The World Bank's Board of Directors has approved two new projects for Argentina, amounting to a total of $1 billion. These initiatives aim to bolster early childhood development and improve literacy rates among young students.
The first project, titled "Integrated Early Childhood Development," is valued at $500 million. It focuses on enhancing support for mothers and children up to the age of four. This includes improving programs like the Universal Pregnancy Allowance, the Universal Child Allowance, and the 1000 Days Plan. An integrated social information system will be introduced to better target social benefits.
Marianne Fay, World Bank Director for Argentina, Paraguay, and Uruguay, stated: "The Bank is committed to enhance human capital for vulnerable populations by supporting pregnant women and promoting better access to quality education, nutrition, health and care for children."
This project also aims to increase access to childcare and family support services through a results-based financing scheme. Currently, only 8 percent of children under three years old have access to these services. The goal is to reach over 800,000 pregnant women and 1.8 million children up to four years old while improving childcare center access for 120,000 vulnerable children and supporting 39,000 families in need across Argentina.
The second initiative is the "$500 million Program to Support the Federal Policy for Enhancing Foundational Literacy." Its objective is to boost literacy proficiency among third-grade public school students. The 2023 national APRENDER assessment revealed that 33.6 percent of sixth-grade students are below minimum proficiency in reading while 48.6 percent fall short in mathematics.
These figures highlight a significant learning crisis in early primary education stages exacerbated by existing inequalities and gender gaps; boys tend to perform worse than girls in reading skills.
To tackle this issue, the project will back the National Literacy Plan's implementation along with re-launching national diagnostic tools like APRENDER 3rd grade tests initially used in 2016.
This program forms part of a Memorandum of Understanding between the World Bank Group and Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), which includes parallel financing from both institutions addressing digital divides within regional education systems as one key objective.
Both projects involve variable-spread loans repayable over thirty-two years with seven-year grace periods.