Mauritania - Islamic Development Bank

I. INTRODUCTION
1. As part of its new Vision 1440H, the IDB
Group has embarked on major reforms to
improve the effectiveness and efficiency of its
business processes and to enhance country focus
and services delivery. Preparation of the Member
Country Partnership Strategy (MCPS) is a key
priority under the reform agenda and designed to
be the foundation of the IDB Group’s dialog with
Member Countries (MCs). The MCPS sets out a
shared diagnosis of the development challenges
facing the country, and a selective program of
planned IDB Group interventions tailored to meet
the country’s objectives taking account of the
Group’s comparative advantage and activities of
other development partners. The MCPS is results
based and includes a monitoring and evaluation
framework.
2. The MCPS for Mauritania is part of the
first set of MCPSs that IDB Group has launched.
The reasons for selecting Mauritania include
its classification as one of the Least Developed
Member Countries of the IDB Group, a strategic
location linking Europe and West Africa, and a
country in a critical stage of its development-returning
to constitutional order and following a
deep political crisis and several decades of external
shocks and internal crises. Moreover, Mauritania
is in the process of providing guidelines for its
new development strategy, and this provides
the IDB Group an opportune moment to form a
strategic partnership to enhance the impact of its
interventions by aligning them with the country’s
development priorities.
3. Preparation of this MCPS was based on
extensive consultation with Government,
development partners and civil society. During
the course of two IDB Group Missions, the Group
consulted extensively with the Government,
other development partners, the private sector
and civil society including members of the
MEMBER COUNTRY PARTNERSHIP
STRATEGY - MAURITANIA
opposition in parliament. This MCPS is based on
these consultations. It is, however, worth noting
that consultations between IDB Group and the
Government of Mauritania on priority areas for
intervention are part of an on-going dialog. In
2008, IDB and Mauritania signed a framework
agreement, which envisaged investments from
the Bank totaling $700 million in Mauritania
over the period 2008-2012 in three priority
areas. The priority areas were (a) food security
and investments in agriculture, livestock
and infrastructure in rural areas, (b) human
development with a special focus on training,
vocational literacy programs and small projects
(especially in food security) in rural areas, and
(c) enhancing infrastructure, especially in rural
transportation.
4. This MCPS identifies the priorities for
IDB Group assistance taking into account
the opportunities and challenges facing the
Mauritanian economy in the medium term.
The proposed strategy for 2011-2015 derives
from a diagnosis of the main constraints to
economic growth facing Mauritania (based on
data and analyses obtained from the Government
and development partners during the main
MCPS mission) and a shared understanding of
interventions to address these constraints. This
consultative process has led to the selection
of three main areas where future IDB Group
interventions could have a significant impact on
Mauritania’s economy: human development with
a focus on health, rural development and food
security, and diversification and enhancement of
the modern economy.
5. The structure of this report reflects its
design as a strategic partnership. Section II
presents the country context and examines
development challenges and constraints the
country faces. Section III outlines the vision
and development strategy of the Government
of Mauritania and assesses the risks to its
MCPS for Mauritania, 2011-2015 1