PROJECT INFORMATION DOCUMENT (PID)APPRAISAL STAGE

Report No.: AB1971Project Name Education Sector ProjectRegion AFRICASector General education sector (100%)Project ID P086294Borrower(s) GOVERNMENT OF DRCImplementing Agency

Ministry of Primary, Secondary and Professional EducationC. N'dom Nda Ombel, MinisterCroisement des AvenuesCongo, Democratic Republic ofTel: 243 081 99 08 976

Environment Category [ ] A [X] B [ ] C [ ] FI [ ] TBD (to be determined)Date PID Prepared November 17, 2005Date of Appraisal Authorization

November 23, 2005

Date of Board Approval January 26, 2006

1. Country and Sector Background

The DRC has made extraordinary progress in the last few years. It is at a turning point to reverse the acute deterioration of the country’s education system.

Years of conflict and economic recession in the DRC had seriously affected the education sector. After eighty years of colonial rule, conflicts in the immediate post-independence period, and decades of corruption and mismanagement under the Mobutu Sese Seko regime (1965-1997), the country was brought to near-collapse. Armed conflict erupted again after Present Laurent Désiré Kabila overthrew Mobutu in 1998, and the effects of Africa’s first continent-scale war were dramatic. Over three million people died and as many more were displaced. The conflict exacerbated ethnic tensions over land and territory in eastern Congo, posing a long-term challenge to the transition to peace.

The effects of this legacy show in the precipitous decline in per capita income levels which fell from US$380 in 19601 to US$85 in 2000. Government revenue fell by four-fifths in the 1990s, affected by the steep decline in mining exports. As there was a corresponding drop in social services, living conditions deteriorated drastically. The DRC’s social indicators are now the worst in Africa. Currently a greater proportion of children is not in primary school compared with 15 years ago. Life expectancy is 45 years. Infant mortality is 128 per thousand. An estimated 80 percent of the population lives on less than $0.20 a day.

In 2001, the Bretton Woods institutions resumed support after a hiatus of several years. An all-inclusive government of national unity was appointed on June 30, 2003, following agreements reached through the inter-Congolese dialogue. This has established a tenuous peace that is 1 In 2000 constant dollars

allowing the country to resume productive activities. The economy registered a positive growth rate of 3.5 percent in 2002. It has continued to grow at over 6 percent every year since. Government has succeeded in breaking hyperinflation through restrained monetary and fiscal policies. Fiscal revenues rose from only 5.1 percent of GDP in 2000 to 8.3 percent for 2003. The debt burden became less onerous when the DRC was granted debt relief on Naples terms by the Paris Club in September 2002, and on Cologne terms when it reached the Decision Point under the enhanced HIPC Initiative in July 2003. The country is now working toward the completion point, which could come as early as 2006. The new debt relief initiative proposed by the G8 and adopted by all the member countries of the World Bank and IMF in 2005 is estimated to lead to a further reduction of debt service by approximately 10 to12 percent.

Government has launched in-depth structural reforms to reverse the damage from decades of mismanagement and unleash the country’s growth potential. Reforms are underway in economic governance, public expenditure management, poverty reduction, transparency, financial sector and public enterprises. The social sectors are preparing sector strategies for improved service delivery. In this dynamic, the cornerstones are: restoring institutional unity while allowing for necessary decentralization, implementing pro-poor policies and actions, and providing rapid financial support especially in the eastern and northern provinces which are still devastated and in disarray from the last round of conflict (during which these areas were administered by a variety of armed groups).

The medium term development objectives are set out in the Transitional Government’s Letter of Development Policy and corresponding policy matrix. The interim PRSP (I-PRSP), begun in 2001, opened the national dialogue on poverty strategy and provided an analytic and operational framework to move forward with the design of pro-poor programs. The full PRSP should be completed by 2006. In May 2005, the parliament adopted a new draft Constitution that will be submitted for adoption by a referendum. The Constitution proposes a new territorial organization (increasing the number of provinces from 11 to 26) and provides for elections of the provincial assemblies and executive. Article 4x of the Constitution stipulates that primary education should be fee-free. Article 4y calls for implementation of a national literacy program.

In this changing environment, there is a need gradually to shift the focus from emergency assistance towards governance and capacity related issues to help set the foundations of a fair and effective State. The DRC is entering a period in which a number of policy reforms will have to be adopted and implemented in the social sectors and during which the political environment may be more conducive for such an endeavor – e.g. managing the decentralization process, clarifying the articulation of Government and service providers, abolishing school fees, defining a strategy for the medium-term financing of the sector, which will include an element of external assistance. At the same time, selectivity will remain important, in view of the relative weakness of the respective institutions. The governance agenda inevitably includes elements which are political and on which progress will require more than technical work. Multiple stakeholders are involved. Considerable effort must be expended on coalition-building in favor of priority reforms.

The peace that authorities have managed to maintain so far, aided by the deployment of a United Nations peacekeeping force, cannot be taken for granted. Formerly rebel held provinces brought

into the reunified State are still not entirely under the transitional government’s control. The size of the country (58 million people spread over 2.3 million square kilometers) and the dearth of effective communications and transport networks are formidable obstacles which are not easily overcome for education and other programs which are instrumental for national unity. The Transitional Government is programmed to end in June 2006, and to prepare, elections are expected in the first half of 2006. This could pose a risk to the country’s stability. Yet there is reason for cautious optimism that DRC can address the main limiting factors in order to arrest the decline of the education sector, for reasons explained below (section on Government Response)

Education Sector Issues

Less than ten percent of the national budget is allocated to education, and the DRC lacks a sustainable financing mechanism for the delivery of education services. The most serious challenge Government faces, especially to its pro-poor objectives, is to redress the situation in which households shoulder most of the burden of financing schools and teachers’ salaries. This arrangement prevents the system from expanding toward the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). It shuts out children from poor households (GNP per capita averages US$100 in 2004; public school fees can be as high as US$63/ child/ annum). Until this issue is addressed, most other needed reforms in the sector cannot be effectively tackled.

Equity of access is a problem – especially at the base of the system. Gross enrollment ratios in 2001/02 were 64 percent for primary2, 23 percent for secondary and 6 percent at tertiary level. Even in comparison with other African countries, the DRC has a relatively low coverage at the primary stage, whereas it has similar levels of coverage at the secondary and tertiary stages. Affordability is a factor that limits access. Children from poor families, and especially girls, have suffered long-term consequences as their parents have been least able to afford to send them to school. Another factor is that schools which have decayed from decades of neglect or have been destroyed during recent conflict have not been repaired. The Government further needs to address market failures, for example, for groups of children made vulnerable by the conflict: child soldiers, street children, refugees and orphans. The Ministry of Social Affairs has a mandate for literacy, but little knowledge of whether and how programs may actually be operating. There is no national policy on resourcing non-formal education, nor guidelines on its role and priority vis-à-vis formal education in combating illiteracy on a massive scale.

