|1. Project Data:
ICR Review Date Posted:
|Basic Education Sector Project
Project Costs(US $M)
Loan/Credit (US $M)
Cofinancing (US $M)
|Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), Netherlands,
HIPC-Transfers from IDA Grants,
Bilateral Agencies (Unidentified)
Foreign Multilateral Institutions
Board Approval Date
|Primary education (36%), Tertiary education (20%), Adult literacy/non-formal education (20%), General public administration sector (14%), Health (10%)|
|Education for all (25% - P)
Gender (25% - P)
Rural services and infrastructure (24% - P)
HIV/AIDS (13% - S)
Child health (13% - S)|
||ICR Review Coordinator:
|Susan Ann Caceres
||George T. K. Pitman
|2. Project Objectives and Components:|
a. Objectives:According to the Project Appraisal Document (page 2), the project was to provide support for the Government's Basic Education Ten-Year Program that was designed to be implemented in three phases the first of which covered the period 2001-2005. The main development objective of Phase I of the Basic Education Ten-Year Program was to lay the foundation for accelerating the development of basic education, while ensuring adequate quality and financial sustainability. Further, to prepare for a shift from project to programmatic support, the Bank's assistance would also aim to build the capacity of the Ministry of Basic Education (MEBA) with particular attention to the areas of financial management, budgeting, procurement, monitoring, evaluation and donor coordination.
The Project Development Objectives stated in the Development Grant Agreement (Schedule 2, no page specified) were:
"to assist the Borrower in its efforts to implement the Program, which includes (i) improving the access to, and quality of, basic education; (ii) strengthening the education sector's financial sustainability; and (iii) enhancing the financial management, budgeting, procurement, monitoring, evaluation and donor coordination of Ministry of Basic Education (MEBA)".
The Project Appraisal Document (p.26) indicated that the objective is:
"to lay the foundation for accelerating the development of basic education, while ensuring adequate quality and financial sustainability.”
For this review, the objectives stated in the Development Grant Agreement will be used, since it is more concisely stated and monitorable
b. Were the project objectives/key associated outcome targets revised during implementation?
c. Components:The project had three components. There are two appraisal values. The first figure is the total project cost for the component and the second value noted below is the amount financed by IDA. The actual costs by component only refer to the Bank’s contribution because the breakdown of cofinancing is not given in the ICR.
1. Improving Access to Basic Education (appraisal for total project cost US$ 23.60 million, appraisal IDA US$18.40 million; actual IDA US$18.84 million) contains four sub components:
2. Improving the Quality and Efficiency of Basic Education (appraisal for total project cost US$ 23.60 million, appraisal IDA US$9.50 million; actual IDA US$5.16 million) contains seven sub components:
- Construction/rehabilitation of primary schools to finance equipment, school facilities, staffing and other critical inputs for the rebuilding of classrooms, with particular emphasis upon rural areas.
- To encourage girls education through the construction of classrooms and latrines, provision of teaching materials, teacher training, and micro-nutrients. Supplemental services such as tutoring programs, remedial courses, information campaigns to sensitize the population to the benefits of girls' education, and supporting mothers' associations.
- Adult literacy programs to finance literacy projects, strengthening the capacity of literacy providers, establishing village libraries, and promoting the development of local newspapers.
- Special needs education for out-of school children and reform the out-of-school children centers and develop regulations for the centers.
3. Improving Management and Building Capacity (appraisal for total project cost US$ 8.00 million, appraisal IDA US$4.70 million; actual IDA US$6.69 million) contains five subcomponents:
- Curriculum reform which includes new curriculum development to introduce mother-tongue instruction with a transition to French, emphasizing reading, writing, and critical thinking.
- Pre-service and in-service training to be provided at the five Teacher Training Colleges and upgrading of skills of existing teachers.
- Pedagogical materials to increase the availability of textbooks, school materials, and teacher guides.
- Nutrition, health, and HIV/AIDs activities to reduce nutritional deficiencies and parasite load of 350,000 primary school students in the 20 targeted provinces.
- School-based quality initiatives to support pedagogical improvement initiatives in 100 schools in 20 provinces.
