Which Countries are eligible

Candidates for the programme must normally be a national of a developing country that:

  1. Has a population of less than 1.5 million or has a larger population, but is, nevertheless, a member of the Small States Network for Economic Development (SSNED) (or can demonstrate small country characteristics in the financial sector);
  2. Is a member country of the World Bank or the Asian Development Bank or is a dependent territory of a member country of the World Bank or the Asian Development Bank; or
  3. Is from a country eligible to borrow from the IBRD or IDA (or has recently secured such funding as part of a regional program to facilitate global public goods). In the case of an Asian Development Bank member country, a country must be eligible to obtain OCR or ADF loans.

Africa 

  • Cape Verde
  • Comoros
  • Djibouti
  • Equatorial Guinea
  • Gabon
  • The Gambia
  • Guinea-Bissau
  • Mauritius
  • São Tomé & Principe
  • Seychelles
  • Eswatini

Pacific

  • Cook Islands
  • Fiji
  • Kiribati
  • Marshall Islands
  • Micronesia, Federated States
  • Nauru
  • Palau
  • Samoa
  • Solomon Islands
  • Timor-Leste
  • Tuvalu
  • Tonga
  • Vanuatu

Latin America / Caribbean

  • Antigua & Barbuda
  • Barbados
  • Belize
  • Dominica
  • Grenada
  • Guyana
  • St. Kitts & Nevis
  • St. Lucia
  • St. Vincent & the Grenadines
  • Suriname
  • Trinidad & Tobago

Other regions

  • Bhutan
  • Maldives
  • Montenegro
  • Other larger countries with small states characteristics
  • Botswana
  • Jamaica
  • Lesotho
  • Namibia
  • Papua New Guinea

Note: Cook Islands is a member of the Asian Development Bank, but not of the World Bank.


Note: Countries listed in bold were members of the Small States Network for Economic Development. Countries in italics are IDA or ADF eligible (or blend) countries.