WASHINGTON DC, November 28, 2024 - The World Bank's Board of Directors approved today two new projects for Argentina totaling US$1 billion. The first program promotes early childhood development by supporting mothers and children up to age four. The second project supports the National Literacy Plan, which seeks to reverse the serious learning crisis in Argentina, contributing to the improvement of reading and writing skills in students in the first grades of primary.
"The Bank is commitment to enhance human capital for vulnerable populations by supporting pregnant women and promoting better access to quality of education, nutrition, health and care for children," said Marianne Fay, World Bank Director for Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay.
The US$500 million "Integrated Early Childhood Development" project supports improvements in the implementation of transfer programs for mothers and children up to age four, such as the Universal Pregnancy Allowance, the Universal Child Allowance, and the 1000 Days Plan. Furthermore, an integrated social information system will be implemented to improve targeting of social benefits.
The Project will also increase access to childcare and family support services for vulnerable children through a results-based financing scheme. Currently, only 8 percent of children under the age of 3 access these services.
The project aims to reach more than 800,000 pregnant women and 1.8 million children up to the age of four. In addition, it aims to improve access to childcare centers for 120,000 vulnerable children and provide support to 39,000 families living in vulnerable areas throughout the country.
Enhancing Foundational Literacy
The $500 million "Program to Support the Federal Policy for Enhancing Foundational Literacy " aims to significantly increase the percentage of third grade public school students who meet the minimum level of literacy proficiency. According to the 2023 national APRENDER assessment, the share of sixth grade students below the minimum proficiency level is 33.6 percent in reading and 48.6 percent in mathematics.
These indicators reveal a serious learning problem in the early years of primary school which is compounded by existing inequalities and significant gender gaps, with boys performing lower in reading compared to girls.
To address this issue, the project will support the implementation of the National Literacy Plan and the re-launch of the national diagnostic instrument to assess literacy skills in the first cycle of primary education - the APRENDER 3rd grade tests, originally used in 2016. In addition, a results-
The "Program to Support the Federal Policy for Enhancing Foundational Literacy " is part of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the World Bank Group and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), which foresees parallel financing by both institutions to address the digital divide in education that is so prevalent in the region, among other objectives.
Both projects are variable-spread loans, repayable in 32 years and have a grace period of 7 years.