- Evaluation of learning outcomes to be undertaken through central and school -level assessment of students' learning and to help teachers use in-class testing to better monitor and support the learning process of individual students through training on curriculum-based assessments of learning and update existing standardized tests in French, mathematics, science, and national languages.
- Early childhood development to strengthen existing community initiatives on Early Childhood Development programs and emphasize nutrition, health, psycho-social development, and family literacy and management of the centers.
- Organization and Method Studies which includes the review of alternative models for the devolution of powers from the central level to all levels below, assessment of the costs and the benefits of each model, and recommendations. Conduct studies to improve system efficiency and effectiveness.
- System Development included assessments to improve the operation and management of the Ministry of Education, including the creation of an Education Management Information System (EMIS), a human resource management system, a textbook management system, and an asset management system.
- Training for management, administrative, and professional staff in the Ministry to build capacity to decentralize functions.
- Upgrading of Material Resources to provide office space, furniture and equipment for the Ministry.
- Unit-based Capacity Building Operations as tailor-made training, and capacity development for key units in the Ministry.
d. Comments on Project Cost, Financing, Borrower Contribution, and DatesProject Cost: Original project costs were US$ 96.20 million. In 2008 a US$ 15.00 million additional financing credit was provided. However, the project spent only US$103.41 million (87% of the budget) because of slow implementation.
Financing: The original credit of US$ 32.60 million was approved on January 22, 2002. In 2008 the government requested additional financing to offset the rising cost of food after devastating floods. The additional funding was to address school-based quality improvements and teacher support initiatives. On December 2008, an additional financing in the amount of US$ 15.00 million became effective. A total of US$16.00 million was cancelled from both credits at closure.
There were several cofinanciers: Canadian International Development Association (CIDA), the Netherlands, IDA Grants under the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries initiative, Bilateral Agencies (Unidentified), and Foreign Multilateral Institutions (Unidentified). At appraisal these financiers were to contribute US$63.60 million equivalent. By project closure their total contribution amounted to US$72.39 million equivalent (ICR page 25-26).
Borrower Contribution: For the first phase of the financing, it was estimated that the government would contribute US$16.40 million for the program. The government's actual contributions were not noted in the ICR, but the project team reported that the government provided US$148,000 equivalent to the required 20% of the operating cost of the project.
Dates: The project was extended three times. The first extension from December 31, 2006 to June 30, 2008 was provided to allow more time for institutional capacity development activities. The project was then extended to March 31, 2011 to give the government more time to utilize the resources provided in the additional financing agreement. The final extension was provided to allow more time for the project to wrap-up its activities. The project closed on June 30, 2011, four and a half years after the original closing date.
|3. Relevance of Objectives & Design:|
a. Relevance of Objectives:Substantial:
Project objectives were relevant to addressing the weaknesses of Burkina Faso’s education sector: more resources were devoted to urban than rural areas on average and access to basic education was low and unequal, education quality was poor, capacity for management and supervision was weak, and the inspectorate system was poorly staffed, lacked resources to travel and school inspectors did not have decision-making authority. The project supported the government's Basic Education Ten-year Program which sought to improve these weaknesses in the education sector.
The objectives were relevant to the 2000 Country Assistance Strategy that highlighted the need to contribute to poverty reduction through human development of formal and non-formal basic education. The objectives continued to be substantially relevant to the Bank's current Country Assistance Strategy (2010-2012), which noted concerns with the country's low level of literacy and the challenge of ensuring education quality is improved as access is increased.
b. Relevance of Design:Modest:
The results chain of project activities and components were logical and well-related to two of the three objectives; however, activities relevant to strengthening the education sector's financial sustainability were absent. The project design emphasized improving education quality by upgrading the conditions for learning, as well as efforts to improve access and build the management capacity at various levels of the system. The Results Framework was aligned with the government's overall education program, rather than the project activities, and so the contribution of the project’s inputs could not be adequately measured or related to expected project outcomes. The design involved a sector-wide approach with pooled funding.
|4. Achievement of Objectives (Efficacy) :|
The objective "to assist the Borrower in its efforts to implement the Program, which includes (i) improving the access to, and quality of, basic education; (ii) strengthening the education sector's financial sustainability; and (iii) enhancing the financial management, budgeting, procurement, monitoring, evaluation and donor coordination of Ministry of Basic Education " contains four outcomes whose achievements are discussed below.
