, having fulfilled all prior commitments to schools as part of FTI-financed civil works.
School selection criteria within selected districts will include state schools that are temporarily
located in private houses or railway carriages, or that are in emergency condition or requiring
substantial rehabilitation; that have not received substantial support for infrastructure upgrade
from any source during the last 15 years; and that have a five-year projected enrolment of not
less than 240 students. District and school performance in allocating funds for school
maintenance will also be taken into account. To minimize supervision cost and improve quality
of the works selected rayons and schools will be located in clusters. Where connections to the
local water and/or electricity supply are missing from a selected site, either the local authorities
will provide a written commitment to ensure such supply or it will be financed by the Project.
Each selected school will have heating, electricity and water, as well as an enclosed and
landscaped school ground. As part of the process to finalize the work sites selected, negotiations
will be conducted with each municipal authority and school community to determine their
contribution in providing these amenities. The School Director will also be consulted about the
content of the proposed civil works.
The civil works will include the rehabilitation of premises for existing schools and/or
construction of new schools with 6, 8, 10 or 12 classrooms. Their design will be based on
models previously developed and revised with financing under successive FTI grants. In
addition to existing State norms (e.g. seismic protection) the designs incorporate several
improved features, such as safe electrical wiring and reinforced roofing. All new schools will be
provided with sanitary facilities, including separate facilities for girls.
The list of beneficiary schools will be based on two scenarios – the base case and the lower case.
To avoid unexpected cost overrun and to accommodate local capacities, the CWs will be
procured in two stages. In the case of cost overrun in the 1st stage, the number of beneficiary
schools in the second stage will be reduced accordingly. That will be communicated to the
selected schools prior to the Project start.
The CWs supervision arrangements and quality assurance are described in Annex 3; the CWs
needs and cost are in the Annex 6.
An Environmental Management Plan (EMP) will be prepared for each work site prior to tender,
in compliance with the Environmental Management Framework (EMF) developed by the MOE
for the FTI-3 and adjusted for the GPE-4. The Department of Capital Construction (DCC) will
be responsible for monitoring the EMPs. In particular, the engineer immediately responsible for
supervising any given work site will also have primary responsibility for monitoring the EMP;
this will be overseen by the regional engineer-supervisor (if one is appointed for that area) and
the Consultant Chief Civil Works Engineer. The Consultant Engineer will report on the EMP to
the Project Coordinator and the Head of the DCC, who will have final responsibility within the
DCC for ensuring EMP compliance. Each site-specific EMP will be developed as part of the
engineering design documentation for each work site, and included in the contract.
54
Each work site will also be reviewed to check if it falls under the terms of the Resettlement
Policy Framework (RPF) developed by the MOE for the FTI-3 and adjusted for the GPE-4.
Where relevant, a Resettlement Action Plan (RAP) will be prepared and implemented prior to
the start of the works. For screening the sites against the RPF checklist (developed for FTI-3 and
updated for GPE-4) the MOE will hire a qualified person knowledgeable about local legislation
and Bank policies and procedures with regard to involuntary resettlement issues (with FTI-3
funds). That person will also monitor implementation of the RAPs (if any) under GPE-4.
The sub-component will be implemented by the Department of Capital Construction (DCC) of
the MOE.
Sub-component 3.2: Furniture (US$ 1.00 million).
This sub-component will finance the purchase and distribution of furniture to all beneficiary
schools in sub-component 3.1. Each beneficiary school will receive a full set of furniture,
including classroom desks and chairs for students and teacher, blackboards, and shelving; and
furniture for the Director’s office, teacher’s room, and the library. A Third Party Verification
(currently ongoing) of the works, goods and services supplied under FTI Grants series will
advise the MOE and LEDG on whether the technical specifications for the furniture procured in
the previous FTI Grants should be improved.
The sub-component will be implemented by the Administrative and Logistical Department of the
MOE.
Component Four: Strengthening system capacity (US$ 1.75 million; 10.2% of total project
cost)
The objective of this component is to strengthen the capacities at the central and local levels to
manage the education system.
Two reforms in particular of the past five years have improved the financing and management of
the general education system, the introduction of per capita financing (PCF) and the educational
management information system (EMIS). Both have been supported by FTI grants. PCF has led
to a more equitable distribution and efficient use of resources, increased budgetary autonomy at
school level, and greater transparency and community involvement in school planning and
budgeting. At the same time, it has placed greater responsibility on school directors, only one
third of whom approximately have received adequate training on school management and
leadership (including with the FTI support). The success of PCF in general education has
encouraged the MOE to extend it to other education sectors.
The final stage of EMIS operationalization is being achieved with FTI-3 funds, and constitutes a
powerful tool for the MOE and district education authorities. The MOE plans to extend the
EMIS to cover more education sectors. While managers in the MOE and REDs have begun to
work with the EMIS, there is substantial room to improve their capacities to use information to
plan and make decisions. Other management capacities also need strengthening, including to
execute fiduciary responsibilities, in human resources management, and to manage contracts.
55
To meet these challenges, this component will finance strengthening management capacities of
the MOE, training school directors in financial management and pedagogical leadership,
reinforcing the system of per capita financing (PCF) of general education and introducing PCF to
the pre-school sector, and extending coverage of the Education Management Information System
(EMIS) to the pre-school, vocational education and training (VET) and higher education (HE)
sectors. Accordingly it is made up of four sub-components that reinforce one another. A fifth
component is included for Project management.
Sub-component 4.1: Management capacity strengthening (US$ 0.12 million).
This sub-component will finance training, technical assistance and study tours to strengthen
capacities of the MOE in a range of critical areas, to be chosen based on the availability of
suitable courses, TA and tours. The capacities to be built will include fiduciary and contracts
management; the use of EMIS data for decision-making and strategic planning; the development
of the NSED monitoring system including analytical reports on implementation, and the
revision/updating of the medium-term Action Plan. Generic training courses might also be
provided on such management skills as making strategic plans, developing terms of reference,
and program budgeting. Finally, study tours might cover the development and management of
ECE programs and the integration of life skills into education programs.
The sub-component will be implemented by the Department of Personnel and Special Affairs
(DPSA).
Sub-component 4.2: Directors training (US$ 0.80 million).
This sub-component will finance the training of approximately 1,900 (around 50% of total
number of directors in the country) directors of general secondary education schools in financial
management and pedagogical leadership; and of approximately 450 (100%) directors of state
kindergartens in financial management. Using revised training modules that have been used and
positively evaluated in donor-supported project including previous FTI grants, the Project will
finance a 15-day training (8 days on financial management and 7 days on pedagogical
leadership). The training will be spread out evenly over the life of the project. Previous
experience with in-service Directors training (supported by FTI) indicates that the RIITT has
adequate capacity to accommodate this schedule. Directors will come from districts not
previously covered by FTI grants or donor projects. Any new directors of schools where the
director had previously been trained using FTI funds will attend a course financed by the MOE
budget. RIITT staff trainers will also go through a ‘training of trainers’ course, to build the
RIITT capacities in directors training. The financial management course targets core knowledge,
skills and tools needed by directors to manage schools operating under PCF with increased
budgetary autonomy, including school planning, budget formation, working with community
representatives, accounting, and the legal-regulatory framework. The pedagogical leadership
course targets knowledge, skills and tools to increase school focus on improving pedagogy,
including Methodological Unit planning, lesson observation, teacher methodological support,
broadening teaching-learning techniques including formative assessment, and using resource
materials. The state kindergarten directors will receive a condensed training on financial
management, using an adapted module.
56
The sub-component will be implemented by the RIITT. The Project will finance technical
assistance to support the RIITT to implement the activities of this component, as well as the
teacher training activities in Components One and Two.
Sub-component 4.3: Per capita financing (US$ 0.194 million)
This sub-component will finance the extension of PCF to the pre-school sector and the
reinforcement of PCF in general education. In the pre-school sector, the Project will support the
extension of PCF to all state kindergartens in two phases, building on the results of an ongoing
PCF pilot. The PCF pilot will be evaluated by the MOE in 2012-13 with UNICEF support,
based on which the formula to be used for other districts will be elaborated. The first expansion
phase is planned for fiscal/calendar year 2014, and the second for 2015. It is expected that the
pres-school PCF model elaboration will also benefit from the results of the analytical work in
Component One.
Activities supported by the Project to extend PCF will include the revision of the legal-regulatory
framework and distribution of legal-regulatory documentation. Key staff in the REDs, RFDs,
and state kindergartens including accountants will receive orientation training on PCF. New
accountants hired to work for state kindergartens will be provided with an extended training on
accounting and procurement under PCF. A PCF database will be maintained, containing
budgetary and expenditures data for all state kindergartens as well as indicators on resource
usage (e.g. group sizes). The Project will finance technical assistance at central and oblast-level
to support the MOE, REDs, RFDs and state kindergartens to shift to PCF. This TA will provide
support in such areas as budget formation and expenditures monitoring/reporting at key points of
the budget cycle, budgets/expenditures analysis, and advice on PCF implementation and formula
modification.
In the general education sector, the Project will finance technical assistance to reinforce the
operation of PCF. The main tasks of the TA will be to provide support to the MOE, REDs and
schools at key stages of the budgeting cycle to ensure compliance with PCF procedures; to
monitor the operation of PCF; and to analyze budgets, expenditures and key indicators of
resource usage to report on system performance under PCF. The TA will also advise the MOE
on changes needed to the formula and PCF operations.
In order to create an institutionally sustainable capacity to orient new school accountants and
support existing school accountants on how to work within PCF, the Project will build the
capacities of the Chief Accountant of the RED, the RED economist, and the education officer of
the Rayon Treasury Office.
The sub-component will be implemented by Department of Planning, Budget Implementation
and Forecasts in Education (DPB).
Sub-component 4.4: Education management information system. (US$ 0.086 million).
This sub-component will finance the reinforcement of the EMIS and its extension to three new
sectors: pre-school, VET, and HE.
57
In each of these sectors, the Project will finance the design and operationalisation of three
modules: students, staff and facilities. Work on the modules will be done in three stages, the
development of the questionnaire, the development of software for data entry and reporting using
fixed forms, and operationalization. The Project will finance technical assistance to support the
EMIS Department to undertake this work. At the first stage, the TA will meet with stakeholders
to identify information needs and develop a first draft questionnaire; and test and revise the
questionnaire. At the second stage, the TA will develop and test the software. In the final stage,
the TA will train relevant staff in its use, at the sectoral institutions, district education offices and
the MOE. The TA will support the EMIS Department to monitor that EMIS data are entered
correctly and forwarded to the MOE on a timely basis and in the correct format. Once
operational, the modules will be able to produce critical information, disaggregated by gender.
The Project will also finance the materials and printing costs required to introduce new
questionnaires, as well as trainings on software usage, data entry and forwarding, and reporting.
It will also finance the printing and translation of Annual Education Statistical Books produced
by the EMIS Department. In addition, the MOE will conduct data analysis and produce
Analytical reports based on the EMIS data. It will also finance verification of the reliability of
collected data. The sub-component will be implemented by the EMIS Department.
Sub-component 4.5: Project management (US$ 0.55 million).
This sub-component will ensure that Project activities are implemented on time and in a
satisfactory manner.
The Project will finance the hiring of a Project Coordinator who will be empowered by
Ministerial decree to oversee and coordinate activities, working in close coordination with the
Deputy Ministers and Heads of Departments. As amplified in the section ‘Institutional and
Implementation Arrangements’, the Minister of Education will be the Project’s National
Coordinator, responsible for overall project management. The Deputy Ministers and the Project
Coordinator will be responsible for daily coordination and oversight of activities. The Heads of
Departments and Agencies with implementation responsibilities will be responsible for ensuring
that activities are implemented and results achieved, and will report to the relevant Deputy
Minister. The Deputy Ministers and the Project Coordinator will report directly to the Minister
of Education and be held accountable for progress.
