GRANT APPLICATION Korean Trust Fund for ICT4D New Economy Skills for Africa Information and Communication Technologies and Education Submitted By Peter Materu (pmateru@worldbank.org) Last Edited May 22, 2008 Printed September 19, 2008 Basic Facts Country/Region Project Sector Africa Education OUI 6565 Amount Requested US$ 450,000 Primary Area Originating Dept/Division TTL Innovation AFTHD Peter Materu Narrative 1. Objective Provide brief overall project objective, including intended impact. (Max. 500 words) The objective of this project is to enhance African countries capacity to utilize, maintain and sustain ICT investments for improved economic growth and competitiveness. Initially it will support launching of a program of ICT skills in Mozambique as well as ICT needs assessments for two additional countries (tentatively Kenya and Tanzania). This project will be implemented through collaborative effort between AFTHD and GICT, with support from other relevant Bank units (WBI, HDNED, PSD, SD, IFC, etc.). At the country level additional partnerships have been identified. In Mozambique, GTZ and MOZAL (a private firm involved in manufacture of aluminum products) have committed to support this project. The proposed project is part of the New Economy Skills for Africa Program (NESAP-ICT) whose main purpose is to support partner countries in this emerging area of need by fostering a closer alignment between education and ICT investments, focusing on a few pilot countries. NESAP-ICT focuses on the following key areas (a) Education in ICTs: Formal study programs to produce people with ICT technical, business, management and legal knowledge and skills. This includes short and long-term training, single courses within a curriculum or an entire multisemester study program, and applies to all levels of post-basic education and training (secondary, vocational, tertiary, teacher training); (b) ICTs for education: ICT applications to improve the learning environment. These include national research and education networks (NRENs), campus networks, library management services (LMS), education management information systems (EMIS), academic management systems (AMS), etc; and (c) ICTs in education: Pedagogical applications of ICTs in the classroom, including open and distance
learning (ODL), computer-aided design (CAD), computer-aided manufacturing (CAM), research labs, simulation and prototyping labs, computer hardware and software; etc. The NESAP-ICT program is intended to impact four main areas: (a) Increase the workforce with more and better ICT skills in select countries. Availability of a critical mass of a well skilled workforce is likely to attract more investment and also to catalyze entrepreneurship, e.g. in off-shoring ICT services; (b) Provide policy makers with neutral, well-researched and trusted advice. This will be useful in making investment decisions and also in their dialogue with internal and external investors; and (c) Improve service delivery in participating countries. ICTs are a potential tool for addressing service delivery issues in many sectors. In education and training, focus service areas will be the scale-up of teacher training to meet exploding enrollments; and innovations to equip youth with technical, vocational and life skills for the knowledge economy. (d) The Bank s large and growing ICT-related investments in sub- Saharan Africa would be more effective since the proposed project will foster internal collaboration across departments and in this way mobilize all of our institutional assets. 2. Rationale Indicate the innovative features of the project and how it plays a catalytic role in Bank Group operations. In what way does it have an impact on core Bank business? (Max. 250 words) 3. Program Description Describe project design including approach, components, resources stakeholder roles, etc. (Max. 1000 words) The innovative features of the program include: o Strong country ownership: Selection of countries is based on an expression of interest by the countries and TTLs of education projects in those countries. Each country will undertake an ICT needs assessment. The output from these assessments will inform dialogue and feed into a design and implementation that will be country specific. o Potential for Employment Creation: NESAP-ICT is designed to opportunistically target areas likely to create youth employment (e.g. provision of off-shoring services). The objective of the needs assessment will aim to match training areas and numbers to employment opportunities. In addition, links with entrepreneurs in other developing countries (e.g. Korea, India, Philippines, etc) will be facilitated. o Focus on skills for the knowledge economy: NESAP-ICT will introduce innovative education and training delivery models that will instill development of skills for the knowledge economy. Investments in hardware will be primarily tied to facilitating effective development of skills in specific areas of training. o Encouragement of public-private partnerships: NESAP-ICT encourages innovative methods of developing