AERC Annual Report 2022/2023
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Date
2023
Authors
AERC
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
AERC
Abstract
The 2022/2023 fiscal year marks 34 years since the African Economic Research Consortium (AERC) was established as a premier capacity building network in the advancement of research and graduate training in economics to inform economic policies in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). The AERC began the year with great enthusiasm to accelerate the pace of activities, especially with it being the third year of the 2020-2025 strategic period. The AERC Strategic Plan 2020-2025 is anchored on three key themes of improving quality that will create its momentum for sustainability and expanding policy influence. Each of these three themes provide a new and dynamic structure for how research, training and policy engagement will address the capacity building developments and the emerging constraints over the five-year planning cycle. Additionally, the strategy seeks to respond to pressing issues facing the region – increasing youth unemployment, widening inequality and persistent poverty - as stated by Ernest Aryeetey and Frances Stewart in the 2015-2020 AERC Strategic Evaluation Report. The AERC has had great achievements in the last 34 years by bringing rigour and evidence to policy making. However, it is imperative to change the delivery along the research and policy value chain by opening up to new approaches to enhance relevance, building upon the unique convening power of the organisation and scaling up AERC’s services to support policymakers in their efforts to build a stronger economic foundation and future, both nationally and regionally. By becoming a valued partner and encouraging other interested institutions and organisations to join up, the AERC is expanding capacity for economic policy making across the region as well as policy impact for positive development outcomes in SSA economies. While implementing the 2020-2025 strategy, the AERC has adopted a new approach for capacity building, which has fundamentally changed its operations by moving from an objectives-based approach to a theme-based approach and focused on outcomes and impact measurement in both the short and long-term.