The environment in which education services are delivered must be defined and improved. The prolonged period of economic decline and the isolation of many areas during times of conflict fostered pragmatic adaptation to evolving needs. This haphazard growth widened the discrepancy between the formal and legal framework on the one hand, and actual practice on the other. The resulting duality and lack of clarity in functions and responsibilities in the system’s administration, aggravated by incomplete decentralization, created massive internal and external inefficiencies which constrain the sector’s development today. But a foundation exists to undertake sound planning, and this needs to be strengthened. This calls for updating the legal 2 GER estimates are subject to a wide margin of error and need to be verified (ref. CSR). The problems stem from incomplete data collection across schools and provinces, and weaknesses in the demographic data. Demographic data are calculated on the basis of the last census (1984) and projections of fertility/mortality rates, on which there are conflicting opinions.

framework, revamping professional norms and standards, and improving teacher quality at an affordable price. It means redefining an appropriate role and financing strategy for Government in service delivery, in partnership with the churches, private sector and civil society. The majority (70 percent) of primary schools are managed by the Churches, as are a considerable number of secondary schools.

The backlog in capital development and maintenance is immense. An estimated one-third of the country’s schools are in such poor condition that they offer no shelter from inclement weather; most have no functioning latrines. Government estimates that US$150 million is needed in the next 3-4 years to rehabilitate 3,000 primary schools and 1,100 secondary schools (900 primary and 400 secondary schools a year) in order to strike a pace capable of reaching the MDGs in the next 20-25 years. Few schools have learning materials. The majority of Congolese students never see the written word until they sit for the national examination at the end of primary school. On average, the country’s 180,000 primary school teachers are older than the average life expectancy in the DRC. They have not had their skills updated for decades. Pre-service training of new entrants, which is mostly offered through the pedagogical stream of secondary education (humanités pedagogique), does not confer adequate pedagogical and professional skills.

Quality is abysmal and is manifest in low retention rates. Only about a third of children in urban areas and a fifth of those in rural areas entering school reach the fifth grade. No recent research has analyzed the determining factors on quality in the DRC, but it is clear that the elements which are known internationally to have an impact on quality are largely impaired or missing in the Congo. These include direct inputs (textbooks – which are the most important resource for teachers and students in poor settings, infrastructure, teachers and teacher training), the time available for teaching, the nature of the teaching-learning process, and school climate. Less is known about factors outside the pedagogical institutional and management structure, such as parental support for children’s learning – other than the ability to pay fees.

In a situation where the stakes are high because of the fragile political, economic and social environment, the Government has had to be agile to capitalize on the support forthcoming from donors in the emergency recovery phase. The Government used the early stages of the PRSP consultations to define a strategic framework to guide its cooperation with donors. This is presented in the “Minimum Partnership Program for Transition and Recovery” (PMPTR, 2004) as a first 4-year phase of a larger 10-year vision. The PMPTR puts a premium on the rehabilitation of minimum infrastructure needed to re-establish the authority of the Congolese state throughout the country, and contribute to the return of sustainable economic development while making progress toward the MDGs. The consequence for education is that this directs attention mainly to supply-side capital investments such as rehabilitation and textbook provision.

It is now equally urgent to address the deeper, structural inadequacies of the sector – legal, institutional, and financial. If left unattended, these will erode the gains of emergency recovery assistance. Systemic problems were evident even before the recent conflict. Public under-investment in education increasingly put the burden on parents, most of whom have only become poorer through the years. These structural inadequacies, combined with the very advanced age of teachers, have brought the education system to the brink of implosion.

Government response

There are a number of clear opportunities for arresting deterioration in the education sector while pursing the commitment to the MDG of universal primary school completion.

Of paramount importance, Government has broadened its dialogue with education sector stakeholders: the Churches, parent associations, teachers and civil service unions. The dialogue has been volatile – negotiations alternated with massive teacher strikes – but Government managed to end the strikes in late 2005 by tackling domestic public expenditure to begin shifting more responsibility to the State to finance schools and teachers’ salaries. Certain decisions were undertaken on an emergency basis, and the present Government cannot guarantee there will be progressive increases in education spending. This in the short term will be affected by the outcome of the elections, and in the medium to long term by increases in overall government revenues, and the outcomes of the civil service reform. However, the recent decisions mark significant progress toward the goal of decreasing school fees and increasing teacher salaries; and Government has remained open to negotiation. This progress occurred despite the political constraints imposed by the coalition government preparing for national elections.

In 2005, the Government used HIPC funds to introduce a bloc grant program to alleviate the severe resource constraints of publicly administered primary schools. The program delivered approximately US$530 to each school for the year, to over 20,000 schools. The grants cover direct costs of supplies (frais de fonctionnement). The program is to continue for 2006. Government further announced (Arrêté No MINEPSP/CABMIN/6635/2005, September 3, 2005) that starting in academic year 2005-2006, all but four fees3 were no longer allowed for primary school. The Government also doubled teachers’ salaries. The overall allocation to education from the national budget (recurrent) increased from 6 percent in 2002 to 8.8 percent in 2005.

Evidence that there is a positive policy environment for productive investments in the education sector provides a reference point to guide donors in coordinating their support. Government is seeking assistance to meet the near-term fiscal shocks as it faces the double challenge of expanding the system to pursue universal primary education and promoting equity of access by reducing the financial burden on households.

In the meantime, Government is using the approximate total US$60 million already available in donor funding for education in a pragmatic approach, to achieve rapid and visible results on the ground. Most of the action is in primary education. With support from UNICEF, UNESCO and the Belgian Cooperation, the MEPSP has developed a new curriculum for primary level and distributed this to schools. With UNICEF support, the MEPSP is targeting some 400 schools for intensive support to school management at local level, while also mounting a new campaign nationally to encourage girls’ education. For academic year 2004-2005, with support from the Belgian Cooperation, textbooks for grades 5-6 were delivered to all primary schools in the country. Government is using an estimated total US$20 million from various IDA-financed multi-sector programs (Emergency Multi-sector Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Project, Emergency Early Recovery Project, Economic Recovery Credit and Emergency Trust Fund) to

3 The four fees are: Minerval, school insurance, and two forms of examination fees.

rehabilitate classrooms mainly in primary and secondary schools, and procure learning materials, furniture, and laboratory equipment for all levels of education (see Annex 2).

