Page 26 - AERC Strategic Plan 2 July2020

THE AERC 2020–2025 STRATEGIC PLAN

projects from open calls made by appropriate grant institutions. The use of data from
collaborative research provides better opportunity to thematic researchers to work
across countries at reduced marginal costs.

Map projects to African development and the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals
(SDGs) using more cutting-edge methodologies, including randomized methods.
Decentralize research to encourage wider participation in capacity building by selecting
well-established university economics departments to provide small research grants to
young and inexperienced assistant lecturers.

Expand Influence: Strengthen the expertise and quality of the internal research team,
positioning members as thought leaders who are able to work on and publish their own
economic research, modelled on the Brookings Institution. Leverage the knowledge of its
network members by establishing an active platform for their engagement, for example,
offering research-fellow positions to very active and highly talented network members as
practiced by the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), IZA Institute of Labour
Economics (IZA), and Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR), among others.

Training

Improve Quality: Conduct curricula review to ensure that training programmes keep up
with global standards; that there is enough applied and policy content in the courses;
and that a more critical approach is added to the contextualization of new developments
in economics.

Key Recommended Reforms on Training Programme

» Curricula review to incorporate applied and policy content in the courses;

» Embrace a blended-learning approach in teaching of elective
courses at JFE; and

» Promote the Government of Kenya Capacity Building Project for Policy Analysis
in other African countries.

Ensure Sustainability: Duplicate the Government of Kenya (GoK) training programme
and scholarship scheme in other countries. Improve cost and operational efficiency
in the teaching of elective courses and retooling workshops through digitization and
blended methods in teaching that combine online lectures and materials with face-to-
face tuition. Reconsider the exclusion of students at CMAP Category C universities from
the JFE to expand their choice of elective courses and reverse the declining numbers in
training programmes.

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