The World Bank India: Bihar Integrated Social Protection Strengthening Project (P118826)

Transcription

1 Public Disclosure Authorized Public Disclosure Authorized The World Bank RESTRUCTURING PAPER ON A PROPOSED PROJECT RESTRUCTURING OF INDIA: BIHAR INTEGRATED SOCIAL PROTECTION STRENGTHENING PROJECT APPROVED ON DECEMBER 30, 2013 TO INDIA REPORT NO.: RES32429 Public Disclosure Authorized SOCIAL PROTECTION & JOBS GLOBAL PRACTICE SOUTH ASIA Public Disclosure Authorized Regional Vice President: Country Director: Senior Global Practice Director: Practice Manager: Task Team Leader: Ethel Sennhauser Junaid Kamal Ahmad Michal Rutkowski Stefano Paternostro Srinivas Varadan, Pravesh Kumar

2 ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS BISPS BRDS DEA ESMF FY HR IAY IUFR MIS MGNREGS MTV PDO PFMS PMAY PMS RDD RF SC SP SSP SSPMIS SSUPSW ST Bihar Integrated Social Protection Strengthening Project Bihar Rural Development Society Department of Economic Affairs Environment & Social Management Framework Financial Year Human Resource Indira Awaas Yojana Interim Unaudited Financial Report Management Information System Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme Mobile outreach and Therapy Van Project Development Objective Public Financial Management System Prime Minister s Awaas Yojana Performance Management System Rural Development Department Results Framework Scheduled Caste Social Protection Social Security Pensions Social Security Pension Management Information System State Society for Ultra Poor and Social Welfare Scheduled Tribe

3 BASIC DATA Product Information Project ID P Original EA Category Partial Assessment (B) Approval Date 30-Dec-2013 Financing Instrument Investment Project Financing Current EA Category Partial Assessment (B) Current Closing Date 31-Mar-2020 Organizations Borrower India Responsible Agency Rural Development Department,Department of Social Welfare Project Development Objective (PDO) Original PDO To strengthen institutional capacity of the Department of Social Welfare and the Rural Development Department to deliver social protection programs and services and expand outreach of social care services for poor and vulnerable households, persons with disabilities, older persons and widows in the state of Bihar. Summary Status of Financing Ln/Cr/Tf Approval Signing Effectiveness Closing Net Commitment Disbursed Undisbursed IDA Dec May Aug Mar Policy Waiver(s) Does this restructuring trigger the need for any policy waiver(s)? No

4 I. PROJECT STATUS AND RATIONALE FOR RESTRUCTURING A. Project Status 1. The Bihar Integrated Social Protection Strengthening Project s (BISPS) progress towards achievement of the Development Objective is currently rated Moderately Unsatisfactory, while the overall Implementation Progress is rated Moderately Satisfactory. The Project, after initial hiccups has gained momentum, which is evident from the overall disbursement moving up to 27 percent as of March 2018, compared to 2 percent disbursement in January After becoming effective in August 2014, the Project rollout was affected due to the delay in hiring of the project personnel at various levels. As per the implementation arrangements, the Project implementing agencies in the Social Welfare Department (State Society for the Ultra Poor and Social Welfare) and the Rural Development Department (Bihar Rural Development Society) were to directly hire these contractual staff. However, it was later decided that an outsourced model for hiring these personnel was more suitable. This change in the implementation modality required the Government of Bihar to seek various departmental clearances as well as a State Cabinet decision. As a result, the implementing agencies had to restart the procurement of various related contracts, which were already at advanced stages of procurement, causing significant delay in the implementation of the project. 3. Since effectiveness, the project has achieved the following: (a) Social pension delivery system: As part of its system strengthening agenda the project has put in place a comprehensive social security pension delivery and management system. Known as Social Security Pension MIS (SSPMIS), this system provides end-to-end solution to the Department of Social Welfare, Government of Bihar in handling the social security pensions targeted to elderly, disabled and widows across the state. The SSPMIS is a robust system with capabilities of handling data deduplication, enrolment, sanctioning, electronic payments and grievance redressal. Linked to a state-level call center, the SSPMIS is currently handling cash transfers to over 6 million beneficiaries every month. Prior to the SSPMIS, the Government of Bihar was making quarterly payments to the pension beneficiaries with the help of the district administration, which often resulted in long delays. SSPMIS has been recognized by the Ministry of Rural Development, Government of India, as well as the Department of Finance in the Government of Bihar, as a successful model for streamlining electronic benefit payments to the Bank account of beneficiaries. (b) One-stop Social Care Service Centers for elderly, disabled and widows: In each of the 38 districts, one social care service center (known as Buniyad Center) is currently operational. These one-stop shops for the target population are providing high quality care, support and rehabilitation services to elderly, disabled and widows. During the last year, these centers have already catered to about individual beneficiaries. The range of services delivered to these beneficiaries include: assessment and determination (vision & hearing), counselling, physiotherapy and occupational therapy services, information dissemination about, and linkages with existing social protection schemes and programs such as social pension, assistive devices, etc. (c) Construction of State-of-Art Social Care Service Centers: The Project envisages setting up and operating 101 One-stop Social Care Centers (one in each Sub-division 1 ). These buildings are being constructed following a uniform state-of- 1 Sub-divisions are like sub-districts. There are 101 such sub-divisions in Bihar.