It is unlikely that the DRC will attain UPE by 2015. Nonetheless, the authorities have completed an in-depth sector study (Education Country Status Report, 2004) to analyze the tradeoffs that can be envisaged to reach the stated goal in a manner that would be fiscally realistic and accommodate other claims on public resources, including claims by other sub-sectors of the education system; and to identify the structural policies which should be adopted to ensure that student learning improves in a context of rapid expansion. The Government has formed an inter-ministerial working group, consisting of representatives of three ministries involved in education4, Ministry of Budget, Ministry of Finance, and the Civil Service Ministry. The purpose is to improve the budget preparation process so that the allocation of the State budget to education reflects the priorities of the sector, and the allocated funds reach the intended recipients.

In recent years, action plans have been prepared for reform in certain sub-sectors. These were undertaken independently, and with little concern for fiscal viability. There is an Education for All Action Plan, prepared by the Ministry for Primary, Secondary and Professional Education (MEPSP). The Ministry of Higher Education and Universities’ reform agenda (Pacte de Modernisation de l’Enseignement Supérieur et Universitaire, PADEM, was issued in 2003 and demonstrates a clear resolve and approach to reform. Secondary education is much further behind and will require substantial additional analysis to generate policy and program options. The curriculum for secondary education has not been updated since the 1960s.

The PRSP is attempting to integrate the strategic thinking in these sector reform proposals with the work on sector financing strategy. The PRSP technical teams are in process of developing an initial Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF). To guide and anchor the effort in an explicit policy commitment, a high level inter-ministerial group is drafting a Letter of Education Sector Policy. This is expected to be endorsed by the three ministries involved in education, the Ministry of Budget, and the Ministry of Finance by Project negotiations.

The authorities are also fully aware that a comprehensive reform of the public administration is required. In this context, a new statute on teachers will need to be formulated; the full meaning of teachers’ “special status” currently within the civil service is not clear. Government has drafted (2003) a framework for civil service reform with technical support from a multi-donor program. This aims to define the key missions of priority ministries and public service agencies at central and provincial levels, and upgrade the skill levels and productivity of their staff. The first set of actions (2004-2006) includes: (i) audit of service delivery mechanisms, especially at the local level, covering health, education and justice; (ii) an operational audit of ministries to prepare their reorganization; and (iii) an obligatory retirement program for staff who have passed the legal retirement age by end 2004.

2. Rationale for Bank involvement

4 Ministry of Primary, Secondary and Professional Education; Ministry of Higher Education and Universities; and Ministry of Social Affairs.

The main rationale is that without IDA involvement, the pace of development in the education sector in DRC would be far slower.

No other major donor is involved in sector-specific service delivery issues as substantially in tandem with involvement in the macro issues (e.g. public expenditure management) which impact on education sector development long term. Current donor coverage for education is uneven and largely not implemented through Government systems. In this respect as well, the Bank is a leader in adapting present instruments in order to use country systems, with appropriate safeguards. Using in-country systems is particularly important if supporting Government’s commitment to eliminate primary school fees.

The Bank’s role is critical at this juncture in the DRC’s history. The Bank’s presence lends credibility to the process and strengthens the hands of the reformers within government and civil society. The Bank also acts as the catalyst to galvanize support from other development partners. Without sufficient external financial support, it is likely that many reform programs would become false starts.

The Bank has also accumulated broad-scale, on-the-ground experience in all eleven provinces of the DRC. The proposed Project draws on this. The priority will not be to replicate the old systems entirely, but rather to learn from them, and also experiment with new models which emphasize results and efficiency incentives, monitoring and evaluation of quality and equity of service delivery. The Bank has a comparative advantage in the high caliber and diverse range of analytical resources it can bring to bear on these issues. The Bank team has provided the main analytical underpinnings for sector development since 2001, through the analysis of education finance, enrollment trends, education for under-served groups (an aspect largely omitted from the PMPTR and under-emphasized in the PRSP process), institutional and policy assessment. In addition to the Country Status Report, the analyses include: Public Expenditure Review, a survey of users of public services (BERCI, 2004), and a Risk & Vulnerability Assessment carried out to help prepare the IDA-financed Emergency Social Action Project.

The proposed Project would provide the financing needed to accelerate development in key areas and generate further analytical work to guide future IDA investments. As this is the Bank’s first stand-alone education sector project after re-engagement, it is expected that other projects in secondary, or higher education or other areas will follow.

3. Higher level objectives to which the project contributes

The Education Sector Project contributes to the higher level objectives of the Transitional Support Strategy (TSS, February 2004) to mitigate the acute risks perpetuating the erosion of social capital in the DRC. The TSS recommends revitalizing education to help consolidate the process of recovery and transition. In a post-conflict situation, the very process of investing in the social sectors is stabilizing, as the population is able to see concrete results on the ground. The Project will assist the DRC in mitigating the post-conflict crisis in the education sector, and at the same time will provide the building blocks for the solid development of a medium term education sector development program. This is consistent with the new Country Assistance Strategy (CAS) under preparation, which will be the context in which the proposed Project

actually operates. The new CAS is framed in the perspectives of the DRC’s PRSP and the Bank’s Africa Action Plan (AAP) in which the governance agenda is central as the combustible element in Africa to turn around capacity building for effective States. Both PRSP and AAP endorse progress toward MDGs as an important indicator of progress in development.

2. Objectives

The Project development objective is to prevent further deterioration in the delivery of essential services for primary education and prepare ground for a sustainable development and financing of the sector that will facilitate donor coordination and future transition to a sector wide program.

Success in achieving this objective will be observed in better enrollment rates and improved quality in primary school, as well as the preparation of reforms for the next government to take, following elections planned before June 2006, to end the Transitional Government. It cannot be expected that significant policy change will happen quickly. The ground must be prepared through technical work to better understand specific issues, and through coalition and consensus building, as first steps for a future government to take on more ambitious reform.

The focus on primary education is motivated by its underdeveloped status in the DRC in terms of the historical trends in enrollment growth, and the importance of primary education to the poor. By also focusing on the broader institutional and financing framework for the sector, the Project will embed the support to primary in a conscious effort to sustain these gains longer term.

In order to achieve its objectives, the proposed Project will provide support for: (i) reducing primary school fees and providing free access to textbooks to increase equity in the supply of primary education services; (ii) building quality through monitoring learning achievement and improving the statutes for teachers; (iii) restoring access to primary education of at least minimal quality, especially in areas affected by the conflict of the last decade; and (iv) providing technical assistance and material support to build the system capacity of government and prepare policies which update and re-structure the legal governance, financing, and administration of the education sector.

