African Economic Research Consortium (AERC)

AERC Capacity Building Framework: A Brief

African Economic Research Consortium (AERC), which was established in 1988, is one

of the most active Research and Capacity Building Institutions (RCBIs) in the world, with

a focus on sub-Saharan Africa. The Consortium’s mission is to strengthen local capacity

for conducting independent, rigorous inquiry into the problems facing the management

of economies in sub-Saharan Africa. The mission and objectives of AERC are achieved

through a long-standing collaborative and networking framework of its research and

training programmes, supported by an interactive communications and outreach

programme and backed by a comprehensive management and administration

component.

Through its thematic research and collaborative post-graduate training programmes,

AERC has produced a large number of alumni who occupy senior policy positions in

governmental and research institutions, including over a dozen governors of central

banks and deputies. Moreover, AERC has developed enduring delivery channels for the

interface between research and policy. The basis is collaborative research conducted by

AERC researchers nurtured through the capacity building thematic programmes,

international resource persons, and other thought leaders who on big issues that cannot

be undertaken by individual effort.

The annual Senior Policy Seminars (SPS) serve as a platform to disseminate collaborative

research outcomes and provide an opportunity for a multi-layer dialogue among African

senior policy makers including ministers of finance and planning, governors and deputy

governors of central banks, and their deputies, as well as heads of government

departments, from across the continent In particular, senior policy makers deliberate and

exchange views with senior researchers on key issues of contemporary policy interest to

the continent, provide an opportunity for dialogue among the policy makers, and allow

for feedback by policy makers to AERC on policy imperatives requiring further research.

In addition, by bringing together policy makers from around the continent (and beyond)

to one place and to discuss a focused theme, senior policy seminars provide a platform

for policy makers to learn from each other’s experiences.

At the core of AERC is the concept of ‘networking’ of individuals (researchers, resource

persons, faculty, students and policy makers) and institutions from across Africa and

other parts of the world to bring synergies for enhanced developmental outcomes. Over

2

the last 28 years, AERC has built a solid core of highly credible research and a cadre of

well-trained economists that has enhanced the professional stature of the network, both

locally and internationally, and that has focused attention on issues critical to African

development, bringing rigour and evidence to policy making.

The following vision and mission guide AERC:

Vision: Sustained development in sub-Saharan Africa grounded in sound economic

management and an informed society, and,

Mission: To strengthen local capacity for conducting independent, rigorous inquiry into

the problems pertinent to the management of African economies, through a synergetic

programme combining research with postgraduate training in economics.

Thus, AERC has evolved over the last 28 years to become a diverse, yet integrated

knowledge and capacity building organization of research, collaborative training, policy

outreach, and a vast network, geared towards:

Generation of knowledge pertinent to African development for consumption by

African policy actors,

Building capacity for generation of this knowledge through policy-oriented

research and training,

Retention of built capacity and local talent,

Building the capacity of African policy makers to design and implement sound

economic policies, and

Engagement with policy actors and to facilitate dialogue and peer-learning among

policy makers.

The diversity and integrated nature of AERC has bestowed on it immense comparative

advantage that is hard to replicate. Through its enduring capacity building framework,

AERC has become a hallmark of excellence in economic policy-oriented research and

collaborative training. In fact, AERC today is a highly respected global brand. AERC

ranks highly among global development think tanks, with the latest ranking as among

the top 25 in the “Top International Development Think Tanks” category in 2015. While

the think tank ranking is impressive, it should, however, be recognized that AERC is not

just a think tank. It is a think tank plus with a diversity of products and services spanning

research, training, policy outreach, and a vast network as discussed above.

Highlights of AERC Achievements

In the past two-and-a-half decades, AERC has witnessed both short and long-term

payoffs. AERC has built capacity of African economists through the research and training

3

programmes. Through its Research Programme, AERC has mentored more than 3,400

African economists from 35 countries. In addition, AERC has contributed significantly to

both knowledge generation and policy design in Africa. The quality of the research

conducted through AERC programmes is not only highly regarded by a range of national

and international bodies, but it has also attracted the interest of respected academic

publishers.

