Networking - the linking of individuals and institutions in a knowledge sharing, experience sharing framework - is the key strategic instrument for implementing AERC's activities. The Consortium is itself a network of 12 funders who support a commonly agreed programme of research activities, its dissemination and the training of future potential researchers. This provides a critical mass of support for a set of coordinated activities with shared overheads.

The Research Programme networks individual researchers in the region - supported by eminent resource persons - to carry out research on selected themes. This alleviates professional isolation, encourages exchange of experiences and creates peer pressure for enhancing quality. The emphasis of the programme is on the quality and policy relevance of the research. Quality is achieved through a dynamic support system that features peer review and technical and literature backup. Through its website the Consortium is linked to other resource centres worldwide, while resource persons from around the world enrich the technical base and the variety of research experiences. Methodology workshops sharpen research skills and expose the network to relevant developments.

The Training Programme brings together a network of 27 universities in 20 countries in a collaborative approach to both master's and PhD training. The approach rationalizes the use of limited teaching capacity, attains a critical mass of students, offers a larger menu of electives and jointly enforces high standards. At the master's level similar initiatives in the francophone countries and in Nigeria, both originating from AERC studies, are based on the same concept.


Our network includes

• The Economic and Social Research Foundation (ESRF) - Tanzania
• Economic Policy Research Centre (EPRC) - Uganda
• Centre for Policy Analysis - Ghana
• Trade and Industrial Policy Secretariat (TIPS) - South Africa
• Macro Economic and Financial Management Institute (MEFMI) - Zimbabwe
• Centre de Recherche en Economie Applique (CREA) - Senegal
• Institute of Statistical , Social and Economic Research (ISSER) - Ghana
  
• Nigerian Institute of Social and Economic Research (NISER)- Nigeria
  
• National Centre for Economic Management and Administration (NCEMA) - Nigeria
  
• Programme de Troisième Cycle Inter-universitaire en Economie (PTCI) - Burkina Faso
  
• Botswana Institute for Development Policy Analysis (BIDPA) - Botswana
  
• South African Trade and Research Network (SATRN) - Botswana
  
• The Namibian Economic Policy Research Unit (NEPRU) - Namibia
  
• Kenya Institute for Public Policy Research and Analysis (KIPPRA) - Kenya
  
• Centre Ivoirien de Recherche Economique et Sociale (CIRES) - Côte d' Ivoire
  

Universities

• University of Benin (Nigeria)
• University of Botswana
• University of Cape Coast (Ghana)
• University of Cape Town (RSA)
• University of Cocody (Cote d'Ivoire)
• University of Dar es Salaam (Tanzania)
• University of Ghana
• University of Ibadan (Nigeria)
• University of Liberia
• University of Namibia
• University of Nairobi (Kenya)
• University of Malawi
• University of Mauritius
• University of Swaziland
• University of Sierra Leone
• University of Witwatersrand (RSA)
• University of Yaounde II (Cameroon)
• University of Zambia
• University of Zimbabwe
• Addis Ababa University (Ethiopia)
• Egerton University, (Kenya)
• Eduardo Mondlane University (Mozambique)
• Kwame Nkurumah University of Science and Technology (Kumasi, Ghana)
• Kenyatta University (Kenya)
• Moi University (Kenya)
• Makerere University (Uganda)
• National University of Lesotho