ISLAMABAD, Dec 23: The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved a preparatory technical assistance (TA) grant of $120,000 to help plan a health and education project in Sindh.

The purpose of the project is to make devolved social services more effective, efficient, and equitable and achieve a major impact on the education and health status of the poor in Sindh province. The project is in ADB’s 2003 pipeline of projects.

According to the local ADB office, Sindh’s social sector status is among the worst in Asia. About 13 per cent of children die before the age of five, and about 10 per cent of mothers die from maternal complications.

Malnutrition is about 35 per cent, seriously impairing school attendance and performance. The female literacy rate is about 14 per cent and only 30 per cent of school-aged rural girls attend school.

A high fertility rate of about six children per woman results in high population growth, high maternal mortality, environmental constraints and unemployment. Only 15 per cent of the population has access to safe drinking water and 10 per cent to proper sanitation.

In August 2001, the social sector was devolved to local governments at district and tehsil levels as part of a wider devolution process. Education and health services were devolved to the district government, and water supply to the tehsil municipal authority.

The local governments, however, are facing the double challenge of working in the new political and administrative context of devolution and the need for social sector reform.

Sector reforms require strong provincial and local capacity, stability and funding for reforms. However, the major challenge is to improve social sector governance at district level and below. This will require substantial leadership and capacity building to improve social sector planning, management and services. Explaining the scope of the technical assistance, M. Ali Shah, Country Director for ADB in Pakistan, stated that the TA would assist in preparing the overall project design, scope, cost estimates, financing plan, implementation arrangements and capacity building plans including terms of reference of consulting services.

This would be done in collaboration with key stakeholders including the federal, provincial and local governments, NGOs, beneficiaries and the ADB.

The Planning and Development Department, Government of Sindh, will be the executing agency for the TA. A Project Coordination Unit (PCU) would be established in the Planning and Development Department at the commencement of the TA.

The TA (and the following project) would be guided by a steering committee chaired by the Additional Chief Secretary, Sindh and including the Chief Economist, Sindh, Additional Secretaries (Planning); representatives of the district government and tehsil municipal authority, and representatives of the private sector and NGOs.

The TA would start in January 2003 and would be completed in May 2003.