WB approves $400mn financing for Pakistan's Education & Healthcare

The World Bank’s (WB) Board of Executive Directors approved $400 million in financing from the International Development Association (IDA) to support Pakistan in boosting investments in education and health services in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province.

As per details, the KP Spending Effectively for Enhanced Development (SPEED) program will help the provincial government strengthen its management of public resources and fiscal planning to sustain human capital investments in education and healthcare services. By implementing critical reforms in budget allocation and expenditures, the provincial program will contribute to increased quality of schools and health centers and remove obstacles to reach ‘the last mile’ in the delivery of education and health services in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

“The SPEED program supports a comprehensive and robust approach to public financial management in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa that tackles key bottlenecks in planning, budgeting, procurement, and supply chain management so that adequate resources are available to deliver education and health services on a sustainable basis,” said Najy Benhassine, World Bank Country Director for Pakistan. “It also underscores the provincial government’s commitment to increase transparency in public finances, service delivery, and citizen trust.”

WB said that KP SPEED will enhance fiscal management and savings through incentives that focus on quality service delivery and accountability in education and healthcare facilities. It also supports monitoring and evaluation to systematically assess staffing and infrastructure needs. The program will implement quality assurance measures to evaluate the performance of education and healthcare services in the province, which focus on facility-level accountability and increased access, as well as disparities in the uptake of services among males and females.

“The SPEED Program, together with the ongoing KP Revenue Mobilization and Public Resource Management program, offer a transformative path for the province to scale up public services for its citizens,” said Raymond Muhula, Task Team Leader for the KP-SPEED program. “The programs align with the provincial government’s public financial management reforms strategy to support budget execution and expenditure management, and revenue mobilization.”

KP SPEED will improve predictability of resources to provide access to medicine in primary healthcare facilities, including maternal and neonatal clinics for women across the province, and increase availability of adequate teaching staff in at least 45 percent of primary, middle, and high schools in the province, and particularly for girls’ schools.