Rédaction Africa Links 24 with Uganda Monitor
Published on 2024-04-07 17:42:46
The Economic Policy Research Centre (EPRC) has outlined key strategies for its research focus for the next 30 years, which includes maintaining research independence and providing timely policy evidence-based user-responsive research to inform and influence policy and practice.
Established in 1993 as an autonomous not-for-profit organization, the EPRC’s mission is to generate policy-oriented research and analysis to guide decision-making on socio-economic development in Uganda. Over the years, the EPRC has become the most respected think-tank in Uganda. Speaking at the occasion to mark its 30th anniversary, Dr. Ibrahim Kasirye, the Director of Research at EPRC, emphasized the importance of aggressive resource mobilization to ensure the continuity of the center’s mandate.
Dr. Kasirye highlighted the need for a paradigm shift from focusing solely on economic dimensions of policy to a blend of socioeconomic and political economy. Repositioning the trade and regional integration department to conduct research at the local level with the aim of influencing global trade policies and development programs is a key aspect of the center’s future strategy. Additionally, the EPRC plans to enhance stakeholder engagements to focus on citizen engagement, build trust, and strengthen its relationship with Makerere University.
The EPRC is committed to improving its capacity-building mandate by developing a sustainable post-doctoral training program for fresh PhDs to prepare them for the job market and the policy world. The center also aims to institutionalize its secondment program to drive evidence uptake in policy processes and reinstate its international fellowship program to attract global scholars to collaborate with EPRC.
Reflecting on the center’s past decades, Dr. Kasirye outlined the thematic areas of focus – poverty reduction and structural adjustments in the first decade, accelerating Uganda’s development and achieving the Millennium Development Goals in the second decade, and supporting inclusive growth and employment creation in the third decade.
During the anniversary event, Dr. Rodolphe Bance, the Head of Economic and Social Governance for the East African Region at the African Capacity Building Foundation, emphasized the crucial role of think tanks in policymaking and development processes worldwide. He highlighted the importance of think tanks in addressing diverse challenges faced by Africa, including governance deficits, conflict, health crises, low trade performance, and climate change.
Dr. Bance underscored that think tanks are essential for knowledge creation, independent analysis, and providing policy recommendations tailored to the African context. In conclusion, the EPRC’s commitment to maintaining research independence and providing evidence-based policy research will continue to drive its impact on policy and practice in Uganda and beyond in the coming decades.
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