The Project will cover the entire country. All public and public-subsidized primary schools will be targeted by the support for reducing school fees and distribution of textbooks (Components 1 and 2). The same is true for classroom rehabilitation, although two-thirds of the 1600 classrooms rehabilitated will be in areas most affected by the war.

The outcome indicators of the Project will be (see also Annex 3):

a) Growth in enrollment rate from GER 81 per cent in 2005 to 97 percent in 2011.b) Reform of teacher career structure (training, deployment, salary, incentive structure)

approved.c) Education sector plan (including medium term financing strategy) with indicators agreed

with donors.

3. Rationale for Bank Involvement

4. Description

Project Components: (See Annex 4 for detailed description and Annex 5 for detailed cost breakdown.)

Component 1: Increase Access and Equity at Primary Level (Estimated costs, including contingencies: US$86.0 million; All IDA)

Sub-Component 1a : Rehabilitation of primary school infrastructure (US$28.3 million) includes support for (i) studies and technical work to update norms and standards for school construction and rehabilitation (especially to introduce low-cost approaches and specify mechanisms for community participation); (ii) rehabilitation of about 1600 primary school classrooms and the director’s office (approximately 250 schools) and latrines; school furniture (desks for pupils, teachers and school directors; storage closets for textbooks); and (iii) capacity building for the Infrastructure Division of the Ministry of Primary, Secondary and Professional Education (MEPSP) and the provincial education authorities and school personnel.

Sub-Component 1b : Rehabilitation of the National Pedagogical University (US$3.8 million): This large university (UPN), located in Kinshasa, is the only high level institution in the country that is exclusively focused on training teachers and tertiary level teacher educators. It is also engaged in pedagogical research. The University is critical for providing DRC with resources to support its education sector reforms, but is constrained by lack of facilities and equipment. The Project will finance: rehabilitation of the classroom blocks and latrines, and equipment (desks, laboratory equipment) of UPN.

Sub-Component 1c: Support for Eliminating Primary School Fees (US$51.4 million) :

The objective is to assist Government to eliminate the largest fee that households have been paying: the top-up of teachers’ salaries (frais de motivation). The Project will provide funding to increase the incentive package (prime de motivation) in primary school teachers’ pay envelope, as a counter measure to their looking for salary top-ups in the form of school fees. Project support will apply to primary teachers only, in keeping with the focus on the MDGs. These funds will be channeled through the country’s existing mechanism for paying teacher salaries. IDA will release funds twice a year, to a designated account at the Central Bank of Congo (BCC). The first release will be upon verification that the MEPSP provided the Ministry of Finance with the register of qualifying teachers. The second release will be made upon evidence of an audit presented to IDA, showing that the teachers receiving the grants were present in the classroom, and that these grants achieved the intended objective of eliminating top-up of teachers’ salaries through fees. The audit will be conducted on a sample of schools, by an inter-ministerial team from the MEPSP, the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Budget. This same approach is used to monitor the bloc grants for school operating costs (frais de fonctionnement) which Government is financing from HIPC resources. The Project will

also support social audits – focus group discussions with school management and parent committees to assess compliance with the décret on elimination of school fees. This sub-component will finance: (i) cash transfers (US$50 million total over the life of the Project); (ii) publicity campaigns (US$1.0 million) to ensure that parents are informed about the elimination of school fees; and (iii) technical audits (US$0.3 million). Additional support activities are in sub-component 1d.

Sub-Component 1d : Strengthening Safeguards in Teacher Pay System (US$2.5 million). The Service de Controle et de la Paie des Enseignants (SECOPE) at MEPSP is the agent designated to assist the Budget Ministry for payment of teachers’ salaries. SECOPE also facilitates transfer of Government’s block grants to schools to subsidize operating costs. The SECOPE database is a vital strategic planning and management tool for the education sector, yet SECOPE maintains its database on out-of-stock hardware (computers) and software (COBOL) presenting imminent risk of breakdown that would have serious political consequences if it meant teachers could not be paid. This sub-component will finance: (i) (US$0.5 million) : a) international technical assistance on database planning and management; b) goods (upgraded computers, software, and internet connections for the SECOPE central office and its eleven Provincial offices) and c) training in the use of the upgraded resources to manage and monitor the system; d) modest operating costs for the SECOPE offices (annual internet subscriptions); e) information and communications to publicize the grant scheme for reducing primary school fees; f) training for parent groups to learn about their roles in monitoring the fee-free policy; g) transportation costs of the inter-ministerial audit missions; and (ii) (US$2.0 million) consultancies for two Public Expenditure Tracking Surveys (PETS) on flow of public resources to schools through decentralized public administration -- one PETS to establish baseline conditions, and a second PETS for follow-up in the Project’s fourth year.

Component 2: Improve Quality of Primary Education (Estimated costs, including contingencies: US$25.0 million; All IDA)

Sub-Component 2a: Provision of Textbooks (US$24.1 million) includes support for (i) supply to all public schools and government supported private schools of textbooks for grades 1 to 4 in mathematics and reading, in a ratio of 1 textbook for 2 students, and 1 textbook and the corresponding teacher’s guide per teacher. This will represent a total of about 10 million textbooks and 390,000 teachers’ guides; (ii) training of all teachers and school directors in the use of textbooks; (iii) production and distribution to primary schools of 150,000 manuals in the care and management of textbooks; (iv) development of a database in the MEPSP to track textbook stocks in the schools; (v) a study visit to two African countries with good experience in developing databases to track textbook stocks; (vi) training of Curriculum and Learning Materials Division staff in evaluation of textbook content and in definition of textbook pedagogical and technical specifications; and (vii) a book sector study to provide background information for the formulation of a national textbook policy..

Sub-Component 2b : Building Capacity to Assess Learning Achievement (US$0.9 million). This sub-component will strengthen domestic capacity (UPN, Inspectorate) to institutionalize assessments of learning achievement and research on learning / retention in school to establish a culture of monitoring the quality of education in DRC. The activities will build out from the modest, donor led standardized assessments of learning achievement (which provide important baseline data) to establish a partnership between the UPN and the Inspectorate who would administer the assessments. The Project will also support research into determinants of quality and its impact on learning achievements and retention in school. The Project will support (i) international technical assistance for a team of UPN’s professional staff to update their knowledge of relevant research on learning achievement; to train them in statistical sampling, diagnostic learning assessment tools, and assessment design; to assist them in producing the concept for the assessment survey to be administered in primary schools; (ii) a contract to UPN to carry out the assessment on learning achievement preceded by a phase of synthesizing baseline information from the previous assessments; (iii) logistical costs of administering the assessment twice during the Project, in a sample of primary schools, by the Inspectors in partnership with UPN; and (iii) supplies and related costs for dissemination of results.