partnerships between the public and private sector as well as with the donor community. In line with the NESAP-ICT program, the proposd project targets countries that have on-going or pipeline Bank-funded projects with ICT components as well as countries that have demonstrated demand and commitment. In addition, the project will foster collaboration across Bank departments in addressing a common cross-sectoral need. Approach In the initial phase, the NESAP-ICT Program is opportunistically targeting countries and areas with the potential to deliver early results and high impact on the ground. It will build on momentum from ongoing activities and operations. The goal is to start in a focused way on the ground, in a limited set of countries, demonstrating the usefulness of such strategic support to specific countries operations, while experimenting with an innovative mechanism for internal coordination across Bank departments to address an emerging, cross-cutting need. Selection of participating countries The selection of participating countries will, therefore, be based on the following criteria: Strong demand and government commitment from the client country; Favorable climate and institutional framework to support the program at the country level Interest and momentum by respective Bank TTL and Country Team; Existence of an on-going and/or pipeline education projects with ICT components At least one country will be identified from each HD unit in the Africa Region at the Bank Recommendation by respective Sector Manager and/or Country Director Based on these criteria and an initial call for expressions of interest by the Program team the following six countries have expressed interest: Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar, Mozambique, Nigeria and Tanzania. The Mozambique proposal has been identified to have the highest potential for early results; initial discussions with the Government on implementation arrangements were held in early May. Based on these discussions, the government has designated Beluluane Polytechnic for the ICT skills training program and has set aside complimentary funding for training and equipment. GTZ has also agreed to partner with the Bank and contribute to the Mozambique initiative. Focus will be on ICT skills directly relevant to the labor market, rather than on degree-level study programs. This project will be linked to the ongoing Vocational Education and Training project and the planned Higher Education, Science and Technology (HEST) project scheduled for effectiveness in 2010. Responses from Kenya and Tanzania have asked for assistance in conducting ICT skills needs assessment as a first step towards determining the type, magnitude and content of a skills development program. Nigeria has already undertaken a skills needs assessment with the assistance of consultants from Singapore, but the government has yet to make a decision
on the approach to be taken in implementing the program. Ghana and Madagascar have been identified as priority countries in order to take advantage of the momentum from the January 2008 LETSGA Workshop in Singapore where the two countries (along with Mozambique) expressed interest in developing ICT skills development programs. Components: A two-phase approach is proposed. Phase 1 (6 months) will focus on (i) ICT skills needs assessment in Mozambique; and (ii) assistance to the other countries which have expressed interest to better define their proposals. Phase 2 (12 months) will comprise (a) program design and launch in Mozambique; and (b) needs assessment and program design for 2 additional countries. Thus for each country, the main components of the project will comprise: (i) ICT Skills Needs Assessment (ii) Stakeholder Consultations to agree on priorities (iii) Training program design and course development (iv) Capacity building program (iv) Launch of skills training program. Areas to be covered will span technical, business, management and legal aspects of ICTs-education interactions. The capacity building program is expected to include training of instructors, sensitization programs, knowledge-sharing forums, and joint Bank-client knowledge exchange within and outside the country. The activities that will be funded by the KTF include: Hosting of a country level stakeholders workshop in each country to agree on the scope of the needs assessment. Technical assistance (national and international consultants) to conduct a needs assessments and the production of detailed methodology and data collection instruments in each country. Technical assistance and follow-up country dialogue which will be based on the results of the needs assessments; a short note identifying the countries priorities will be written. Technical assistance for training program design and course development. Limited procurement of equipment, materials and accessories for laboratories and classrooms in Beluluwane Polytechnic in Mozambique. This will be complementary to funding from other sources. Training of instructors and knowledge sharing forums - a program of activities would