Page 22 - AERC Strategic Plan 2 July2020

THE AERC 2020–2025 STRATEGIC PLAN

Several large collaborative research projects changed economic policy approaches in the
region, including the Growth and Poverty Project by Paul Collier, Stephen O’Connell and
Benno Ndulu, which resulted in 30 country case studies on growth by AERC researchers
and was the genesis for The Bottom Billion and the ‘Africa Rising’ narrative. The Growth
and Poverty Project connected AERC researchers with global experts on poverty and
growth analysis to produce in-depth studies in Africa. Most of that research was used to
inform national poverty reduction strategy programmes (PRSPs) in the 1990s.

Collaborative Research Projects

Twenty-seven collaborative research projects completed and disseminated to
date in conferences and policy fora, including among them:
» Growth, poverty and income distribution in Africa
» Institutions and service delivery

» Capital flight and tax havens in sub-Saharan Africa
» Healthcare financing in sub-Saharan Africa
» Growth in fragile and post-conflict states in Africa

» Financial sector development and inclusion in Africa
» Agriculture and food policy analysis for nutrition outcomes in Africa
» Rethinking regional integration for sustainable and inclusive
development in Africa

The research project on Africa and the World Trading System informed African positions
for the Fourth Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organization (WTO) held in Doha
in 2001 and the Fifth WTO Ministerial Conference in Cancun, Mexico, in September 2003.
Research on the theme of Institutions and Service Delivery (ISD), conducted in partnership
with the World Bank, led to the creation of service delivery indicators (SDI) on education
and health across SSA. The World Bank is in the process of rolling out the SDI globally
following the success of the SDI project in Africa.

Another impactful research engagement was the Capital Flight and Tax Havens in sub-
Saharan Africa project, which contributed to the discourse on capital flight, including the
High-Level Panel on Illicit Capital Flows chaired by (former) South African President Thabo
Mbeki. Tanzania launched its own capital-flight project, led by the Bank of Tanzania,
following the AERC project. Copies of the book Capital Flight from Africa, published by
Oxford University Press, were distributed to various policy institutions, including central
banks, finance ministries, and policy research institutes at their request. As of December
2019, a total of 27 broad impactful collaborative research projects had been completed
and disseminated in conferences and policy forums.

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