Through its Training Programme, AERC runs collaborative programmes in both master’s

and doctoral level studies in economics, and supports the improvement of the capacities

of economics departments in public universities across the continent. The collaborative

postgraduate training brings together over 38 network universities across sub-Saharan

Africa covering Anglophone, Francophone and Lusophone countries, and has produced

more than 3,200 master’s graduates, and produced and supported over 400 PhD

graduates.

Most AERC alumni, who are nurtured through the research and training programmes,

are engaged as mid to senior level policymakers, and posted in public universities. From

the policy outreach track, AERC has fostered a high-level policy network of senior

African policy makers through the convening of regular Senior Policy Seminars (SPS) and

national policy workshops. Indeed, over the last 28 years AERC has cultivated a high

level policy network of more than 1,200 senior African policy makers comprising

ministers and deputies, governors of African central banks and their deputies, heads of

government departments, among others. Moreover, the AERC network has increasingly

been used as a sounding board for major policy issues by the multilateral institutions (e.g.

the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF)).

AERC’s achievements can best be viewed in the context of the African growth trajectory.

Africa has beaten the odds to become one of the fastest growing continents in the world.

This “Africa rising” syndrome is no accidental, however. It is a direct result of concerted

efforts at capacity building on multiple fronts—governance reforms across the continent,

deepening of democracy, and evidence-based policy making enabled by the supply of

well trained, locally based policy analysts and researchers, among others. AERC has been

at the centre of these efforts, especially when it comes to the provision of policy relevant

research and training for informed policy making. A synopsis of the key achievements

by programme is provided in Annex 1.

4

AERC Research Programme: A Closer Look

The AERC Research Programme has two arms: thematic research, which is the “learning

by doing” research modality, and collaborative research, which addresses pertinent policy

issues on the continent.

AERC thematic research: The thematic research programme has evolved over time as the

primary focus for capacity building in policy-relevant economic research for young and

upcoming African researchers. It involves conceptualization, framing, design and

analysis of key economic research questions of relevance to policy making in Africa.

(a) Design feature and peer review

The thematic research programme uses a unique framework combining learning-by-

doing by researchers, peer review, mentoring and networking through the biannual

research workshop, with skills improvement through technical workshops and visiting

scholars programmes.

(b) The Biannual research workshop and plenary conference

The biannual research workshop is perhaps one of the most successful innovations and

enduring features of the AERC research capacity building modality. The biannual

workshop is a flagship event that brings together the largest gathering of economics

researchers, including PhD students and policy makers, from across the continent,

resource persons from Africa and the rest of the world. The biannual workshop also

attracts researchers from international organizations interested in showcasing their

research findings to African researchers and policy makers. Examples include IMF,

World Bank and United Nations agencies.

One of the key features of the biannual research workshop is the plenary session. This is

a one-day conference that features three-to-four state-of-the-art papers addressing issues

of contemporary policy interest to Africa, produced and delivered by experienced and

leading economists, drawn from around the globe. AERC plenary sessions serve at least

three purposes: (1) they inform AERC researchers on emerging issues of importance to

Africa’s development; (2) they allow for deep interactions between policy makers and

researchers; and (3) they provide a platform for upcoming researchers to learn from

accomplished researchers and a forum for signalling directions for future research.

The biannual workshop links AERC researchers to their peers to receive constructive

comments and mentoring. The researchers are also linked to a group of dedicated and

5

highly experienced resource persons1 who provide guidance and mentoring to the

researchers, ensuring that the conceptualization of research questions, the design of

research, the analysis of data, presentation and interpretation of research findings, among

other things, are correct and consistent with international standards of research. Thematic

research feeds into policy making in at least two ways: building the capacity of policy

analysts and researchers; and generating research results for policy makers and other

policy actors.

Collaborative research: AERC has leveraged thematic research over the years by creating

a framework, whereby researchers, resource persons and other thought leaders

collaborate on issues of great relevance to Africa, such as food security, poverty

alleviation and climate change, which cannot be done by individual efforts. Through

collaborative research, AERC generates high quality and policy relevant research for

consumption by policy makers and other policy actors, thus creating the “evidence base”

for informed policy making.

A secondary objective of collaborative research is the building/enhancing of the capacity

of African researchers (both senior and junior researchers). In collaborative research,

AERC identifies, working closely with African policy makers, key issues of broader

contemporary interest to the policy community, and then puts together a team of expert

researchers to execute the research. The results are fed to the policy community through

various channels, the most prominent of which is the SPS series.

