The Islamic Republic of Mauritania (IRM) has an intricate dual culture, having traditional ties with the Maghreb countries to the North and with Senegal and Mali in the South and East respectively. A bloodless military coup took place on August 3, 2005. As a result, the country is ruled by The Military Council for Justice and Democracy which has designated a new government that has committed itself in the following three key areas: (a) the return to democracy within 24 months; (b) the improvement of the judicial system, with a view to establishing a fairer system for individuals and a more attractive investment climate for business, and (c) the deepening of reforms in the public finance sphere. Presidential elections are scheduled for March 2007.
The country has limited agrarian resources and extensive mineral deposits, most notably iron ore but also copper and gold. Mauritania’s coastal waters are among the world’s richest fishing grounds, and the country benefits from a fishing agreement with the European Union. The existence of substantial oil reserves (proven and probable reserves amount to around 600 million barrels, according to most recent estimates) was discovered in various offshore oil fields in 2001. In the Chinguetti field, the only field declared so far commercially viable, oil is available from 2006 and is expected to peak at some 150,000 barrels per day in 2010. Mauritania’s hydrocarbon sector will become a major player in the economy.
Since 1992, the Government has committed itself to a program of wide-reaching macroeconomic, structural, and social reforms. In ten years Mauritania was transformed from a country with a predominantly nomadic population, limited economic base, and poor social indicators to one that is highly urbanized and increasingly market-driven, with relatively good economic growth (albeit narrowly based).
Between 1990 and 2000, the incidence of poverty is estimated to have fallen from 56.6 to 46.7 percent. The drop is attributed to a period of sustained growth since 1992 and the shift in public spending towards social sectors and poverty reduction programs. There have also been significant improvements in social indicators: primary school enrollment rates increased from 49 percent in 1987 to 96 percent in 2004, and access to maternal health care has increased from 65 percent in 2000 to about 80 percent in 2004.
The Cadre Stratégique de Lutte contre la Pauvreté (CSLP) for 2001-04, the PRS for the country was finalized in December 2000. The first and second Progress Reports were completed in March 2002 and June 2003 respectively. The CSLP embeds a preliminary long-term strategic vision through 2015, with ambitious targets for poverty reduction and growth. In 2005, a reflection on National Long Term Perspective Studies was launched and is expected to refine the country’s long-term vision. The CSLP is currently being updated to cover 2006-10 and to take into account an updated poverty analysis, the new political context, and the incoming flow of oil revenues.
This CSLP II will lay out the government’s medium-term economic program. It will also restate the Government’s commitment to achieve the MDGs, and include targets for the year 2015. Harmonization and Alignment (H&A) are priorities during the time period being covered. Thematic priorities will be in health, education and water; zoning priorities will be rural areas and urban poverty pockets; cross-cutting priorities will be SNAT (a land zoning strategy to identify the neediest areas) and SNIPER (an environmental strategy); and the implementation modality priority will be to conduct all programs in a coordinated manner in line with the strategy. The four main pillars of the strategy are: (1) economic growth and macroeconomic stability, (2) transferring the gains from economic growth to the poor, (3) human resource development and greater access to basic services, and (4) improved governance and capacity building.
In line with the CSLP, the Government of the Islamic Republic of Mauritania (GIRM) has also launched regional strategies, Programmes Régionaux de Lutte contre la Pauvreté (PRLPs), in the three poorest regions: Assaba, Guidimakha and Hodh El Gharbi. In 2005, GIRM devised strategies which have been under implementation since April 2006, for the Hodh Chargui, Gorgol and Tagant regions. PRLPs for the Brakna, Trarza and Adrar regions are being formulated, and PRLPs for the remaining regions are expected to be finalized by mid-2007.
The CSLP structure was formally adopted by law in April 2005, and consists of the following committees: Inter-Ministerial Committee, chaired by the Prime Minister and housed within the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Development (MEAD or in French, MAED), is in charge of CSLP implementation and annual strategy programming. Consultative Committee includes representatives from civil society as well as the private sector. This committee is in charge of organizing consultations with stakeholders in the preparation of the CSLP II. GIRM also formed a Donors’ Committee, and several Sectoral Technical Committees.
The CSLP-related committees, which include stakeholder representatives, regularly reconvene in the first half of each year for the preparation and consultation of CSLP Progress Reports, and are reconvening in the preparation and consultation of the CSLP II. However over the years the number of sectoral technical committees has increased from the original 12 and as a result, has caused delays in the preparation of CSLP II.
GIRM has commenced efforts at greater transparency since it became a signatory to the Extractive Industries Initiative in September 2005, and is also assuming greater leadership of development assistance coordination. MEAD is the sole government ministry leading these efforts, and chairs several Donors Committees. MEAD also chairs CG meetings about every three years in Paris.
Government and donors are willing to move the H&A agenda forward. The government's donor coordination efforts focus on interventions in support of the PRS. In 2003-04, main donors of gross ODA included Japan, EC, IDA, France, USA and Spain. Average bilateral share of gross ODA was approximately 53 percent for this period. About 42 percent of this was allocated to debt related actions and around 19 percent assigned to the social sectors (specifically, 9 percent and 1 percent estimated for the education, health and population sectors respectively).
The Fourth Consultative Group (CG) for Mauritania, which took place in December 2001, underlined the international community's strong interest in helping Mauritania achieve its development objectives. Donors and the government agreed to strengthen aid coordination in light of the large role external financing plays in the Public Investment Program, which is fully based on the CSLP. Further work on harmonization of the donors is on going.
The next CG will be organized after the finalization of the CSLP II. GIRM and donors have jointly agreed to prepare an action plan for the implementation of the Paris Declaration, with a view to formal endorsement at this CG.
Most external partners have explicitly aligned their strategies to CSLP programs and priorities. They are also enhancing partnership structures. For example, AFD, GTZ and UNDP have decentralized decision making. External partners are conducting joint missions to assist GIRM in preparing joint reviews in the education sector, and also for the preparation of a collaborative assistance strategy under the leadership of the WB.
SWAps are emerging in the health, education and possibly water sectors. The Government and external partners are working together on building a public sector capacity building strategy, Projet de renforcement des capacités du secteur public (PRCSP).
GIRM is taking steps to put in place a centralized information management system. It is also designing a communications strategy in the CSLP II. The comprehensive M&E system to be developed with the CSLP II will include regular reporting mechanisms as well as a system for monitoring and evaluation of external assistance outcomes and outputs, the Système de Programmation et de Suivi de l’Investissement en Mauritanie .
In April 2006, the World Bank (WB) and the Spanish Government signed a MOU to establish a Spanish Program for Africa. This Program is a flexible financing mechanism contributing to the achievement of the MDGs in Africa. Mauritania (also Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Senegal, Tanzania and Uganda) will be one of the first countries to participate in the Program. Other countries are expected to join the Program as they reach the HIPC completion point.
Mauritania has completed the HIPC program and will qualify for major debt relief via the Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative (MDRI) after implementing key public expenditure management reforms.
IRM is one of the first seven countries selected as an Education for All – Fast Track Initiative (EFA-FTI) pilot. The country received US$ 7 million in grant disbursements from EFA-FTI Catalytic Fund in 2003/4 and is expecting US$ 2 million in disbursements in 2006.
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