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CAPACITY DEVELOPMENT IN AFRICA: ECONOMIC POLICY MANAGEMENT PROGRAM AT MAKERERE

UNIVERSITY

Panelist: Prof. J Ddumba-Ssentamu, DEAN, Faculty of Economics and Management, Makerere University,

Uganda

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Rationale for the EPM Progam• Challenges Facing Sub-Saharan African countries:

– Low economic growth leading to low standards of living;

– Poor public resource management;– Poor access to international markets;– Weak institutions;– Poor delivery of public services;– Lack of human, organizational and institutional

capacity– Poor performance of the public sector

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Rationale (contn)• Existing masters programs in Africa and overseas could

not adequately meet the economic management training needs in the context of the foreseen problems and challenges.

• The need for policy analysts and economic managers exceeds the training capacity of existing masters programmes in economics in Sub-Saharan Africa.

• Executing agencies for projects lack the necessary institutional capacity for investment programming, policy analysis and monitoring and expenditure management.

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Rationale contnd

• To address the Sub-Saharan Africa’s capacity needs in the area of policy making, a Masters degree in economic policy management was established in 1998 at Makerere University together with other 3 universities in Africa.

• Program is jointly funded by ACBF and JJ/WBGSP

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Structure of the Program• Overall goal of the EPM program is to improve the

efficiency of the public sector in Sub-Saharan African countries through enhancement of capacity for economic policy analysis and management.

• The specific objectives of the program are to: – Train a critical mass of relevant mid-level officers in

Economic Policy Management from Sub-Saharan African countries and equip them with the required professional skills and attitudes.

– Strengthen the institutional and human capacity of Makerere University to offer a graduate-level programme in economic policy management.

– Develop teaching materials.– Network with EPM programmes in Africa.– Form alumni networks.

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Structure of the Programme• The curriculum consists of the following components:

– Economics Core: The objective of this core is to review economic principles and the fundamentals of microeconomics and macroeconomics for economic policy advisors. In addition, the economics core offers practitioners the opportunity to apply these tools in a policy analysis situation.

– Management Core: Policy advisors must work within and across organizations and therefore they need strategic management tools. The purpose of this core is to provide tools and techniques for analyzing organizations and situations; use methods for strategy formulation, implementation and managing strategic change; as well as techniques for human resource management and leadership skills.

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Structure of the pgm– Policy Core: The purpose of this core is to provide

tools and techniques for designing policies to overcome problems facing Sub-Saharan African countries.

– Computer Skills: Because the computer is becoming the basic tool in policy analysis and communication, participants are required to take a course in Computer skills for Economic Policy Management.

– Electives: To meet the interests and needs of individual participants, two electives in the programme are selected, one from Economics and the other from Management.

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Structure of the pgm– Electives in Economics include:

• Monetary Economics and Banking; • Agricultural Development Policy • Industrial Development Policy• International Economics• Resource and Environmental Economics

– The Electives in Management include:• Entrepreneurship and Innovation• Human Resource Management• Leadership and Inter- Personal Dynamics

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Structure of the pgm– Policy Research Paper: Students are required to write

a Policy Research Paper on a topic of their own choice under a Faculty Member’s supervision, and are encouraged to take an elective related to their Policy Research Paper.

– Field Trips: To increase the practical orientation of the programme, field trips are organized.

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Achievements of EPM Makerere• Together with the African Capacity Building

Foundation, the JJ/WBGSP has been offering scholarships to scholars of the Masters Program in Economic Policy Management at Makerere University.

• Since 1998, JJ/WBGSP has awarded a total of 60 scholarships worth US$ 1,121,949. Out of these, 35 (58.3 percent) went to males while 25 (41.7 percent) went to females. Nine countries have benefited from JJ/WBGSP.

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EPM Students by Gender and Country of Origin; 1998/99-2006/07

I II III IV V VI VII VIII IX

1998/99 1999/00 2000/01 2001/02 2002/03 2003/04 2004/05 2005/06 2006/07

Number of Students

6 7 7 7 7 7 6 6 7 60

Gender

Female 2 3 4 3 3 4 2 2 2 25

Male 4 4 3 4 4 3 4 4 5 35

Country

Ethiopia 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 7

Kenya 1 2 2 2 2 3 1 1 14

Malawi 1 1 2

Rwanda 1 1 2 4

Sierra Leone 1 1

Sudan 1 1

Uganda 3 2 2 2 2 3 2 1 2 19

Tanzania 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 8

Zambia 1 1 1 1 4

Cohort TOTAL

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Achievements• At the individual student level, there is ample evidence

that the graduands of the EPM Makerere program have not only acquired important skills, but have also been promoted in their organizations and some have acquired better jobs.

• The EPM graduands are employed in the following areas: – Government Ministry/Agency;– International/Regional Organizations;– Non-governmental organizations;– University;– Private sector; and– Self-employed/Consultant.

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Achievements

• National governments or agencies are the major employers of EPM Makerere graduands. The Makerere EPM graduands job description covers a wide span that includes:– Policy making;– Research;– Provision of services;– Project implementation;– Prevention of corruption; and– Management and information/knowledge dissemination.

• EPM alumni are now working as senior economists or policy analysts in the planning units of the ministries of finance, planning and economic development; as economists in parliament budget offices as well as economists in local governments.

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Emerging Issues• Since 1998, the EPM Makerere has made great

contribution towards the development of human resource capacity that can respond to the policy analysis, design and management needs of Sub-Saharan Africa.

• There is still need therefore for the EPM program at Makerere to continue contributing to human resource capacity development in the region, especially in the following areas: – Policy analysis– Poverty analysis and Monitoring– Public sector planning– Fiscal policy budgetary process– Debt management– Negotiation skills– Trade policy

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Emerging Issues• In addition to the insufficient capacity to fulfill the African

continent’s needs, EPM Makerere has not ensured adequate geographical coverage of Eastern and Southern Africa.

• Support for public sector capacity building needs to address three dimensions of public sector capacity: human capacity; organizational capacity and institutional capacity.

• Due to donor fatigue as well as financial constraints that Sub-Saharan African countries are faced with, there is need for networking. Networking is the solution for capacity building in Africa.

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Emerging Issues• The future prospects of the EPM program should be

boosted through ensuring the quality of its products by becoming a center of excellence.

• There is need for development partners to commit more resources to 6 centers of excellence on the continent:– Abdijan and Yaounde for Francophone; – Ghana for Anglo Phone West and Central Africa; – Makerere University for Eastern Africa; – Zambia for Southern Africa and – Mozambique for Lusophone countries).

• Finally, judging by the number of applicants to join the EPM program (about 150 each year), there is no doubt that the program meets an important need in the building of human resource capacity in Sub-Saharan Africa.