Publication: The Gambia: Fragility Risk and Resilience Assessment
Loading...
Published
2017-06-09
ISSN
Date
2017-09-12
Author(s)
Editor(s)
Abstract
This analysis explores the causes of state fragility in The Gambia and identifies priority policy actions to bolster macroeconomic stability and reinforce the resilience of public institutions. In countries in fragile situations, a carefully targeted engagement strategy can have a transformative impact, and appropriate external assistance can mark the difference between the restoration of a functional public sector and a descent into a vicious cycle of institutional failure and conflict. Given the pivotal importance of engagement in countries in fragile situations, the African Development Bank (AfDB) and the World Bank’s Macroeconomics and Fiscal Management Global Practice (MFM-GP) are striving to better understand the factors driving fragility in The Gambia and formulate a strategic approach to policy support, development programming, and project design that reflects the country’s unique political, economic, and institutional circumstances. This report is the product of a collaboration between the MFM-GP and the AfDB’s Transition Support Department. The analysis was undertaken at a particularly critical moment in The Gambia’s history, as the 22-year rule of former President Yahya Jammeh gives way to the democratically elected administration of President Adama Barrow. The new government has struggled to address the political, social, and economic turbulence generated by the transition, by a legacy of mismanagement, and by climatic shocks. The World Bank and AfDB teams conducted a joint Fragility and Resilience Mission in Banjul and Dakar between February 24 and March 9, 2017. The mission’s objective was to evaluate the rapidly evolving political and economic situation in the aftermath of the presidential election and to discuss with government and civil-society stakeholders the issues identified in previous analyses. The mission findings formed the basis for a comprehensive assessment of political, social, and economic dynamics in The Gambia, including its external and domestic vulnerabilities, the capacity limitations of its public sector, potential sources of conflict, and priority areas for engagement by the international development community.
Link to Data Set
Citation
“African Development Bank; World Bank Group. 2017. The Gambia: Fragility Risk and Resilience Assessment. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/28308 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”
Digital Object Identifier
Associated URLs
Associated content
Other publications in this report series
Journal
Journal Volume
Journal Issue
Collections
Related items
Showing items related by metadata.
Publication Democratic Republic of Congo Systematic Country Diagnostic(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2018-03)The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is a classic example of the paradox of plenty, since the country is extremely rich in natural resources while its population is extremely poor. It is the largest country in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) with a total surface area of about 234 million hectares (equivalent to the size of Western Europe). Poverty in the DRC remains pervasive, and greater than the SSA average. About two-thirds of the population lives below the poverty line. Chapter 2 of the systematic country diagnostic (SCD) shows that between 2005 and 2012 the proportion of people living below the poverty line declined from 69.3 percent to 64 percent, respectively. Demographic trends, reinforced by gender discrimination and lack of social policies, contributed to maintaining poverty at relatively high levels. The poor state of infrastructure is a major constraint on sustainable and inclusive growth in the country. The country’s weak institutions failed to build the foundations of a resilient economy and absorb external shocks, hence exposing the society to cycles of violence and impoverishment. The report identifies five major emerging opportunities and priority areas where policy actions can provide quick wins and build cumulative and virtuous cycles to sustain inclusive growth and foster resilience and shared prosperity over the next decade: (1) building the resilience of the macroeconomic framework; (2) building inclusive institutions and strengthening governance; (3) leveraging natural resources, infrastructure, and agriculture; (4) building human capital; and (5) leveraging the private sector by effectively implementing investment climate reforms, and strengthening institutions that support markets.Publication CPIA Africa, June 2014(Washington, DC, 2014-06)This report describes the progress African countries are making on strengthening the quality of policies and institutions that underpin development. It presents Country Policy and Institutional Assessment (CPIA) scores for the 39 African countries that are eligible for support from the International Development Association (IDA). This year's report expands coverage to include Djibouti and Yemen from the Middle East and North Africa region (MENA). The scores, which are on a scale of 1 to 6 with 6 being the highest, are an indicator of the quality of these countries' policy and institutional framework across 16 dimensions grouped into four clusters: economic management (Cluster A), structural policies (Cluster B), policies for social inclusion and equity (Cluster C), and public sector management and institutions (Cluster D). The overall quality of policies and institutions in Sub-Saharan African countries held steady in 2013, with divergent performance across countries. The average CPIA score for Sub-Saharan Africa held steady