The Project will also finance the hiring technical assistance to support the Project Coordinator
and Deputy Ministers to manage the Project, in the following areas: general assistance to the
Project Coordinator; procurement; financial management and disbursement; monitoring and
evaluation; and translation and secretarial services. The consultants on procurement, financial
management and disbursement, and monitoring and evaluation will be placed in the units
responsible for these functions within the MOE.
The Project will finance incremental operational costs incurred by the MOE as a result of project
implementation, communication expenses (if these are not covered under their respective
components) and monitoring compliance with the safeguards policies. The annual financial
audit will also be financed by the Project. The Project will finance the costs of project
monitoring and evaluation, as well as the annual financial audit.
58
Annex 3: Implementation Arrangements
Tajikistan
Global Partnership for Education (GPE)-4 (P131441)
Project Institutional and Implementation Arrangements
Management and implementation arrangements of the GPE-4 will be substantially the same as
those under FTI-3.
The MOE will be responsible for decision-making and implementation with its own staff and
draw, where needed, on technical assistance to augment fiduciary, management and other
technical capacities for implementation. Each Grant component will be implemented by the
MOE unit which, as per the MOE regulations, has primary responsibility for the component
activities and report to their respective deputy minister. While all three deputy ministers will
oversee implementation of the respective Grant activities, overall project coordination and
implementation will be under the responsibility of the Deputy Minister on Economic Issues. He
will be supported by the Project Coordinator who is hired with the FTI/GPE Grant funds to
coordinate implementation of the FTI/GPE Grants and the WB-funded operations implemented
directly by the MOE and the Assistant to the Project Coordinator. The Coordinator will be
responsible for coordinating with Department Heads to produce Annual Implementation Plans to
be submitted for the Banks’ review and no objection.
The Department for Accountancy and Financial Reporting (DAFR), the Procurement unit and
the Analysis and Education Sector Reform Development Unit (ARU) will continue responsibility
for financial management (FM), procurement, and the Project monitoring and evaluation
respectively, and will be supported by FM, procurement and M&E consultants. The Deputy
Ministers, the Project Coordinator, the Assistant to the Project Coordinator, DAFR, Procurement
unit, ARU and respective consultants for these units constitute the Project Coordination Team.
The Grant will continue funding a Secretary who provides administrative and translation support
to the Project Coordination Team.
The Head of the Department for Accounting and Financial Reporting (DARF) will have overall
responsibility for financial management of the project, and will be supported by FM technical
assistance financed by the project to maintain a satisfactory financial management system
throughout project implementation. The MOE will maintain accounts and records for the
project, prepare periodic financial reports and have the annual financial statements audited by
independent auditors acceptable to the Bank. All project-related fiduciary activities will be
carried out either directly by the Project Coordination Unit or with its support and oversight.
The Financial Management and Disbursement Specialist will be responsible for all financial
management aspects of the Project. S/he will be responsible for using an adequate accounting
system in line with the International Accounting Standards (IAS), regularly monitoring
59
expenditures and timely reporting, and managing applications for disbursement following
procedures listed in the Project’s Financing Agreement and Supplemental Letters.
The Procurement Specialist will coordinate with MOE staff from the implementing Departments
to develop and periodically revise annual procurement plans, monitor its implementation to
avoid delays, and report to the Project Coordinator on potential issues of concern. The Specialist
will be responsible for ensuring the Bank Procurement Guidelines are fully applied under the
Project.
A Specialist for Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation will be placed in the ARU and be
responsible for compiling Annual Implementation Plans for the Project Coordinator, for
collecting and analyzing project-specific data as listed under the Project’s Results Framework,
for overseeing the execution of all monitoring and evaluation exercises as stipulated in the
Project’s Monitoring and Evaluation Operations Manual, and for executing those exercises for
which the Specialist has direct responsibility as per the OM. The Specialist will coordinate with
the Financial Management Specialist to prepare consolidated reports on the Project’s physical
and financial progress. S/he will be responsible for producing the bi-annual project
implementation progress report.
Where needed, the MOE units responsible for implementing particular Project components will
be supported by consultancy services to support implementation; they will be placed in those
units.
The need for augmenting capacity of the MOE is based on certain factors. First, the staffing
levels of the MoE and its subordinate agencies were not originally designed to implement
projects and the extra work they entail. This applies particularly to the DPGS (Component One),
the DCC (Component Three) and the RIITT (Components 1, 2 and 4.2). Second, some of the
components will work on reforms, the design and initial implementation of which do not come
under the terms of reference of MoE staff and which are naturally the domain of consultants.
This applies particularly to the DPG (Component 4.3) and the EMIS Department (4.4).
Reporting arrangements of the MOE will be preserved: staff and consultants of
departments/units with implementation responsibilities will report to their Head;
Department/Unit Heads will report to the relevant Deputy Minister; and the Deputy Ministers
will report to the Minister. The Departments/Units will also provide information pertaining to
Project budget and the Project implementation progress as required to the DARF and ARU
respectively. The Departments/Units will closely work with the Procurement unit on all
procurement related matters. Also, the Project Coordinator will be empowered by Ministerial
decree to oversee, coordinate and receive reporting on the project activities implemented by the
various departments/units of the MOE, working in close coordination with the Deputy Ministers;
and to support the departments/units as needed in the implementation of activities.
The Table below presents the implementation responsibilities of the MOE Departments, by
component.
60
Components Managing / Implementing Unit
1 ECE Dep. For Pre-school and general Secondary Education (DPGS).
AOE and RIITT will be directly involved in implementation 2 Education Content
3.1 CWs Dep. of Capital Construction (DCC)
3.2 Furniture Dep. of Marketing and Assets (DMA).
4.1 Capacity
Strengthening
Dep. of Personnel and Special Affairs (DPSA)
4.2 Directors Training Republican Institute for In-service Teacher Training (RIITT)
4.3 PCF Department of Planning, Budget Implementation and Forecasts
in Education (DPB)
4.4 EMIS Education Management Information System (EMIS)
Department
4.5 Grant Management Deputy Minister on Economic Issues; Dep. for Accountancy
and Financial Reporting (DAFR); Procurement unit; Analysis
and Education Sector Reform Development Unit (ARU)
Grant implementation will benefit from capacity building and system development supported by
prior FTI grants. MOE staff has been trained in financial management and accounting,
procurement, civil works management, data analysis and strategy development, and monitoring
and evaluation. The MOE has also developed management and reporting systems for grant
implementation, and has time-tested operational procedures for supervision/monitoring and
evaluation, particularly for civil works, provision of materials, training (including effectiveness)
and education financing. Moreover, the EMIS is fully operational and provides data on all key
inputs at school, district and national levels.
In some cases, as explained below, the Project will finance the provision of technical assistance
to implementing Departments. All technical assistance will report to the Head of the
Department/Agency in which they are placed, and work in close collaboration with the Project
Coordinator. The placement, use and terms of reference of all technical assistance financed by
the Project to support implementation will be amplified in the Project Operations Manual.
Component One: Increasing access to quality early childhood education programs
The Department of Pre-School and General Secondary Education (DPGS) will be responsible for
implementing this component. The DGPS will have direct responsibility for managing the firm
contracted to undertake the analytical work under component 1.1; for managing the NGO
contracted for community contact and mobilisation under component 1; and for periodic
monitoring of the status of ELCs supported by the component. The Project will finance a
technical assistant (TA) for the DGPS who will be responsible for the daily coordination and
oversight of component activities. The TA will work closely with the Pre-School Specialist of
the DGPS, and report directly to the Head of the Department and the Project Coordinator. The
DGPS will work in close collaboration with the Academy of Education, particularly the Pre-
School Technical Working Group; and with the Republican Institute for In-Service Teacher
Training (RIITT).
61
As part of the MOE’s Master Plan to develop ECE for the period 2012-16, the AoE and its
Working Group will develop the revised ECE standards and program, teacher methodological
guidance, in-service training course for pre-school teachers, the list and specifications of
teaching-learning materials to be provided to ELCs and kindergartens, and certain teaching-
learning materials. Under the Project, the RIITT will be responsible for delivering the in-service
training course (including the methodological guidance for teachers), and for managing the
mentoring activities associated with the course. The RIITT will be provided with a team of
technical assistance to support Project activities, as explained in Component 4.2. The DPGS will
be responsible for working closely with the Procurement Unit to ensure that the package of
teaching-learning materials reaches target ELCs and kindergartens.
Component Two: Upgrading general education content
The Department of Pre-School and General Secondary Education (DPGS) will be responsible for
implementing this component.
In Sub-component 2.1: Upgrading Primary Education Content and Practices, the RIITT will be
responsible for the organization and delivery of the in-service training courses. Technical
assistance provided to the RIITT is explained in sub-component 4.2. The DPGS will be
responsible for working closely with the Procurement Unit to ensure that the package of
teaching-learning materials reaches target schools.
As part of the MOE’s Master Plan to reform the education program standards and content for
2012-16, the Academy of Education through its relevant Working Group is responsible for
developing the in-service training courses that will be delivered by the RIITT, as well as all
support materials. The AoE is also responsible for drafting the list of supplementary teaching-
learning materials that will be provided to schools under the Project; and for developing new
teaching-learning materials that will be part of the package.
In all relevant activities of the Project, the Academy of Education will work in close
collaboration with the DPGS, the RIITT, and its Donor Partners, particularly UNICEF and
USAID.
In Sub-component 2.2: Upgrading Secondary Education Content, the technical work to pilot and
revise education standards and programs, as well as supporting documents and in-service
training courses, will be undertaken by the Academy of Education, which has established a
number of working groups based on the subject-group structure of the curriculum. The Project
will finance technical assistance to support the working group responsible for Mathematics.
Component Three: Improving learning environments
Sub-component 3.1: Civil Works. This sub-component will be implemented by the Department
of Capital Construction. The Project will finance the hiring of site engineer-monitors responsible
for regular site supervision. The team of site engineer-monitors will report to the DCC
specialists responsible for overseeing the GPE-4 civil works sites. The Project will also finance
a Consultant Chief Engineer Supervisor who will be attached to the DCC, work in close
62
collaboration with the DCC specialists, and report to the Head of the DCC and the Project
Coordinator. The design firm will also provide regular supervision of works as part of their
contract.
To strengthen the CWs quality supervision the MOE will also hire a Third Party Quality
Assurance TA which will be detached from the DCC and will report to the Minister of Education
directly.
Sub-component 3.2: Furniture. This sub-component will be implemented by the Department of
Marketing and Assets (DMA).
Component Four: Strengthening system capacity
Sub-component 4.1: Management capacity building. This sub-component will be implemented
by the Personnel Department.
Sub-component 4.2: Directors training. This sub-component will be implemented by the RIITT.
The Project will provide the RIITT with a team of technical assistance, including a Coordinator;
a lead local consultant to ensure that the training module for pre-school teachers produced by the
AoE Working Group is compliant with RIITT standards; technical consultants responsible for
organizing trainings including advance regional visits to ensure timely notification of designated
participants and explanation of the course content and booking/preparation of training premises;
and logistical assistants. The amount of time hired for the technical consultants and assistants
will vary according to workload. The team of TA will also be responsible for supporting the
RIITT to implement the training included in Components One and Two.
Sub-component 4.3: Per capita financing. This sub-component will be implemented by the
Department of Planning, Budget Implementation and Forecasts in Education (DPB). The Project
will finance technical assistance at oblast level to support the introduction of PCF to state
kindergartens. This TA will work in close collaboration with the kindergartens, the REDs and
RFDs, and provide them support at key stages of the budget cycle; and will support orientations
and trainings for local authorities and kindergarten directors and accountants. The Project will
also finance central-level technical assistance to support the MOE, REDs and schools at key
stages of the budgeting cycle to ensure compliance with PCF procedures for both general
education and the pre-school sector; to monitor the operation of PCF; and to analyze budgets,
expenditures and key indicators of resource usage to report on system performance under PCF.
