News

50th Biannual plenary

and research workshop SYNOPSIS

Cape Town,  South Africa

2-6 June 2019

African Economic Research Consortium ( AERC ) is pleased to share the success of its Biannual Plenary and Research Workshop held in Cape Town, South Africa, 2-6 June 2019.

The Biannual is unique – combining learning-by-doing research, peer review, mentoring and networking to build and strengthen the capacity of early career African researchers. The workshop brought together many economists from around the African continent and globally fulfilling one of our major mandates – to strengthen local capacity for conducting independent, rigorous inquiry into problems facing the management of economies in sub-Saharan Africa.

The 50th Plenary Session

The first day of the workshop, Sunday 2 June 2019,  featured the 50th Plenary Session on Growing with Debt in African Economic Economies: Options, Challenge and Pitfalls.

Over 200 researchers, academics, policy makers, non-state actors and economists discussed the issue of growing with debt in African economies and the ramifications for development regionally and globally.

In case you missed the biannual plenary, the recordings can be found in the following links:
Part 1: https://www.facebook.com/aercafrica/videos/715150045580798/
Part 2: https://www.facebook.com/aercafrica/videos/450459632386336/

Three days of five concurrent sessions ran from 3-5 June 2019, with 6 June 2019 dedicated to technical sessions, where individual researchers interacted with resource persons , discussed their presentation and received feedback on improving the quality of their research.

The Concurrent Sessions

The five concurrent sessions of the Biannual started on Monday, 3 June 2019 and featured nearly 90 presentations of research proposals, work in progress documents, final reports and PhD thesis post-field reports.

The reports covered a wide range of topics that fit into the five focal areas of AERC’s thematic research programme:

• Group A: Poverty, Labour Markets and Income Distribution
• Group B: Macroeconomic Policy and Growth
• Group C: Finance and Resource Mobilization
• Group D: Production, Trade and Economic Integration
• Group E: Agriculture, Climate Change and Natural Resource Management

The Biannual attracts over 200 researchers, academics, policy makers and other economists who participate in our Research and Training Programmes. It provides a forum for participants to meet within a worldwide network of professionals to address issues relevant for Africa’s economic development. They also provide an opportunity for monitoring the progress and quality of the various research projects sponsored by AERC.