AERC Senior Policy Seminars: A Closer Look

Bridging the gap between economic research and economic policy is one of the major

preoccupations of the African Economic Research Consortium (AERC). AERC Senior

Policy Seminars are intended to bridge the research-policy divide, by bringing together

researchers and policy makers to discuss key issues of contemporary policy interest to

policy making in sub-Saharan Africa. A typical senior policy seminar brings together

about 100 policy makers, among them ministers and their deputies, governors of central

banks and their deputies, and heads of government departments, and features about four

to six research presentations, providing amble time for deliberations, including the

exchange of country experiences (peer learning). Policy makers are invited based on the

relevance of the SPS theme to their portfolios, their interest in policy research issues being

discussed at the seminar, and/or recent experience of substantial macroeconomic reforms

1 Resource persons are drawn from among the senior African scholars and their international counterparts.

6

in their country. Each seminar draws participants from as many as 25 countries across

sub-Saharan Africa.

Policy makers report that they have found their experiences in the seminars very useful.

The information exchanged helps them update their knowledge on current research and

sieve out those that are relevant for their duties. Seminars of this kind, while not intended

or able to make the policy maker an economist, nevertheless afford the opportunity of

considering the wider ramifications of their policy decisions.

Besides the specific aims of bringing researchers and policymakers together and sharing

the latest research findings in a particular area, the seminars are directly useful to AERC

because they help to identify possible areas of policy-oriented research for AERC-funded

researchers to consider. They also improve prospects for policy involvement by AERC-

funded researchers and increase AERC's visibility in the policy community. The seminars

on the whole provide important feedback to AERC on its research, in particular,

identification of research issues of interest to African policy makers. The Consortium is

particularly concerned about the policy relevance of its research agenda, and hence

largely supports research that responds to particular policy concerns of wider application

to the region.

In addition to the senior policy seminar, AERC also supports policy workshops at the

national level to prompt well-informed debate on important policy questions of

particular interest to the country. National policy workshops are typically built around

research done at the country level – so-called “country case studies”. Together with the

Senior Policy Seminar, national policy workshops encourage interaction and links

between researchers and the policy-interested community. AERC’s view is that research

should not only concentrate on the identification of problems, but rather should seek to

provide concrete suggestions as to how Africa’s developmental challenges can be

overcome. This speaks to the importance of bringing policy actors and researchers

together to dialogue. Because they allow researchers and policy makers to engage

informally thus allowing for more robust dialogue, the seminars are quite powerful in

their ability to empower stakeholders and to identify issues of policy relevance to Africa.

National Policy Workshops – The AERC also supports country level events providing a

forum for the presentation of the results of AERC research as well as interaction between

AERC researchers and the national policy community. They are fully implemented by

local institutions, with some financial support from AERC, usually US$10,000 for each.

In a year AERC supports six National Policy Workshops.

7

General Senior Policy Seminar Objectives and Outputs

The seminars have four aims

- To provide an opportunity for policy makers and researchers to exchange experiences

and views.

- To identify key priorities for future policy-oriented research in sub-Saharan Africa.

- To highlight the growing capacity in the region for policy research on these issues.

- To improve prospects for cooperative policy research between policy makers and

researchers.

These are achieved in four ways

- By synthesizing and disseminating the results of the latest international (particularly

AERC-funded) research in a format suitable for senior policy makers.

- By generating interaction between policy makers and AERC funded researchers on

results.

- By encouraging sharing of experiences among policy makers on the lessons and details

of macroeconomic policies oriented towards poverty reduction.

- By receiving feedback from policy makers on key current policy challenges.

The concrete outputs of the seminars are expected to be

- Ownership by African policy makers of the menu of options generated through AERC

research.

- Wider dissemination of AERC materials to policy makers, and ideas for improving

future dissemination to them

- Major input into AERC's policy research agenda, through suggestions for key issues.

- Ideas for structures and methods to promote collaboration among policy makers and

researchers, both within individual countries and across the continent.

- Proposals for follow-up through similar, research projects or other activities.

AERC researchers present syntheses of research results on the seminar theme and

nominated policy makers participating in the seminars act as discussants, one for each

paper that is presented. The presentations are followed by a floor discussion in which the

policy makers share experiences and express their views on key issues for future policy

research.

