CAPACITY DEVELOPMENT IN AFRICA: ECONOMIC
POLICY MANAGEMENT PROGRAM AT MAKERERE
UNIVERSITY
Panelist: Prof. J Ddumba-Ssentamu, DEAN, Faculty of
Economics and Management, Makerere University,
Uganda
1
Rationale for the EPM Progam
• Challenges Facing Sub-Saharan African countries:
– Low economic growth leading to low standards of
living;
– Poor public resource management;
– Poor access to international markets;
– Weak institutions;
– Poor delivery of public services;
– Lack of human, organizational and institutional
capacity
– Poor performance of the public sector
2
Rationale (contn)
• Existing masters programs in Africa and overseas could
not adequately meet the economic management training
needs in the context of the foreseen problems and
challenges.
• The need for policy analysts and economic managers
exceeds the training capacity of existing masters
programmes in economics in Sub-Saharan Africa.
• Executing agencies for projects lack the necessary
institutional capacity for investment programming, policy
analysis and monitoring and expenditure management.
3
Rationale contnd
• To address the Sub-Saharan Africa’s
capacity needs in the area of policy
making, a Masters degree in economic
policy management was established in
1998 at Makerere University together with
other 3 universities in Africa.
• Program is jointly funded by ACBF and
JJ/WBGSP
4
Structure of the Program
• Overall goal of the EPM program is to improve the
efficiency of the public sector in Sub-Saharan African
countries through enhancement of capacity for economic
policy analysis and management.
• The specific objectives of the program are to:
– Train a critical mass of relevant mid-level officers in
Economic Policy Management from Sub-Saharan
African countries and equip them with the required
professional skills and attitudes.
– Strengthen the institutional and human capacity of
Makerere University to offer a graduate-level
programme in economic policy management.
– Develop teaching materials.
– Network with EPM programmes in Africa.
– Form alumni networks.
5
Structure of the Programme
• The curriculum consists of the following components:
– Economics Core: The objective of this core is to
review economic principles and the fundamentals of
microeconomics and macroeconomics for economic
policy advisors. In addition, the economics core offers
practitioners the opportunity to apply these tools in a
policy analysis situation.
– Management Core: Policy advisors must work within
and across organizations and therefore they need
strategic management tools. The purpose of this core
is to provide tools and techniques for analyzing
organizations and situations; use methods for
strategy formulation, implementation and managing
strategic change; as well as techniques for human
resource management and leadership skills.
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Structure of the pgm
– Policy Core: The purpose of this core is to provide
tools and techniques for designing policies to
overcome problems facing Sub-Saharan African
countries.
– Computer Skills: Because the computer is becoming
the basic tool in policy analysis and communication,
participants are required to take a course in Computer
skills for Economic Policy Management.
– Electives: To meet the interests and needs of
individual participants, two electives in the
programme are selected, one from Economics and
the other from Management.
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Structure of the pgm
– Electives in Economics include:
•
•
•
•
•
Monetary Economics and Banking;
Agricultural Development Policy
Industrial Development Policy
International Economics
Resource and Environmental Economics
– The Electives in Management include:
• Entrepreneurship and Innovation
• Human Resource Management
• Leadership and Inter- Personal Dynamics
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Structure of the pgm
– Policy Research Paper: Students are required to write
a Policy Research Paper on a topic of their own
choice under a Faculty Member’s supervision, and
are encouraged to take an elective related to their
Policy Research Paper.
– Field Trips: To increase the practical orientation of the
programme, field trips are organized.
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Achievements of EPM Makerere
• Together with the African Capacity Building
Foundation, the JJ/WBGSP has been offering
scholarships to scholars of the Masters Program
in Economic Policy Management at Makerere
University.
• Since 1998, JJ/WBGSP has awarded a total of
60 scholarships worth US$ 1,121,949. Out of
these, 35 (58.3 percent) went to males while 25
(41.7 percent) went to females. Nine countries
have benefited from JJ/WBGSP.
10
EPM Students by Gender and Country of Origin; 1998/99-2006/07
Cohort
I
II
III
IV
V
VI
VII
VIII
IX
1998/99
1999/00
2000/01
2001/02
2002/03
2003/04
2004/05
2005/06
2006/07
6
7
7
7
7
7
6
6
7
60
Female
2
3
4
3
3
4
2
2
2
25
Male
4
4
3
4
4
3
4
4
5
35
Ethiopia
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
7
Kenya
1
2
2
2
1
1
Number of
Students
TOTAL
Gender
Country
Malawi
2
3
1
Rwanda
1
Sierra Leone
2
2
4
1
1
3
Tanzania
Zambia
1
1
Sudan
Uganda
1
14
1
1
2
2
2
2
3
2
1
2
19
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
8
1
1
1
4
11
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Achievements
• At the individual student level, there is ample evidence
that the graduands of the EPM Makerere program have
not only acquired important skills, but have also been
promoted in their organizations and some have acquired
better jobs.
• The EPM graduands are employed in the following
areas:
– Government Ministry/Agency;
– International/Regional Organizations;
– Non-governmental organizations;
– University;
– Private sector; and
– Self-employed/Consultant.
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Achievements
• National governments or agencies are the major
employers of EPM Makerere graduands. The Makerere
EPM graduands job description covers a wide span that
includes:
–
–
–
–
–
–
Policy making;
Research;
Provision of services;
Project implementation;
Prevention of corruption; and
Management and information/knowledge dissemination.
• EPM alumni are now working as senior economists or
policy analysts in the planning units of the ministries of
finance, planning and economic development; as
economists in parliament budget offices as well as
economists in local governments.
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Emerging Issues
• Since 1998, the EPM Makerere has made great
contribution towards the development of human resource
capacity that can respond to the policy analysis, design
and management needs of Sub-Saharan Africa.
• There is still need therefore for the EPM program at
Makerere to continue contributing to human resource
capacity development in the region, especially in the
following areas:
– Policy analysis
– Poverty analysis and Monitoring
– Public sector planning
– Fiscal policy budgetary process
– Debt management
– Negotiation skills
– Trade policy
15
Emerging Issues
• In addition to the insufficient capacity to fulfill the African
continent’s needs, EPM Makerere has not ensured
adequate geographical coverage of Eastern and
Southern Africa.
• Support for public sector capacity building needs to
address three dimensions of public sector capacity:
human capacity; organizational capacity and institutional
capacity.
• Due to donor fatigue as well as financial constraints that
Sub-Saharan African countries are faced with, there is
need for networking. Networking is the solution for
capacity building in Africa.
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Emerging Issues
• The future prospects of the EPM program should be
boosted through ensuring the quality of its products by
becoming a center of excellence.
• There is need for development partners to commit more
resources to 6 centers of excellence on the continent:
– Abdijan and Yaounde for Francophone;
– Ghana for Anglo Phone West and Central Africa;
– Makerere University for Eastern Africa;
– Zambia for Southern Africa and
– Mozambique for Lusophone countries).
• Finally, judging by the number of applicants to join the
EPM program (about 150 each year), there is no doubt
that the program meets an important need in the building
of human resource capacity in Sub-Saharan Africa.
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