Component 3: Strengthen Institutional and Financial Capacity of the Education Sector

(Estimated costs, including contingencies: US$6.3 million; All IDA)

The objective of this Component is to contribute to revising the legal and institutional framework of the education system, and to reinforce institutional capacities for planning, budget formulation, and program execution. Key aspects include the career structure of teachers, teacher training, and development of coherent, technically sound and results-oriented strategies for education sector development that are based on realistic financing plans and budgets.

Sub-Component 3a (US$0.9 million) : This sub-component will support preparation of policies on pre-service and in-service teacher training which will be adopted by government by the end of the Project. The new training policies will be formulated in tandem with the Government’s redefinition of the career structure of teachers within the ongoing civil service reform. Under the new policies, the career profile of a teacher will be based on real qualifications. Expected results of this sub-component are: (i) a new statute on teachers, formulated and adopted within the civil service reform; (ii) a plan to modernize the system of pre-service teacher training; and (iii) a strategy and action plan for in-service teacher training with the view to providing certification in line with the new statute and guidelines on teacher qualifications. The Project will support: (i) creation of a high level National Commission to review the career structure and reward system for teachers, and ensure the new policy developments described above; (ii) technical assistance for feasibility studies, financial modeling, and development of a Policy Note; (iii) evaluation of existing primary school teacher pre-service training; (iv) consensus building activities including workshops at provincial and national level to build support for the policy reforms; and (v) training and some equipment for the national commission.

Sub-Component 3b (US$5.4 million : This sub-component will put a process in place: (i) to develop a legal framework (loi cadre) that is updated and adequate to reinforce the government partnership with the private sector and civil society in the delivery of education services, and that clearly defines the roles and responsibilities of the State, the religious organizations, rural and urban communities and parents in financing and managing schools; (ii) to fill gaps in the education sector strategy that the DRC has developed to date, in particular to support the formulation of a national strategy on literacy and a reform program for higher education that has a realistic timeframe and budget vis-à-vis other priorities in the education sector; and (iii) to assist in the establishment of priorities and more rigorous application of resource allocation, through the formulation and use of rolling Medium Term Expenditure Frameworks (MTEF). This will help institutionalize the proposals of the PRSP for the education sector. At the end of the Project, this sub-component will have contributed to the formulation and approval of an education sector strategy and an MTEF (initial MTEF plus three subsequent updates). The Project will support: (i) creation of a high level National Commission to oversee the expected results outlined above; (ii) technical assistance to the relevant technical units of the ministries involved, to improve data collection and analysis, and for feasibility studies; as well as to provide training in strategic planning and financial modeling; (iii) consensus building activities including workshops at provincial and national level to build support for the policy reforms and disseminate results; (iv) some equipment for the national commission and inter-ministerial and technical committees working on the legal framework, sector strategy and financing plans.

Component 4: Project Coordination and Management (Estimated costs, including contingencies: US$7.6 million; All IDA)

The Project will strengthen project management and coordination of the Steering Committee comprised of the Ministry of Primary, Secondary and Professional Education, the Ministry of Higher Education and Universities, and the Ministry of Social Affairs with an increment in resources required to operate a Project Management and Coordination Unit (PMCU) described elsewhere in this document. The Project will also provide resources for contracting out procurement and financial management activities directly associated with project activities. The PMCU is the ministries’ interlocutor for all the project’s implementing agencies, the consultants and firms contracted to carry out the various technical assistance tasks and studies described in the Project components, and is the main contact point for the Bank. A service contract will be signed between the Steering Committee and BCECO to specify the respective roles and responsibilities in order to avoid the creation of parallel structures for project implementation.

PPF: (US$1.0 million)An IDA-approved Project Preparation Facility (PPF) is under implementation to complete activities required for readiness for Project implementation. BCECO is handling all procurement and financial management for the PPF under a Grant Agreement with IDA, and a service contract with the above-mentioned Steering Committee.

5. FinancingSource: ($m.)BORROWER .5IDA Grant 130

Total 130.5

6. Implementation

Note: This section is in progress. The Bank team is pursuing possibilities to increase parallel donor financing.

There are no specific co-financing arrangements with other donors. Rather, under the existing partnership of the DRC-donor Consultative Group, Government has designed investments of the proposed Project in order to build synergies with, to help scale out, other donor programs in related areas. The following complementarities are of key importance:

School rehabilitation : The 1600 classrooms rehabilitated under this Project will bring the total number of classrooms rehabilitated by the various ongoing projects to 4000;

Primary school textbooks : The textbooks in mathematics and reading for grades 1-4 to be provided by the Project complement the provision of textbooks in the same subjects for grades 5-6, financed by the Belgian Cooperation;

Assessing quality and learning achievement : The Project’s support to build up a culture of monitoring quality through standardized assessments of primary school students builds on smaller scale standardized assessments of grade 4 pupils supported by UNESCO and UNICEF at various periods since 1999;

Capacity building for education sector planning & management, and school management : Support under the Project complements the programs of UNESCO and the African Development Bank for training educational planners and building up an Education Management Information System; and UNICEF’s capacity building program for school heads and school management committees.

In addition, the proposed Project support for reducing school fees will be implemented through the Government’s own systems, in particular the teacher salary system. These same mechanisms can accommodate additional support from other donors during the life of the Project.

Project implementation will be for five years, with effectiveness expected in the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2006.

Institutional arrangements are based on the principle of building capacity in the ministries to manage development projects. The institutional arrangements will place responsibility for Project implementation with the three involved in education: MEPSP, MESU and MAS.

Overall Project Management: At Project start, none of the three ministries has the technical capacity that conforms to World Bank standards. To overcome this, a Project Management and Coordination Unit (PMCU) will be established to handle execution on a day-to-day basis. Project

funds will support the recruitment of individual consultants and accounting firms on a competitive basis for the senior posts in the PMCU. In addition, a delegated contract management agency will be recruited on the basis of its documented experience in procurement management conforming to IDA standards. The agency will be engaged by the PMCU through a service contract to manage the procurement and distribution of goods which require large scale contracting with civil works enterprises and suppliers. Implementation will be based on the Project Procedures Manual, the annual Project Action Plans, and an 18-month Procurement Plan that will be updated on a rolling basis in line with World Bank procedures.

To ensure transparency in the decision making process and a mechanism for the coordination of multiple ministries in Project execution, a Steering Committee (SC) comprised of high level representatives of the MEPSP, MESU and MAS oversees all Project implementation and decision making. The SC was created during Project preparations (Arrêté Inter-Ministeriel EPSP-ESU-AS No0510/2005 dated 26 January 2005) and currently oversees the PPF. The SC is chaired by the MEPSP since the bulk of Project resources are in this domain.