be developed based on the needs assessment and consultations with TTLs and other development partners. Administrative costs for preparatory work, mission travel for World Bank team and consultants to selected countries; publication of materials, coordination of logistics., etc. Program coordination and management a) Within the World Bank The World Bank Task Team Leaders (TTLs) for education projects in each of the selected countries will supervise implementation of the proposed activity in the country. In Mozambique, the TTL (Xiaoyan Liang) has been leading the dialogue with Government with support from the NESAP-ICT program team. Focal point persons have been identified in the participating departments in the Bank as follows: Peter Materu (AFTHD), Deepak Bhatia (GICT) and Michael Trucano (infodev/hdned). The focal point persons will serve as the primary link with management, coordinate Program activities within their respective departments and serve as liaison with other departments. The Education Advisor, AFTHD (Jee-Peng Tan) and the Manager, CITPO/GICT (Phillipe Dongier), will jointly provide management oversight. Peter Materu, Senior Education Specialist, (focal point for AFTHD) will coordinate the program. A program officer will be recruited to assist the coordinator with day-to-day implementation of the Program. b) Within Country Country Teams will be led by the respective education TTL and include expertise from the various Bank units, selected according to specific project needs. Technical assistance will be recruited on short term basis as need arises. In Mozambique, the Project Implementation Unit (PIU) for the Vocational Education and Training project will provide the Secretariat for the proposed project. Similar arrangements will be put in place for the other 2 countries to be selected. 4. Program Duration Indicate the expected duration of the project. 5. Fit with Strategies Describe how project fits with or supports sector, regional and country strategies. Highlight any 18 months The Africa Action plan which is the Africa region strategy paper emphasizes that Africa needs more and better trained workers to compete in the global economy and identifies ICT skills development as a flagship component of its regional strategy. Recent management approaches have stressed the need to strengthen existing partnership and to explore partnerships with new partners, including emerging donors, foundations, etc.
relationship to an existing Bank operation or program. (Max. 500 words) a recent study on ICT for Education in Sub Saharan Africa concluded that the Bank could play a critical role in building the human and institutional capacity necessary to support investments in ICTs by governments, development partners and the private sector. Many African leaders are identifying the promotion and diffusion of ICT use in education as increasingly important, as reflected in the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) documents. For example, Both Ghana and Madagascar have indicated that ICT should be a core subject of post-basic educational institutions including universities and teacher training colleges; and Mozambique has indicated that it needs a flow of qualified scientists, engineers, technical personnel and IT experts into the system. Ghana (Ghana Education Project), Mozambique (Higher Education Project HEP and the Vocational Education and Training Project) and Nigeria (Science and Technology Education and Post-basic - STEPB project) have ongoing post-basic education and training projects that support the project s objective, and a new tertiary education, science and technology project for Tanzania has just being negotiated. It is expected to become effective within FY08. Project identification is ongoing for a new post-basic project in Madagascar and a Higher Education, Science and Technology project in Mozambique. Ghana and Mozambique currently have education projects which focus on development of distance education capabilities as well as capacity building for tertiary distance education. Mozambique has designated Beluluane Polytechnic as a centre of excellence for ICT skills training and is currently seeking partners to support development of the centre. The Bank is assisting the Government in its dialogue with partners. The proposed project in Madagascar is considering inclusion of a component that will address the introduction of Information, Communication, and Technology (ICT) courses into the secondary curriculum. Target Countries 6. Target Countries Asia: Africa: Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar, Mozambique, Nigeria, Tanzania Latin America: Middle East & North Africa: Europe & Central Asia: Categorization 7. ICT Program Areas Select all applicable program areas and categorization. Access: ICT Policy and Regulatory reform Innovative ICT Services and Applications ICT Infrastructure Development ICT Media and Content Development Broadband Deployment and Use Mainstreaming: Education Public Administration and e-government Gender equality Engagement of youth Innovation and Entrepreneurship: SME development ICT and ICT-Enabled services ICT and ICT-Enabled Skills Development Innovation Policies and Strategies for Development Stimulation of Entrepreneurship in ICT and ICT-enabled sectors Regional Scope: AFR 8. Deliverable Type Technical Assistance and Capacity-Building Activities 9. Activity Executed By World Bank
