AFRICAN POLICY INSTITUTES FORUM

APIF 2004: Left to right: Prof. Paul Collier, Director, Center for Study of African Economies, Oxford University and Hon. Hage Geingob, ex-Prime Minister, Namibia

On March 23-26, 1997, the African Capacity Building Foundation (ACBF), in collaboration with the International Centre for Economic Growth (ICEG), organized a workshop for Directors of Policy Research and Specialized Training Institutions (Policy Institutes) to brainstorm on an African Research Agenda for Accelerating Development in sub-Saharan Africa (ARAADA). That workshop discussed major development issues in sub-Saharan Africa, examined the role of policy research and specialized training institutions in the policymaking process in Africa as well as their contributions to the strengthening of the culture of policy analysis and research in the public sector, reviewed forms and elements of institutional networking among ACBF-supported institutions and came up with major suggestions. The recommendations of the workshop provided some guideposts on the role of policy research centers and specialized training institutions in the articulation and implementation of Africa’s research agenda. They also laid stepping-stones for the institutionalization of a forum that would enable policy institute directors to meet regularly and exchange views and share information on development issues and the performance of their institutes.

APIF 2004: Dr. Stephen Browne, Principal Advisor, Bureau for development Policy, UNDP, New York

As a follow-up to ARAADA, the Foundation on June 21-22, 2001 organized another workshop to discuss further the concept of the Forum and its elements. The aim of the 2001 workshop was to set up the Forum as the African Policy Institutes Forum (APIF) and share ideas and information as to strategies and instruments for gearing policy institutes towards generating, utilizing and disseminating knowledge for development management and poverty reduction in sub-Saharan Africa. The specific objectives of the workshop were to:

A huge gap still existed between applied policy research and the policymaking process in sub-Saharan Africa, which needed to be bridged. The bridging of this gap would however require adjustments on two fronts – that of policy researchers and policymakers.
Concern for the policy research-policymaking gap should not be addressed at the national level only, as there were significant regional dimensions, which needed attention.
African policy institutes had been very responsive to the Continent’s development needs and challenges. They however needed to be strengthened further to enhance their impact and enhance the Continent’s position globally.
Research and policy analysis should be largely demand-driven in order to enhance their relevance. This however was not to vitiate the need for supply-led research. It was important for Policy Institutes to strike an appropriate balance between demand-driven and supply-led research. Innovation and pressure for good governance on the part of governments result mainly from supply-led research.
To enhance the chances of recommendations from policy research being utilized by government, policy researchers would need to step up the quality, utility and presentation of their outputs.
A good number of the Policy Institutes were playing an active and significant role in the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) process. However, the concern should go beyond the PRSP process and focus on strategies, policies and programs for sustainable development in sub-Saharan Africa.
Capacity building to strengthen the PRSP process was vital, but this should be extended to support efforts directed, in general, at poverty reduction strategies and programs.
Efforts by the African Capacity Building Foundation to launch a major initiative – Poverty Reduction Programming, Implementation, Monitoring and Evaluation (the PRIME Initiative) – to strengthen capacity needs of poverty reduction programs, especially the PRSP, are desirable and need to be taken further very concretely. While PRIME is still a desired relief, the interventions it would provide should not be limited to the PRSP process only. The capacity of agencies responsible for the implementation of poverty reduction programs should be strengthened under the initiative. The Foundation should also ensure that the initiative does not duplicate whatever support multilateral and bilateral organizations are currently providing countries in the area of capacity building for country ownership of the PRSP process .
The African Policy Institutes Forum should be institutionalized. For now the Forum should be an annual event. The Foundation should reflect on its key component elements and share thoughts with the Directors of the Policy Institutes so that a common understanding can be reached with respect to its mission, its objectives, instruments for taking forward its activities and its governance structure.

The workshop, which provided valuable insights for the effectiveness of policy institutes in the development process, reached a common consensus that APIF must not simply be a platform for dialogue. It should evolve as a Forum whose views are widely sought by the region and the international community in the effort to strengthen Africa’s voice in development issues globally.

Given the recommendations from the 2001 workshop, the Foundation has now found it opportune to formally establish APIF as a continental knowledge network with clearly defined roles and responsibilities as well as products and services. It is this stretch of the process involved in the setting up APIF that the Foundation seeks to complete on November 15-16, 2004 with the launch workshop.