Sub-component 4.4: Education management information system. This sub-component will be
implemented by the EMIS Department. The Project will finance technical assistance at central
level to support the Department to develop and operationalize new EMIS modules, including the
timely compilation, cleaning and reporting of data and information.
63
Financial Management, Disbursements and Procurement
Financial Management
The Country Financial Accountability Assessment (CFAA) for Tajikistan issued in 2003
concluded that the country’s fiduciary environment is extremely weak and the risk to public
funds is high. The findings, supported by the Public Expenditure and Financial Accountability
Assessment (PEFA) issued in 2007, point out that systems of public accountability function
poorly and public sector transparency is still a problem at all levels of Government. In
particular, the experience of using the Designated Account within the National Bank and the
Treasury has led to disbursement delays as well as foreign exchange losses, which are ineligible
for financing out of grant funds. To minimize financial risk, there has been a need to “ring fence”
financial resources in Bank-financed projects in order to provide the appropriate fiduciary
safeguards, including the use of the Designated Account in a commercial bank.
IMPORTANT: Location of the DA in a commercial bank option is appraised by the WB FM
team. However, this is not the final option as the parties have not come to a consensus on the
matter before the GPE-4 Application package submission. Location of the DA (either in a
commercial bank or in the Treasury) will be discussed during the next Bank FM mission (fall
2012) and confirmed at Negotiations in case of the funds approval.
The FM risk is considered to be substantial now and it is expected to go down after
implementation of the mitigation measures. MOE has experience with the implementation of
donor-funded projects; however, the existing fiduciary arrangements must be strengthened as
follows to meet the Bank requirements:
Significant
Weaknesses Action
Respon
sibility
Completion
Date
No FM Manual
for GPE-4 is
prepared.
Update the existing Financial Management
Operational Manual (FM OM) for FTI-3 to enable
it to guide staff in daily project FM operations
under GPE-4.
MOE
By
Effectiveness
The existing
project
accounting
software is not
able to track
activities of
GPE-4.
Upgrade the existing automated project accounting
system, which is used by MOE for FTI-3, for
project accounting, budgeting and reporting under
GPE-4. MOE has to make some provision of
adequate training on the accounting system for its
effective use by FM and Disbursement staff. The
accounting system shall have inbuilt controls to
ensure data security, integrity and reliability, and
the functionality of automatic generation of IFRs.
MOE
By
Effectiveness
MOE has no
capacity to
implement
GPE-4 without
involvement of
Recruit two qualified FM consultants to provide
technical assistance to the Chief Accountant of
MOE. One of them acts as a financial specialist,
while the other one is handling disbursement issues.
The two consultants are supposed to be hired for
MOE
By
Effectiveness
64
external FM
consultants.
GPE-4, under terms of reference acceptable to the
Bank, to support the accounting department for the
duration of GPE-4 or until staff capacity in the
MOE accounting department has been adequately
enhanced, both in terms of numbers and skills.
MOE will continue to use the 1C based accounting system for record keeping and reporting
upgraded as described. This system ensures proper tracking of resources and expenditures, and
generates quarterly financial reports in formats acceptable to the Bank. All transactions will be
recorded on a cash basis, with supporting documentation maintained in files for ready access by
auditors and during implementation support missions of the World Bank. The chart of accounts
for the project will allow tracking of project transactions and reporting by source of financing,
project components, and type and category of expenditure. A fixed assets register will be created
to record all assets bought with project funds.
The Chief Accountant of the MOE will carry the overall responsibility for project financial
management function. The Chief Accountant will review and authorize payments and assign the
Chief Specialist (who is currently responsible for Cashier’s tasks) to keep the cash book and
process cash payments. To ensure sound financial management of the project funds, the MOE
will hire two consultants (FM Consultant and Disbursement Consultant), who will be responsible
for day-to-day financial management operations, including disbursement processes. The
consultants will report directly to the Chief Accountant.
MOE has to submit quarterly interim un-audited financial reports (IFRs) that will be generated
by the accounting system based on formats agreed with the World Bank. The reports, to include
Statement of Sources and Uses of Funds, Uses of Funds by Project activities (Components &
Expenditure Categories) and Statement of DA, will be submitted to the World Bank within 45
days of the end of each quarter, with the first reports under the proposed Project being submitted
after the end of the first quarter following initial disbursement. Draft formats of these IFRs will
be prepared and agreed with MOE during the appraisal.
An audit of the project will include the project financial statements, SOEs and DA Statement.
The annual audited project financial statements will be submitted to the Bank within six months
of the end of each fiscal year and also at the closing of the project. The cost of the audit will be
financed from the project funds. The following table identifies the audit reports that will be
required to be submitted by the MOE together with the due date of submission:
Audit Report Due Date
The Project financial statements (PFSs) to include
Statement of Sources and Uses of Funds, Uses of Funds
by Project Activity, SOE Withdrawal Schedule, DA
Statement and Notes to the financial statements.
Within six months of the end of
each fiscal year and also at the
closing of the project.
Audited project financial statements will be publicly disclosed in accordance with the Bank’s
Access to Information (AI) Policy through its website, upon receipt. In addition, MOE will
publish the audit reports in a manner satisfactory to the Bank.
65
Disbursements
The following disbursement methods may be currently used under the project: (i)
reimbursement; (ii) advance; (iii) direct payment; and (iv) special commitment. Details on the
ceiling of the DA will be provided in the Disbursement Letter. Withdrawal applications for the
replenishments of the DA will be sent to the World Bank at least on a quarterly basis. MOE will
open a DA in US$ for administering of grant funds in a commercial bank acceptable to the
World Bank. The ceiling for the DA and other disbursement details will be provided in the
Disbursement Letter.
Procurement
A. General
Procurement for the proposed project will be carried out in accordance with the World Bank’s
“Procurement of Goods, Works, and Non-Consulting Services under IBRD Loans and IDA
Credits & Grants by World Bank Borrowers" (January 2011); Consulting services will be
procured under the Bank's Guidelines "Selection and Employment of Consultants under IBRD
Loans and IDA Credits & Grants by World Bank Borrowers" (January 2011); and the provisions
stipulated in the Financing Agreement. The World Bank Guidelines on Preventing and
Combating Fraud and Corruption in Projects Financed by IBRD Loans and IDA Credit and
Grants dated October 15, 2006 and revised on January 2011, will also apply. For each contract
to be financed by the Grant, the different procurement methods or consultant selection methods,
the need for prequalification, estimated costs, prior review requirements, and time frame will be
agreed between the Borrower and the Bank project team in the Procurement Plan. The
procurement for works and goods and non-consulting services will be conducted using the
Bank’s Standard Bidding Documents (SBD) for all ICB and an acceptable bidding document to
the Bank will be used for all NCB. The standard NCB provisions for Tajikistan, as included in
the Financing Agreement, will be applied to all the NCB contracts.
Procurement of Works: The project has significant civil works component. Works will include
construction and rehabilitation of schools, and will be procured through ICB and NCB methods.
The project may include small works, especially for the rehabilitation of school facilities, which
will be procured through Shopping.
Procurement of Goods (including installation as needed): Goods to be procured under this
project will include: furniture to selected schools rehabilitated or constructed under the civil
works component; furniture and equipment for early learning centers; printing and distribution of
teacher manuals, teaching-learning materials for primary grades and early learning centers.
Goods and services (other than consulting services) estimated to cost US$100,000 equivalent or
less will be procured using shopping procedures.
Selection of Consultants: Consultant services to be procured under this project will include:
development of designs for civil works; technical supervision; hiring of Third Party Quality
66
Assurance TA to ensure quality of civil works; country-level policy and legislative framework
formulation; evaluation of impact on teaching-learning practices; provision of international and
local technical assistance in all components of the project. Individual consultants will also be
hired to support Grant coordination and implementation. The following methods will be used for
selecting consulting firms depending on the nature and complexity of assignments, attractiveness
to foreign firms and need for international expertise, estimated budget of the services: Quality-
and Cost-Based Selection (QCBS), Quality-Based Selection (QBS), Least Cost Selection (LCS),
Selection Based on Consultant’s Qualification (CQS) and Single-Source Selection (SSS). Short
lists of consultants for services estimated to cost less than $100,000 equivalent per contract may
be composed entirely of national consultants in accordance with the provisions of paragraph 2.7
of the Consultant Guidelines.
Training: The project will finance training activities including training-of-trainers, training of
school principals and teachers; early learning centers’ teachers; textbooks authors and evaluators;
financial management training for school and kindergarten principals. The MOE will develop a
detailed training plan and agree on it with the Bank.
Training activities which will be carried out other than through service providers’
contracts, will be procured through procedures agreed with or satisfactory to the Bank. These
procedures will be described in detail in the project Operational Manual. Training related
expenditures will be defined in Legal Agreement.
Operational Costs: Operating costs of the MOE will include all expenses necessary to ensure
proper implementation of the project such as office supplies and maintenance, communication
expenses, project monitoring and evaluation, financial audits, fuel, vehicle maintenance, local
travel, translation, bank charges, social charges. Budget for operating costs will be prepared and
cleared by the Bank.
B. Assessment of the agency’s capacity to implement procurement
An assessment of the capacity of the Implementing Agency to implement procurement activities
for the project was conducted as well as Procurement Risk Assessment and Management System
(P-RAMS) in July 2012.
Procurement performance under the ongoing projects has been satisfactory during the past years.
The MOE had sufficient capacity of the procurement department supported by the consultant.
However, the recent staff reshuffle has weakened existing procurement capacity in the ministry.
The newly appointed procurement staff as well as technical specialists of the departments
involved in the process will need to continue getting trainings in procurement of goods/works
and consulting services in accordance with the 2011 Bank's Guidelines and contract
management.
The overall project risk for procurement is rated substantial. The risks associated with
procurement and the mitigation measures were identified in the assessment of the agency’s
procurement capacity and are summarized in the table below:
Description of Risk Risk Mitigation Measures Residual
67
Rating Risk
Rating
Potential procurement delays: arrangements for clearance of evaluation
reports with the SIC may lead to
procurement delays; experience with the
past and on-going projects in country
shows frequent procurement delays;
many iterations resulting in delay and
loss of bids.
H Monitoring submission of the documents and
getting responses from the SIC and reflecting
this information in the evaluation reports;
advanced preparation of technical
specifications or TORs; further procurement
training for staff , including evaluation
committee members during project
implementation.
S
Procurement of Civil Works: There is
large component of civil works. They are
scattered across the country. The
execution of scattered civil works could
lead to quality issues in rehabilitation
and construction schools
H Regular physical inspections by Bank
supervision mission.
Hiring of Third Party QA/QC TA to ensure
quality of civil works;
S
Contract administration procedures
may not be adequate to ensure efficient
and timely contract performance;
contract amendments not processed
diligently
S Establishment of contract management system;
more emphasis and training on appropriate
contract management.
M
Inadequate competition: procurement
may not attract adequate competition;
proposals with cost higher than the
estimated costs; bidders not qualified for
the specific assignment
S Consolidate procurement packages as feasible
to maximize interest from qualified bidders;
establish wide and advance advertising policy;
creating a database of suppliers of the required
goods, construction contractors and
consultants; ensure the technical specialist
confirms that the criteria are appropriate for
the project.
M
Perceived level of corruption in the
country is high.
S Enforcement of public disclosure and
transparency provisions of the Bank’s
Guidelines; publishing contract awards and
progress reports from the implementing
entities on the MOE website or in another
publicly accessible website, national press;
close Bank’s implementation supervision.
