dontdont pagepage printprint thisthis CONSORTIUM POUR LA RECHERCHE ECONOMIQUE EN AFRIQUE ANNUAL REPORT 2005/2006 MEMBERS OF THE CONSORTIUM Department for International Development (DFID) US Agency for International Development (USAID) International Development Research Centre (IDRC) The World Bank (IBRD) John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Denmark Non-member funders: Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Netherlands African Capacity Building Foundation (ACBF) Ministry of Foreign Affairs, France African Development Bank (AfDB) Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (NORAD) Commission of the European Union Rockefeller Foundation Ford Foundation Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) William and Flora Hewlett Foundation Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) BOARD OF DIRECTORS PROGRAMME COMMITTEE Caroline Pestieau*, Chair and Director at large; Canada Caleb Fundanga, Chair; Governor, Bank of Zambia Kerfalla Yansane*, Vice Chair and Director at large; Ernest Aryeetey, Director, Institute for Statistical, Scientific Consultant, Guinea and Economic Research (ISSER), University of Ghana – Ulrich Camen*, Secretary; Programme Director, Mon- Legon etary Policy and Financial Reform Programme, Graduate Manana M. Bakane-Tuoane, Director General, Office of Institute of International Studies; Representing the Swiss the Premier, North West Province, South Africa Agency for Development Cooperation (SDC) Arne Bigsten, Professor of Economics, Gothenburg Antoine Hawara*, Treasurer and Director at large; amh University, Sweden Consulting, Canada Paul Collier, Professor of Economics, Centre for the Study Mthuli Ncube*, Director at large; Professor of Finance, of African Economies (CSAE), University of Oxford, UK Wits Business School, University of Witwatersrand, South Akpan Ekpo, Professor of Economics, University of Uyo, Africa Nigeria Shamsuddeen Usman, Director at large; Deputy Joseph Kinyua, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Finance, Governor, Central Bank of Nigeria Kenya Ole Winckler Andersen, Head, Technical Advisory Patrick Guillaumont, President of CERDI, Université Service, Department of UN Development Aid, Royal d’Auvergne, France Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Government of Allechi M’Bet, Professor of Economics and Chief Economic Denmark Advisor to the President, Côte d’Ivoire ThorbjØrn Gaustadsæther*, Norwegian Ambassador to Benno J. Ndulu, Senior Advisor to the Vice President, Mozambique, representing NORAD, Norway Africa Region, The World Bank, USA Susan Horton, Vice-President Academic, Wilfrid Laurier Machiko K. Nissanke, Professor of Economics, School of University; Representing the International Development Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London Research Centre (IDRC) Luc Oyoubi, Member of Parliament, President of Financial Tony Killick, Senior Research Associate, Overseas Committee, Gabon Development Institute; Representing the Department for William Lyakurwa, Ex-officio member; Executive Director, International Development (DFID) AERC Joyce Moock*, Associate Vice President, Rockefeller Olu Ajakaiye, Secretary; Director of Research, AERC Foundation, USA Njuguna Ndung’u, Assistant Secretary; Director of Milena Novy-Marx, Program Officer, Global Challenges, Training, AERC The MacArthur Foundation, USA Anna Maria Oltorp, Head of Division, Thematic Programmes, Department for Research Cooperation, SAREC, Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency John Page, Chief Economist, Africa Region, The World Bank, USA Caleb Fundanga, Ex-officio Member of the Board; Chair, Programme Committee; Governor, Bank of Zambia William Lyakurwa, Ex-officio Member of the Board: Executive Director, African Economic Research Consor- tium *Member of the Executive Committee ANNUAL REPORT 2005/2006 A FRICAN ECONOMIC RESEARCH CONSORTIUM AFRICAN ECONOMIC RESEARCH CONSORTIUM CONSORTIUM POUR LA RECHERCHE ECONOMIQUE EN AFRIQUE A NNUAL REPORT For the period 1 April 2005 to 31 March 2006 2005/06 CONSORTIUM POUR LA RECHERCHE ECONOMIQUE EN AFRIQUE ANNUAL REPORT 2005/2006 AERC Annual Report 2005/2006 Published by: African Economic Research Consortium P.O. Box 62882 City Square Nairobi 00200, Kenya ISBN: 9966-944-91-5 © 2006 African Economic Research Consortium ANNUAL REPORT 2005/2006 A FRICAN ECONOMIC RESEARCH CONSORTIUM Contents Members of the Consortium inside front cover Board of Directors inside front cover Programme Committee inside front cover Foreward vii Overview 1 The Research Programme 9 Communications 15 The Training Programme 19 Management and Administration 27 Financial Report 31 Annexes 35 Secretariat Staff Inside back cover CONSORTIUM POUR LA RECHERCHE ECONOMIQUE EN AFRIQUE ANNUAL REPORT 2005/2006 vi ANNUAL REPORT 2005/2006 A