Key Stakeholders 10. Key Stakeholders and Other Interested Parties Please list key stakeholders and other interested parties, both recipients and beneficiaries, in the government, private sector, and elsewhere. Government Private Sector (Large) Private Sector (SME) Other Recipients Mozambique: Ministry of Education Matola Local Government Authority 2 additional countries to be selected during Phase 1 Beneficiaries Policy makers, administrators, students, teachers, society at large, Beluluane Polytechnic MOZAL and other private MEGA companies in Mozambique Timeline & Milestones 10. Estimated Timeline & Activity Milestones Please include titles and completion dates for each deliverable. Deliverables Date Estimated Start Date 1 Aug, 2008 Needs Assessment (Mozambique) 30 Sep, 2008 Validation Workshop (Mozambique) 31 Dec, 2008 Training Program Development (Mozambique) 31 Mar, 2009 Training of instructors, etc (Mozambique) 31 Aug, 2009 Program Launch (Mozambique) 30 Sep, 2009 Stakeholders Consultation (2 additional countries) 31 Mar, 2009 Needs Assessment (2 additional countries) 30 Sep, 2009 Validation Workshop (2 additional countries) 31 Dec, 2009 Estimated End Date 1 Feb, 2010 Risks 11. Risks Affecting Project Implementation Identify and explain briefly major risks (including political, environmental, security, governance, and implementation) to project implementation, and measures to address these risks. Type of Risk Brief Description Measure to Mitigate Risk Implementation Insufficient capacity to train technical teachers and pilot courses based on occupational standards that have been developed Implementation Trained teachers move to greener pastures within or outside the country Partnership with an external institution with capacity to provide qualified teachers in the short term is being explored. Initial contacts established with ITE in Singapore for Ghana, Madagascar and Mozambique Design to include an appropriate incentive package. In addition, training of instructors will be a continuous process, in order to develop a pool of qualified instructors in the country..
Program Team 12. Program Team Please provide names of all principal team members. Core Team Members Transaction leader/ contact person Other team members (including backups) Peter Materu Name(s) Deepak Bhatia (GICT), Michael Trucano (infodev/hdned), Xiaoyan Liang (TTL education, Mozambique), Isabel Neto (TTL, ICT, Mozambique), Program Officer (NESAP-ICT), Peter Darvas, Mavis Ampah & Eunice Yaa Brimfah Dapaah (TTLs, Ghana), Arun R. Joshi & Peter Silarzky (TTLs, Tanzania), Sajitha Bashir (TTL, Madagascar), Michael Mills, Shobhana Sosale & Laurent Bensancon (TTLs, Kenya)Jacob H. Bregman (TTL, Nigeria), Petra Righetti (ETC, AFTHD) Management Team Managing unit manager Director Name(s) Jee-Peng Tan (AFTHD), Phillipe Dongier, (CITPO) & Christopher Thomas (Sector Manager AFTH1) Yaw Ansu, AFTHD, Mohsen Khalil, GICT Financing Plan 14. Budget/Financing Plan Please enter the column totals from the spreadsheet template here. Column Total Amount (US$) KTF Request 450,000 Co-financing 230,000 World Bank Group 200,000 Total Cost 880,000 Monitoring & Evaluation 15. Outputs Please fill in the key measurable performance indicators for each component. These M&E milestones need to include base line data, expected value and intermediate achievements (collected during supervision). Measurable Indicators Number of students admitted into first cohort in Mozambique Baseline Value Intermediate Value 0 100 Needs assessments completed 0 1 3 Expected Final Value Capacity building 0 5 instructors Number of private sector/employers firms participating participants in stakeholder workshops Training program launched within specified period in Mozambique 1 3 per country 0 Within 18 months in Mozambique 16. Outcomes Project Activities Expected Outcomes Expected Impacts
By project component please enter the tasks to be performed, their outcomes and their expected long term impact. Stakeholder s Workshop To specify scope and countries priority areas Needs Assessment Prioritization of skills needs Capacity building and knowledge sharing activities Training Program Development Launch of Training Program Well trained instructors, knowledgeable leadership World class training curricula and course content, relevant to labor market Students pursuing courses relevant to key growth areas Country ownership Provide policy makers with neutral, wellresearched and trusted advice Strengthen strategy for human resource development in ICT and Education New standard for ICT-skills development in the country Qualified ICT-skilled workforce for public and private sector. Also instructors for other institutions. The program will also serve as a model for other African countries.