S
Average H S
C. Procurement Plan
The procurement plan shall be agreed between the Borrower and the Project Team and be
finalized during negotiations. After the project is approved by the Board it will be published on
the Bank’s external website. The Procurement Plan will be updated in agreement with the Bank
project team annually or as required to reflect the actual project implementation needs and
improvements in institutional capacity. The thresholds for methods of procurement and prior
review limits are detailed below:
68
Expenditure
Category Contract Value
(US$) Procurement Method Bank Prior Review
Goods >200,000 ICB All the ICB contracts
≤ 200,000 NCB The 1st two NCB contracts
≤ 100,000 Shopping The 1st Shopping contract
NA DC All DC contracts
Works
(including non-
consulting
services)
>1,000,000 ICB All the ICB contracts
≤ 1,000,000 NCB The 1st two NCB contracts
≤ 100,000 Shopping The 1st Shopping contract
NA DC All DC contracts
Consultant
Services Irrespective of
Value QCBS, QBS, FBS, LCS,
CQS*,SSS and IC
All contracts above US$ 100,000
for firms plus the 1st CQS
contract regardless of value; and
all contracts above US$ 50,000
for individuals; and all SSS
contracts. Notes: ICB – International Competitive Bidding
NCB – National Competitive Bidding
DC – Direct Contracting
QCBS – Quality and Cost Based Selection
QBS – Quality Based Selection
FBS – Fixed Budget Selection
LCS – Least Cost Selection *CQS – Selection Based on Consultants’ Qualification will be followed depending on type of
assignments for estimated value less than $200,000
SSS – Single (or Sole) Source Selection
IC – Individual Consultant selection procedure
NA – Not Applicable
D. Frequency of Procurement Supervision
In addition to the prior review supervision to be carried out from the country office, the capacity
assessment of the Implementing Agency has recommended two supervision missions per year
during which ex-post reviews will be conducted on a sample basis (20% in terms of number of
contracts) for the contracts that are not subject to Bank prior review. One post review report,
which will include physical inspection of sample contracts, will be prepared each year.
Environmental and Social (including safeguards)
Proposed activities and potential environmental and social impacts. As mentioned above along
with different TA activities the project will finance also construction and rehabilitation of
schools, as well as furnishing them. The proposed civil works may generate some environmental
and social impacts. While these impacts are expected to be mostly positive (improved learning
conditions, reduced student sick days), the project might also generate some adverse impacts
69
which will be associated with air pollution, dust, noise, construction wastes, asbestos,
occupational hazards, etc. All of these adverse impacts are minor, short term, site specific, and
can be easily avoided and/or mitigated during project implementation.
Triggered WB OPs. Taking into account the project might generate some environmental and
social impacts it triggers the WB OP 4.01 on Environmental Assessment (EA). As the new
constructions may require land acquisition, the project triggers WB OPs 4.12. To address the
resettlement issues the client has prepared a Resettlement Policy Framework (RPF) which will
be applied during the project implementation phase. The project will have no impacts on Forests
and Natural Habitats as all activities will be implemented within the existing settlements. The
client also confirmed the project will not support any projects involving buildings which might
be considered as Physical Cultural Resources and thus the WB OP 4.11 is not triggered.
Project Environmental Category. In accordance with the Bank’s safeguard policies and
procedures, including OP/BP/GP 4.01 Environmental Assessment, the project is placed into the
Bank’s Category B which is applied to all proposed projects that have potential environmental
impacts and as the identified impacts are of small scale, minor and temporary in nature. As at
this stage are not yet identified the subprojects to be financed, the Bank requires that client will
screen all proposed subprojects and ensures that subproject beneficiaries carry out appropriate
EA for each subproject. For this purpose the client will apply an updated Environment
Management Framework (EMF) which was applied for a similar FTI-3 project.
Environment Management Framework (EMF). The EMF outlines environmental assessment
procedures and mitigation requirements for the subprojects which will be supported by the
project. The EMF (i) outlines the general anticipated environmental risks and impacts and
associated mitigation measures, (ii) describes the process and provides specific guidance on
contents for preparation of Checklist Environmental Management Plan (EMP) and site-specific
EMPs along with the designs for rehabilitation and/or construction of each building, and (iii)
indicates institutional responsibilities for preparation, review/approval, implementation and
monitoring/reporting of the EMPs. The EMP checklist-type format covers typical mitigation
approaches to common civil works contracts with small scale, temporary and localized impacts.
Additionally the EMF includes a new short section describing the requirements on handling
asbestos material. As construction of buildings in new sites carries additional risks associated
with selection of the site, the EMF also includes a new section that provides a negative list of
sites which will be not considered as a location for the new school constructions.
EA monitoring and reporting activities. Monitoring of EMP implementation is specified in the
Part 3 of the EMP Checklist and should be done by designated construction engineer/inspector.
For each subproject it should be developed a special plan in this regard, using provided template,
which will contain all necessary details, defining clear criteria and parameters which can be
included in the works contracts, which reflect the status of environmental practice on the
construction site and which can be observed/measured/ quantified/verified by the construction
engineer/inspector during the construction works. Such parameters and criteria include the use of
necessary personal protective equipment by workers on the site, dust generation and prevention,
amount of water used and discharged by site, presence of proper sanitary facilities for workers,
waste collection of separate types (mineral waste, wood, metals, plastic, hazardous waste, e.g.
70
asbestos, paint residues, spent engine oil), waste quantities, proper organization of disposal
pathways and facilities, or reuse and recycling wherever possible. The site inspector’s
monitoring report will be a condition for full payment of the contractually agreed remuneration,
the same as technical quality criteria or quantity surveys. To assure a degree of leverage on the
Contractor’s environmental performance an appropriate clause will be introduced in the works
contracts.
EA institutional arrangements and capacity. The project will be implemented by the Ministry of
Education which has assigned its Department of Capital Construction (DCC) as the main
subdivision responsible to the project implementation, including for responsibilities with regard
to environmental and social safeguards. The Ministry and DCC have adequate experience in
implementing such projects as well as in ensuring compliance with the environmental and social
requirements as they have already implemented a similar Tajikistan FTI – 3 project. Several
environmental reviews conducted previously by the Bank team concluded that overall,
environmental safeguards are being well taken care of under FTI-3. The DCC managers and its
staff have a good understanding of the EMF, EAs/EMPs and environmental risks associated with
construction and demolition civil works. MOE has also recruited well qualified engineers to
supervise the works, including environmental aspects. Supervision and implementation support
to the DCC is provided at the central level by the Consultant Civil Works Engineer, at the oblast
level by 2 Consultant Regional Engineers, and at the site level by 13 Consultant-Site Engineers.
All DCC engineers and relevant MOE staff have received training on the EMF; the training
materials were prepared by the Civil Works Engineer, who also delivered the training. Based on
the FTI-3 EMF the DCC prepared site-specific EMPs for all proposed investments. EMPs
implementation is being monitored and properly documented.
Integration of the EMF into project design and implementation. The EMF will be integrated into
the Project's Operational Manual, as well as the EMPs and EMP Checklists will be used as part
of all contracts involving civil works. The subprojects EMPs will be also integrated into the
construction contracts, both into specifications and bills of quantities and the Contractors will be
required to include the cost in their financial bids. The whole filled EMPs or tabular EMP
Checklist (or their main provisions) might be attached as an integral part to the works contract
and has to be signed by the contract parties.
Disclosure and consultation. The current EMF and RFP were consulted with key stakeholders in
the country. The draft document in Tajik/Russian was initially disclosed by the MoE for public
comments on July 31, 2012 by posting the draft document on the Ministry web site: www.edu-
maorif.tj. Until August 8, 2012 no comments have been received. A virtual conference for
discussion of the EMF and RPF was conducted from August 1-13, 2012 with the following
ministries and departments of the Government of the Republic of Tajikistan: Committee on
Preservation of Environment, Agency on Construction and Architecture, the Ministry of Labor
and Social Protection of Population, Committee on Extreme Situations and Civil Defence, and
the State Committee on Land Management and Civil Defense. Written comments are reflected
and annexed in the final version of the EMF and RPF, and where appropriate, incorporated in the
documents. The final versions of the EMF and RFP were publicly disclosed by the WB Infoshop
on August 14, 2012 and will be used during the project implementation.
71
Monitoring & Evaluation
The MOE through its Project Coordination team and implementing departments will collect
information on project inputs, outputs and outcomes enabling the calculation of all indicators of
the results framework and progress reporting. The bulk of the data will come from MOE
supervision reports, while denominator data needed to calculate percentages will be supplied by
the EMIS Department.
Responsibility for ensuring that the results framework indicators are reported on a timely basis
will reside primarily with the Analysis and Research Unit (ARU). The ARU will be provided
with an M&E technical assistant, who will be part of the Project Coordination team. In general,
each implementing department will be given responsibility for ensuring that the ARU has the
necessary information to establish the value of indicators according to the required periodicity
and disaggregation. Where technical assistance has been assigned to a department to assist in
implementation, this TA will be responsible for supporting the department to report on
indicators.
The results framework will form the basis of the project M&E framework operations manual
(OM). The manual will build on the FTI-3 Operations Manual, and include detailed information
on all indicators, including a formal definition, data source, and the regularity and level of
disaggregation with which each must be generated. Further, the OM will include key process
indicators to track the delivery of inputs. The Manual will also describe internal procedures for
implementing departments for monitoring and reporting on project activities. These will include
procedures to govern the monitoring of ELCs supported in component 1; the engineering
supervision of civil works sites in component 3; the PCF monitoring of kindergartens, schools
and district education departments in component 4.2; and the EMIS monitoring of reporting
institutions in component 4.3. The ARU will periodically monitor records-keeping at civil works
sites. The ARU will also be responsible for monitoring three aspects of all training courses,
including logistics, participant satisfaction, and the quality of trainers. The RIITT will be
responsible for keeping data on all training participants, including their performance on entry and
exit tests.
The budget for Project management will include a line for M&E expenses, to cover the exercises
for which the ARU is directly responsible. Other M&E exercises are budgeted in their respective
components. These include: a baseline evaluation of teaching-learning practices and the learning
environment in a sample of ELCs and state kindergartens, NGO monitoring of ELC operations
and mentoring/monitoring visits to ELCs (Component 1); a baseline and follow-up evaluation of
teaching-learning practices in a sample of primary grade classrooms (Component 2.1); civil
works supervision (Component 3); the monitoring of PCF implementation (pre-primary) and
operations (general education) under Component 4.3; and the monitoring of data entry and
databases (component 4.4).
In terms of assessing the Project’s effectiveness during implementation, the project will finance
an evaluation of the impact of the Component Two activities on primary classroom teaching-
learning practices and management. A baseline and follow-up survey will be carried out during
project implementation. For Component One, the in-service training will be complemented with
on-site mentoring visits, which will be structured to include observation of teaching-learning
72
practices. The reports on these visits will provide information to evaluate the effectiveness of the
in-service training and introduce needed adjustments to training. While these exercises will give
insight into the effectiveness of Components One and Two, they are not linked to outcomes
indicators in the Project results framework given the Project’s short timeframe (as explained in
Section IV.B).
The Bank will carry out at least two implementation support missions per year. These missions
will, among other things, gauge progress against the Project’s Annual Implementation Plan;
monitor the inputs, outputs, and intermediate outcome indicators; and meet with the Local
Education Group (LEG) to ensure continuous sectoral coordination and discuss partner agency
contributions that complement project activities. The missions will assess issues arising from the
implementation process and agree on the next steps to address them. The missions will include
the active involvement of DPs who will be supporting the MoE to implement its medium-term
Action Plan in the areas covered by the proposed Project. A mid-term review will be conducted
to assess progress and agree on any needed mid-course adjustments. An implementation
completion review will be carried out by the end of the implementation period to allow the
gathering of information for the preparation of the Implementation Completion Report (ICR).
The LEG will participate actively in the mid-term and end-term reviews, with donors being
identified to lead in component areas where they have expertise. As with past FTI grants, the
GPE Coordinating Agency and the Supervising Entity will work in close collaboration
throughout Project implementation to monitor progress and report to the Secretariat.
