Govt Asks World Bank to Restructure $200 Million Health/Education Project in Punjab

The government has approached the World Bank for restructuring the Punjab Human Capital Investment Project (PHCIP) worth $200 million to allow the project to recover from delays caused by COVID-related school and BHU closures and facilitate effective implementation and expenditure. Official documents revealed that it is proposed to extend the IDA credit closing date from June 30, 2025, to June 30, 2026, to allow the project to recover from delays caused by COVID-related school and basic health unit (BHU) closures after its effectiveness in May 2020. Although most physical targets are on track, additional time will enhance quality outcomes, such as completing the Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) beneficiaries’ first 1,000 days and advancing ongoing teacher training for Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) schools. Furthermore, the Social Protection (SP) Integrated Management Information System (IMIS) needs time to fully operationalize, and qualitative improvements require sustained efforts in social mobilization, beneficiary payment services, and staff training to effectively reach pregnant and lactating women. The project, denominated in Japanese Yen (JPY), has a total allocation of JPY 21.73 billion; due to favorable exchange rate variations, the PKR equivalent has risen from approximately Rs. 32 billion to around Rs. 39 billion, a 22 percent increase. This extension will facilitate effective implementation and expenditure. PHCIP is in its fifth year of implementation and its objective is to increase the utilization of quality health services, and economic and social inclusion programs, among poor and vulnerable households in select districts in Punjab. It aims to do that by improving maternal and newborn child healthcare (MNCH) services, ECCE, and livelihood opportunities for the poor and vulnerable population of eleven South Punjab districts. Figures in the components below are expressed in JPY equivalent because the government chose the Japanese Yen as its borrowing currency. At the time of project effectiveness, the total IDA credit amount, JPY21.7 billion, was equivalent to $200 million and Rs. 32 billion. Subsequent exchange rate variations caused the US$ equivalence to decrease to approximately $154 million while the PKR equivalence increased to Rs. 40 billion. During the November 2022 mid-term review, the government of Punjab (GoPb) identified a need for project restructuring to respond to the 2022 floods, add two new components and changes in design parameters to reflect lessons learned during implementation, with a commensurate need for a reallocation between components and adjustment in the results framework. Post 2022 floods, several damaged school facilities in a few project districts affected education service delivery, including the ECCE activities; hence, the GoPb request to include the rehabilitation of these facilities from within Project districts has been added. For the CCT and the EI components, beneficiary eligibility criteria are revised to improve and streamline the CCT and the EI beneficiaries’ registration process. Further, in view of the project’s progress against each component, and the time left to complete the remainder of the activities, GoPb’s request to reallocate project funds within components and expense categories has been added. Lastly, considering the extended physical targets, increased availability of PKR due to the favorable exchange rate and to allow more time for qualitative aspects of the results, an extension in the closing date has been requested. Having gone through a provincial and federal government vetting process, the scope of the revisions was formally approved by the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council on August 9, 2023. The Federal Government sent a formal restructuring request to the Bank on February 2, 2024, following a GoPB request sent to the Federal Government on December 26, 2023. The Federal Government sent a second request for a one-year no-cost extension on July 11, 2024. To align the project restructuring with government approvals, this restructuring is retroactively applicable from August 9, 2023, the date when government approvals were complete. The estimated retroactively financed expenditures are JPY120 million under the new Flood Response Component. To streamline the authority and accountability for decision-making within the Punjab Social Protection Authority (PSPA), the Chief Executive Officer of PSPA will be the ex-officio Project Director (PD) of the Project. Primary and Secondary Healthcare Department (PSHD) will establish the Project Management and Implementation Unit (the “PSHDPMIU”). This change does not affect the PSHD’s status as the main implementing agency responsible for health services. A Project Coordination Committee will be headed by the Chief Executive Officer of PSPA (the ex-officio project Director of PHCIP) and comprised of Program Managers of SED and P&SHD components of the PHCIP. The Project Implementing Entity: (a) shall hire/appoint a Project Director; and (b) ensure that SED and P&SHD shall hire/appoint Program Managers, no later than three (3) months after the Effective Date. Changes in design parameters informed by field implementation lessons not envisioned at the time of project preparation: EI beneficiaries (“Eligible Young Parent”) will change from a parent whose age is between 18 and 29 with children up to 5 years of age from poor and vulnerable households as identified through the National Socio-Economic Registry (NSER)‘ to ‘young couples (18-35 years old) from Benazir Income Support Program (Kafalat) beneficiary households registered in the NSER’. Health & Nutrition CCT beneficiaries’ (“Eligible Conditional Cash Grant (CCG) Beneficiary”) selection criteria will replace the NSER as the sole identification parameter with the following criteria: