The African Economic Research Consortium (AERC), established in 1988, is one of the most robust Research and Capacity Building Institutions 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 African Economic Research Consortium (AERC) held a successful senior policy seminar, the twentieth in the series with a broad theme as Regional Integration in Africa on March 12-13, 2018. A total of four papers were presented followed by a policy roundtable. The roundtable was a mix of policy makers, paper presenters, and private sector actors.
The four main objectives of the Senior Policy Seminars were:
- To identify possible areas of policy-oriented research for AERC-funded researchers to consider.
- To improve prospects for policy involvement by AERC-funded researchers.
- To increase AERC visibility in the policy community, highlighting the growing capacity in the region for policy research.
- To provide an opportunity for policy makers and researchers to exchange their experiences and views on macroeconomic policy.
These are achieved in four ways:
- By synthesizing and disseminating the results of AERC-funded research to senior policy makers.
- By generating an interaction between the policy makers and AERC-funded researchers on the results of existing AERC research.
- By encouraging sharing of experiences among policy makers, on the lessons and details of macroeconomic policies.
- By receiving feedback from policy makers on the key current policy-related research issues in Africa.
The concrete outputs of the seminar were:
- Major input into AERC’s policy-oriented research agenda, in the form of suggestions for key priorities in each of the policy areas examined.
- Ideas for methods and structures to promote closer collaboration among policy makers and researchers, both within individual countries and collaboratively across the continent.
- Wider dissemination of AERC materials to policy makers, and ideas for forms and methods of dissemination most convenient to them.
- Proposals for how to follow-up the seminar.
Outcome of the senior policy seminar (SPSXX)
- Raised awareness and knowledge among senior policy makers, private sector and non-state actors on the role of Regional Integration in Africa through evidence-based research.
- Identification of enabling government policies for regional integration, and exchange of country-specific experiences through a roundtable discussion.
- Enhanced relationship between researchers and policy makers by bringing them together to discuss key policy research issues in regional integration.
- Provide an opportunity to policy makers and researchers, along with the private sector and non-state actors, for uninterrupted dialogue on a set of key regional integration issues considered significant to policy.
- Equip African policy makers in decision making using up-to-date research findings.
Themes of Previous AERC Senior Policy Seminars
Theme | Dates | Venue | Participants |
|
March 1995
|
Nairobi, Kenya | 40 |
|
November 1996 | Abidjan, Cote d’ Ivoire | 48 |
|
October 1997 | Accra, Ghana | 52 |
|
February 2000 | Gaborone, Botswana | 56 |
|
February 2002 | Dar es Salaam, Tanzania | 60 |
|
March 2004 | Kampala, Uganda | 63 |
7. Poverty, Growth and Institutions
|
March 2005 | Cape Town, South Africa | 66 |
|
March 2006 | Dakar, Senegal | 72 |
|
February 2007 | Yaoundé, Cameroon | 78 |
|
April 2008 | Addis Ababa, Ethiopia | 80 |
|
April 2009 | Lusaka, Zambia | 92 |
|
March 2010 | Mombasa, Kenya | 72 |
|
March 2011 | Maputo, Mozambique | 103 |
(b) 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 |
|
March 2013 | Kigali, Rwanda | 113 |
|
April 2014 | Addis Ababa, Ethiopia | 101 |
17. Agriculture in Africa’s Transformation: The Role of Smallholder Farmers
|
March 2015 | Maputo, Mozambique | 90 |
18. Financial Inclusion in Africa | March 2016 | Nairobi, Kenya | 100 |
19. Industrialization in Africa | March 2017 | Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire | 121 |
20. Regional Integration in Africa
|
March 2018 | Kampala, Uganda | — |