The Board of the African Development Bank Group on Wednesday, December 4 approved the combined Country Strategy Paper (CSP) and 2013 Portfolio Review for Côte d'Ivoire.
The CSP derived inputs from the portfolio review, while taking into account the central objective of the Bank's 2013-2022 Ten Year Strategy, particularly the Fragile States component, the expected outcomes of the 2012-2015 National Development Plan (NDP), the analysis of challenges and opportunities for Côte d'Ivoire as well as the Bank's experience in the country.
It focuses the Bank's interventions on two pillars, namely: (i) strengthening of governance and accountability; (ii) and infrastructure development in support of economic recovery. Both pillars feature among the priority thrusts of the Government's action.
The first pillar, in support of NDP Strategic Objectives 1 and 3, aims to help the Government to address the need for inclusion, enhanced governance and improved provision of services to the population through economic and social programs that will minimize the risk of conflict.
In particular, it supports: (i) lasting economic and social re-integration of young people and women, and regions that suffered as a result of the conflicts; (ii) maximization of the impact of growth by creating training and job opportunities; and (iii) support to the improvement of public finance management to ensure efficient and equitable resource allocation to the population, particularly the most disadvantaged segments.
This pillar targets people-oriented development opportunities that would contribute directly to the achievement of the Bank's Ten Year Strategy objective of inclusive growth in Côte d'Ivoire. Based on its comparative advantage and the confirmed experience from implementing of projects such as the Post-Crisis Multisector Institutional Support Project (PAIMSC) and Emergency Programme to Restore Basic Social and Administrative Services (PURSSAB) that produced results deemed positive in the context of the interim strategies, the Bank's intervention will focus on specific projects and targeted program-based support operations.
The Second Pillar, in support of NDP Strategic Objective 2, aims to back the Government's efforts to improve infrastructure with a view to creating the necessary conditions for long-term growth.
In this regard, the Bank will support strengthening the quality and sustainability of growth within the NDP context through the rehabilitation and promotion of lasting, environmentally-friendly agricultural, transport and energy infrastructure.
These interventions will support the agricultural value chain and improve food security by opting for a PPP-based approach and regional integration. It will help to translate the operational priorities of the Bank's Ten Year Strategy on strengthening the quality and sustainability of growth on the ground, to facilitate the smooth transition to a green economy. It will also contribute to the promotion of regional integration to restore Côte d'Ivoire's regional leadership and make it into a key intra-regional trade hub.
The portfolio conducted in May 2013 underscored the relatively young age (less than three years old) of the eight operations with none of the projects deemed to be at risk or problematic. It was considered to be sound overall, with a performance deemed satisfactory and an overall rating of 2.53 out of three.
However, the review noted that urgent action was required concerning a number of projects, at the top of which is the Gourou Watershed Management Project approved in November 2010 that posted a low 3.87 per cent disbursement rate as at the end of August 2013.
As of May 2013, the cumulative disbursement rate for the eight operations was 19 per cent, with 31 per cent for the public sector (average age of 2.6 years) and six per cent for the private-sector window (average age of 1.75 years).
