The aim of this program is to increase the number of new beds provided per year to higher education institutions through private investment. To address this, some policies, regulations and standards will be addressed to facilitate increased investments, and funding models designed to make appropriate funding made available to the private sector. At the same time, reform dialogue is needed to help prioritize and drum up support for planned reforms. The World Bank Systematic Country Diagnostic (2018), Country Private Sector Diagnostic (2019), IFC’s Country Strategy (2020) and Country Partnership Framework (2021) identified the need to address skills deficit especially amongst youth that fuels unemployment as a strategic priority. The efforts by GoSA to increase enrolment in tertiary education is hampered by the shortage of affordable student accommodation. The sub-optimal accommodation arrangements means that youth have to risk security, particularly females resulting in higher dropout and slower graduation rates (DHET, 2011). There is a significant gap in the funding available that cannot be delivered by GoSA alone, especially in light of increasing fiscal constraints. A Student Housing Market Assessment completed in 2021 estimated that the deficit in beds is 511,000 and is expected to grow to 781,000 beds by 2025. To address the gap, funding of $6.99B is required which is expected to grow to $10.7B by 2025. Raising the funding to address this massive shortage requires support from private investors, while working closely with the GoSA

Indicator	Cumulative
Number of new laws/regulations/amendments/codes/government policies drafted, or contributed to the drafting	1
Number of participants in workshops, training events, seminars, conferences, etc.	186
Number of procedures/firm-level policies/practices/standards recommended for improvement or elimination	2
Number of reports (assessments, surveys, manuals, Phase I/strategic option reports, research, analytical, evaluations, etc.) completed	3
Number of workshops, training events, seminars, conferences, etc.	5

Performance Standard	Description and Potential Impact	Mitigation
PS 1. Assessment and Management of Environmental and Social Risks and Impacts	Considering that the program is working in the real estate sector, there is a low to medium environmental risk associated with the sector as well as a low to medium risk associated with issues related to access to land.	The team will be working very closely with the E&S team in the design and implementation of the program to assess and mitigate any such risks throughout the lifecycle of the program. The team is also working closely with the Business Climate team to promote a greener agenda for this sector.