This project contributed to an overall program in which the Bank was one of many donors. Thus, it is not possible to attribute attainment of objectives solely to the efforts of the Bank project. In addition, it should be noted that many of the targets noted below were formally revised upward during the project, given that targets were expected to be attained when the project closed in 2006. The project was extended until June 30, 2011 and revised targets were introduced in 2006 and formalized in the 2008 restructuring.
To improve the access to basic education: Substantial
There is no discussion in the ICR of any outputs or results of other planned measures to improve access that included: adult literacy program, supplemental services to encourage girls’ participation, and special needs education for out-of-school children.
- 31, 492 new classrooms were built, which exceeded the 2005 target of 30,000; and 2,944 classrooms were rebuilt equivalent to 93% of the 2005 target number (3,180). The ICR reports that these classrooms where located in poor areas (ICR p. 14) but stated neither the proportionate increase in the national supply of public classrooms that was attained, nor the baseline.
- 51 at-school teacher residences were built.
- 46,299 public teachers were hired to work in classrooms, which exceeded the planned number of 30,000. The ICR (page 16) reports two factors that explain why more teachers could be recruited. First, a presidential decree of 2001 ended the automatic admission of teachers into government services. As a result, teachers would have a lower initial salary than those in the traditional public service. This lead to a 32 percent reduction in the unit cost of primary education and the ability to recruit more teachers within the budget. Second, cost-effective measures such as multi-grade teaching was also implemented.
- 10,792 public multigrade teaching classrooms were established, which did not achieve the target of 12,000.
The ICR (p. 13) noted that after law 013-2007/AN was enacted in 2007 mandating free compulsory primary education, there was an immediate spike in enrollment in 2008, but after that point growth slowed. The ICR (page 14) also noted that in 2001 there was a presidential decree that limited repetition, only allowing it at the end of the second, fourth, and sixth years of primary schooling.
- Primary school gross enrollment rate was expected to increased from 0.90 million students (42%) in 2001 to 1.28 million (or 56%) in 2005. By 2011 the gross enrollment rate had increased to 2.56 million (79.4%). This met the revised target of 78%, which was revised upward from 56% at restructuring in 2008.
- Gross primary enrollment rate at first grade in the 20 poorest provinces was 47% in 2005 and 70% in 2011. This exceeded the original target of 61% and the revised target of 60% set in 2008.
- The project has helped to address gender inequalities in the student population and, to some extent, the teaching profession as well (ICR p. 17). Before the launch of the program, there were large gender inequalities in the rural areas. The gross enrollment rate for girls in rural areas was only 21% and fell as low as 1.7% in the Sahel region. Girl’s participation was particularly low from the poorest families. As of 2011, data indicate that girls represent 47.3% of all those enrolling in primary schools across Burkina Faso. Moreover, Gross Enrollment Rate results for the twenty poorest provinces (including the poorest rural areas) have also risen to near parity (combined Gross Enrollment Rate for all 20 poorest rural areas stands at 70% while for girls, it is at 69.6% in 2010). One unanticipated outcome in this regard, worthy of note, is the rise in the number of women entering the teaching profession, a phenomenon that has led to greater equality between teaching staff.
To improve the quality of basic education: Substantial
The ICR (p. 31-32) notes the lack of any implementation of some of the planned interventions to improve the quality of basic education (i.e. development of curricula and training curricula in preschool, provision of books for pre-school through the reprinting of booklets for preschool, support the pedagogical and management, and support outreach programs in health and HIV/AIDS in schools) to improve quality. However, in the region's reply to the draft ICR review, it reported: (1) new preschool curriculum in the areas of art and culture, citizenship, social and gender, child rights, environmental, and road safety, sexual infection/AIDS, health/hygiene was completed by 2010-2011; (2) 2, 774 school staff (teachers, inspectors, and administrators) were trained in the curricula and pedagogical methods; (3) outreach programs in health and HIV/AIDS were undertaken from 2009-2011 with 1, 300 kits with sensitization materials to prevent HIV/AIDS were distributed to schools; (4) five information campaigns to encourage HIV testing were organized from 2009-2011 with 900 students and teachers tested; 323,286 preschool booklets for various subjects were acquired between 2005-2011.
