A joint database of published diagnostics by ADB, AfDB, DFID, EBRD, EIB, IFC, MCC, OECD, Sida, UNDP, WB and UNIDO
About Us
The Country Diagnostic Working Group helps IFIs and DFIs share perspectives and experiences of preparing Country Diagnostics and develop cross-institutional collaboration where possible.
The Country Diagnostic Working Group was founded by EBRD, EIB, IFC, WB, DFID and Sida in 2017 to help share perspectives and experiences of preparing Country Diagnostics and develop cross-institutional collaboration where possible.
The goal of this IFI and DFIS Working group is to promote:
- information sharing between the institutions
- methodology and practice experience discussions
- cross-institutional collaboration on country diagnostics work
The Working group members all produce country diagnostics. However, the purpose and methodologies applied can be different.
European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (ERBD) private sector country diagnostics are prepared by EBRD staff in close consultation with national authorities and other stakeholders. The country private sector diagnostics focus on identifying the main obstacles to entrepreneurship and private sector development. They also include EBRD’s assessment on Transition Qualities scores (ATQ): an index based on the six EBRD transition qualities: competitive, well governed, integrated, inclusive, resilient and green. The country diagnostics help shape the Bank’s strategic priorities and project selection in new country strategies. Each diagnostic informs the EBRD’s policy engagement with the authorities in the country.
European Investment Bank (EIB) carries out analysis to diagnose investment needs, constraints and opportunities with regard to both private and public sector activities in non-EU countries where the EIB operates. Drawing on both macro and micro data, these studies build on a coherent framework: investment needs and barriers are analysed in the context of country-specific macroeconomic and institutional conditions, focusing on thematic areas of high relevance for the EIB and our Partner Countries such as access to finance, innovation, climate change, infrastructure and inclusion. The EIB is in the process of expanding and structuring this work as a programme of Country Diagnostics. This will further enrich our dialogue with the European Commission (EC), national authorities and relevant stakeholders.
The International Finance Corporation (IFC) Country Private Sector Diagnostics (CPSDs) are jointly prepared by IFC and the World Bank. They are a tool introduced to enable IFC and the World Bank to more systematically identify opportunities to help create or expand markets and private sector investment in developing countries. The diagnostics help identify opportunities and the barriers that need to be overcome to create markets in some of the most challenging areas of the world. Each publication includes an assessment of the state of private sector development in the country, a review of the macroeconomic situation, and relevant policy constraints. It also indicates opportunities and constraints to increasing private sector investment and growth in key sectors that impact economic development.
World Bank Systematic Country Diagnostic (SCD) reports are prepared by World Bank Group staff in close consultation with national authorities and other stakeholders. The SCD is a diagnostic exercise to identify key challenges and opportunities for a country to accelerate progress towards development objectives that are consistent with the twin goals of ending absolute poverty and boosting shared prosperity in a sustainable manner. It is intended to become a reference point for client consultations on priorities for World Bank Group country engagement.
Department for International Development (DFID) conducts country diagnostics seeking to identify the most significant barriers that hinder development and identify the main entry points and opportunities to create change. Country Development Diagnostics have strong emphasis on interdisciplinary analysis including how politics, security, and demographics interact with economic growth and human development. DFID country teams conduct the analysis, which informs future business planning.
Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA) is responsible for the organization of the bulk of Sweden's official development assistance to developing countries. Sida’s Multi-Dimensional Poverty Analysis (MDPA) is a country diagnostic used to prioritize and identify key challenges as well as opportunities for poverty reduction and development in a specific country. The result feeds into country strategies and operational plans, the assessment of country portfolios, and strategic dialogues. The framework responds to the 2030 Agenda that emphasise a multidimensional view of poverty, the importance of leaving no one behind, and the need for a holistic understanding of the root causes. As such, the framework is also used for Sida’s global strategies and the dialogue.
The Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) is an independent U.S. foreign assistance agency that focuses on reducing poverty through economic growth. For each country in which it invests, MCC conducts a constraints-to-growth analysis jointly with the partner country during the first phase of program development. The constraints analysis aims to identify binding constraints to private investment and entrepreneurship that significantly hold back economic growth. The results of this analysis enable the country, together with MCC, to select activities most likely to contribute to sustainable, poverty-reducing growth.
Asian Development Bank (ADB) aligns its country partnership strategies and operations with the development plans and poverty reduction strategies of its developing member countries (DMCs). The conduct of diagnostic studies assists DMCs in identifying the most binding constraints to achieving broad based growth through in-depth assessments on a set of macroeconomic, sector or thematic issues, the removal of which could yield the highest welfare gains for the country.
At the African Development Bank, the Country Diagnostic Notes (CDNs) are meant to help the Country Strategy Papers preparation process by providing rigorous analytical assessment of the country’s most pressing development challenges and opportunities, thereby providing a robust basis to prioritize Bank assistance within the context of the country’s national development plans, the Bank’s Ten Year Strategy and High-5 Priority Areas. The CDNs guide a forward-looking dialogue with country and regional authorities on areas that policy need to focus on to drive faster, inclusive and sustainable growth. The preparation of the CDN which is led by the Country Economics Department (ECCE) of the African Development Bank, build knowledge work already done by the Bank and sister institutions.
OECD Multi-dimensional Country Reviews and Multi-dimensional Regional Reviews provide targeted support to the design and implementation of resilient strategies for sustainable development. They are a strategic tool for the OECD Development Centre and partner governments to build partnerships for broad-based development success. MDRs include comprehensive initial assessments that cover all five dimensions of sustainable development and aim to identify binding constraints and key opportunities as the basis for strategic choices. Well-being, inclusive growth, resilience and sustainability are key in the assessment. On the basis of these assessments, MDRs mobilise in-depth expertise from across the OECD to develop tailor-made proposals for policy reform. The final step of an MDR moves from analysis to action and focuses on implementation and concrete action plans and scorecards through a participatory process.
The OECD carries out Transition Finance Country Diagnostics (TFCDs) to help development partners and recipients better understand, anticipate and respond to the financing challenges faced by countries along their journey towards sustainable development.
TFCDs explore the evolution and interaction of public (official development assistance, other official flows and domestic revenue) and private (foreign direct investments, portfolio investments and remittances) sources of finance at each stage of a country’s development. These diagnostics follow the ABC methodology for transition finance, which allows to Assess, Benchmark and Counsel transitioning countries and development partners to help optimise partner countries’ access to financing.
USAID's Inclusive Growth Diagnostics (IGDs) use a structured, analytical approach to identify the binding constraints to inclusive growth in a given economy. Drawing on economic data, academic research, and stakeholder consultations, these diagnostics help USAID improve its programming and focus by offering an explicit, evidence-based rationale for programmatic priorities.
USAID's IGDs are inherently cross-sectoral. They can help answer such questions as, “Is it more critical to invest in the primary education system, or to improve the quality of rural infrastructure?” Across all of USAID’s programmatic areas, IGDs are able to prioritize and weigh—at a high level—the impact of engaging in one sector versus another. In addition to IGDs, USAID also conducts Jobs Diagnostics (JDs). These diagnostic tools employ a similarly structured analytical approach to identify the binding constraints to job creation in a specific economy. Much like IGDs, JDs utilize a range of cross-sectoral data to inform and prioritize jobs-related programming in the countries in which we work.
An Industrial Country Diagnostics is a preparatory study that sets the strategic foundations of the Programme for Country Partnership (PCP) or more generally, of technical cooperation interventions in countries. It has three main objectives:
1) to narrow down the field of action by identifying priority thematic areas, industrial sectors and bottlenecks to business (challenges)
2) to embed potential future operations in the context of the country’s industrial strategy and policy documents
3) to set a baseline for intervention”. This description can also be found at this link.
Copies of the UNIDO Industrial Country Diagnostics can be downloaded at this link.
This link is the UNIDO publications web page to view some of the industrial country diagnostics studies.