The responsibilities of the three principal entities are summarized below. See Annexes 6 and 7 for further explanation:

The Inter-ministerial Steering Committee (SC) is the decision making body for the Project. Its responsibilities include: (i) coordination of the Project activities with Government strategy, policy development, and relations with other development partners; (ii) review and approval of the Project’s Annual Action Plans; and (iii) monitoring Project implementation.

The Project Management and Coordination Unit (PMCU) will be created under the SC to implement the Project. It will be responsible for all aspects of technical and financial management including: (i) preparing and costing detailed annual implementation plans based on the approved Action Plans; (ii) appraising sub-projects; (iii) managing Project resources (including financial management, and procedures for delegated procurement management); (iv) recruiting external auditors; (v) monitoring implementation progress and impacts, (vi) compiling activity, evaluation, financial and audit reports; (vii) coordinating with technical departments of the MEPSP, MESU, MAS, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Budget, Civil Service Ministry; and (viii) ensuring coordination of Project activities with those of other international and domestic partners. The PMCU personnel to be recruited on a competitive basis comprise: a) a National Coordinator; b) an international accounting firm for financial control and internal audit of the Project; c) a team of nationals comprising a Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and an Accountant; d) an Operations Officer in charge of Procurement; e) an Operations Officer specialist in Monitoring and Evaluation; f) a specialist in Information Technology; and g) support staff. Training and capacity building plans will be designed for all potential staff. The external auditing function will be contracted out.

A delegated agency for contract management - Bureau Central de Coordination (BCECO): A contract will be signed between the SC, via the PMCU, and BCECO whereby BCECO will act as a service provider. It will implement medium and large size

infrastructure activities, procurement and distribution of goods. The terms of reference will be clearly specified in the service contract. BCECO is an institution of the DRC Government, first established in August 2001 to manage funds under IDA grant H0050. BCECO reports to a Steering Committee chaired by the Minister of Finance. It has demonstrated its ability to carry out procurement and financial management. BCECO will disburse funds after securing the approval of the PMCU. It will designate a person responsible at BCECO who will manage all procurement activities that BCECO will carry out for the Project.

The respective roles of PMCU, BCECO and the various ministries and units involved in Project execution, and accountability procedures, will be detailed in the Project Procedures Manual that will be finalized by the PMCU by effectiveness. The Manual will also document all financial management arrangements for the Project (see Annex 7).

Representatives from MEPSP, MESU and MAS will receive training in project planning, finance and procurement at prescribed periods during the Project, further to strengthen ministerial capacity for project management.

7. Sustainability

The Project entails risk that the Government and IDA will be unable to deliver the Project as designed since its effectiveness coincides with the end of the Transitional Government.

To mitigate this risk, the Project design has been kept simple, and investments are balanced across several domains. Over half of IDA’s support for this Project is in the various areas of: civil works (school rehabilitation), goods (textbooks, school desks, computers, vehicles), training, workshops and consultant services. Prospects are strong that Project benefits and results in these areas will be delivered and sustained. First, these inputs are likely to be supported by any Government because of the prospects for visible impacts on the ground. Second, to promote sustainability of the one-time investments in rehabilitation (Component 1) and textbooks (Component 2), the Project will provide schools with guidelines for maintaining textbooks and learning materials, and assist schools and UPN to establish their own maintenance plans for classrooms and the school grounds. During the period the Project is active, the Grant will cover recurrent costs associated with maintenance, in line with the Country Financing Parameters approved for the DRC in February 2005.

Nearly forty percent of Project investment is in support to eliminate primary school fees. This is the most vulnerable to risk of change in Government commitment. The critical reforms needed in the sector – backed by an updated legal and regulatory framework – require commitment from Government actors in addition to the three ministries managing the Project. In particular, support is needed from the Ministries of Finance, Plan, Budget and Civil Service, as well as from the Churches, national Parent Association(s) and unions. IDA is working with the IMF and Government to ensure that the implied future budgetary outlays, beyond the life of this Project, are accounted for in a credible and sustainable Government macro-economic strategy. In addition, the Project has taken the following measures to mitigate political risk: (i) a Letter of

Sector Policy documenting the Government policy on school fees will be a condition for negotiations; (ii) a décret on the school fees policy will be a condition for effectiveness; and (iii) to facilitate that communications continue between Government and the key stakeholders in education, the Project Steering Committee will ensure their representation in periodic high level reviews of the work in progress under the Project. These three measures also respond to the chief concerns of the other external donors (and international NGOs) who are highly interested in providing additional support for reduction of school fees if appropriate guarantees are in place.

For the longer term, the sustainability of the Project’s contribution to reverse acute deterioration of the education sector depends upon the timeliness and robustness of the country’s economic recovery, and increase in public expenditures for education. The focus in this Project on developing a technically and fiscally sound sector development program and financing plan should make a significant contribution to the sustainability of the Project’s specific direct investments, as well as other investments in the sector.

The Project has also taken important measures for:

Institutional and financial sustainability: The Project provides direct support to reinforce capacity of existing government and administrative infrastructure through: (i) the design of the PMCU; (ii) training, professional development, and capacity building for personnel in central and decentralized education administration in defined areas including financial and procurement management, cost effectiveness in school construction, textbook evaluation and policy formulation, assessment of quality and learning achievement; and (iii) appropriate safeguards in line with the CFAA and CPAR.

Social sustainability: The confidence level between civil society (religious organizations, teachers’ unions, parent and school committees) and education administration is a key element in this Project. The Project will assist the authorities to gain the confidence of stakeholders by (i) providing efficient and transparent service; (ii) various activities for stakeholders to participate in decision making and monitoring resource use in the education sector (strengthen the involvement of parent associations in monitoring results at school level including school rehabilitation, learning achievement, flow of funds from central government transfers; updating the legal framework for the education sector); (iii) promoting communication and exchange of information between central education authorities and the population and local administration, as well as within the population itself.

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

The design of the Project incorporates lessons learned from (i) recent Bank operations in conflict-affected countries including Afghanistan, East Timor, Iraq, Kosovo, Tajikistan; (ii) current Bank operations in DRC, particularly the EMRRP and the budget support operations; and (iii) fee abolition efforts and education sector financing strategies to reach the Millennium Goals in education in low-income countries.

Bank operations in conflict-affected countries:

(i) Early investments which have visible impact on resuming normal schooling operations facilitate the education authorities’ re-engagement in the sector and support from civil society and other stakeholders, so efforts coalesce around a reconstruction and development strategy that has viable longer term prospects.

