Equity and growth through economic research (698-0546) : project paper

The project, which will consolidate activities from projects 6980520, -0535, -0519, and -0464 will include syntheses, analyses, and field-based research, along with capacity building and information dissemination components and will be implemented via various contracts, grants, and buy-ins under the direction of the Africa Bureau"s Office of Analysis, Research, and Technical Support, Economic Analysis Division (AFR/ARTS/EA). Project research and analysis will focus on five themes: (1) Public Strategies for Promoting Growth and Equity, including the growth and equity implications of adjustment, and fiscal, monetary, and exchange rate policies; (2) the Legal, Regulatory, and Judicial Framework for Private Enterprise, covering such issues as privatization, and laws and legal institutions; (3) Trade Regimes and Growth, covering strategies for non-traditional export growth, and economic integration; (4) Resource Mobilization, including formal financial markets, and informal financial intermediation; and (5) cross-cutting themes, such as information utilization, lessons to be learned from Asia"s experience with economic growth, and capacity-building. Targets include 10 major syntheses, studies, and evaluations of regional significance, 100 research projects produced via grants to organizations supporting African research networks, and 4-6 major country-specific studies. The project will build African research capacity by supporting research networks, requiring research collaboration, and financing Master"s program. Three organizations with network supporting capacities will operate the project"s research grants programs, sponsor workshops, and provide fora for publication of research findings: the African Economic Research Consortium; the International Development Research Centre; and the International Center for Economic Growth. To strengthen African involvement in research, all contracts and cooperative agreements will stipulate that 25% of research be performed by African researchers and organizations, and all major contracts will require collaboration with Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and or U.S. disadvantaged/minority-owned firms. In addition, the project will support joint Masters of Economics programs, implemented in anglophone Africa by AERC and in francophone Africa by the African Conference of Economic Training, Research, and Management Institutions (CIEREA), funding a total of 48 degrees. The project third will support a variety of dissemination activities: publication of books, monographs, and country studies; workshops and conferences; expert/author tours; and theme- or discipline-specific mailing lists. Targets include: 30 complete studies or adaptations in journals that are widely read by African socioeconomic researchers; repackaging and distribution of 30 studies/reports that present findings simply and concisely for African and U.S. decision makers; presentations by 6 author/experts in 3 countries; attendance of 80-100 African journalists and legislators at economic fundamentals workshops; testing of 5 innovative communication techniques (e.g., mass media, consultative meetings, teleconferences, etc.); and 10 regional workshops and 4 African-wide conferences to review the findings of major research studies.