5 art design with the aim to establish the brand Buniyad Centers across the state. Of the 101 proposed buildings, 99 buildings are under different stages of construction with 23 of them ready to be handed over. At the remaining two urban locations (state capital Patna), the Government of Bihar has not been able to find and allocate land for the construction, therefore, it was decided that these two centers would be operated from the leased / rented premises. It is expected that all 101 Buniyad Centers will be operational by January (d) Mobile Outreach and Therapy Services: Popularly known as Sanjivani Buniyad Seva, a Mobile Outreach and Therapy Van (MTV) in each of the 38 districts has been procured and is delivering social care services to elderly, disabled and widows in remote rural locations. These vans are fully equipped with diagnostic, therapy equipment and audio-visual systems as well as a professional team to operate as one stop shops to deliver quality care, support and rehabilitation services to the beneficiary groups in local settings. In addition, these MTVs are also providing support to the beneficiary groups by facilitating their enrolment in social pensions, disability assessment to support certification, among others. Apart from the care and rehabilitation services, these MTVs are also equipped with state-of-art audio visual system to enhance communication and raise awareness amongst people at large about rights and entitlements of beneficiary groups, related policies and programs for them, and how to access those entitlements and benefits. (e) Strengthening Financial Management Systems: The project is at the advanced stages of putting in place a digital financial management system that supports the Rural Development Department (RDD) and other state departments in obtaining timely and reliable financial expenditure information from Panchayats, Blocks and Districts on their programs. With the help of this financial management system the RDD and other state departments will be able to consolidate and submit timely expenditure reports to the state and central Ministry to obtain next tranche of funds. To this endeavor, BRDS has recruited 128 district level Accounts and Audit Specialists, while at the Block levels 326 Block Accountants have been appointed. The digital financial management system is expected to be fully operational by December 2018, with recruitment of remaining 104 district-level and 217 block-level personnel, across the state. (f) Compliance with Legal Covenants: The project has complied with all legal covenants, which include: (i) maintenance of two implementing agencies, i.e., Bihar Rural Development Society (BRDS) in the Department of Rural Development and the State Society for Ultra Poor and Social Welfare (SSUPSW) in the Department of Social Welfare throughout the life of the project; (ii) maintenance of specialized project management teams within the regular structure of the BRDS and SSUPSW; and (iii) BRDS and SSUPSW to implement the project in accordance with the Environment and Social Management Frameworks, and any plan developed under each of these instruments. (g) Fiduciary: Despite initial delays, both implementing agencies have now completed almost all major procurements that are critical for the implementation of the project. All contracted firms are on board and are undertaking / completing their contractual obligations in accordance with the scope of work. The financial management performance of the Project has been satisfactory, with no outstanding audits. The Interim Unaudited Financial Reports (IUFRs) are usually on time from both implementing agencies. (h) Environment and Social Safeguards: The proposed restructuring is mainly a revision of the results framework no major change in the nature of activities is proposed. Therefore, triggered safeguard policies OP/BP 4.01 (Environment Assessment), OP/BP 1.10 (Indigenous Peoples) and others continue to be relevant and are adequate to address the assessed environmental impacts and issues. Since the restructuring exercise has not introduced any new prospect that might require fresh assessment from the environmental and social angle, the existing ESMF and associated monitoring procedures continue to be valid. 4. The Project is fully prepared to expedite implementation and achieve its development objectives towards strengthening system for efficient delivery of social protection programs and services, and expanding outreach of