at 3.2 in 2013. But beyond the flat regional average, there was considerable divergence in country performance. For the region's IDA borrowers, scores were in a range of 3.9 to 2.0. A broad-based deepening of policy reforms lifted Rwanda's CPIA score in 2013, and the country joined Cabo Verde and Kenya at the top of the score range. Other top performers include Burkina Faso, Senegal, and Tanzania (all with scores of 3.8). South Sudan and Eritrea remained at the low-end of the score range (2.1 and 2,0, respectively), weighed down by deep policy and governance challenges. The quality of policies and institutions in MENA countries lags behind the average for middle income countries in all CPIA categories with scores lower relative to the Sub-Saharan African IDA country average. Since 2005, neither Yemen nor Djibouti has improved its overall rating; indeed, Yemen's overall policy and institutional score actually declined. The average CPIA score for countries in MENA was 3.0 in 2013, unchanged from 2012. Both Djibouti and Yemen had unchanged scores, indicating that despite unsettled conditions in the region and lingering challenges in global economic conditions, these countries generally opted to maintain their existing policy framework. Djibouti's CPIA score (3.1) was slightly higher than the average while Yemen's was on par with the average.Publication Zambia Economic Brief, June 2014 : Promoting Trade and Competitiveness - What Can Zambia Do?(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2014-06)Zambia continues to experience strong growth, but challenges are building up. Copper prices are declining, and global financial conditions are tightening. At home, the fiscal deficit is becoming difficult to manage, and Zambia's currency has sharply depreciated. The government intends to reduce future budget deficits, but this would involve making difficult political choices. In the past few years inflation and interest rates have declined and the currency has been relatively stable, providing an environment for growth and reducing poverty. High inflation would hurt the poor most. The brief specifically focuses on the opportunity for Zambia to emerge as a major food exporter to Eastern and Southern Africa and the policy direction that would take it there; the need to reduce high costs of crossing borders that will facilitate regional trade in non-copper products; and a long-term approach to developing competitiveness of the local mining supply cluster.Publication A Toolkit of Policy Options to Support Inclusive Green Growth(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2012)In 2012, the Mexican Presidency of the G20 introduced inclusive green growth as a cross-cutting priority on the G20 development agenda. The second meeting of the G20 Development Working Group (DWG), hosted by the Government of the Republic of Korea, took place in Seoul the 19th and 20th of March 2012. As agreed during the first DWG meeting, this second meeting focused on the priorities for their presidency in the first half of 2012: infrastructure, food security and inclusive green growth (IGG). At its Seoul meeting, the DWG also agreed that IGG co-facilitators and relevant international organizations (IOs) should work together in 2012 to develop a nonprescriptive good practices guide/toolkit on enabling national policy frameworks for inclusive green growth to support countries who voluntarily wish to design and implement affordable and inclusive green growth policies, with the aim of achieving sustainable development and poverty alleviation. The toolkit is organized as follows. First, the necessity of applying the different tools in the context of a broad inclusive green growth strategy is stressed, and a harmonized framework combining approaches and tools identified by all four IOs is set forth. Second, the document offers an overview of key tools that can be mobilized to implement an inclusive green growth strategy. Quick technical descriptions of these tools are offered along with suggested sources for further details. Finally, capacity building and knowledge sharing initiatives are presented, with the Green Growth Knowledge Platform (GGKP) highlighted as a powerful collaborative tool to advance policies for inclusive green economies.Publication The Forced Displacement Crisis(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2017)Recent events have drawn the world’s attention to a crisis that has been building up for a long time—forced displacement. Beside five million Palestinians, over half of the refugees worldwide originate from Syria, Afghanistan and Somalia – with Sudan, South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Myanmar, Iraq, and Eritrea also accounting for large numbers. This joint paper aims to define a framework for collective action for Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs) in response to the forced displacement crisis, within the context of the One Humanity agenda issued by the United Nations Secretary General in February 2016. The paper outlines an agenda for MDBs to further strengthen their contributions, complementing humanitarian, diplomatic and peacekeeping efforts in specific areas where stronger synergies are desirable and possible. This paper was jointly coordinated by the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the World Bank Group (WBG) and prepared by MDB staff. The paper has three main sections focusing on MDBs’ strategic agenda as they attempt to mitigate and or respond to the crisis (Section B); operational implications of this response in terms of financial instrument, organizational challenges (Section C); and, finally a framework for collective action (Section D). Annexes I to III provide additional definitions and numbers.