- 40,000 pre-service teachers were trained to receive the minimum qualification/certification, which exceeded the planned number of 35,000. This indicator was added during restructuring. The ICR did not report on the effectiveness of the training and whether teachers had applied the training in their classroom.
- 1,900,000 children benefited from a school feeding program, which exceeded the target of 1,200,000 students. This indicator was added during restructuring.
- 13,794,555 textbooks were purchased, which exceeded the target of 8,000,000 textbooks. This indicator was added during restructuring. (Source: Rapports annuels sur les distributions des manuels scolaires de la DAMSE/MEBA) The Task Team confirmed that the number reported in the ICR (19 million) was not correct.
- The textbook-to-student ratio in mathematics and reading improved to 1:1 from 1:5 or 1:6.
- A system for learning assessment at the primary level was established. Even though a learning assessment system was established, the ICR did not report the results or trends.
- Double shift schools decreased from 1,190 in 2001 to 460 in 2011, narrowly missing the target of 400. This indicator was added during restructuring.
However, repetition and completion rates were positively affected by a presidential decree in 2001 that limited repetition at the end of the second, fourth, and sixth year of primary schooling (ICR, p.13). Even so, the ICR indicates that this law combined with the efforts of the project (i.e. building schools closer to student’s homes, latrines, training teachers) strongly contributed to the change.
- 54.4% of students completed primary education in 2011 (as a percentage of the relevant age group), which met the target of 51% and increased from 2001 baseline (40.9%). The ICR did not indicate whether this target was revised during restructuring, but during the region's reply to the draft ICR review, it stated that this target was not revised and indicated that the completion rate was measured by attendance and not by a test.
- The repetition rate decreased from 13.3% in 2005 to 7.25% in 2011, which exceeded the target of 10%. The ICR did not indicate whether this target was revised during restructuring. In the region's reply to the draft ICR review, it stated that this target was not revised.
To strengthen the education sector's financial sustainability: Modest
According to the PAD, financial sustainability was to be measured by an increase in the recurrent budget allocation to basic education excluding salaries.
Recurrent budget allocated to basic education excluding salaries increased from 18% in 2005 to 30% in 2011, which achieved the target of 30%.
The policy reforms (i.e. recruitment of teachers by regional level rather than into government service, and the use of multi-grades teaching) contributed to allowing the percentage of national recurrent budget to rise to the target of 30% (ICR, page16). While resources to the sector have increased, there is doubt that the government could continue such funding levels sustainably if donors pulled their support (ICR, p. 35).
To enhance the financial management, budgeting, procurement, monitoring, evaluation and donor coordination of Ministry of Basic Education (MEBA): Modest
There is no discussion in the ICR of any outputs or results of other measures to improve management that included upgrading material resources/space for the Ministry, training, system development, and unit-based capacity building.
- The Medium-Term Expenditure Framework was produced. The ICR did not state the time frame of the Expenditure Framework.
- An Annual Work Program is prepared regularly - but the ICR did not state the years for which the Program was prepared.
- A Financial Report is published annually.
The ICR (page 12) reports that despite efforts, financial and procurement management remained weak because of high staff turnover.
Project efficiency was modest. Disbursement and implementation was slow, which resulted in the cancellation of US$16 million, even though the project was extended by 4.5 years to utilize these funds. The ICR reports that some project resources were wasted, which could have been avoided with better planning, and so the value for money was not optimized (ICR, p. 16).
a. If available, enter the Economic Rate of Return (ERR)/Financial Rate of Return at appraisal and the re-estimated value at evaluation:
* Refers to percent of total project cost for which ERR/FRR was calculated