One of the priorities of the Government’s NSED is that the management of the education system
be oriented around achieving results. Therefore the MOE will monitor closely the results of the
future-round of the Early Grade Reading Assessment (EGRA). The EGRA may provide some
insight into the impacts of activities financed under Components One and Two. Further, the
National Testing Centre (NTC) is expected to introduce sample-based measurements of basic
education learning achievements starting in 2015/2016, and the MOE will monitor these closely
as well. However, neither of these exercises will be used for project outcome indicators as the
project activities are too limited in scope and time to have a significant impact on learning within
the project’s timeframe.
Role of Partners
There will be no pooled financing or co-financing in the Project. However, as the Project will
support implementation of the Government’s NSED Medium-Term Action Plan and, in
particular, the Master Plans to expand access to quality ECE, to upgrade the general education
program and to expand PCF to pre-school level, as well as the State Program on School
Infrastructure Investments, there will be parallel financing from different LEG members.
Partnership arrangements are described in Chapter IV IMPLEMENTATION. The Partners’
involvement in the Grant M&E is described in the previous section.
73
Annex 4: Operational Risk Assessment Framework (ORAF)
Tajikistan
Global Partnership for Education (GPE)-4 (P131441)
Appraisal
1. Project Stakeholder Risks
1.1 Stakeholder Risk Rating Moderate
Description: 1. Teachers may be resistant to the
new demands on their performance
due to move to competency based
learning and teaching. 2. Parents and/or local authorities may
not support alternative ECE model
due to costing consideration and/or
budget resources limitation.
Risk Management:
1. The extent of the curriculum change towards new competency based approach will account capacity of
key stakeholders to implement it and monitor implementation; the Project will finance respective
communication campaign; the teacher training courses will be modernized to accommodate the
competencies in the curriculum and will be conducted in the Grant, in the projects of different partners and
by the state regular INSET.
Resp: Client Stage: Implementation Recurrent:
Due
Date: 31-Mar-
2016 Frequency: Status: Not Yet
Due
Risk Management:
2. Thorough evaluation of the existing pilot alternative ECE models is planned under the Project.
Resp: Client Stage: Implementation Recurrent:
Due
Date: 31-Mar-
2016 Frequency: Status: Not Yet
Due
3. Implementing Agency (IA) Risks (including Fiduciary Risks)
3.1 Capacity Rating Substantial
Description: 1. Overall MOE capacity is not
strong and the recent reshuffle of
fiduciary and technical staff has
further weakened their capacity and
sustainability of the investments in the
human resources.
Risk Management:
The Grant will follow the same financial management (FM) and procurement procedures as the ones in FTI-
3 and use the same FM automated system. The Grant will also fund training for key MOE staff on
management, fiduciary and M&E. Training on procurement for the new key MOE staff is on-going under
FTI-3.
Resp: Both Stage: Both Recurrent:
Due
Date: 31-Mar-
2016 Frequency: Status: In
Progress
Risk Management:
74
2. While FTI-3 supported the
establishment of a good project M&E
system, the contract management
system – one of the weakest in the
MOE - is yet to be developed.
The FTI-3 will complete operationalization of the M&E system and development of the contract
management system which will migrate to GPE-4.
Resp: Client Stage: Both Recurrent:
Due
Date: 31-Mar-
2016 Frequency: Status: In
Progress
3.2 Governance Rating Moderate
Description: High turnover in the sector and MOE
means that investments in human
resources could be lost.
Risk Management:
Public Administration Reforms (PAR, including wage reforms and staff promotion) supported by the Bank
address those issues at the national level. However, the PAR is expected to be more effective in the medium
term.
Resp: Bank Stage: Both Recurrent:
Due
Date: 31-Mar-
2016 Frequency: Status: In
Progress
Risk Management:
TA for professional development opportunity for the MOE and respective sector staff is built in the Project
design as an incentive to retain its staff.
Resp: Bank Stage: Implementation Recurrent:
Due
Date: 31-Mar-
2016 Frequency: Status: In
Progress
Fraud and Corruption Rating Substantial
Description: Risk Management:
Failure to follow the Bank’s
procurement and recruitment
guidelines. Large procurements may
be subject to influence.
Regular supervision of project activities including technical supervision of works and goods, as well as
annual post reviews should minimize this risk.
Resp: Bank Stage: Implementation Recurrent:
Due
Date: 31-Mar-
2016 Frequency: Status: Not Yet
Due
4. Project Risks
4.1 Design Rating Moderate
Description: 1. The Project will support two
technically complex interventions –
reinforcement and expansion of ECE
models and revision of curriculum
and standards. This may be complex
Risk Management:
1. Technical assistance will be built into project design and the Development Partners will bring in their
expertise and experience in advising the Government.
Resp: Both Stage: Both Recurrent:
Due
Date: 31-Mar-
2016 Frequency: Status: In
Progress
Risk Management:
75
for MOE in terms of implementation,
particularly since human resources are
scarce. 2. The geographical coverage of the
civil works (CW) to be financed
under the Grant could be quite wide,
creating challenges in terms of in-situ
supervision.
2. The Bank will continue dialogue with the MOE to come up with more efficient geographical location of
the CWs sites which will reduce operational cost of both MOE and Bank, and increase effectiveness of the
CWs supervision by the MOE. The Project will build on the CWs quality monitoring system established
under FTI-3.
Resp: Bank Stage: Preparation Recurrent:
Due
Date: 31-Aug-
2012 Frequency: Status: In
Progress
4.2 Social and Environmental Rating Low
Description: Risk Management:
1. Failure to fully comply with the
Bank's resettlement guidelines for
land acquisition for the construction
of new schools. 2. Negative environmental impact of
construction/rehabilitation activities
under civil works.
CWs in GPE-4 will be of the same nature as the ones in FTI-3, which triggered the environmental and
resettlement safeguards. An updated version of the EMP and RPF prepared under the previous grant will
guide respective activities in the Project. Regular Bank supervision by safeguard specialists will oversee
compliance and provide advice as needed to MOE.
Resp: Both Stage: Both Recurrent:
Due
Date: 31-Mar-
2016 Frequency: Status: Not Yet
Due
4.3 Program and Donor Rating Low
Description: 1. Due to the nature of the GPE
major decisions on the project design
and implementation need to be
coordinated with the Local Education
Donor Group (LEDG). This may
delay the decision making process. 2. The seemly duplication of
mandatory reviews by Bank
management and the GPE Secretariat
could shorten preparation time thus
compromising preparation quality.
Risk Management:
1. The GPE-4 will build on good experience of donor coordination and collaboration in the previous FTIs:
joint semi-annual reviews of the FTI grants, regular donor coordination meetings which inter alia discuss the
FTI grants implementation issues. In addition, MOE and UNICEF (current Local Coordinating Agency) are
launching new coordination mechanism which should strengthen coordination, collaboration and on-time
decision making if needed.
Resp: Both Stage: Implementation Recurrent:
Due
Date: 31-Mar-
2016 Frequency: Status: Not Yet
Due
Risk Management:
2. The team agreed with the GPE Secretariat on a consolidated preparation schedule minimizing time
allocated for the documents review. The GPE Secretariat's involvement in the core preparation steps (new
Quality Assurance Review by GPE) should also reduce a review time by GPE.
Resp: Bank Stage: Preparation Recurrent:
Due
Date: 31-Aug-
2012 Frequency: Status: In
Progress
76
3. The Project and Development
Partners (DPs) jointly support three
Master Plans of the MOE for: (i)
increasing access to quality Early
Childhood Education; (ii) Education
Content upgrade; and (iii) expansion
of the per capita based financing to
the state kindergartens. Thus, the
Project is dependent on several
activities supported by the DPs and
which should be completed by the
GPE-4 start or complement activities
supported by GPE-4. The risk is that
those activities supported by different
to the GPE DPs may not fulfilled or
delayed, thus affecting the GPE scope
of work, implementation timeline and
achievement of the Project
development Objectives.
Risk Management:
The MOE and DPs have agreed on clear labor division and time line of the Master Plans. A formal
commitment of the Partners will be asked for by the MOE.
Resp: Client Stage: Preparation Recurrent:
Due
Date: 31-Jul-
2012 Frequency: Status: In
Progress
4.4 Delivery Monitoring and
Sustainability Rating Substantial
Description: Risk Management:
Project interventions may not be
sustainable after its closure:
alternative ECE models may prove to
be of high cost to poor families or not
adequate quality, MOE may not have
the resources to maintain school
infrastructure and/or to supply
required pedagogical inputs with the
new standards, and EMIS may be not
sustainable due to low salaries for the
qualified IT specialists.
This is a recurrent concern for which limited alternatives are under the Project's control. The PCF will
continue to encourage a more efficient use of resources; the introduction of the ECE model will be preceded
by a thorough evaluation of the models including their sustainability in terms of MOE and users; and the
Project will continue supporting MOE in terms of making its efforts sustainable. Sustainability of a MIS is a generic cross-sectoral issue. MOE plans hiring TA to assist its IT center to come
up with a sustainability plan (income generation enabling to attract and retain qualified IT staff.
Resp: Both Stage: Both Recurrent:
Due
Date: 31-Mar-
2016 Frequency: Status: In
Progress
4.5 Other (Optional) Rating
Description: Risk Management:
77
Resp: Stage: Recurrent:
Due
Date: Frequency: Status:
4.6 Other (Optional) Rating
Description: Risk Management:
Resp: Stage: Recurrent:
Due
Date: Frequency: Status:
5. Project Team Proposed Rating Before Review
Preparation Risk Rating: Moderate Implementation Risk
Rating: Substantial
Description: Description:
Overall preparation risk is considered moderate as two out of four proposed
components • mostly finance scaling up/extension of activities supported
under three previous grants. The risks that are foreseen under this Project are
mostly at the implementation stage.
The four substantial risk areas that could impact this Grant are the
overall country situation, the limited implementation capacity of the
Government in general and MOE in particular, overall fraud and
corruption risk, and sustainability issues after project conclusion. At
the same time, this project follows three successful operations similar
in nature funded by FTI/GPE. Grant design supports technical
assistance to compensate for the weak capacity. Sustainability issues
will need to be addressed in a broader macro and public sector reform
context, both outside of the scope of the Project. At the same time,
the Project will support efforts for greater efficiency and
accountability at the school level, through PCF and local
management.
6. Overall Risk
Preparation Risk Rating: Implementation Risk
Rating:
Description: Description:
Nondisclosable Information for Management Attention (Optional)
Comments:
78
Annex 5: Implementation Support Plan
Tajikistan
Global Partnership for Education (GPE)-4 (P131441)
Strategy and Approach for Implementation Support
1. The Implementation Support (IS) strategy describes how the World Bank and other
Development Partners will support the Project implementation, the risks mitigation measures and
provide technical advice to facilitate achievement of the PDO. The strategy is developed based
on the nature of the project and its risk profile, and has several dimensions.
2. Routine support to the MOE provided by the Bank project team on operational, technical
and fiduciary issues. That includes desk review and advice on:
a. TORs and technical reports produced by the Recipient and its consultant;
b. the Project M&E system, quarterly progress reports of the Recipient along with the
updated results framework;
c. procurement related documents (those subject for prior review);
d. the project’s quarterly IFRs, the annual audited financial statements, the auditor’s
report, and remedial actions recommended in the auditor’s management letters; and
e. safeguards related documents.
3. Formal semi-annual implementation support missions by the Bank to review the Project
progress and its fiduciary aspects, and support the Recipient through:
a. review of the Project activities’ implementation, M&E practices, identifying the
bottlenecks if any and jointly find solutions;
b. ex-post fiduciary review; and
c. technical supervision of the works and goods supplied under the Project.
d. Also, the Bank will launch at least one mission to support the Recipient on the
safeguards issues.
4. Support to the MOE on the Project further building of the M&E system
5. Joint Mid Term and Implementation Completion Reviews by the LEDG.
6. The LEDG will provide technical support to specific Project activities as described in the
Project Description and in Annex 3, Role of Partners section. The LEDG will be invited to join
the Bank implementation support missions. Also, thorough the new coordination mechanism the
LEG will review and discuss the Project implementation issues.
