Page 39 - AERC Strategic Plan 2 July2020

THE AERC 2020–2025 STRATEGIC PLAN

The Purpose

Significant capacity needs for economic research, training, and policy guidance in
the region still exist, implying that a critical mass-supply of capacity and knowledge
generation in SSA is far from having been achieved. African stakeholders are the direct
beneficiaries of AERC products and outputs, both in the public and private sectors. It is,
therefore, important for these stakeholders to be involved in the development of AERC’s
output. AERC’s long term strategic relationships with bilateral governments, foundations,
international organizations, and African governments and institutions have provided
some valuable lessons on how steady investment in capacity building in economic-policy
research can help African governments to achieve sound management of their economies
and to build strong institutions.

Good policy environment is itself a public good. AERC’s training and research enable
the private sector to enjoy the broader benefits of a better policy environment. Larger
private firms benefit from employing well-educated economists, who help them analyse
contemporary events and forecast future economic developments.

There is a growing need to acquire office space that AERC can use or develop for a
combined permanent residence and convening space for the JFE, workshops, and other
AERC-hosted events, reducing overall fixed costs and releasing resources for the core
mandate of AERC.

The Approach

With the current economic changes globally, funders are shifting from core funding to
earmarked and targeted funding for quick results and impact. In order to align to these
shifts and dynamics, AERC’s funding strategy will include a comprehensive, directly
attributable costs-allocation model and overhead-recovery policy that will aim at recovery
of all programme costs and overheads, which will be maintained at an acceptable level.
In order to progressively broaden the buy-in and identity of its programmes by African
stakeholders, AERC will seek to involve other African governments, central banks in the
region, think tanks, and private-sector foundations in Africa. Traditionally, AERC has
partnered with governments and not the private sector. AERC will seek to engage with
the private sector through their foundations and philanthropic initiatives as a long term
resource diversification strategy. In order to reduce overall fixed costs, AERC will seek to
acquire a permanent office space instead of rental office space through the support of the
host government, Kenya.

The potential risks may possibly be: (i) shifting priorities of funding partners and
constrained funding resources; (ii) changing national, regional, and global political and
economic environments; (iii) failing to ensure that the attractiveness and relevance
of AERC programmes is continually updated; and (iv) failing to identify the mutually
beneficial interests of AERC and the private sector in the SSA region.

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