Bank of China provides CFA 53.2 billion loan for Phase 1 of Digital Education Project (Linked to Project ID#91764)

On August 31, 2018, the Government of Côte d'Ivoire signed a set of loan agreements with Bank of China for Phase 1 of the Digital Education Project (captured via Project ID#89413 and Project ID#91764) and Phase 1 of the Ministry of Interior and Security Unified Communication System Project (captured via Project ID#89415 and Project ID#92201). According to the Government of Côte d'Ivoire’s Aid Management Platform (AMP), Bank of China signed two loan agreements with the Government of Côte d'Ivoire for Phase 1 of the Digital Education Project: a CFA 53,267,282,421.07 loan agreement (captured via Project ID#89413) and a CFA 8,724,228,100 loan agreement (captured via Project ID#917648). The borrower was expected to use the proceeds of the CFA 53,267,282,421.07 loan to finance 85% of the cost of the commercial contract between Huawei and Côte d'Ivoire’s Ministry of National Education and Literacy. It was expected to use the proceeds of the CFA 8,724,228,100 loan to finance 15% of the cost of the commercial contract between Huawei and Côte d'Ivoire’s Ministry of National Education and Literacy. As of December 2022, the loan had achieved a 104% disbursement rate. 6 disbursements (worth CFA 53,267,282,421.07) had been made under the CFA 53,267,282,421.07 loan: a CFA 3,720,856,102 disbursement on September 30, 2019, a CFA 4,538,584,148 disbursement on March 31, 2020, a CFA 1,060,411,211 disbursement on July 31, 2020, a CFA 6,513,181,062 disbursement on August 31, 2020, a CFA 22,145,589,963 disbursement on June 30, 2021, and a CFA 15,288,659,935.07 disbursement on September 30, 2022. A single disbursement was made under the CFA 8,724,228,100 loan: a CFA 8,743,486,998 disbursement on June 30, 2019. The goals of the Digital Education Project are to (1) set up a unified communication (VoIP) system for the Ministry of National Education; (2) set up a dedicated data transmission network within the Ministry of National Education; (3) set up a data center for the Ministry of National Education; (4) create multimedia and distance learning rooms in a large network of schools and educational buildings. The ultimate objective of the project is to improve educational equity by expanding access to education in rural and remote areas. Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. is the EPC contractor responsible for implementation. The project officially commenced on March 17, 2020. Then, on June 11, 2021, Mariatou Kone, Côte d'Ivoire’s Minister of National Education and Literacy, attended the inauguration of the data center and multimedia classroom of Abidjan Classical High School. The project has, to date, connected 74 middle schools in 10 cities across the country (Abidjan, Dabou, Grand-Bassam, Yamoussoukro, Bouake, Korhogo, San-Pedro, Odienné, Daloa, and Boundiali) through the installation of video protection, WIFI, multimedia room, e-learning platform, and VDI systems. Unified communication platforms have been deployed to 133 sites (departments, schools, and administrative institutions), effectively creating a next-generation, modern, digital education system for Côte d'Ivoire. The project has also reportedly resulted in comprehensive, video protection for the physical environment of school campuses, and a unified communications system that has made cross-school interaction and remote collaboration more efficient. Other achievements include: a modular data center that has significantly shortened project deployment time, a unified intelligent management system that has slashed network fault location times from hours to minutes; and an intelligent optimization system that has improved overall network performance by 50%; the establishment of a remote training system, remote interactive classroom capabilities, and an online learning system (so that teachers in remote regions can receive the training they need); the installation of video conference and online video capabilities (so that teachers from all areas of the country can benefit from the experiences and skills of the best teachers in the country); the establishment of multiple training centers to help improve the ICT skills of teachers; the establishment of a remote online learning platform and remote interactive classroom capabilities (to given students access to learning resources anytime and anywhere).

Additional details

1. This project is also known as the Côte d'Ivoire e-Education Project. The French project title is L’accès à l’éducation en milieu rural à travers les technologies de la communication or La phase I du Projet d’Education Numérique. The Chinese project title is 智慧教育项目E-education, 国家教育网, or 科特迪瓦国家教育网和国防网项目. 2. The AMP identifies the loan commitment date for both loans as November 9, 2018 rather than August 31, 2018. This issue warrants further investigation. 3. Neither Bank of China loan for Phase 1 of the Digital Education Project is included in the Chinese Loans to Africa (CLA) database that is managed by the Global Development Policy Center at Boston University and SAIS-CARI. 4. The AMP system identification number for the CFA 53,267,282,421.07 loan from Bank of China is 1120071329397. The AMP system identification number for the CFA 8,724,228,100 loan from Bank of China is 1120071332414.

Number of official sources

14

Number of total sources

26