Country Strategy Paper (CSP)

The Country Strategy Paper (CSP) is the African Development Bank's primary strategic planning document for each borrowing member country, setting out the bank's priorities, intended financing, and planned projects over a multi-year period, and serving as the upstream signal for what procurement will follow.

What is a Country Strategy Paper?

Each AfDB borrowing country has a CSP that the bank prepares in consultation with the government, covering a cycle of roughly five years. The CSP identifies the sectors where the bank will concentrate its financing, the expected volume of lending and grants, and the high-level project pipeline aligned to national development plans and the AfDB's high-5-priority-areas. Once the CSP is approved, individual projects are appraised and financed within its framework, generating the procurement that eventually reaches the market.

For suppliers, the CSP is the earliest available signal of where procurement will emerge. Reading a country's CSP tells you which sectors are prioritised, what types of goods and works the government plans to procure, and roughly when project pipelines might materialise. This is upstream intelligence, not an active tender alert, but it allows firms to build country relationships, assess partner networks, and prepare capacity statements before a General Procurement Notice appears on the afdb portal.

Why CSPs matter for bidders

Suppliers who track CSPs systematically can enter a country market before competition intensifies at the tender stage. A firm that reads Ethiopia's or Senegal's CSP, maps the infrastructure sectors prioritised, and begins conversations with in-country partners has a head start over competitors who only engage once a solicitation is published. CSPs are public documents available on the AfDB website and can be cross-referenced with the mapafrica geographic platform to visualise where projects are likely to be located within a country.

FAQ

Where can I find AfDB Country Strategy Papers?

CSPs are published on the AfDB website under the country profiles section. Each document is downloadable as a PDF, typically in English or French depending on the country.

How long does a Country Strategy Paper cover?

A typical CSP covers a five-year cycle, though mid-term reviews can adjust priorities if country circumstances change significantly.

Does every AfDB member country have a CSP?

Most active borrowing member countries have a current CSP. Countries in transition or with suspended operations may have interim or bridging documents instead.