Participatory Approaches to Country Assistance Strategies : Lessons from Africa
This note focuses on the experiences, in four African countries, of using participatory approaches to allow borrower counterparts and civil society groups, to influence country assistance strategies (CAS) priorities. While it is demonstrated that e...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Language: | English |
| Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2012
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/1999/10/696096/participatory-approaches-country-assistance-strategies-lessons-africa http://hdl.handle.net/10986/11455 |
| Summary: | This note focuses on the experiences, in
four African countries, of using participatory approaches to
allow borrower counterparts and civil society groups, to
influence country assistance strategies (CAS) priorities.
While it is demonstrated that each process needs to be
tailored to the specific situation of a given country at a
particular time, it also highlights significant
commonalities. Cases are compared in Kenya, where the
current CAS is focused on public sector reform in response
to civil society demands, and in Sierra Leone, where the CAS
process assisted the Government in ascertaining the
development priorities of local stakeholders, during the
hardships of post-conflict instability, as well as
comparisons in Senegal, and Uganda. The reasons for
undertaking CASs in a participatory manner include improving
the Bank understanding of the CAS document, by tapping into
local knowledge to ensure community concerns, and, helping
to increase transparency, and public understanding of
Bank/government partnerships, in addition to enhancing
stakeholder participation in lending, and non-lending
operations, including implementation of CASs.
Recommendations for this participatory approach suggest
supportive country teams, ensuring the understanding of
implications by senior borrower counterparts, committed to
this approach, and utilizing early strategic planning, and processing. |
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