FRICAN ECONOMIC RESEARCH CONSORTIUM Foreword t is with pleasure that I present this report of the efforts made by the Secretariat in the last year to lay a solid groundwork for the five years of the Strategic Plan for 2005–2010. As noted within, there have been Isignificant achievements in all four areas envisioned in the plan. We have approached the objectives set for the plan period with a singleness of purpose that has en- abled us to escalate capacity building and partnership efforts, enhance the performance and integration of our programmes, increase our outreach, and maintain our emphasis on quality. The staff of the Secretariat are to be commended for their dedication and commitment to these goals. The staff contribution is particu- larly important in view of our determination to remain as “lean and keen” as possible, but the growing workload has often stretched our capacity to the limit. As always, implementation efforts encountered a number of challenges. The inclusion of our Collabora- tive PhD Programme students and their supervisors in the biannual research workshop framework, for example, revealed the need for more effective integration of the thesis supervisors and thematic research resource persons for better cohesion while guiding students. The CPP continues to face resource mobilization hurdles, particularly as its longer-term period of study requires firm funding commitments to see the students through the four-year cycle. The CPP is immensely popular, registering an average application of 80 qualified students annually against 20 available AERC scholarships. Qualified students were thus encouraged to seek funding from other sources and ten students in the pipeline are privately sponsored. Overall, however, we are happy to note that initial fund raising efforts have yielded good results. We are grateful to the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation and the Central Bank of Nigeria for adding their support and confidence to our programme efforts. Besides the programmatic evidence, this Annual Report for 2005/06 contains a summary of what is a healthy financial statement prepared by our auditors. I am therefore pleased to present the report to the members of the Consortium, the Board of Directors, the Programme Committee, the network and other AERC stakeholders. You and your support have made the year’s accomplishments possible. William Lyakurwa Executive Director vii CONSORTIUM POUR LA RECHERCHE ECONOMIQUE EN AFRIQUE ANNUAL REPORT 2005/2006 Overview AERC’s vision is of sustained development in sub-Saharan Africa, grounded in sound economic management and facilitated by well- trained, locally based professional economists. his first year of the strategic plan period 2005–2010 rushed by in a AERC’s mission is to strengthen local capacity for independent, rigorous fast-paced series of activities and events that marked both continu inquiry into problems pertinent to the ity and innovation – the two underlying themes of the strategy. In management of African economies, T our judgement, we have started well, and here in the introductory section through a synergetic programme combining economic research with of this Annual Report we highlight a number of the year’s postgraduate training in economics. accomplishments according to the Consortium’s four overall strategic objectives for the plan period. The section concludes with a brief look at AERC’s institutional objectives are some of AERC’s impacts, most achieved over a long period but explicitly threefold: visible during fiscal year 2005/06. Subsequent sections of the report ♦ Enhance the capacity of locally based researchers to conduct provide an in-depth look at activities and accomplishments organized policy-relevant economic inquiry, around the respective programmatic objectives. ♦ Promote the retention of such capacity, and ♦ Encourage its application in the policy context. Objective 1: Scale up the development of African capacity to conduct policy relevant economic research in a rapidly changing environment Maintaining continuity with innovation n line with innovating to add value, the Research Programme convened I the year’s biannual research workshops with a difference – the gradual shift towards paperless workshops. Research proposals and plenary papers were distributed on compact discs (CD), an innovation that reduced the volume of workshop paper by 40%, thereby reducing costs and significantly improving coordination of logistics. The December 2005 workshop, held in Johannesburg, saw an additional innovation with the first presentation of preliminary PhD theses by 19 students participating in the AERC Collaborative PhD Programme (CPP). An extra concurrent session was created to accommodate the students, resulting in five sessions instead of the usual four.