Adopt the practice of using diagnostics in the preparation of Systematic Country Diagnostics to determine ECD need identifying when ECD should be made a country priority and coordinating the relevant support across Global Practices and Cross Cutting Solution Areas.
While there has been an increase in the number of Country Strategies containing ECD intervention between FY05-FY13, there were a number of countries where ECD interventions were financed, yet Country Strategies made no mention of them, suggesting that the Bank did not detect borrowers' interest in ECD. There are several countries in Africa with stunting rates ranging from 39 to 55 percent (which is an indicator associated with delays in children's development) where the Bank has had little to no involvement in nutrition.
The Bank's new model of country level engagement and Systematic Country Diagnostics can provide mechanisms for the Bank to assess the situation of children in the country and identify the most needed intervention, and the alignment with other partners.
WB: Partially Agree. The Bank has developed tools for ECD diagnostic work, including SABER ECD and a guide on essential ECD interventions. These tools can be used to inform SCDs where appropriate, based on country demands and priorities, but should not be mandated for every country.
Action 2: Promote strategic and upstream engagements with CMUs to ensure that relevant ECD diagnostic tools (implemented by the World Bank and/or other partners) are used to inform the SCD process, with a focus on countries with the greatest ECD needs (specific criteria to be developed by the GSG)..
Indicator: Mapping of countries where strategic opportunities might exist to implement ECD diagnostic tools and/or to use the findings to inform upcoming SCDs.
Baseline: Existing ECD tools are used in several countries but are not yet systematically mapped.
Target: Mapping is developed and used by the ECD GSG to engage with relevant CMUs as part of the SCD process and/or to explore options to carry out additional diagnostic work.
Timeline: FY17
Last year the Bank undertook a mapping process to prioritize countries with high need based on stunting rates (which provide an indicator of the risk to children's subsequent delay in development). This process is very important and precisely what IEG communicated in the Launch of the ECD Report- that the Bank needs to prioritize and not be absent from countries with high need. The mapping process examined existing data to identify level of vulnerability and inequities or gaps in ECD. This mapping process resulted in the identification of 21 countries where opportunities to engage with SCD and CPF, as well as analytical products and operations. In addition, the ECD GSG also mapped out the current portfolio of financial and analytical operations. This year the SABER-ECD analysis was conducted in four countries (Tanzania, Pakistan, Ethiopia, and Liberia), which provided another diagnostic tool. Thus, this recommendation and action items have been fully completed.
The process to identify the 21 "first wave" countries included an extensive mapping based on country need (stunting rates, poverty rates and preschool rates), country commitment and potential for impact through the WBG portfolio. Working as part of the Investing in the Early Years Core Group, the ECD GSG has mapped upcoming SCD and CPF opportunities and the portfolio and pipeline of operational and analytical activities has been mapped for all "first wave" countries. In addition, a comprehensive, cross-sectoral results framework has been developed and will be used across all "first wave" countries, as a global scorecard to monitor, which includes not only outcome indicators for operations, but also internal Bank indicators, such as number of CPFs which include the early years (ECD), number of new operations which include the early years (ECD) and number of new pieces of analytical work which include early years (ECD). This fulfills the Target for Action 2.
As part of the process of developing the ECD Business Plan for the EDU GP, the entire portfolio of analytical and operational opportunities through the EDU sector have been mapped. Ongoing SABER-ECD analysis continue and the Early Learning Systems Research work has been launched in four countries, in partnership with DfID (Tanzania, Pakistan, Ethiopia and Liberia) to diagnose opportunities and test out solutions to improve early learning systems.
IEG Response: Considerable progress has been made in relation to this recommendation. The Bank went through a mapping process to prioritize countries with high need based on stunting rates (which provide an indicator of the risk to children's subsequent delay in development). This process is very important and precisely what IEG communicated in the Launch of the ECD Report- that the Bank needs to prioritize and not be absent from countries with high need. The mapping process examined existing data to identify level of vulnerability and inequities or gaps in ECD. The process also reviewed where the Bank has projects or Early Learning Partnership activities, as well as countries with upcoming SCDs. This resulted in a list of countries that the Bank proposes giving immediate priority to scale up activities in view of upcoming SCDs and the upcoming IDA 18 discussions. These countries include: Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Cote d' Ivoire, Ethiopia, Madagascar, Mali, Malawi, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, and Tanzania. The HD VP made a presentation at the Africa regional meeting to country directors and generated commitment from several CD to scale up ECD investments, as part of their portfolio It is expected that several (as many as 20) will see significant increases in commitments by 2020.
Beyond the mapping exercise, there are plans to develop a global monitoring scorecard that can then be used to benchmark progress.
The progress made to date is consistent with the target established for next fiscal year and aligns with IEG's recommendation (using diagnostics to determine where ECD should be made a country , coordinate across GPS, and align with preparation of SCD) and goes beyond the narrower target established in the Bank's action plan. Moreover, the mapping process helped to identify and focus Bank attention in countries with greatest ECD need and increased financial commitment.
A mapping of countries where strategic opportunities exist to implement ECD diagnostic tools and other relevant data was already produced (see attached). This presentation also maps the level of needs across countries (based on rates of stunting and other available data, such as access to pre-primary and percentage of children developmentally on track).
Given the very high level of corporate focus on the early years in this past FY (including stunting and broader ECD), parts of this mapping were already used in discussions with regional VPs and Country Directors and to inform both (I) upcoming SCDs and (ii) adjustments to existing portfolio within existing SCD cycles (especially in light of the upcoming IDA 18). For example, the HDVP made a presentation to the Africa and South Asia RMT meetings in June, and several Country Directors in both regions already expressed interest/commitment in scaling up ECD investments as part of their portfolio. The presentation given at the AFR RMT meeting is attached. Overall, it is expected that at least 20 countries will see significant increases in their ECD portfolio by 2020.