Mexico - Program of Essential Social Services (PROSSE)

 ICRR 10338 Report Number : ICRR10338 ICR Review Operations Evaluation Department 1. Project Data : OEDID : OEDID: L3912 Project ID : P040462 Project Name : Program of Essential Social Services (PROSSE) Country : Mexico Sector : Social Assistance L/C Number : L3919 Partners involved : IDB Prepared by : Soniya Carvalho, OEDST Reviewed by : Hernan Levy Group Manager : Gregory Ingram Date Posted : 06/30/1999 2. Project Objectives, Financing, Costs and Components : Objectives : (a) protect essential social services for the poor through provision of textbooks, construction of school facilities mainly primary school facilities, and providing a basic health care package; (b) strengthen existing social safety net measures to cushion the poor from the effects of the economic crisis through retraining, the creation of short term employment and a nutrition program targeted to vulnerable groups in the poorest areas; and (c) lay the foundation for measuring and implementing efficiency gains in the social sectors over the medium term through technical assistance and pogram monitoring . Components : (a) basic education services including provision of textbooks and school construction; (b) basic health services including immunizations, family planning and reproductive health services, and civil works; (c) retraining and employment generation; (d) nutrition program for vulnerable groups; and (e) monitoring and evaluation of social sector programs . Costs : The total project cost was US $1.9 billion (appraisal estimate: US $2 billion). Financing : The IBRD loan amounted to US $500 million or 25.7 percent of total project cost, as estimated at appraisal . The IBRD loan was approved on 6/22/95 and closed on 6/30/98, one year behind schedule . The project was co-financed by the IDB ($500 million). 3. Achievement of Relevant Objectives : Overall , the project protected the budgets of essential social sector programs, however, operational delays in 1995-96 (ref: p vii and ix, ICR) prevented the full achievement of a key goal of this project which was to provide a quick-response in the face of the economic crisis . Furthermore, the project's poverty targeting objectives were not fully achieved (ref: p. v, ICR). In education , the expansion of school construction benefited particularly lower secondary education, and to a much lesser extent primary education as originally intended because responsibilities for primary education were decentralized to the states (about 1579 less primary schools were built than targeted ) . In health , all targets of the Secretariat of Health for preventive and curative programs in 1995 were surpassed and almost all targets were exceeded as well in 1996. In addition, there were improvements in the prevention of communicable diseases through immunization (about 50,203,605 people were immunized compared with a target of 44,477,882 people). In labor markets , the worker fellowship program facilitated job search by the unemployed (about 947,715 fellowships for the unemployed were given compared to a target of 800,000, and 49,479 training courses were held compared with a target of 29,000), however, the costs of the program in relation to benefits were not measured. The nutrition programs could not be implemented as planned although successful results were achieved with the supplemental formula developed by the Secretariat of Health . A system of performance evaluation was established in the Secretariat of Finance and Public Credit . 4. Significant Achievements : 1. The health component of the project met or surpassed all targets and there were improvements in the prevention of communicable diseases through immunization . 2. A monitoring and evaluation system was established under the Secretariat of Finance and Public Credit to measure the efficiency of specific social programs and it is being expanded to cover an additional 30 programs. 5. Significant Shortcomings : 1. Procurement problems occurred from the beginning of the project and the resulting operational delays reduced the timeliness of the Bank's response . 2. The project's poverty targeting objectives were over ambitious given country circumstances . 6. Ratings : ICR OED Review Reason for Disagreement /Comments Outcome : Satisfactory Marginally Satisfactory Operational delays diminished the relevance of this emergency assistance project. The poverty targeting goal was partially achieved. Only two of the five project components met their targets fully . Institutional Dev .: Partial Substantial The project built critical monitoring and evaluation capacity in the Secretariat of Finance and Public Credit. Sustainability : Likely Likely Bank Performance : Satisfactory Satisfactory Borrower Perf .: Satisfactory Satisfactory Quality of ICR : Satisfactory 7. Lessons of Broad Applicability : The key lesson from this project is that the operational elements of a project including procurement and disbursement modalities are just as important as its conceptual design . Unless operational details are worked out upfront, substantial delays can occur in implementing the project and reduce project impact especially under emergency situations in which time is of the essence . 8. Audit Recommended? Yes No 9. Comments on Quality of ICR : Overall quality is satisfactory . The section in the ICR dealing with "Future Operation" is supposed to be about the future operation of investments financed under this project and not about future Bank operations .