Investing in Human Capital Development Policy Financing

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This Program Document proposes a US dollar 100 million equivalent Programmatic Development Policy Financing (DPF). Its objective is to support the Government of Madagascar (GoM) investment in human capital, through improving human resources in health and education, availability and predictability of financial resources in the social sectors, and better protections for women and children. This is the first DPF in a planned programmatic series of two operations (for Fiscal Years 2020 and 2021, with US dollar 100 million equivalent per operation). Improving human capital outcomes requires better human resource investments in teachers and health professionals, to address inadequate resources, distribution, training, and management. In the education sector, the Government’s inability to cover teacher salaries over the last decade has resulted in widespread recruitment by communities themselves, without guidance or quality control. The World Bank is injecting approximately US dollar 400 million to support these programs on an operational level, but significant policy- level bottlenecks remain to unleash human capital investments. This complementary package of reforms will be implemented as part of Madagascar’s commitment to the Human Capital Project, a global effort to accelerate more and better investments in people for greater equity and economic growth.