Once hailed as a potential model for African development, Guinea-Bissau is now one of the poorest countries in the world. It has a massive foreign debt and an economy that relies heavily on foreign aid. Compounding this, the country experienced a bitter civil war in the late 1990s in which thousands were killed, wounded or displaced.

A civil war in the late 1990s severely disrupted most public services such as health and education, and recovery since then has been slow. In 2004, the majority of children in Guinea Bissau were not enrolled in primary school and only 9% were enrolled in secondary school. Conflict and political instability has led to poor economic performance and limited employment opportunities.

The major obstacles faced by government services in Guinea-Bissau are lack of institutions, an inadequate legal and regulatory framework, untrained or unsuitable staff, low motivation amongst civil servants and lack of a career-advancement plans. Their efficiency is also hampered by poor use of administrative systems and procedures and incompetent personnel. Rules for recruiting, paying and promoting civil servants are vague and this greatly harms transparency. About 80% of poor people were aged between 15 and 35, and poverty was more likely in large families. The risk was however less if the family head had schooling, secondary education being a means to escape poverty. The government has no unemployment data, but DENARP II [the poverty reduction strategy paper] says 10.6% of youths between 15 and 24 and 4.6% of women were jobless in 2009. The overall rate is probably about 30% when youth unemployment under- employment is included. The government’s priorities are guided by the poverty reduction strategy paper (DENARP), which was drawn up with the participation of all sectors of society in identifying problems, priorities and aspirations, seeking solutions and devising strategy, but delays in drafting the key documents … combined with the April 2012 military coup have so far prevented its official publication and implementation.

Birth registration has declined from 39 per cent in 2006 to 24 per cent in 2010, and … 61.1 per cent of children under 5 years of age are not registered.