Users also downloaded
Showing related downloaded files
Publication Classroom Assessment to Support Foundational Literacy(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-03-21)This document focuses primarily on how classroom assessment activities can measure students’ literacy skills as they progress along a learning trajectory towards reading fluently and with comprehension by the end of primary school grades. The document addresses considerations regarding the design and implementation of early grade reading classroom assessment, provides examples of assessment activities from a variety of countries and contexts, and discusses the importance of incorporating classroom assessment practices into teacher training and professional development opportunities for teachers. The structure of the document is as follows. The first section presents definitions and addresses basic questions on classroom assessment. Section 2 covers the intersection between assessment and early grade reading by discussing how learning assessment can measure early grade reading skills following the reading learning trajectory. Section 3 compares some of the most common early grade literacy assessment tools with respect to the early grade reading skills and developmental phases. Section 4 of the document addresses teacher training considerations in developing, scoring, and using early grade reading assessment. Additional issues in assessing reading skills in the classroom and using assessment results to improve teaching and learning are reviewed in section 5. Throughout the document, country cases are presented to demonstrate how assessment activities can be implemented in the classroom in different contexts.Publication Digital Africa(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2023-03-13)All African countries need better and more jobs for their growing populations. "Digital Africa: Technological Transformation for Jobs" shows that broader use of productivity-enhancing, digital technologies by enterprises and households is imperative to generate such jobs, including for lower-skilled people. At the same time, it can support not only countries’ short-term objective of postpandemic economic recovery but also their vision of economic transformation with more inclusive growth. These outcomes are not automatic, however. Mobile internet availability has increased throughout the continent in recent years, but Africa’s uptake gap is the highest in the world. Areas with at least 3G mobile internet service now cover 84 percent of Africa’s population, but only 22 percent uses such services. And the average African business lags in the use of smartphones and computers as well as more sophisticated digital technologies that catalyze further productivity gains. Two issues explain the usage gap: affordability of these new technologies and willingness to use them. For the 40 percent of Africans below the extreme poverty line, mobile data plans alone would cost one-third of their incomes—in addition to the price of access devices, apps, and electricity. Data plans for small- and medium-size businesses are also more expensive than in other regions. Moreover, shortcomings in the quality of internet services—and in the supply of attractive, skills-appropriate apps that promote entrepreneurship and raise earnings—dampen people’s willingness to use them. For those countries already using these technologies, the development payoffs are significant. New empirical studies for this report add to the rapidly growing evidence that mobile internet availability directly raises enterprise productivity, increases jobs, and reduces poverty throughout Africa. To realize these and other benefits more widely, Africa’s countries must implement complementary and mutually reinforcing policies to strengthen both consumers’ ability to pay and willingness to use digital technologies. These interventions must prioritize productive use to generate large numbers of inclusive jobs in a region poised to benefit from a massive, youthful workforce—one projected to become the world’s largest by the end of this century.Publication World Development Report 2006(Washington, DC, 2005)This year’s Word Development Report (WDR), the twenty-eighth, looks at the role of equity in the development process. It defines equity in terms of two basic principles. The first is equal opportunities: that a person’s chances in life should be determined by his or her talents and efforts, rather than by pre-determined circumstances such as race, gender, social or family background. The second principle is the avoidance of extreme deprivation in outcomes, particularly in health, education and consumption levels. This principle thus includes the objective of poverty reduction. The report’s main message is that, in the long run, the pursuit of equity and the pursuit of economic prosperity are complementary. In addition to detailed chapters exploring these and related issues, the Report contains selected data from the World Development Indicators 2005‹an appendix of economic and social data for over 200 countries. This Report offers practical insights for policymakers, executives, scholars, and all those with an interest in economic development.Publication Argentina Country Climate and Development Report(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2022-11)The Argentina Country Climate and Development Report (CCDR) explores opportunities and identifies trade-offs for aligning Argentina’s growth and poverty reduction policies with its commitments on, and its ability to withstand, climate change. It assesses how the country can: reduce its vulnerability to climate shocks through targeted public and private investments and adequation of social protection. The report also shows how Argentina can seize the benefits of a global decarbonization path to sustain a more robust economic growth through further development of Argentina’s potential for renewable energy, energy efficiency actions, the lithium value chain, as well as climate-smart agriculture (and land use) options. Given Argentina’s context, this CCDR focuses on win-win policies and investments, which have large co-benefits or can contribute to raising the country’s growth while helping to adapt the economy, also considering how human capital actions can accompany a just transition.Publication Lebanon Economic Monitor, Fall 2022(Washington, DC, 2022-11)The economy continues to contract, albeit at a somewhat slower pace. Public finances improved in 2021, but only because spending collapsed faster than revenue generation. Testament to the continued atrophy of Lebanon’s economy, the Lebanese Pound continues to depreciate sharply. The sharp deterioration in the currency continues to drive surging inflation, in triple digits since July 2020, impacting the poor and vulnerable the most. An unprecedented institutional vacuum will likely further delay any agreement on crisis resolution and much needed reforms; this includes prior actions as part of the April 2022 International Monetary Fund (IMF) staff-level agreement (SLA). Divergent views among key stakeholders on how to distribute the financial losses remains the main bottleneck for reaching an agreement on a comprehensive reform agenda. Lebanon needs to urgently adopt a domestic, equitable, and comprehensive solution that is predicated on: (i) addressing upfront the balance sheet impairments, (ii) restoring liquidity, and (iii) adhering to sound global practices of bail-in solutions based on a hierarchy of creditors (starting with banks’ shareholders) that protects small depositors.