Summary: This objective of this project, GPRBA's first impact bond, is to increase access to quality early childhood education services by incentivizing private sector service provision in the country's urban areas. The Government of Uzbekistan will pay for the achievement of the following outcomes:
1. Occupancy rate to ensure that schools enroll at full or near full capacity
2. Enrollment of children with disability and from low-income families
3. Quality of learning environments, measured by a standardized tool
The outcome fund will draw on three sources: GPRBA grant ($4.85m), IDA credit ($5.15m), state budget (return to the investor). The social impact bond is expected to launch in January 2020.
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World Bank Press Release below:
WASHINGTON, May 29, 2019 – The World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors approved today a project that will help increase access to and improve the quality of early childhood education in Uzbekistan. The $73.85 million Promoting Early Childhood Development Project is financed through a $59.5 million credit from the International Development Association (IDA) and grants from the Global Partnership for Education (GPE) and the Global Partnership for Results-Based Approaches (GPRBA) in the amount of $14.35 million.
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The project is expected to stimulate public-private partnership development through a social impact bond - an innovative financing mechanism –- that ties financial returns and payments to rigorously measured results. Under this scheme, 140 private preschools located in urban areas of Uzbekistan will deliver appropriate educational services so that the Government can concentrate funds in rural areas.
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