6 social care services for poor and vulnerable households, persons with disabilities, older persons and widows in the state of Bihar. B. Rationale for Restructuring 5. This level 2 restructuring is being sought at the request of the Government of Bihar made through a letter dated April 26, The subsequent agreement was reached to realign the Project results framework to appropriately reflect its intended outcomes, and slightly revise the Rural Development component to allow for better linkage with the social protection tracking system. 6. The results framework (RF) of BISPS in its current form is complex and not able to adequately reflect the achievements of the project. One of the main reasons is that the project RF is more geared towards reporting on the activities under the Department of Rural Development where only 23% of the project resources are invested. Besides this, each of the five PDO indicators have four sub-indicators that measure progress towards four SP programs. This complicates the situation further and makes it difficult for adequate and timely measurement of implementation progress. As part of the component under the Department of Rural Development, it was initially envisaged that the project would focus on strengthening systems for the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), India Awaas Yojana (IAY), and District and Block level financial management system. MGNREGS and IAY (now Prime Minister s Awaas Yojana - PMAY) as central programs benefitted from the developments brought in by the Government of India specifically pertaining to MIS and program accounting systems, managed by Government of India through NREGA-SOFT 2, AWAS-SOFT 3 and PFMS 4. The project therefore focused on strengthening financial management systems and accounting of a range of other programs implemented by the Department of Rural Development and other state departments through the Block Development Office. The results framework continues to focus on MGNREGS and IAY so an adjustment to the results framework was discussed with the two implementing agencies during the mission and agreement was reached to proceed. 7. Under the Rural Development sub-component, the Project is largely focused around strengthening social protection systems towards efficient implementation and supervision of rural development programs across the state. This is to be achieved by streamlining delivery mechanism in terms of as well as strengthening capacity and performance incentives. The Government of Bihar through its restructuring letter sent to the Department of Economic Affairs (DEA) had requested for including development of a social protection tracking system that has ability to improve targeting and information follow from the Gram Panchayat to the State levels, instead of the currently proposed Resident Registry for social protection programs. However, during the restructuring mission, it was jointly decided to continue with the Resident Registry as development of a tracking application is already included in the current design of the project. II. DESCRIPTION OF PROPOSED CHANGES C. Realignment of Results Framework 2 NREGASoft is an MIS to monitor physical and financial progress of NREGA 3 Awasoft is a workflow based transactional level MIS of PMAY 4 Public Financial Management System (PFMS) is an application aimed at establishing an efficient fund flow system and a payment cum accounting network