8

Selected Themes for past Senior Policy Seminars

Theme Dates Venue Participant

s

Financial Inclusion in Africa March 2016 Nairobi, Kenya 100

Agriculture in Africa’s Transformation:

The Role of Small-holder Farmers

March 2015 Maputo,

Mozambique

102

Capital flights from Africa April 2014 Addis Ababa,

Ethiopia

101

Youth and Unemployment in Africa March 2013 Kigali, Rwanda 113

Health, Economic Growth and Poverty

Reduction in sub-Saharan Africa

Challenges Associated with the

Development of Oil Sector in Uganda

(Special Policy Seminar)

March 2012

February 2012

Dar es Salaam,

Tanzania

Kampala,

Uganda

107

160

Natural Resource Management in sub-

Saharan Africa

March 2011 Maputo,

Mozambique

103

Bank Regulatory Reforms in Africa:

Enhancing Bank Competition and

Intermediation Efficiency

March 2010 Mombasa,

Kenya

72

The Global Financial Crisis and Its

Implications for the African Economies

April 2009 Lusaka,

Zambia

92

Climate Change and Economic

Development in Sub-Saharan Africa

April 2008 Addis Ababa,

Ethiopia

80

Managing Commodity Booms in Sub-

Saharan Africa

February 2007 Yaoundé,

Cameroon

78

9

Governance and pro-poor growth in

sub-Saharan Africa

March 2006 Dakar, Senegal 72

Poverty, Growth and Institutions March 2005 Cape Town,

South Africa

66

Financing Pro-Poor Growth in Africa March 2004 Kampala,

Uganda

63

Macroeconomic Policy and Poverty

Reduction in Africa

February 2002 Dar es Salaam,

Tanzania

60

Revenue Mobilization in Sub-Saharan

Africa

February 2000 Gaborone,

Botswana

56

Fiscal Policy in Africa October 1997 Accra, Ghana 52

Financial Sector Reforms, Domestic

Resource Mobilization and Investment in

Africa

November 1996 Abidjan, Cote

D’ Ivoire

48

Economic Research and Policy Making in

Sub-Saharan Africa

March 1995 Nairobi, Kenya 40

Toward Sustainability of AERC: The Advent of AERC Governors’ Forum

African central banks have been supportive of AERC over the last 28 years of its existence.

These partnerships have been mutually beneficial as feedback received from the

governors speaks highly of the quality of training the Banks’ staff have received through

the AERC training and research programmes. Moreover, they confirm the value

proposition of AERC in terms of individual and institutional capacity building, as well

as its role in enhancing the interface between research and policy. Indeed, African central

banks governors are regular participants in the AERC Senior Policy Seminars, a sign of

them voting with their feet (value proposition of AERC).

Recently, a group of African central banks governors came together to create a formalised

forum for engaging with AERC. The inaugural AERC’s Governors Forum meeting took

place in Zanzibar, Tanzania, and was co-hosted by the Bank of Tanzania on 13-14 August

2014. A follow-up meeting was held on 8 October 2014 in Washington, D.C., on the

occasion of the annual meetings of the World Bank and IMF, where the modality of the

Forum’s engagement with AERC was discussed. Another follow-up meeting was held on

19-20 February 2015 in Livingstone, Zambia, and co-hosted by the Bank of Zambia. The

10

overall objective of the Livingstone meeting was to finalize the modality of the Forum’s

engagement with greater voice on the AERC governance through group directorship to

the Board. Twelve countries2 were represented at the Forum’s meeting in Lusaka. The

Forum passed a historic resolution for the African central Banks constituting the

Governors’ Forum to become members of the AERC Consortium in accordance with the

AERC bylaws for core support and also be represented on the Board through a group

director. Through the Livingstone Resolution signed on 20 February 2015, the Governors

Forum resolved the following:

That members of the Forum become members of the Consortium by providing core

support to AERC in line with the AERC Bylaws;

That a Memorandum of Understanding be signed among members of the Governors

Forum;

That individual funding agreements be signed bilaterally between Central Banks and

AERC;

That the Governors Forum be represented on the AERC Board by a Governor

nominated by the Forum;

Beyond core support, members of the Forum may provide targeted support including

contributions to the endowment.