(ii) Investments during an initial, emergency recovery phase will be more effective if they are oriented into a cohesive development strategy – even an iterative one. Reconstruction efforts in education should be integrated into the broader development framework of debt relief, poverty reduction, promotion of economic growth, and other measures to transition from emergency to normal operating conditions. This implies balancing investments between essential inputs (as learning materials, teacher training) and technical assistance in strategic planning to strengthen the education sector ministries’ participation in the macro process of stabilizing recurrent budgets and re-establishing the mechanisms that regulate institutional procedures (such as the handling of teachers’ salaries).

(iii) To maintain the focus on education as a priority during post-conflict reconstruction and development, the coordination of external donors is key. Promoting complementarity among donor initiatives will leverage the country’s capacity to implement programs and develop reform policies in education. The Project builds on the efforts of the Bank’s education team, in collaboration with the Belgian Cooperation and DFID, which established regular donor consultations to ease the DRC Government’s task in coordination. Principles were agreed to at the Education Round Table of September 2004. A Comite de concertation of government, donor and civil society representatives in education meets regularly.

Bank operations in DRC

(i) Investing in education only through sub-components in multi-sector projects constrains the ability to bring results as it limits the Bank’s engagement in the education sector policy dialogue. This is because the multi-sector projects provide inadequate administrative budget for education sector experts to participate. As a consequence, multi-sector projects which include education tend to focus on simple civil works investments. This does not allow the Bank to achieve the needed balance of investments in the education sector to support sustainable development.

(ii) Deteriorated roads outside urban areas, and security risks, make it difficult to execute and supervise the progress of investment activities. The Project will support the use of a combination of local education authorities and consultants, and contracted agents who have mechanisms for reaching remote areas.

(iii) It is essential to the success and sustainability of the Project to empower the technical, sector ministries. Unlike the EMRRP where BCECO was the implementing agency, the sector ministries directly involved in education are responsible for the oversight and management of the proposed Project. A Project Management and Coordination Unit that is adequately staffed, and that also builds capacity within the participating ministries during the Project’s lifetime, will equip the education authorities at the

central and decentralized levels to carry out their roles effectively during the Project; and improve chances that this will continue after Project close.

(iv) Implementation must be accompanied by effective and timely monitoring and evaluation of progress and results. There must be flexibility to adjust during the course of execution if this becomes necessary to improve the results of the Project. Sector analytic work during the preparation phase of the Project has begun to strengthen the DRC’s own capacity to obtain reliable and timely data. This aspect must continue to receive sufficient attention and resources during the Project.

(v) IDA’s budget support operations in the DRC have demonstrated that it is possible to use the country’s own systems, with appropriate safeguards, to transfer earmarked budget support from the central ministerial and Treasury level, to schools using the teacher salary payment system. In particular, grants designed to address the demand-side problem – namely that the user fees are too high for poor parents to send their children to school – have successfully been implemented in 2005.

Fee abolition efforts in primary education:

(i) Equality of opportunity in severely impoverished environments could only be achieved by ending the practice of charging fees in state schools. However, the elimination of fees – even for primary education – should be sequenced, particularly in fragile economies (like the DRC) which are unable to deliver the basic minimum services. The process of eliminating school fees requires long term commitment from government and donors.

(ii) Removing school fees is not effective unless accompanied by complementary measures. At the least, there needs to be a strong dissemination campaign to inform the public and administrative authorities through the media, through written circulaires, and through fact-to-face discussion. Accompanying measures should include investments in quality, and planning to follow up on the consequences at secondary and higher education. In all cases where African countries (as Uganda, Malawi, Tanzania, Kenya) have removed fees as part of efforts to achieve Universal Primary Education, the increase in enrollments has led to deterioration in the quality of primary education and to increased demand on secondary education. There is a risk that enrollments will decrease over time if quality declines (as the case of Nigeria) and if there are supply constraints on middle and upper levels of schooling (as Ghana). The Project includes support for quality inputs (textbooks, teacher training) and for building capacity to assess quality and learning achievement. The Project will be accompanied in parallel by analytical work.

(iii) The negative consequences of removing primary school fees are less severe (as in Tanzania) where there is a planned schedule for phasing out the fees, government is systematic in programming funds (as in use of HIPC) to close the financing gap and securing grants to fund quality inputs, and committed to far-reaching restructuring of the public sector to increase spending on education from domestic resources. The proposed Project provides balanced support by including in addition to emergency

investments in goods and civil works, support to develop and update the sector wide financing plan. The Project also coordinates with donors on co-financing to help close the funding gap.

(iv) ‘Leveling down’ the quality of education could be unpopular with those more able to pay, and could lead to expansion of the private sector in education. The Project supports sector wide planning and updating the loi cadre that will address private – public partnerships in delivering education services.

(v) User fees limit access to school and contribute to attrition and absenteeism from school. However, despite increasing enrollment, abolishing fees may not change the fact that the poorest children are least likely to attend school, are the most likely to drop out, or that among the poorest, girls are the least likely to attend school. There are also opportunity costs of school attendance. These may persist even after financial constraints are lessened. The Project will provide opportunities for feedback from parent groups, and monitor results of diagnostic instruments on the private rates of return to primary education, to identify constraints on demand for education. In addition, the Project will support the government information and education campaigns, including efforts promoting girls’ education.

(vi) Local discretion in publicly managed schools can support quality improvements and the use of public funds for intended purposes. Since the elimination of school fees could also reduce teacher accountability to parents, measures are needed to strengthen school and community level parent committees in monitoring the use of public funds, to encourage local accountability of teachers and administrators to communities. The local participation must be supported by transparent and binding legal documents – such as DRC developed in using the HIPC funds to offset fees for school operating costs – and incorporated into the sector’s legal framework (loi cadre).

9. Safeguard Policies (including public consultation)

Safeguard Policies Triggered by the Project Yes NoEnvironmental Assessment (OP/BP/GP 4.01) [x] [ ]Natural Habitats (OP/BP 4.04) [ ] [ ]Pest Management (OP 4.09) [ ] [ ]Cultural Property (OPN 11.03, being revised as OP 4.11) [ ] [ ]Involuntary Resettlement (OP/BP 4.12) [x] [ ]Indigenous Peoples (OD 4.20, being revised as OP 4.10) [ ] [ ]Forests (OP/BP 4.36) [ ] [ ]Safety of Dams (OP/BP 4.37) [ ] [ ]Projects in Disputed Areas (OP/BP/GP 7.60)* [ ] [ ]Projects on International Waterways (OP/BP/GP 7.50) [ ] [ ]

* By supporting the proposed project, the Bank does not intend to prejudice the final determination of the parties' claims on the disputed areas