7 8. Due to implementation delays and inconsistencies in the results framework, the Project has partially achieved its annual targets on its PDO and intermediate outcome indicators for FY2018. The results framework and targets for some selected indicators are proposed to be revised for the remainder of the project period to make it realistic and achievable under the revised implementation workplan. In addition, a number of indicators have been re-worded to provide better clarity. The specific changes are described in Table 1 below: Table 1: Proposed Changes to Results Framework Level Indicator Proposed revision Increased coverage of SP programs and services as measured by number of program beneficiaries Indicator dropped. The project is not directly contributing to increasing coverage under MGNREGS & IAY. PDO (1.1) MGNREGS & IAY (1.2) SSP (1.3) Social Care Increased coverage of SP programs and services as measured by the share of vulnerable groups in total beneficiaries (1.1) MGNREGS & IAY (1.2) SSP (1.3) Social Care Increased resources available for SP programs, as measured by % of funds drawn from central resources (1.1) MGNREGS & IAY (1.2) SSP Two new separate indicators included to measure coverage under social care and social pension programs, as Number of Project beneficiaries having received social care services and Number of social pension beneficiaries having received benefit payments on time. Revision helps in measuring progress against core project intervention, i.e., social care services and social pensions. Targets for Year 4, 5 and 6 revised to match actual / projected achievements under the new PDO indicators. Moved to intermediate indicator and revised as Share of vulnerable and marginalized people (SC, ST) of the total project beneficiaries. Revision helps measuring progress towards core intervention, i.e., social pension and social care services. The project is not directly contributing to increasing coverage under MGNREGS & IAY. Targets for Year 4, 5 & 6 revised to match actual / projected achievements. Indicator dropped, as MGNREGS and IAY are centrally funded programs and project does not have any direct intervention toward increasing resource availability of these programs. On SSP, the project intervention is more geared towards strengthening systems for SSP delivery. A new PDO indicator added for measuring results against strengthening systems for timely audit, as Share of blocks submitting audit reports on the Annual Financial statement. Completion of audit reports by Blocks facilitates timely submission of utilization certificates and thereby contributes to increased availability of resources.

8 Improved quality and satisfaction with SP service delivery as measured by % eligible population aware (1.1) MGNREGS & IAY (1.2) SSP (1.3) Social Care Improved quality and satisfaction with SP service delivery as measured by % of beneficiaries reporting satisfaction with services received (1.1) MGNREGS & IAY (1.2) SSP (1.3) Social Care Targets for Years 4, 5 and 6 established as per administrative data. Indicator dropped. Beneficiary satisfaction of social care services is being measured through a separate PDO indicator. MGNREGS and IAY are centrally funded programs and project does not have any direct intervention toward increasing beneficiary satisfaction under these programs. Indicator dropped. A new PDO indicator added as Share of project beneficiaries satisfied with social care services received. This helps in measuring progress towards core project intervention, i.e., social care services. Targets for Year 4, 5 & 6 revised to match actual / projected achievements. INTERMEDIATE State policies developed, adopted and implemented Number of Operations Manuals developed for MGNREGS, IAY, SSP A new Core Indicator for measuring coverage added as Direct project beneficiaries along with its sub indicator Female beneficiaries. Dropped, project has contributed in finalization of two draft policy documents, i.e., State Policy for Older Persons, and State Policy for Persons with Disabilities, and will continue facilitating the process for its finalization. Adaptation and implementation of these state policies is a prerogative of the State Cabinet. Dropped. Operations Manuals developed nationally for the MGNREGS, PMAY-G and social pensions programs have been developed by the State Government with inputs from the Bank team. Standards of care developed and adopted Indicator dropped. Standard of care for Buniyad Centres integrated in its Operations Manual. The standards of care for other institutions for target beneficiary groups contingent on the Government of Bihar adopting State Policies for persons with disabilities and older persons. Adaptation and implementation of these state policies is a prerogative of the State Cabinet. % grievances addressed Indicator dropped.

