AID cooperative agreement no. DHR-0015-A-00-0031-00 with the University of Maryland in support of the institutional reform and the informal sector project

The project, to be implemented by the University of Maryland"s Institutional Reform and Informal Sector (IRIS) Center, will (1) at the country level, strengthen the capacity of private think tanks and research organizations to act as catalysts of reform, and (2) support general research and information dissemination activities. Country-level activities will be financed primarily from Mission add-ons and will be in three areas. (1) Organizational development assistance for local organizations will take the form of providing publications and specialists on institutional reform, hosting workshops, etc. (2) Collaborative research will help local organizations identify institutional deficiencies that constrain growth and develop strategies to replace them with laws and processes that facilitate growth. Host institutions will take the lead in this research, with the IRIS Center providing support in areas such as research methodology and strategy development. (3) Training will include: short-term in-country or third-country workshops and programs, possibly in coordination with the Institute for Liberty and Democracy (ILD); short-term training at the IRIS Center for professionals; and 12-month internships at the IRIS Center for 2-4 professionals each year. IRIS will assist only countries where there is a local constituency for institutional reform, and country-level activities will vary depending on local circumstances. Where governments are especially resistant to public advocacy, support will be limited to conferences, publications, and other information dissemination activities aimed at building awareness of the importance of institutional reform; where an interest in institutional reform may be emerging, activities will involve workshops, collaborative research, and training; and, where local groups may already be undertaking institutional reform programs, IRIS will provide a full range of services, including collaborative research support, in-country and third-country training, seminars, and communications support. IRIS will also support worldwide information dissemination to build international awareness of the role of institutions and the informal sector in economic development, and to spur dialogue on institutional reform among developing countries, between developing countries and Eastern Europe, and between developed and developing countries. The IRIS Center will serve as an information clearinghouse on institutional reform and the informal sector, and will produce a newsletter. The project will also support core research to expand the general knowledge base on the relationship between institutional reform and economic growth; the Center will publish working papers, books, and articles and will host 3-5 major conferences on different aspects of institutional reform, beginning with a conference in Eastern Europe.