79
Implementation Support Plan
Focus Skills Needed
Resource
Estimate
Partner Role
First 12 months
Technical and operational
Review
Education specialist /
Operations Officer - TTL
16 weeks
Participation in
joint reviews
Operational support from HQ Operations Analyst 3 weeks
Procurement review Procurement Assigned Staff
(PAS)
4 weeks
FM review FM Analyst 4 weeks
Analytical work in C1.1 and 4.3 Education Economist 4 weeks TA
Technical review for C2 TA
Technical review for C3 Architect and Civil Engineer 4 weeks
M&E arrangements,
Joint reviews facilitation
M&E specialist 8 weeks Participation in
joint reviews
Safeguards support Safeguards specialists 4 weeks
12-48 months
Technical and operational
Review
Education specialist /
Operations Officer - TTL
Participation in
joint reviews
Operational support from HQ Operations Analyst
Procurement review Procurement Assigned Staff
(PAS)
FM review FM Analyst
Analytical work in C1.1 and 4.3 Education Economist TA
Technical review for C2 TA
Technical review for C3 Architect and Civil Engineer
M&E arrangements,
Joint reviews facilitation
Participation in
joint reviews
Safeguards support Safeguards specialists
80
Annex 6: Economic and Financial Analysis
Tajikistan
Global Partnership for Education (GPE)-4 (P131441)
1. The proposed GPE-4 will invest in selected priority activities of the recently adopted by
the Government of Tajikistan National Strategy for Education Development (NSED) up to 2020,
Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP), Country Partnership Strategy (CPS), and other
strategic documents. The economic analysis assesses the rationales and effectiveness of these
activities, while the financial analysis examines the impact of the GPE-4 investment on the
government education spending and its financial sustainability.
I. Economic Analysis
Component 1: Increasing access to quality early childhood education programs (US$1.70
million)
2. There has been enough evidence to address the importance of the early childhood
development (ECD). The skills developed in early childhood form the basis for future learning
and labor market success. ECD enhances a child’s ability to learn, work with others, be patient,
and develop other skills that are the foundation for formal learning and social interaction in the
school years and beyond. Failure to develop these foundational skills can lead to long-term, often
irreversible effects on educational attainment, health, fertility, and productive earnings, which
later results in significant costs for both individuals and society. Among the multi-sectoral ECD
interventions, early childhood education (ECE) interventions aim at providing a cost-effective
strategy to improve children’s school readiness – the degree to which a child is prepared to learn
and succeed in school – which depends not only on their cognitive skills upon primary school
entry, but also on their physical, mental, and emotional health as well as ability to relate to
others.35
3. Nevertheless, public spending on preschool education has been limited. Despite the
increasing proportion of preschool-aged population, most of the increase in education spending
in recent years has gone to general and tertiary education. In 2011, 27.2 million TJS (US$4.8
million) was allocated from the state budget, accounting for only 2.5% of the overall education
budget (excluding externally financed PIP), or 0.1% of GDP. This contributes largely to a low
net preschool enrollment rate (aged 3-6) which was only 8.9% in 2010/1136—the lowest level in
the region—enrolling only 62,500 children aged 3-6 in 488 state kindergartens37
and additional
14,860 children in 707 Early Learning Centers.
4. The extremely low enrollment rate and the growing number of children in the coming
decades call for increased investment in preschool education. Yet, such an investment decision
35
Naudeau, et. al., 2011, Investing in Young Children: An Early Childhood Development Guide for Policy Dialogue
and Project Preparation, The World Bank. 36
World Bank, 2012, SABER-Early Childhood Development Country Report: Republic of Tajikistan (draft). 37
Statistical Bulletin of the Education Sector of the Republic of Tajikistan. Ministry of Education of the Republic of
Tajikistan, 2011; EMIS, 2010.
81
requires a thorough analysis of the existing programs and alternative models first. It is clear that
the current full-time kindergarten model operating on single shift basis, providing meals and
sleeping rooms for children, and with average children to teachers/caregivers ratios of 20 to 2 is
too expensive (377 TJS or US$82 per child)38
and therefore, inadequate for a rapid expansion.
As alternatives, different types of half-day Early Learning Centers (Community-supported ECD
centers, Grade 0, Child-to-Child, Getting-Ready-for-School (three-month summer school), etc.),
have been developed and piloted. They tend to operate on a two-shift basis, use available space
in rural general education schools or kindergartens, and provide only early education services.
They have different children to staff ratios: from 10 to 1 in community-supported ELCs to 20-25
to 1 in other types of ELCs. While an initial evaluation of the community-supported ELCs
supported by UNICEF/AKF in Tajikistan has shown promising results,39
in-depth evaluation of
the quality of teachers and materials, short-term impacts on children and costs of inputs is
essential in determining affordable, cost-effective ECE programs for further expansion. Based on
the thorough evaluation, this component will invest in the most cost-effective, affordable, and
sustainable preschool model, reinforcing / adding about 250 ELCs enrolling at least 5,000
children. Component will also support 450 existing kindergartens enrolling approximately
57,000 children through teacher training and provision of TLMs.
Component 2: Upgrading general education content (US$1.75 million)
5. In Tajikistan, access to basic education is almost universal. The gross enrollment rate for
primary education (grades 1-4) was 101.9% in 2011. The primary education completion rate and
the transition rate progression to secondary schooling40
are also very high - at 104 and 98.5 and
percent, respectively.41
Roughly, 88% of girls and 92% of boys complete basic education (grade
9). However, access has not guaranteed quality. Different student assessment results reveal poor
student learning.
One of the most essential elements for good quality education is teachers. In general schools,
63.2% of teachers have higher education, and 25.3% - secondary professional.42
However,
twenty eight percent of teachers do not have the prescribed pre-service training qualifications,
i.e. although they have professional education they are not certified to teach subjects which they
teach. Teaching-learning techniques have traditionally focused on the teacher transmitting
information to passive students. Given that 76.2% of the existing teachers are 30 year-old or
above,43
however, it is unlikely that they will go back to universities and complete their degrees
to become certified professionals.44
It is crucial that these teachers have access to high-quality in-
38
Source: Statistical Bulletin of the Education Sector of the Republic of Tajikistan. Ministry of Education of the
Republic of Tajikistan, 2011; EMIS, 2010). 39
Institute for Professional Development of the Gorno Badakshan Autonomous Oblast (GBAO), 2011, Increasing
children access to early learning opportunities: Impacts on children, parents and communities 40
Percent of relevant age group. 41
Source: World Bank database; WDI data set. 42
Statistical Bulletin of the Education Sector of the Republic of Tajikistan. Ministry of Education of the Republic of
Tajikistan, 2011; EMIS, 2010. 43
Statistical Bulletin of the Education Sector of the Republic of Tajikistan. Ministry of Education of the Republic of
Tajikistan, 2011; EMIS, 2010. 44
Opportunity cost of reducing the teaching load to allocate more time for an academic commitment is high.
Besides, most teachers aged 30 and above are more likely to have marital status (the average age at marriage in 2010
82
service training programs oriented towards broadening the teacher’s range of technique to
include more active learning. However, while teachers are entitled to at least 108 hours of in-
service training every five years, the in-service teacher training institutes have only capacity to
cover at most one half of eligible teachers. In 2011, 13,600 teachers and deputy directors, and
550 directors took qualification upgrade training through the State INSET system. Partners
contribute to the INSET programs. E.g. during 2009-2011 AKF and USAID supported
qualification upgrade training of 4,260 teachers and 220 school directors. The FTI Grants
support in that area is presented in the Annex 7.
6. This component will support in-service teacher training for primary school teachers and
provision of TLMs for primary grades based on the new primary grades content – more
competencies oriented (including life skills). It is expected that INSET will directly benefit 2,000
primary school teachers (7.4% of all primary teachers), and indirectly more than 50,000 primary
students (7.4% of all primary students) and more in the following years. It is expected that
improved teaching quality at primary education level will bring about cognitive benefits and
greater long-term schooling outcomes in terms of higher test scores, higher enrollment in
secondary and tertiary education, deeper understanding of education materials, as well as lifelong
outcomes reflected in higher rates of employment and higher expected earnings upon graduation.
Component 3: Improving learning environment (US$11.00 million)
7. The total school-aged population is expected to continue increasing approximately by
10,90045
annually between 2012-15. This alone requires additional 33046
classrooms to be
established every year. Moreover, according to the MOE estimations 18% of schools are in
emergency conditions, while 30% are in schools requiring major rehabilitation work. Eleven
percent of schools are connected to the centralized sewerage system, the remaining 89% have
toilets either with the cesspit or without it. The sewerage system in the 7% of schools needs
capital repair, and is in emergency condition in the 3 % of schools. Given the large scale of
capital investment needs, and persuaded by the economic crisis in 2009, the Government started
investing more heavily in capital infrastructure in social sectors as part of its anti-crisis job
creation measures. The Government allocated US$45.1 million for capital expenditure in the
education sector alone, comprising 84.5% of aggregate investment in physical infrastructure in
social sectors and 9.4% of capital expenditure in the state budget (excluding externally-financed
PIP).47
In 2011, public investment in construction and maintenance in education increased to
US$55.9 million (or US$47.4 million without President's Reserve Fund allocations), allowing
renovation and furnishing of 92 schools (692 classrooms) with US$17.8 million coming mainly
from local budgets; and 42 new schools (610 classrooms) were constructed with US$38.1 million
from the republican budget and the President's Reserve Fund.48
Nearly 643 classrooms targeted
was 26 years for men and 23 for women), implying the need to financially sustain households will overweigh any
decision to formally complete education at any stage in their careers, especially in rural areas. 45
Staff calculations; Population figures by age groups between 2001-2011 are taken from State Agency on Statistics
of the Republic of Tajikistan (as historical reference), whereas TFR and population growth rates are referenced from
the U.N. Population Division's "World Population Prospects: The 2010 Revision." 46
10,900 new students / 22-25 student per class group = 500 class groups / 1.5 shifts = 330 classrooms 47
Central Treasury accounts, Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Tajikistan. 48
1,079 school desks in 1-4 grades, 1,315 school desks in grades 5-10, and 1,414 school desks in grades 10-11 were
furnished. In addition, 1,122 items for mathematics classes, 60 tables for teachers, 125 chalkboards, and 70
bookshelves for school libraries were furnished and financed directly out of the state budget (source: Statistical
83
by capital investment were located in Khatlon oblast alone where 17 new schools (40.5% of
total) were constructed in 2011.49
Total public investment is expected to remain on average at
US$42.8 million per annum in 2012-15.50
During 2009-2011 395 schools were rehabilitated/built
from the State budget, and 111 – from the investment projects51
.
8. Yet, the needs are far more than what the Government can afford. This component will
support the Government’s effort in improving learning conditions for students of general
education, targeting the most disadvantage areas. Consisting of about 8-9% of the annual public
investment, it is expected that this component will newly establish or rehabilitate 320 classrooms
in 40 schools and directly benefit 10,60052
students (and more in the following years) in poor
learning conditions.
9. A typical school built under FTI and KfW financed projects includes classrooms,
computer class, director’s office, teachers’ room and library. Average unit cost of a classroom for
such schools is approx. USD 35,000. Average unit cost for a classroom in a school with gym,
labs and cafeteria is USD 98,000. The cost of school construction in the mountainous areas in
average is 19% higher than the cost of construction in the urban /not remote area. Rehabilitation
cost may vary from USD30,000 to USD300,000 depending on a school size and scope of works.
Component 4: Strengthening system capacity (US$1.00 million)
10. The previous FTI series have invested in management and fiduciary capacity building of
the Ministry of Education (MOE). One of the tangible achievements is the establishment of the
Education Management and Information System (EMIS) database for general education. The
EMIS has allowed the MOE to make data-based policy decisions, taking into account efficiency
and cost-effectiveness of their investment. This component will further support the improvement
and expansion of the EMIS to pre-school, primary vocational and higher education levels to
support reforms there (including PCF expansion to pre-school) through provision of reliable data
for the management and other stakeholders.