The Governors Forum will allow AERC to tap into the African central banks governors’

meetings, which take place at least twice a year, thus providing AERC with enhanced

convening power among high level African policy makers. AERC will, therefore, leverage

the Forum for policy research discussions and dissemination of research findings. This

includes determination of research priorities, particularly in the areas of finance and

macroeconomics, and high level policy dialogues.

2 Central Banks present included: Burundi, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Nigeria, Rwanda, South

Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

Annex 1: Highlights of AERC Achievements

Research Programme

Capacity built of more than 3,400 African economics researchers from 35 countries

through the thematic research programme.

Capacity built of about 500 researchers through technical workshops focusing on

under-represented groups: women and post-conflict/fragile states.

Participation of females in research activities increased to about 25%. Improved

participation of researchers from under-represented countries.

High impact of AERC Collaborative Research recorded on policy making in sub-

Saharan Africa. Key examples include:

(a) The Poverty, Income Distribution and Labour Market Issues in SSA project was the

cornerstone of the poverty reduction strategy papers (PRSPs) preparations in

several sub-Saharan African countries.

(b) The Institutions and Service Delivery (ISD) project in partnership with the World

Bank leading to the creation of Service Delivery Indicators (SDI) on education and

health across Africa, currently implemented in Kenya, Nigeria and Tanzania.

(c) The Capital Flight project at the centre of African policy agenda and convening of

highly successful Senior Policy Seminar in partnership with the United Nations

Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) and the African Development Bank

(AfDB).

(d) The Africa and the World Trading System project informed African positions for the

4th Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organization (WTO) held in Doha

in 2001 and the 5th WTO Ministerial Conference in Cancun, Mexico, in September

2003.

(e) The AERC China–Africa Economic Relations research project provided inputs for

China–Africa cooperation agenda.

Training Programme

Produced more than 3,200 master’s graduates, and produced and supported over 400

PhD graduates.

Female participation in training activities increased to about 40%.

12

Increased participation of students from under-represented countries.

Collaborative Masters in Agricultural and Applied Economics (CMAAE) successfully

integrated into AERC Training Programme.

Conducted 12 CMAAE theses dissemination workshops across 11 countries in sub-

Saharan Africa. These workshops bring together smallholder farmers (who provide

data), extension officers from regions where the surveys are carried out, middle-level

policy makers, funders of the programme and other stakeholders.

Works with 38 network universities from 25 sub-Saharan African countries and

supports economics departments of these universities through institutional capacity

building.

Strengthened 4 Collaborative Masters Programme (CMAP) in Economics

departments, whose capacity has been built to offer a full menu of core and elective

courses, moving the departments to the top rank (Category C).

Sensitization and reaching out to post-conflict and fragile states (e.g., University of

Juba, South Sudan admitted into CMAP and CMAAE network).

The World Food Programme (WFP)/AERC partnership on Data Analysis of the

Purchase for Progress (P4P) pilot project successfully implemented.

Policy Outreach

AERC Alumni in research and training serve as mid to senior level policy makers in

key African (and other) institutions, including: universities, ministries of finance,

central banks, regional bodies and multilateral organizations. A sample of AERC

alumni and network policy makers (e.g., governors, ministers, deputies and vice-

chancellors) is provided in Annex A3.

16 senior policy seminars and more than 100 national policy workshops were

convened, bringing together high level African policy makers from across sub-

Saharan Africa.

Cultivated a high level policy network of more than 1,200 senior African policy

makers comprising ministers, governors and deputies, among others.

3 AERC Alumnus, as defined by the AERC Alumni Association, includes a thematic researcher who has

gone through a full cycle from new proposal to final report, a graduate of CMAP, CPP and CMAAE. In

addition, we have associate members who have had extensive engagement with AERC through activities

such as collaborative research. Annex A is a partial listing of alumni).

13

Over 400 policy relevant papers published in various outlets, including the Journal of

African Economies, African Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics (AfJARE),

Journal of African Development, African Development Review and disseminated widely to

stakeholders including policy makers.

280 peer reviewed thematic research papers and 54 book volumes on AERC

collaborative research published by reputable publishers such as Oxford University

Press, Cambridge University Press, Routledge, Macmillan/Palgrave, among others.