The African Economic Research Consortium (AERC) is a not-for-profit corporation established in 1988. It is based in Nairobi, Kenya, where it is recognized as an international organization through a Host Country Agreement concluded with the Government of Kenya. Its principal objective is to strengthen local capacity for conducting independent, rigorous inquiry into problems pertinent to the management of economies in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Its work is based on two premises: first, that development is more likely to occur where there is sustained sound management of the economy and, second, that such management is more likely where there is an active, well-informed group of locally based professional economists to conduct policy-relevant research. Hence, the mandate of AERC is threefold: enhancing the capacity of locally based researchers to conduct policy-relevant economic inquiry; promoting retention of such capacity; and encouraging its application in the policy context. AERC has three principal organs: the Board of Directors, the Programme Committee and the Secretariat. It manages its training programmes through academic boards.

PRINCIPAL ACTIVITIES

AERC supports a research programme and a postgraduate training programme.

The Research Programme offers small grants to groups of individuals from both academia and policy institutions to conduct research on a set of pertinent themes. The current thematic areas are Poverty, Income Distribution and Labour Market Issues; Trade, Regional Integration and Sectoral Policies; Macroeconomic Policies, Stabilization and Growth; and Finance, Resource Mobilization and Investment. The Consortium supports researchers through peer review, methodology workshops and literature. The researchers present their proposals, draft reports and final papers to resource persons and to their peers at biannual thematic research workshops that provide the opportunity for ongoing monitoring of the quality of research. The resource persons, both African and international, assist the researchers in drawing out the policy relevance of their work. The workshops also offer opportunities for participants to provide input into the design and implementation of AERC programmes. The workshop process has been central in developing a sense of ownership of AERC activities on the part of researchers and institutions.

AERC also supports Collaborative Research Projects carried out by teams of African researchers and their counterparts elsewhere on mutually agreed themes. Such research gives rise to new, high quality research output and literature of interest to the African academic and policy communities.

The Training Programme manages a Collaborative Master's Programme (CMAP) (for anglophone Africa except Nigeria and South Africa) in Economics in partnership with 21 universities in 17 SSA countries. The universities that offer CMAP jointly enforce standards through annual evaluations and assessments by external examiners. They develop a common curriculum and teaching materials, and share a joint facility for teaching elective courses. An Academic Board, whose members are drawn from the participating universities, is responsible for the substance of the programme. As of 2004, seven of the universities are able to offer core courses that meet the jointly determined standards. They host students from the other participating universities. AERC facilitates curriculum development, joint enforcement of standards, and student and teacher travel. It provides support for improved teaching facilities and library services in the individual universities' Economics Departments and manages the operation of the Joint Facility for Electives in Nairobi. Similar initiatives for francophone Africa and Nigeria originated from the AERC model. In 2002, AERC launched a Collaborative PhD Programme (CPP) in Economics with eight SSA universities. This programme operates on the same principles as the Collaborative Master's Programme.

The AERC Network consists of current and former AERC researchers as well as resource persons supporting the Research Programme; instructors for the CMAP and CPP elective courses; members of the Academic Boards; and students and institutions supported by AERC. The Consortium provides members of the Network with professional information and opportunities to exchange experiences and share research ideas. Network members influence AERC's decisions through membership on the Programme Committee and through various consultation channels.

GOVERNANCE

Governing Principles

Each of the Consortium's three principal organs has distinct responsibilities. The Programme Committee sets the research and training agendas, recommends the individual grants made under the Research and the Training Programmes, and evaluates the Research Programme. The Executive Director, assisted by the Secretariat, manages the Consortium's operations. The Board of Directors takes responsibility for the overall management and financial health of the Consortium.

Since AERC's inception, its donors have pooled their funding for the Research and Training programmes. In approving the Consortium's annual work programme, the Board of Directors endorses the proposed allocation of funds to the set of activities proposed by the Executive Director as a whole, not to particular themes, proposals or grantees. The Consortium may also manage special collaborative research projects that have been approved by the Programme Committee and for which funds are earmarked. In such cases, the Board exercises its oversight responsibility by ensuring that managing these projects does not overstretch the Secretariat's capacity.

The Board of Directors

Composition and Appointment
The Board of Directors is a mixed body comprising both institutional Directors and Directors-at-large. The former are appointed by Members of the Consortium, donors who contribute or expressly commit themselves to contribute a minimum of $100,000 per annum for core activities (i.e., funding that is not earmarked) for the subsequent fiscal year to AERC. The latter are elected by the Board following nomination by the Nominating Committee on the basis of the candidates' expertise and knowledge of the policy environment in Africa. The Executive Director of AERC and the Chair of the Programme Committee are ex officio members of the Board with vote.

