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. More information is available at the World Bank CAS website.

Country Assistance Strategy (CAS) for Mali, FY2004-2006

Mali has made commendable progress on the economic, political, and social fronts over the past decade. While governance, capacity, and institutions still need strengthening, the overall framework for a more effective, transparent, and decentralized administration is gradually taking shape.

The Mali CAS (PDF, 6 MB) is fully aligned with the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) and selectively focuses on three main themes which directly support the PRSP pillars:

  Promote growth

  Develop human resources

  Improve and strengthen public finance management and governance.

The CAS combines a mix of Bank instruments including: 1) programmatic support; 2) community driven development operations; 3) specific lending operations that target the growth objective and support necessary infrastructure; and 4) a wide-ranging program of Analytical and Advisory Activities (AAA), which is focused on building the knowledge base for the three main themes. In particular, the CAS concentrates on capacity building and strengthening the framework for programmatic support to Mali: first, to strengthen the sector-wide approaches in the social sectors, and moving on from there, to finalize the necessary core diagnostic work and establish the appropriate framework for a full move to Poverty Reduction Strategy Credits.

The base-case scenario allocates up to US$390 million, of which up to 29 percent could be in the form of IDA grants.  Lending could increase to US$462 million under the high-case scenario if there is accelerated progress on continued good macroeconomic performance, satisfactory implementation of the PRSP, progress on strengthening governance and strong portfolio performance.

The CAS provides a detailed analysis of the critical risks facing Mali in implementing its PRSP and facing the Bank in implementing the CAS, however, it emphasizes that the Bank will take all necessary steps to help mitigate these risks. The CAS focuses on defining and measuring results in the framework of the overall monitoring and evaluation of the PRSP. The measurable indicators are the PRSP targets for 2006 which focus on making progress towards the Mali Millennium Development Goals.

For more information, please refer to the Mali CAS (PDF, 6MB).