The World Bank’s Board of Directors today discussed the institution’s new Country Assistance Strategy (CAS) for the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS), which projects financial assistance for the six member states of up to US$103.4 million between 2005 and 2009, in addition to technical and advisory services. “From hurricanes to the effects of 9/11 on tourism the OECS states have weathered significant social and economic hardships. Their resilience has been remarkable, but has come at a considerable cost,” said Caroline Anstey, the World Bank’s Country Director for the Caribbean. “This new assistance strategy is designed to help them deal with those costs by supporting their goals of accelerating growth, improving competitiveness, and reducing vulnerability to external shocks, particularly natural disasters.” Building on lessons learned, and reflecting the Bank's comparative advantage in a number of key areas of the OECS' own development agenda, the CAS has three main pillars: Stimulating growth and improve competitiveness; Reducing vulnerability by promoting greater social inclusion and strengthening disaster risk management; and Promoting regional approaches and reaping economies of scale While projects are proposed in a number of critical areas--such as public sector management, skills enhancement, social and environmental protection and public utilities reform--arguably the most innovative and urgent project is the Catastrophe Risk Insurance (CRI) Program, which would seek to mitigate against the devastating social and economic effects of natural hazards. By pooling the risk among Caribbean countries, economies of scale would be gained, making access to competitive insurance coverage feasible. Recognizing the debt burden already carried by most of the OECS countries, the strategy proposes a new role for the Bank: that of leveraging the significant concessional resources available from other donors, using Multi-Donor Trust Funds, an approach recently piloted in Grenada. Ms. Anstey stressed that, “Targeting donor resources in a harmonized, coordinated manner will be critical moving forward and this new approach will allow donors to pool strategies and resources.” The CAS also acknowledges the need to adapt the Bank's instruments to reflect the realities of small states in two key areas. First, by reducing transaction costs through simplified procedures and processes; and second, by strengthening capacity in key areas, such as financial management and procurement. “It costs as much to prepare a small loan in the OECS as it does to prepare one fifty times the size in Brazil. With capacity already stretched thin, we have to make projects simpler and more effective.” An integral part of the Bank’s assistance will be a wealth of analytical work that is both sub-regional and Caribbean-wide in scope, supporting and exploring opportunities for greater regional integration. OECS-specific policy notes on Skills Development and Enhancement, and Investment Climate Assessments, will be supplemented by pan-Caribbean studies on Infrastructure, Social Protection, and Crime, Violence and Exclusion, among others. The Bank’s assistance program will be complemented by support from the International Finance Corporation (IFC). Source: worldbank.org