11. Since its introduction in five pilot rayons in 2005, the PCF reform accompanied with the
increased school autonomy has resulted in tremendous efficiency gains. For instance, around
2,245 "stavka" (full-time equivalent teaching load) in total in the pilot rayons were reduced from
2005 to 2007 alone, while the number of enrolled students increased, resulting in savings in the
wage bill and reallocation of the released funds to non-wage items. The revised 2007 PCF model
Bulletin of the Education Sector of the Republic of Tajikistan. Ministry of Education of the Republic of Tajikistan,
2011; EMIS, 2010). 49
Geographically, precisely Khatlon oblast accounts for the largest crude births (per 1,000 population) ratio of 31.1
and one of the lowest crude death ratios (4.2) in the country. Furthermore, 63.4% of all children between 0-18 years
old live in Khatlon oblast (a total of 1.36 million children) (Source: Demographic Yearbook of the Republic of
Tajikistan. Agency on Statistics under the President of the Republic of Tajikistan, 2011). 50
Budget Department, Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Tajikistan; Medium-Term Expenditure Framework for
2011-13. Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Tajikistan, 2010. 51
Ministry of Education database. 52
The number of schools (40) is based on the budget allocated for the CWs. 40 schools x 8 classrooms per schools
in average = approx. 320 classrooms x 22 student per class x 1.5 shifts = approx. 10,600 students
84
had the following effect: a) schools have started consuming utilities, i.e. energy, water, etc. more
economically; b) they have also got funds for school maintenance, heating, small rehabilitation,
purchase of school furniture and equipment; and c) transparent information about the budget
allocation and utilization available for public in each school also seems to encourage school
communities (parents' committees) to contribute to non-budget funds through a range of informal
and formal channels. The subsequent nationwide expansion of the PCF reform has further
demonstrated substantial reduction of wages in recurrent expenditures, increase in teachers' basic
salaries and their annual growth rate in comparison with increases in per-pupil expenditures (6.7
times compared to 4.8 times respectively).53
12. In general education, the component will finance technical assistance to reinforce the
operation of PCF. The main tasks of the TA will be to provide support to the MOE, REDs and
schools at key stages of the budgeting cycle to ensure compliance with PCF procedures; to
monitor the operation of PCF; and to analyze budgets, expenditures and key indicators of
resource usage to report on system performance under PCF.
13. In the pre-school sector, the Project will support the extension of PCF to all state
kindergartens in two phases, building on the results of an ongoing PCF pilot supported by
UNICEF. Activities supported by the Project will include the revision of the legal-regulatory
framework; orientation workshops for key staff in the REDs, RFDs, and state kindergartens; and
in-depth training for new kindergarten accountants.
Alternatives Considered
14. This section discusses a few alternative activities that were considered, but rejected for
the proposed project.
15. Pilot project lowering the primary entry age to 6 years old. The official primary entry
age is currently 7 years old. Especially when more than 90% of children do not attend any
preschool education, this is rather a late start. In order to increase the educational opportunities
for young children and ultimately improve students’ learning, the NSED 2012-2020 envisages
lowering the primary entry age to six years old and extending the duration of primary education
from four to five years (and general education – from eleven to twelve accordingly). In principle,
the team and development partners support this idea, but it was mutual agreement of the MOE
and partners not to include the pilot project in the Grant because it did not seem financially
feasible. Most importantly, the country does not have sufficient financial, technical, and human
resource capacities to accommodate one more entire age cohort in a near future. Instead, the
Project will support reinforcement and expansion of the ELCs to increase enrollment of 6 year
old children in pre-school programs. Acknowledging the importance of earlier start of primary
education as well as its budgetary implications, the Government and the team agreed to launch a
pilot on a very limited scale at the Government’s own cost and monitor the progress to later
decide the feasibility of scaling it up.
53
Avanesyan, V., "Major issues of introducing formula funding in the schools of the Republic of Tajikistan in 2009
and 2010," Final Report, Revised version as of 5/17/2010.
85
16. Girls' education. The Gender Parity Index (GPI)54
by level of education reveals
widening gender inequity at higher levels of education: in 2010/11, the primary GPI was 0.924
(i.e., 48% of primary students were girls), the lower secondary GPI 0.895 (47.2% girls), and the
upper secondary GPI 0.740 (only 42.6% girls).55
Hence, official data suggests lower completion
rates among girls than boys,56
thus lowering their potential earning power and occupational
aspirations upon graduation. If those who do not regularly attend school or drop out of school at
grade 8/9 levels, the GPI will be much lower even at lower secondary. Given the evident gender
inequity, it was considered to support a proposed initiative to target girls who are out of school
(perhaps a few thousands, largely concentrated in grade 9) or who attend very irregularly (no
data available) by offering practical curriculum. The idea was rejected because there has been no
evaluation of the cost-effectiveness of these interventions yet. Nevertheless, gender is
mainstreamed in the Project design as discussed in the Appraisal Summary.
II. Financial Analysis
17. The Government’s commitment to education is reflected in its budget: between 2006 and
2010, public spending on education doubled in a real term. Education budget has been steadily
increased as % of GDP: 4.1% in 2006; 4.3% in 2008, and 4.5% in 2009 (including Public
Investment Program (PIP) and Non-Budgetary Funds (NBF)). It was 4.0 % in 2010 comprising
19.9% of the state budget (excluding PIP)57
. This is just around the ECA regional average
(around 4.5 %). In general education (about 70% of total education budget in 2010), public
spending per student is low both in terms of absolute figures and as a share of GDP per capita –
PPP $159 per student and 12% accordingly in 2008.
18. To meet the capital investment needs, the education share of public spending on capital
expenditure for social sectors increased from 53.8% in 2005 to 70.8% in 2009, and is expected to
remain high at 68.9% in 2012.58
Yet, the funding gap to implement the MOE’s medium-term
Action Plan (2012-14) for all levels of education alone (i.e. not including other needs such as
recurrent spending) is large, estimated at US$131 million out of a total US$512 million. This gap
is mainly due to huge needs in infrastructure upgrade and equipment supply.
19. As the domestic output growth is projected to slow down from an average of 7.9% for
2000-2010 to 6% for 2012-2015, state revenue projections are likely to be growing at moderate
54
The Gender Parity Index (GPI) is calculated as the quotient of the number of females by the number of males
enrolled in a given stage of education (primary, secondary, etc.). In Tajikistan, GPI covers state-owned (public)
educational institutions only (Source: "Education in the Republic of Tajikistan: 20 Years of State Independence,"
Agency on Statistics under the President of the Republic of Tajikistan, 2011). 55
"Education in the Republic of Tajikistan: 20 Years of State Independence," Agency on Statistics under the
President of the Republic of Tajikistan, 2011. 56
88% of girls vs. 92% of boys complete basic education (Grade 9). 57
Central Treasury accounts, Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Tajikistan 58
Ibid; Nominal recurrent expenditure increase between 2005-11 in the education sector averaged 31.4%; capital
expenditure increase during the same period averaged 137.4%, while externally financed PIP (including
Government co-financing in education infrastructure projects) increased by 51.3% per annum. The increase in
overall education sector expenditure is expected to average 18.9 % between 2012-14 (Sources: Ministry of Finance
of the Republic of Tajikistan, 2010, Medium-Term Expenditure Framework for 2011-13); Law of the Republic of
Tajikistan on the State Budget of the Republic of Tajikistan for 2012 #11, Article 773).
86
levels over the next few years.59
Combined with relatively high inflation60
amid its return to
single digits after the recent financial crisis,61
the slow GDP growth figures suggest that the
Government needs to maintain a conservative fiscal stance in line with the agreed
macroeconomic framework. Therefore, creation of additional fiscal space in the education sector
seems unlikely. Accordingly, donor agencies such as the Global Partnership for Education,
World Bank, Saudi Development Fund, IDB, and KfW have contributed financially to various
education sector projects reported under externally financed PIP. Jointly with Government co-
financing of investment projects (usually ranging between 15-20%), education sector benefited
from US$33.9 mln disbursed funds in the form of 7 schools constructed (116 classrooms), 14
schools renovated (128 classrooms), 400,000 textbooks and 5,120 pedagogical materials
published, and 523 equipment items purchased by the end of 2010.62
In terms of recurrent
budget, donors' budget support has been instrumental in increasing remuneration of public sector
employees in education in recent years. In 2011, 8.1% of the labor force (compared to 9.6% in
2000 and 8.2% in 2005) worked in the education sector, which comprised 44.8% of all public
sector employees in the country.63
In 2010, 180,000 people employed in the education sector
received, on average, 257 TJS (US$59) per month or 3,079 TJS or US$703 per annum with large
differences across regions due to different teaching loads resulting from different student:teacher
ratio.64
Even though education sector wages were the highest among social sectors, it remained
substantially lower than the average wage in the economy (354 TJS or US$81). With GDP per
capita and GNI per capita reaching US$855 and US$800 respectively in 2011,65
an education
worker's average salary is clearly insufficient to produce, attract and retain professionals
providing quality education services in an underfunded sector pressured by demographic trends
and tight budget ceilings.
20. Under this circumstance, GPE grants will continue playing a crucial role in filling the
financial gap, particularly in implementing reforms addressing sector-specific needs to improve
quality and overall system efficiency. The proposed project will invest US$16.2 million over
three years (including US$10.0 million for infrastructure), or US$5-6 million per year on average
(including US$3-4 million for infrastructure). This will be equivalent to about 1.8% of total
annual average of education budget (excluding externally financed PIP, US$ 297 million on
average between 2012 and 2014) and about 7.7% of capital annual spending on education
(excluding externally financed PIP, US$ 42.8 million on average). The importance is given to
eliminate inefficiencies in public expenditure allocations (e.g., PCF), expand access to preschool
education, and improve learning conditions (e.g., school construction), increase overall
59
IMF Staff Report - Tajikistan, May 2012. 60
Period-average headline consumer price index (CPI), which includes food prices and energy prices. 61
Inflation decline is attributed mostly to declining international food prices. 62
"Statistical Bulletin of the Education Sector of the Republic of Tajikistan." Ministry of Education of the Republic
of Tajikistan, 2011. 63
"Labor Market of the Republic of Tajikistan," State Agency on Statistics of the Republic of Tajikistan, 2011. 64
The lowest average monthly wage in the education sector is in GBAO (213.6 TJS or US$48.8) and the largest
average monthly wage is in Dushanbe (416.5 TJS or US$95.1). Employees in other regions such as Soghd oblast
(221.7 TJS), Khatlon oblast (244 TJS) and RRS (222.9 TJS) received, on average, 55.1 % of Dushanbe-level wages
(Source: Agency on Statistics under the President of the Republic of Tajikistan, 2011, Education in the Republic of
Tajikistan: 20 Years of State Independence). 65
GDP per capita is at current prices; GNI per capita is based on Atlas method calculations (source: World Bank
LDB). Mid-year population estimates are taken for calculations from the Agency on Statistics under the President of
the Republic of Tajikistan.
87
management and teaching competency levels (e.g., in-service teacher training and school director
training), and strengthen analytical base at the central Government level (e.g., EMIS).
21. In addition to public spending, the Tajik households could afford to allocate more budget
to education. The poverty headcount ratio at national poverty line declined from 72% in 2003 to
54% in 2007.66
Nominal wages in the public sector rose by four times between 2005 and 2010,
reaching an average 314.2 TJS per month.67
The remittances from labor migration have
improved households' purchasing power dramatically (households with a labor migrant receives,
on average, 667 TJS more as monthly income). Altogether, the Tajik households have increased
their ability to allocate more funds to education related expenses (11% of per capita
remittances),68
which may potentially contribute to increased enrollment and/or completion rates.
The higher financial ability of households to pay for education help strengthen the sustainability
of early learning centers, which needs to be taken into account when selecting the locations.
