Page 10 - AERC Strategic Plan 2 July2020

THE AERC 2020–2025 STRATEGIC PLAN

Executive Summary

Introduction

When the African Economic Research Consortium (AERC) was started in the late 1980s, the
immediate challenge facing most African economies was macroeconomic stability in the
wake of huge fiscal deficits and unsustainable debt stocks; high inflation; deteriorating
terms of trade; and over-valued national currencies. Economic reform at the time simply
meant the pursuit of structural adjustment policies. Today, ministries of finance and
central banks in the region have technical capacity to maintain stability at the macro
level in most economies.

There is no doubt that the AERC has made significant progress in realizing what it first
envisioned over 30 years ago. The continent has changed rapidly and the economic
demands facing such a dynamic region require – and demand – that AERC modifies its
approach to meet new opportunities and challenges that are emerging as Africa turns the
corner into a new decade. A forward-looking approach is now needed, with a new set of
challenges and opportunities to be met.

The 2015–2020 Strategic Plan Evaluation Report conducted by Ernest Aryeetey and
Frances Stewart stated that the pressing issues facing the region during the 2020–2025
Strategic Plan period and beyond would be the growing young populations without job
opportunities, widening inequality, and persistent poverty. The 2015–2020 report provides
a tactical roadmap. It identified several reforms in relation to research, training, and
policy engagement to guide AERC, addressing the themes of improving quality, ensuring
sustainability, and expanding influence, with each of these three areas customized to
provide a new and dynamic structure on how research, training, and policy engagement
will address capacity-building issues in the forthcoming strategic-planning cycle.

In addition, the AERC 2020–2025 Strategic Plan has been grounded in – and motivated
by – Sustainable Development Goal 8 (SDG 8) to ‘promote sustained, inclusive, and
sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment, and decent work for
all’; as well as visionary ideals emerging both at the national and continental level, and
embodied in the Africa 2063 Vision’s transformational outcomes for ‘improvements in
living standards’ and ‘transformed, inclusive and sustainable economies’; most notably
addressing the following Agenda 2063 Goals:

4. Transformed economies;

5. Modern agriculture for increased productivity and production;

7. Environmentally sustainable and climate-resilient economies and communities;

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