9 (1.1) MGNREGS & IAY (1.2) SSP (1.3) Social Care A new indicator added to measure grievance redress under the social care and social pension (SSP) as Share of grievances redressed. Revision helps in measuring progress against the core project interventions, i.e., social pension and social care services. MGNREGS and IAY are centrally funded programs and project does not have any direct intervention toward addressing grievances under these programs. Targets for Year 4, 5 and 6 revised to match actual / projected achievements. Building and operating program MIS Indicator dropped. A new indicator included as Program MIS established and producing periodic reports Since NREGS and IAY have their own central MIS systems, the revised indicator is limited to outcomes relating to social welfare department components, i.e., social pensions and social care services. Targets for Year 4, 5 and 6 revised to match actual / projected achievements. % Concerned officials and partners trained on program procedures: BRDS, SSUPSW Dropped. The indicator is too broad as it intends to measure training against all programs of BRDS and SSUPSW. This goes beyond the purview of the project interventions. Besides, training is an ongoing activity and is measured as part of the annual training plan of both the agencies. % staff satisfying performance standards BRDS, SSUPSW Dropped. This indicator is contingent on performance standards to be defined in HR and PMS policies of the two implementing agencies, which has been under finalization for the last three years. Beneficiary satisfaction is being measured through a separate PDO indicator, and staff performance is a major contributor to this. % of benefit received on time (1.1) MGNREGS & IAY Revised to focus on social pensions and moved to PDO indicators after dropping MGNREGS & IAY, since the project is not directly contributing to system development of these two programs. % of blocks submitting audit reports and Utilization Certificates on time; (1.1) MGNREGS & IAY Indicator revised as Share of blocks submitting annual financial statements generated through digital application. Targets for Years 4, 5 and 6 revised to match actual/projected achievement. End target remains unchanged.

10 % of Buniyad Centres constructed Revised as Number of Buniyad Centres constructed". Targets for Years 4, 5 and 6 revised to match actual/projected achievement. % of Buniyad Centres operational Revised as Number of Buniyad Centres operational. Targets for Years 4, 5 and 6 revised to match actual/projected achievement. End target remains unchanged. Number of mobile therapy units operational and providing services Targets for Years 4, 5 and 6 revised to match actual/projected achievement. End target remains unchanged. D. Revision of Disbursement Estimates 9. The disbursement estimates for years 4, 5 and 6 have been revised to reflect disbursement and projections based on implementation workplan going forward, following the project restructuring. III. SUMMARY OF CHANGES Changed Change in Results Framework Not Changed Change in Disbursement Estimates Change in Implementing Agency Change in DDO Status Change in Project's Development Objectives Change in Components and Cost Change in Loan Closing Date(s) Cancellations Proposed Reallocation between Disbursement Categories Change in Disbursements Arrangements Change in Overall Risk Rating

11 PDO_IND_TABLE The World Bank Change in Safeguard Policies Triggered Change of EA category Change in Legal Covenants Change in Institutional Arrangements Change in Financial Management Change in Procurement Change in Implementation Schedule Other Change(s) Change in Economic and Financial Analysis Change in Technical Analysis Change in Social Analysis Change in Environmental Analysis IV. DETAILED CHANGE(S) OPS_DETAILEDCHANGES_RESULTS_TABLE RESULTS FRAMEWORK Project Development Objective Indicators Increased coverage of SP programs and services as measured by number of program beneficiaries (1.1) MGNREGS & IAY (1.2) SSP (1.3) Social Care Unit of Measure: Text Value Interim baseline MGNREG ; MGNREG ; IAY: (1.1) 20% IAY297763; SSP ; SSP: ; (1.2) 20% Marked for Deletion ; Social Care - Social Care - N/A (1.3) 50% N/A Date 31-Mar Sep Feb-2020 Increased coverage of SP programs and services as measured by the share of vulnerable groups in total beneficiaries (1.1) MGNREGS & IAY; (1.2) SSP; (1.3) Social Care

12 Value Marked for Deletion Date 30-Jun Mar Feb-2020 Increased resources available for SP programs, as measured by % of funds drawn from central resources (1.1) MGNREGS & IAY (1.2) SSP Value Marked for Deletion Date 31-Mar Mar Feb-2020 Improved quality and satisfaction with SP service delivery as measured by % eligible population aware (1.1) MGNREGS & IAY; (1.2) SSP; (1.3) Social Care Value Marked for Deletion Date 30-Jun Sep Feb-2020 Improved quality and satisfaction with SP service delivery as measured by % of beneficiaries reporting satisfaction with services received (1.1) MGNREGS & IAY; (1.2) SSP; (1.3) Social Care Value Marked for Deletion Date 30-Jun Sep Feb-2020 Number of project beneficiaries having received social care services Unit of Measure: Number Value New Date 03-Oct May Mar-2020 Number of social pension beneficiaries having received benefit payments on time Unit of Measure: Number