Officers
The Directors elect a Chair, a Deputy Chair, a Treasurer, a Secretary, and one or more Directors who together make up the Executive Committee, each serving for a three-year term. It has been recent AERC practice to elect a Board Chair who is not on the staff of a donor agency.

Functions
The Board manages the affairs of the Consortium and has the following tasks:

1. Approve the Consortium's multi-year Strategy and its annual Programme of Work and Budget;
   
2. Appoint the Executive Director and the other international officers of the Secretariat;
   
3. Approve the Consortium's policies and procedures;
   
4. Approve the Consortium's annual report and audited financial statements;
   
5. Commission evaluations of the Consortium's performance;
   
6. Take appropriate measures to ensure the Consortium's long-term financial viability;
   
7. Appoint the officers of the Consortium; and
   
8. Take any other action that is in pursuance of the objects of the Consortium and consistent with the Board's responsibility to manage the affairs of the Consortium.

In carrying out these functions, the Board undertakes to respect the governing principles stated above.

Meetings
The Board meets at least once a year and may hold special meetings when required or requested by one or more members. Its Executive Committee meets three times a year.

The Programme Committee

Composition
The Programme Committee is composed of 13 members, 12 of whom are leading scholars and policy makers. Each of the following categories of membership has four representatives on the Committee:

• Senior scholars from sub-Saharan Africa
  
• Senior policy makers from sub-Saharan Africa
  
• Senior scholars from regions other than sub-Saharan Africa (international resource persons.

The eight African representatives on the Committee reflect the four geopolitical zones of the region: Eastern, Southern, Central and Western Africa.

The Executive Director is an ex officio member of the Committee with the right to vote and the Director of Research serves as the Secretary to the Committee. The Chair of the Programme Committee and the Chairs of its Training and Research Subcommittees make up its Executive Group.

Appointment
The members of the Programme Committee elect their Chair who becomes an ex officio member with the right to vote of the Board of Directors. The Committee Chair and the Executive Director jointly appoint members to fill any vacancies on the Committee. One of the responsibilities of the Chair is to communicate the Committee's recommendations on programme matters to the Board.

Functions
The Programme Committee:

• Set the Consortium's research agenda and determine its training priorities;
  
• Consider the Consortium's proposed multi-year Strategy and provide its views thereon to the Executive Director and to the Board of Directors;
  
• Review the proposed Programme of Work for each year and make recommendations thereon to the Executive Director and to the Board of Directors;
  
• Approve recipients for grants, awards, scholarships and fellowships;and
  
• Recommend the commissioning of evaluations of the Research and Training Programmes.

The Executive Director provides the Committee with all relevant financial information to assist it in making its programming choices.

Meetings
The Programme Committee meets at least twice a year as a full committee. Its Training and Research Subcommittees also meet at least twice a year.

The Executive Director and the Secretariat

Composition and Functions
The Executive Director is the Chief Operating Officer of the Consortium. He/she heads the Secretariat and leads the Senior Management Team made up of himself/herself and the Directors of Research and of Training, all of whom are international employees. The Executive Director is an ex officio member of all AERC committees. In consultation with the Programme Committee, the Executive Director proposes the annual Programme of Work and Budget and the multi-year Strategy to the Board of Directors. Once the Board has approved the Strategy, the Executive Director uses it as reference for the period in question.

The Secretariat implements the approved Programme of Work and Budget. It is currently organized into two programmes; Training and Research, and two divisions, Resources and Communications. The Chief of Resources is the senior locally engaged employee, and manages both financial and human resources.

Appointment
The Executive Director and the Directors of Research and Training are appointed by the Board of Directors following an international search. They each serve a term of five years renewable once.

The Academic Boards

The Secretariat implements the Training Programme through two Academic Boards, one for the Collaborative Master's Programme (CMAP) and one for the Collaborative PhD Programme (CPP).

The CMAP Board
The CMAP Academic Board is made up of the Heads of Economics Departments of the universities participating in the programme. It is the governing body for all academic matters in the Programme including approval of the common curricular requirements for the core courses, approval of the Programme's list of external examiners and their terms of reference, approval of the elective courses to be offered in the Joint Facility for Electives, and periodic review of the quality of the Programme and the performance of participating departments. The Consortium's Director of Training is an ex officio member with vote.

The CPP Board
The CPP Board is made up of those responsible for the collaborating graduate training programmes in the respective universities, the chairs of the CMAP and the francophone Programme de Troisième Cycle Interuniversitaire (PTCI), and four elected members. It is the governing body for all academic matters in the Programme. Its functions include approval of the common curricular requirements for the core and elective courses, approval of the Programme's list of external examiners and their terms of reference, approval of the elective courses to be offered in the Joint Facility for Electives, and periodic review of the quality of the Programme and the performance of participating departments. The Consortium's Director of Training is an ex officio member with vote.