WASHINGTON, April 12, 2022 – The World Bank yesterday approved an International Development Association credit in the amount of $26 million for the Human Capital Project for Cabo Verde.
Cabo Verde’s economy experienced robust growth over the last decade but was severely hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, exacerbating income inequality, increasing rates of unemployment, and undermining investments in human capital. Even prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, inadequate human capital was identified as one of the country’s most significant challenges to achieving the World Bank’s twin goals of reducing extreme poverty and boosting shared prosperity.
The Human Capital Project is intended to improve access to basic services and labor market relevant training in Cabo Verde. To achieve this objective and improve human capital outcomes, the project will support the Government of Cabo Verde in three result areas: (i) to ensure all in-school youth acquire skills relevant to the needs of the labor market; (ii) to ensure professional training investments lead to greater employability; and (iii) to support women and youth in poor and vulnerable households and improve their access to basic services (including productive inclusion interventions, training, childcare, water, sanitation.)
In the education sector, the project will support a reform of the secondary education curriculum while also focusing on teacher professional training and monitoring learning outcomes in order to improve education quality. For skills development, the project will support reforms that focus greater attention on the employability of training graduates and increasing further the role of the private sector through the development of public private partnerships for skills trainings. In the area of social protection, the project builds upon recent efforts to establish a social registry and target services to the most poor and vulnerable households including scaling up a social and productive inclusion program to all 22 municipalities. The project will also support the implementation of a housing upgrade program to ensure the poorest households have access to basic services (i.e., water, sanitation, electricity)
In terms of expected results, the project will support: (i) over 3,500 people in poor and vulnerable households with improved access to basic services and living conditions; (ii) more than 40,000 people in poor and vulnerable households to become more socially and productively included through programs such as improved access to childcare, access to entrepreneurial training and support for start-up of small businesses; (iii) nearly 40,000 in-school youth are expected to benefit from a more labor-market oriented secondary education curriculum; and (iv) 4,550 youth and women to obtain certificates from labor-market relevant professional training courses.
“The World Bank is pleased to support this important cross-sectoral project, providing timely investments in the current context of post-COVID-19 economic recovery by improving access to basic services and labor market relevant training in Cabo Verde, ultimately contributing to economic growth accelerated by an increased supply of well-trained human capital and improved productivity of all Cabo Verde’s citizens,” said Eneida Fernandes, World Bank Resident Representative for Cabo Verde.
“For the World Bank, this is an exciting project which brings together four different sectors all with the same goal of improving Cabo Verde’s human capital. The project builds on recent achievements and ongoing efforts by the Government of Cabo Verde, supported by the World Bank, in the education and social protection sectors as well as the government’s urban rehabilitation program,” says Lily Mulatu, World Bank Education Global Practice Manager for Western and Central Africa.
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