Congo, Republic of - Performance and learning review of the country partnership strategy for the period FY13-FY16 (English)

This Performance and Learning Review (PLR) discusses the performance of the World Bank Group (WBG) program, lessons learned, and adjustments made to the Republic of Congo (RoC) Country Partnership Strategy (FY13-FY16) to respond to new developments. The... See More + This Performance and Learning Review (PLR) discusses the performance of the World Bank Group (WBG) program, lessons learned, and adjustments made to the Republic of Congo (RoC) Country Partnership Strategy (FY13-FY16) to respond to new developments. The PLR also looks at how well the CPS furthers the WBG twin goals. It proposes extension of the current CPS to the end of FY17 to align with the government political and programmatic cycle as the country will have Presidential elections in 2016. The extended time period will allow the country team to also consolidate the results and conduct the analytical work for the Systematic Country Diagnostic (SCD) that will inform the preparation of the next strategy. The relevance of the CPS is accentuated by recent developments in the oil market. The strategic focus will continue to be on (i) competitiveness and employment; (ii) vulnerability and resilience; and (iii) good governance and capacity building, which is the foundation. The recent plunge in oil revenues underscores the importance to RoC of diversification and using public resources more efficiently to achieve better results. The results indicators show progress has been mixed and some of the indicators have been refined and adjusted to take into account performance and prospects. These revisions also reflect new engagements to align the program more closely with the twin goals through projects on urban infrastructure, skills development, agriculture, delivery of health services (performance-based financing), the safety net, and the efficiency and quality of education.  See Less -