This post is also available in: Arabic
Civil society organizations (CSOs) in Egypt, Yemen, and Tunisia are closely following the World Bank Group’s (Bank) development in their countries of new frameworks that will guide the Bank’s public and private sector operations for the next 4-6 years.
In all three countries, the Bank will be launching the process for developing Country Partnership Frameworks (CPFs) within the next year.* This process will start in each country with a Systematic Country Diagnostic (SCD), which aims to identify the main constraints to and opportunities for poverty reduction in the country.
In Egypt, the Bank has begun designing a consultation process around the SCD and CPF, taking into consideration many of the recommendations submitted by a group of Egyptian CSOs. The Bank has also started compiling and developing analysis and studies on issues such as poverty, inequality, and jobs that will contribute to the SCD. Based on its current timeline for developing the CPF, the Bank will likely finalize and approve the document in the first half of 2015.
In Tunisia, the Bank has begun to compile studies and analysis that will contribute to the SCD. The main study that will be the basis for the SCD is the Development Policy Review that was drafted in November 2013. Due to upcoming elections and changes in government likely in Fall of 2014, the Bank currently plans to begin the consultation process around the CPF after these political changes, likely in late 2014 or early 2015.
In Yemen, the Bank is currently working on a household budget survey and that, along with a growth study, is expected to serve as key analysis for the SCD. Given that the household data will not be completed until early 2015 and the Yemen office is looking to draw lessons from the Egypt team’s experience of developing an SCD and CPF, the Bank does not expect to begin the formal SCD process until January 2015 and is hoping to finalize and approve a CPF in the Fall of 2015. Yemeni CSOs have taken the opportunity to proactively send in their recommendations on how they would like to see the consultation process happen once it begins.
*The Country Partnership Framework (CPF) replaces the Country Assistance/Partnership Strategy (CAS/CPS) starting in mid-2014. Read more about the Bank’s changes to its development of country strategies here.