13 Value New Date 01-Jan May Mar-2020 Share of blocks submitting audit reports on the Annual Financial statement Unit of Measure: Text Target for Year 4 - At least 70% Blocks System established to Value 0 are submitting audit New provide FM & Audit reports Support Date 02-Apr Jun Mar-2020 Share of project beneficiaries satisfied with social care services received Value New Date 01-Jun Jun Mar-2020 Intermediate Indicators IO_IND_TABLE State policies developed, adopted and implemented Unit of Measure: Text Value (i) Disability policy finalized and in process of securing cabinet approval. State Policies for National level (ii) Draft older persons Persons with legislation adopted by policy under review. Disabilities and Older the state Persons implemented. Marked for Deletion Date 31-Jan Sep Feb-2020

14 Number of Operations Manuals developed for MGNREGS, IAY, SSP Unit of Measure: Number Value Marked for Deletion Date 31-Jan Sep Feb-2020 Standards of care developed and adopted Value Marked for Deletion Date 31-Jan Dec Feb-2020 % grievances addressed (1.1) MGNREGS & IAY (1.2) SSP (1.3) Social Care Value Marked for Deletion Date 31-Dec Mar Feb-2020 Building and operating program MIS Unit of Measure: Text Value Achieved. SSPMIS pilot Nil tested, to go live by early January System operational Marked for Deletion Date 31-Jan Sep Feb-2020 % Concerned officials and partners trained on program procedures:1.1. BRDS 1.2. SSUPSW Value Marked for Deletion

15 Date 31-Jan Sep Feb-2020 % staff satisfying performance standards 1.1 BRDS1.2 SSUPSW Value Marked for Deletion Date 31-Jan Sep Feb-2020 % of benefit received on time (1.1) MGNREGS & IAY Value Marked for Deletion Date 31-Mar Mar Feb-2020 Share of blocks submitting annual financial statements generated through digital application Unit of Measure: Text Value 0 Year 4 target is systems & personnel in place in at least 50% blocks At least 80% blocks Revised Date 31-Jan Apr Feb-2020 Number of Buniyad centers constructed Unit of Measure: Number Value Revised Date 31-Jan Jun Mar-2020 Number of Buniyad centers operational Unit of Measure: Number Value Revised

16 Date 31-Jan Jun Feb-2020 Number of mobile therapy units operational and providing services Unit of Measure: Number Value No Change Date 31-Jan Sep Feb-2020 Share of grievances redressed Unit of Measure: Text Social Care Services - Social Care Services - Value 0 System being developed 80% Social Security Pensions Social Security New - 15% Pensions - 80% Date 02-Jan Jun Mar-2020 Direct project beneficiaries Unit of Measure: Number Value New Date 02-Jan Jun Mar-2020 Female beneficiaries Supplement Value New Share of vulnerable and marginalized people (SC, ST) of the total project beneficiaries Unit of Measure: Text

17 Value 0 Social Care Services % Social Security Pension Social Care Services - 20% (Proportionate to SC & ST Population in Bihar) Social Security Pension - 20% (Proportionate to SC & ST Population in Bihar) Date 02-Jan Jun Mar-2020 Program MIS established and producing periodic reports Unit of Measure: Text New Value SSPMIS established & module for Social Care Yes Yes New Services developed Date 30-Mar Jun Mar-2020 OPS_DETAILEDCHANGES_DISBURSEMENT_TABLE DISBURSEMENT ESTIMATES Change in Disbursement Estimates Yes Year Current Proposed ,704, ,704, ,829, ,829, ,263, ,263, ,691, ,691, ,510, ,510,054.81