Country Assistance Strategy (CAS)

The Country Assistance Strategy (CAS) is the most important World Bank country document. It is tailored to the needs and circumstances of each country and lays down the World Bank Group's development priorities, as well as the level and type of assistance the Bank will provide for a period of three years.

The CAS preparation is a participatory process. Before the adoption, key elements of the strategy are discussed with government representatives; and to ensure the widest possible involvement, public dialogues are also held, with Internet-based discussions taking place in many countries.

However, the CAS is not a negotiated document. Any differences between the country's own agenda and the Bank's strategy are highlighted in the CAS document. A progress report is issued in the intervening year.

For more information, please refer to the World Bank CAS website. 

Country Assistance Strategy for Guinea-Bissau

As of May 2004, Guinea-Bissau did not have a Country Assistance Strategy, however it is a member country of the Regional Integration Assistance Strategy for West Africa.  For more information, please refer below.

Regional Integration Assistance Strategy, West Africa

The Regional Integration Assistance Strategy (RIAS) for West Africa is an outgrowth of the World Bank's focus on regional integration in Africa. The strategy primarily covers 15 West African countries: Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Cote d'Ivoire, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, and Togo.  Bank strategy to assist regional integration focuses on the creation of an open, unified, regional economic space, as a means of creating an environment for a more efficient and competitive private sector.  The strategy was  prepared in a participatory consultative manner with several governments, the key West African institutions, donors and representatives of civil society. 

The regional strategy will create a larger market which can provide gains from larger scale economies and increased competition that national markets cannot provide.  In addition, integration can help reduce poverty by accelerating growth, facilitating movements of people from the poorer to the better endowed parts of the region, and, possibly, by establishing mechanisms for financial transfers in the opposite direction. For more information, please refer to the RIAS for West Africa (PDF).