66
International Human Development Reports, UNDP. This is different from the poverty headcount ratio at US$1.25
per day (PPP adjusted), which has declined steadily from 35.4 % of the population in 2003 to 6.6 % in 2009. 67
"Labor Market of the Republic of Tajikistan," State Agency on Statistics of the Republic of Tajikistan, 2011. 68
The integrated labor migration survey and the panel survey of 3,133 households conducted in August 2010.
(source: "The Impact of Migration and Remittances on Welfare," Agency on Statistics under the President of the
Republic of Tajikistan, 2011).
88
Annex 7: Summary of the FTI and Development Partners Operations
Tajikistan
Global Partnership for Education (GPE)-4 (P131441)
Table 1. Summary of FTI/GPE Grants
Key areas of
support
Key accomplishments Expected accomplishments
Planned activities
FTI-1 (PMU) (USD 9.2 mln; 2006/2007
FTI-2 (PMU&MOE)
(USD 9.2 mln.; 2008/2009 FTI-3 (MOE)
(USD 13.5 mln.; 2010/2012
(on-going)
GPE-4 (MOE)
(USD 16.2 mln.; 2013/2016)
Indicative figures
Civil works
~USD 3.2
Construction/rehabilitation of 237
classes in 27 schools, benefiting
14,380 students (nationwide
except GBAO); 1 rayon education
department (RED), and RIITT69
building.
~ USD 4.2
Construction/rehabilitation of 21
schools (230 classrooms)
benefitting 9,640 students and 1
RED (nationwide)
USD 7.5 mln.
Construction/rehabilitation of 28
schools (280 classrooms)
benefiting approx. 13,000 students
(Sugd and RRS regions), 2 REDs,
and rehabilitation of RIITT
dormitory
USD 9.4 mln
Construction/ rehabilitation of 40
schools (320 classrooms)
benefitting approx. 10,600
students;
USD 0.6 mln TA for CWs design
and monitoring. (component 3.1)
Furniture, equipment
incl. IT, and visual
aids for schools and
education institutions
(incl. distribution)
~ USD 2.4 mln
~ USD 1.9 mln.
~USD 2.5 mln
USD 1.0 mln
School furniture provision
(component 3.2)
Curriculum
modernization
Curriculum for key subjects for
G5 is updated
Functional Review of the
curriculum development system
-
Revision of standards and
curriculum (component 2)
Textbooks and
teaching-learning
materials publication
for general education
(grades 1-11)
Publication of 13 textbooks in
873,500 copies
Publication of 14 textbooks in
790,000 copies
Provision of supplementary
reading materials for primary
grades to 1,000 schools (26% of
schools in the country)
USD 0.66 mln
Provision of Teaching-Learning
Materials (TLMs) for primary
grades (component 2)
69
RIITT – Republican Institute for In-Service Teacher Training.
89
In-service training of
pedagogical and
managerial personnel
INSET70
system
reform
Training of 333 school directors in
school management and 3,122
teachers and mentors in active
learning techniques
-
Training of 100 school directors in
school management and 620
teachers and mentors in active
learning techniques
INSET delivery system review
Training of approx. 800 school
directors in school management
and 650 mentors in supporting
teachers to improve teaching-
learning practices;
INSET programs review
Expansion of training in school
management and pedagogical
leadership to 1,900 school
directors and 450 kindergartens
principals (financial management
only); training of 2,000 primary
grades teachers (component 4.2)
Capacity building of
education personnel
on per capita
financing
Scaling up of PCF to additional 12
districts, leading to more efficient
and transparent resource use
Scaling up of PCF to additional 24
districts, yielding more efficient
and transparent resource use.
Scaling up of PCF to final 25
districts and consolidating reform
nationwide
In general education, PCF
evaluation and light support to its
national implementation.
In pre-school, PCF extension to
state kindergartens (component
4.3)
Fiduciary and
management capacity
strengthening in the
system.
Fiduciary system acceptable to the
Bank was established in the MOE
enabling the latter to implement
externally funded operations;
Fiduciary Capacity Strengthening
Action Plan Phase -1 is fully
implemented
Functional Review of the MOE;
professional development plans
for education staff; strengthened
fiduciary capacity in the sector,
partial implementation of the
Fiduciary Capacity Strengthening
Action Plan Phase -2.
Management capacity building;
provision of technical assistance in
strategic planning, policy analysis
and monitoring; fiduciary capacity
building
Continuation (component 4.1)
Education
Management
Information System
(EMIS)
- Nation-wide operationalization of
first phase of EMIS; introduction
of second phase; provision of IT
equipment to rayons, oblasts and
MOE, along with basic IT training
to relevant staff at all levels
Nation-wide operationalisation of
second phase of EMIS
EMIS expansion to other levels of
education: pre-school, primary
VET, and higher education
Improve enrollment
and attendance study
- - Schools transportation study -
Pre-school access and
quality
- - - Analysis of pre-school system,
evaluation of the ECE models and
expansion of the latter: teacher
training, TLMs and furniture
provision.
70
INSET – In-Service Training
90
Table 2. SUMMARY TABLE FOR SUPPORT
TO THE MOE’s MASTER PLANS FOR ECE, EDUCATION CONTENT UPGRADE AND PCF EXPANSION
BY DONOR PARTNERS AND BY GPE-4
Action Timeline Development
Partner
National
Counterpart
1. Component One: Increasing access to quality early childhood education (ECE) programs
1.2 Revision of ECE program by end of August 2012. AKF with
contribution from
UNICEF and USAID
RIITT
1.2 Sector analysis:
(i) Pre-school organization and financing;
(ii) ECE models evaluation
(iii) Revision of legal regulatory basis.
May 2013- June 2014
GPE-4 MOE
1.3 Revision of in-service teacher training program, including ToT;
approbation. Start - October 2012 Approbation- August 2013
AKF with
contribution from
UNICEF and USAID
RIITT
1.4 Development of supplementary reading materials Complete new titles - by end
of September 2013
AKF with
contribution from
USAID
AOE/MOE
1.5 Finalization of the list of supplementary teaching-learning materials
(TLMs) to be supplied under GPE-4, including revision of
specifications (if needed)
by the end of December 2013. AKF with UNICEF
support
AOE/MOE
1.6 Revision of written methodological guidance for teachers AKF to complete revision by
May 2013.
AKF with UNICEF
support
RIITT
1.7 GPE-4 to support the establishment or reinforcement of 250
community-supported ELCs and 450 state kindergartens (KGs):
(i) NGO hired by MOE identifies community-recipients and
conducts community mobilization
(ii) Teacher training and mentoring visits
(iii) Procurement of the TLMs
May 2013- June 2014
Q3-4,2014 and Q3-4, 2015
Q3 2014 and Q3 2015
GPE-4
MOE
RIITT
MOE
91
Action Timeline Development
Partner
National
Counterpart
2 Component Two: Upgrading General Education Content and Practices
2.1 Education Standards Concept development By October 2012 FTI-3 AOE
2.2 Awareness raising on the LSBE September-October 2012 UNICEF AOE
2.3 Development of the LSBE package71
for Grades 1-11 October 2012-June 2013 UNICEF AOE, RIITT
2.4 Development of the primary grades package for all subjects except
Tajik Language, and standards for Tajik Language
October 2012-June 2013 FTI-3 MOE, AOE, RIITT
2.5 Development of the primary grades package for Tajik Language based
on the standards
January – June 2013 USAID MOE, AOE, RIITT
2.6 Development of the Grades 5-11 package for Math. October 2012-June 2013 FTI-3 MOE, AOE, RIITT
2.7 Baseline of the teachers practices in primary grades Q4 2013 GPE-4 MOE, AOE, RIITT
2.8 TLMs procurement 2014 GPE-4 MOE
2.9 Primary grades teacher training 2014-2015 GPE-4 RIITT
2.10 Survey of the teachers practices in primary grades Q4 2015 GPE-4 MOE, AOE, RIITT
2.11 TOT on Math G5-11 2015 GPE-4 RIITT
2.12 Textbooks development and evaluation criteria 2014 GPE-4 MOE, Textbooks
Center, AOE,
RIITT
3. Component 4.3: Per capita financing
3.1 Evaluation of the PCF pilot in kindergartens in Shohmansur district Q3 2012 UNICEF MOE
3.2
Data collection of all relevant information (e.g. institutions, staff,
enrolment, budgets and expenses, etc.) preparatory to scaling up PCF to
other kindergartens
October 2012 UNICEF MOE
3.3
Further development of PCF formula, to be used for scaling up to other
kindergartens; and periodic TA thereafter to review and revise if needed
November-December 2012
with follow-up mission in
April – May 2014.
UNICEF MOE
3.4 Scale up 2013-2015 GPE-4 MOE
NOTE: MOE plans:
(i) new primary grades curriculum – national introduction in September 2013;
(ii) new secondary grades curriculum - pilot in academic year 2013/2014; evaluation in 2014/2015; national introduction in 2015/2016
71
Package includes standards, teaching plans and programs, TLMs, INSET package.
92
Table 3. Development Partners in Education Sector in Tajikistan
Agency Activity ADB Returning back to the education sector. Possible areas of support: University of
Central Asia; and TVET AKF School-based support (cluster system); In-service teacher training; Early Childhood
Education. EC/ETF MTEF in social sectors; Analysis of sector financing and financial gap; PRSP
monitoring, VET FTI Textbooks; In-service teacher training; Management and fiduciary capacity building
in the MOE and sector; EMIS; Education financing (per capita financing); School
rehabilitation and construction; equipment GTZ School Community Initiatives (PTAs), TVET IsDB School construction and equipment, TVET (pipeline) JICA School construction and equipment KFW School construction and equipment OSI Higher Education, Support to National Testing Center READ Support to National Testing Center Saudi
Fund School construction and equipment
UNICEF ECD; Life Skills Based Education; Water and Sanitation; Girls’ Education,
Education financing (PCF in pre-school) USAID Curriculum development, In-service teacher training; Education financing; Higher
Education, School drop outs, Early Grades Reading (upcoming) WFP School feeding WB Curriculum and Textbooks; Training for uncertified teachers; School Community
Initiatives (PTAs, small grants); School construction/ rehabilitation and equipment;
Student Assessment; Youth Program; (TVET – in pipeline)
93
Annex 8: Preparation Schedule
Tajikistan
Global Partnership for Education (GPE)-4 (P131441)
Date 2012 Activity
January GPES advised the country about indicative allocations of the GPE funds for
the next 3 years (based on Needs and Performance Framework) – USD16.2
million
January The country expressed its intention to apply for the GPE Funds in
November 2012 and advised that its new Education Sector would be
adopted in soon (Nb. It was adopted by the GOT in end June 2012)
February The LEG reconfirmed the World Bank and UNICEF as Supervising Entity
and Coordinating Agency for the GPE Grant in TJ.
March Project Pre-identification
March –April Project Identification with the GPE Secretariat participation – the Phase I of
the GPE’s QAR. The key conclusions of the GPE’s review were:
i. The content of the program has been worked out through a transparent
and participatory process; and
ii. The proposed program is consistent with the Education Plan and in
line with the GPE strategic policies.
May, 8 PCN Review
May-June Project Preparation
July 10,13 Submission of the very early draft PAD to the GPE QAR Phase II
July 13-19 Bank virtual QER
August, 2 Submission of the PAD for DM
August, 3 GPE QAR Phase II Report is sent to the LEG by the GPE Secretariat
August, 9 Decision Meeting
August, 12 EMF and RPF disclosure
August, 16- 24 Appraisal
August, 31 Application package submission to the GPE Secretariat for the QAR Phase
III.
The QAR Phase III will report to GPE Board on the extent to which issues
raised during QAR Phase II have been addressed (either by adjusting the
program document or through satisfactory explanations), and its assessment
of the program implementation the readiness within the existing country
context
November, 19 GPE Board Meeting
In case of funds allocation
Dec. 2012 Negotiations
Jan. 2013 Signing
Apr. 2013 Effectiveness
