In September 2002, with initial funding support from the Rockefeller Foundation, the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), in collaboration with the Eastern and Central African Policy Analysis Programme (ECAPAPA) and African Economic Research Consortium (AERC), initiated a collaborative process to plan and design a M.Sc. Program in Agricultural and Applied Economics for Eastern, Central, and Southern Africa. The process was developed in response to a 2001 study commissioned by IFPRI on the status of agricultural economics in the region that identified a widening gap between the demand and supply of agricultural economists and pointed to an urgent need to strengthen and expand training to meet this demand.
The heads of participating departments, under the umbrella body the Agricultural Economics Education Board (AEEB), were given the mandate to steer the process and develop a collaborative masters program in the region. Detailed planning of the program featured the direct engagement of the AEEB, technical support by a Program Coordinator and a Program Advisor, and mentoring by a high-level Steering Committee of experts and contributing donors. A plan was presented to various stakeholders in the latter half of 2003. These included potential clients for training in the 12 countries currently encompassed by the collaborating institutions, conferences of the International Association of Agricultural Economists and the African Association of Agricultural Economists, and a roundtable of donors.
The motivation behind the program is to provide appropriately trained, high-level professionals needed in promoting agricultural development and, given the importance of agriculture to the economies of the region, accelerated economic growth and poverty reduction. Graduates from the program will be employed in various capacities including research, higher education, the formulation and implementation of public policies, agro-enterprises, and non-governmental agencies (NGOs) facilitating production and marketing at the community level.
The two-year course of study will expose learners to economic concepts through eight core courses in addition to a common course in institutional and behavioural economics, a foundation course in each specialized field of study, and two electives after which the students embark on research work. The program will offer students the opportunity to undertake specialized study in one of the following fields:
- Agriculture and Rural Development;
- Agricultural Policy and Trade;
- Agribusiness Management; and
- Environment and Natural Resource Management
This is intended to equip professionals with knowledge and skills essential for transforming the agro-food sectors and rural economies of Eastern, Central and Southern Africa in an environmentally sustainable fashion. This is based on the premise that highly trained local professionals will be in a better position to address the challenges posed by changes in global and local economies, technology, and marketing by adapting their advanced knowledge and methods to the particular institutional, political, and economic circumstances of the region.
After being located at the International Development Research Center (IDRC) regional office in Nairobi for nearly two and a half years, the Secretariat was relocated to AERC in Nairobi as of May 1, 2005. AERC will also take over many of the responsibilities previously undertaken by IFPRI as the facilitating agency; however, IFPRI will continue selected facilitation activities until September 30, 2005. This is to ensure that the Program is hosted by an African institution pending its attainment of legal entity. This will also help to coordinate training as well as create room for collaboration in research with AERC and other African institutions undertaking similar tasks.
We at IFPRI have been proud and honored to have nurtured and facilitated the planning and early inception phases of this exciting and innovative collaborative process and feel that we have made an important contribution to a program that will further the development of agriculture and agribusiness within the Eastern, Central, and Southern Africa region.
- Proceedings of the Stakeholder Workshop on The Status of Agricultural Economics in East and Southern/Central AfricaOrganized by IFPRI in collaboration with The East and Central Africa Program for Agricultural Policy Analysis (ECAPAPA) and The African Economic Research Consortium (AERC) with support from The Rockefeller Foundation. 2001.
- Prepared by Marios Obwona and David Norman. November 2001. In collaboration with The East and Central Africa Program for Agricultural Policy Analysis (ECAPAPA) and The African Economic Research Consortium (AERC). Support from The Rockefeller Foundation (Nairobi). 2001.
The Collaborative M.Sc. Program has received support from the following organizations during its planning and early inception phase:
- African Capacity Building Foundation (ACBF)
- Comart Foundation
- International Development Research Centre (IDRC)
- The Rockefeller Foundation
- Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA)
- United Stages Agency for International Development (USAID)
For more information, please visit the program's website at: www.agriculturaleconomics.net
or contact:
Prof. Willis Oluoch-Kosura
Acting Program Director
E-mail: Willis.Kosura@aercafrica.org
Fax: (254) 20-2734170/73