10. List of Factual Technical Documents

(i) World Bank Documents

Project Documents

Aides MemoiresBack-to-office Reports (BTOR)Country Status Report (CSR): “Education in the Democratic Republic of Congo Priorities and Options for Regeneration” (2005)Integrated Safeguard Data SheetProject Concept NoteProject Concept Note Data SheetProject Concept Note ReviewQuality Enhancement Review Project Appraisal DocumentProject Appraisal Document Data SheetProject Information DocumentProject Preparation Facility

Other World Bank and Consultant Documents

ERC3Risk & Vulnerability StudyPADS – Afghanistan, E Timor, Tajikistan, Kosovo, Uttar Pradesh,

Al-Samarrai, S. and H. Zaman. (2002) “The Changing Distribution of Public Education Expenditure in Malawi,” Africa Region Working Paper No. 29, March, World Bank, Washington.Avenstrup, R., X Liang and S. Nelleman. (2004) “Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi and Uganda: Universal Primary Education and Poverty Reduction,” a case study from Reducing Poverty, Sustaining Growth. A Global Exchange for Scaling Up Success Scaling Up Poverty Reduction: A Global Learning Process

and Conference Shanghai, May 25-27, 2004, World Bank, Washington.BERCI (2004) “Etat des lieux des mecanismes de gestion et de l’efficacite de la fourniture des services de

base au niveau local en RCD,” Kinshasa.Colleta, N. and M. Sutton (1989) “Achieving and Sustaining Universal Primary Education: International Experience Relevant to India,” World Bank Working Paper 166, Population and Human Resources Department. World Bank, Washington.Duraisamy, P., E. James, J.I. Lane and J-P. Tan. (1997) “Is there a Quantity-Quality Tradeoff as Enrollments Increase? Evidence from Tamil Nadu, India,” World Bank Research Working Paper 1768, World Bank, Washington.IMF World Bank HIPC 2003iTerme, RA. (2002) “The Elimination of User Fees for Primary Education in Tanzania: A Case Study on the Political Economy of Pro-Poor Policies,” June, PREM, World Bank, Washington.Kattan, R.B. and N. Burnett. (2004) User Fees in Primary Education, Education Sector Human Development Network, June, World Bank, Washington.

Lavvy, V. (1992) “Investment in Human Capital. Schooling Supply Constraints in Rural Ghana,” World Bank, Washington.Leal, F.C. (1996) “Who Benefits from Public Education Spending in Malawi? Results from the Recent Education Reform,” World Bank Discussion Paper No. 350, December.Murphy, P. (2002) “Achieving Universal Primary Education in Uganda. The Big Bang Approach,” Education Notes, World Bank, Washington.Tiongson, E. (2004) “Education Policy Reforms,” Research Note, ESSD, World Bank, Washington.

(ii) DRC Government Documents

Environmental and Social Management Framework

Arrêté inter-ministériel EPSP-ESU-AS No.0510 26/01/2005 portant creation du Comité National de Pilotage du Programme.Democratic Republic of the Congo (2004) “Minimum Partnership Program for Transition and Recovery of the Democratic Republic of the Congo,” November, Kinshasa.Republique Democratique du Congo (2002) Document Interimaire de Strategies de Reduction de la Pauvrete, Kinshasa.Republique Democratique du Congo (2005) Lettre de politique de développement. Kinshasa.

(iii) Development Partners

USAIDUNESCOUNICEF

Boyle, S., A. Brock, J. Mace and M. Sibbons. (2002) “Reaching the Poor The ‘Costs’ of Sending Children to School. A Six Country Study Synthesis Report,” August, Department for International Development, London.

IMF International Monetary Fund (2005) « Democrattic Republic of Congo : Fifth Review…. »

Mehrotra, S.K. (1998) “Education for All: Policy Lessons from High Achieving Countries,” UNICEF Staff Working Papers Evaluation, Policy and Planning Series. No.EPP-EVL-98-005, September, Paris.Tomasevski, K. (2003) School Fees as hindrance to Universalizing Primary Education. Background Study For EFA Global Monitoring Report 2003,” UNESCO, June.Watkins, K. (2000) The Oxfam Education Report. Stylus Publishing: Herndon, Virginia.

(iv) Others

Asagwara Prince, K.C. (1997) “Quality of Learning in Nigeria’s Universal Primary Education Scheme, 1976-1986,” The Urban Review, Vol. 29, No. 3, p.189-203.Bedi, A.S., P.K. Kimalu, D.K. Manda and N. Nafula. (2004) “The Decline in Primary School Enrolment in Kenya,” The Journal of African Economies 13:1, p. 1-43, March.Delamonica, E., S. Mehotra and J. Vandemoortele. (2004) “Education for All: How Much Will it Cost?” Development and Change, Vol. 35, No. 1, p. 3-30.Deininger, K. (2003) “Does Cost of Schooling Affect Enrollment by the Poor? Universal Primary Education in Uganda,” Economics of Education Review. Vol. 22, No. 3, p. 291-305, June.

Fiske, E.B. and H.F. Ladd. (2003) Balancing Public and Private Resources for Basic Education: School Fees in Post-Apartheid South Africa,” Terry Sandford Institute of Public Policy, Duke University.Kadzamira, E. and P. Rose. (2003) “Can Free Primary Education Meet the Needs of the Poor? Evidence from Malawi,” International Journal of Educational Development, Vol. 23, p. 501-516.Lemon, A. (2004) ‘Redressing School Inequalities in the Eastern Cape, South Africa,” Journal of Southern African Studies, Vol. 30, No.2, June.Mehrotra, S.K. (1998) “Improving Cost-effectiveness and mobilizing Resources for Primary Education in Sub-Saharan Africa,” Prospects, Vol. 28, No. 3, p. 469-498, September.Mukudi, E. (2004) “The Effects of User-fee Policy on Attendance Rates among Kenyan Elementary Schoolchildren,” International Review of Education, Vol. 50, No. 5-6.Najamus, S. (1998) “The Willingness to Pay for Primary Education in Rural Pakistan,” Ph.D. Dissertation, John Hopkins University.Sperling, G. and R. Balu. (2005) “Designing a Global Compact on Education,” Finance and Development Vol. 42, No. 2, June.Tilak, J. (1999) “Education and Poverty in South Asia,” Prospects, Vol. XXIX, No. 4, Issue No. 12.Tomasevski, K. (2003) Education denied: costs and remedies. Zed Books.

11. Contact pointContact: Susan OpperTitle: Sr Education Spec.Tel: (202) 473-9332Fax: Email: Sopper@worldbank.org

12. For more information contact:The InfoShopThe World Bank1818 H Street, NWWashington, D.C. 20433Telephone: (202) 458-5454Fax: (202) 522-1500Web: http://www.worldbank.org/infoshop