Ukraine and the World Bank strengthen cooperation in the field of education. The Ministry of Finance and the WB signed relevant agreements totalling $415 million

Today, on 11 September, the leadership of the Ministry of Finance of Ukraine, the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine and the World Bank signed agreements to raise funding under the project "Lifting Education Access and Resilience in Times of Need" (LEARN). 

The signatories were Minister of Finance of Ukraine Sergii Marchenko, Minister of Education and Science Oksen Lisovyi and World Bank Regional Country Director for Eastern Europe Bob Saum. 

The event was also attended by Deputy Minister of Finance Olga Zykova.

The goal of the LEARN project is to improve the conditions for teaching and learning and to strengthen the management capacity of the education system. 

The Ministry of Finance is a co-signatory to a USD 235 million loan agreement with the support of the Government of Japan and a USD 150 million loan agreement. 

“Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, the World Bank has demonstrated extraordinary commitment by providing timely assistance to Ukraine to ensure priority budget expenditures. Around USD 40 billion has already been disbursed through various financial mechanisms, which has made it possible to finance pensions, salaries for education and healthcare workers, provide social protection, support energy efficiency, reconstruction and agricultural production. We are now launching a new project aimed at supporting one of the key reforms, namely in the education sector,” said Minister of Finance Sergii Marchenko. 

The Programme will be implemented using the financial instrument ‘Programme-for-results (PforR)’. Upon achievement and verification of the results set out in the agreements, the loan and credit funds will be transferred to the general fund of the State Budget.

The Instrument provides for the implementation of indicators aimed at supporting access to full-time education by financing security measures in educational institutions. In particular, reconstruction and repair of shelters, purchase of school buses, teacher training and development of educational content as part of the implementation of the NUS reform and the reform of quality preschool education.

“The implementation of the LEARN project using the PforR tool will allow us to attract the necessary funding as soon as possible, while improving the educational process under martial law, creating more comfortable conditions for teachers and students. The World Bank is a strategically important partner of Ukraine in supporting the social sphere, the reconstruction and recovery process, as well as the development and implementation of reforms important for improving public administration,” added Deputy Minister of Finance Olga Zykova. 

The USD 30 million grant is the investment component of the Project (IPF), which is aimed at the effective implementation of the Programme, as envisaged by the Grant Agreement between the Ministry of Education and Science and the World Bank from the Ukraine Relief, Recovery, Reconstruction and Reform Trust Fund (URTF).

The responsible executing agency for the PforR LEARN Project is the Ministry of Finance, which will be responsible for overall supervision and coordination, and the implementing agency is the Ministry of Education and Science, which will be responsible for the implementation, monitoring and evaluation of the Programme. The responsible executing agency for IPF LEARN is the Ministry of Education and Science.

On 31 August 2024, the World Bank's Board of Executing Directors approved the LEARN systemic project in Ukraine.