“Understanding and Avoiding the Oil Curse in the Arab World” was the theme for the ERF & AFESD Conference

January 23, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Organized jointly by the Economic Research Forum and the Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development, the conference “Understanding and Avoiding the Oil Curse in the Arab World” was held in Kuwait on January 15-16, 2012 and convened around 100 regional and international researchers.

Eleven countries of the twenty-two members of the League of the Arab States are oil exporters and they account for approximately 55 percent of global oil reserves and 29 percent of natural gas reserves. The hydrocarbon sector dominates these economies, contributing about 50 percent to GDP and 80 percent to government revenues. Neighboring countries are also impacted by oil, through its impact on labor earnings, capital mobility and trade in goods and services between oil and non-oil exporters. If the region does not harness the power of natural resources, it is likely to experience extreme volatility, post-boom growth collapses, Dutch disease, weakened institutions and rent-seeking behaviors: the so called “oil curse.”  The reverse also holds.

In this context ERF has initiated a major research undertaking on “understanding and avoiding the oil curse in the Arab world,” which aims at understanding the macroeconomic challenges related to oil dependency as well as exploring options to address those challenges including fiscal, financial, monetary and exchange rate policies.

Bringing together renowned academics and policy makers, the primary objective of this conference was to initiate discussions on the macroeconomic challenges posed by oil dependency in Arab countries, and of policies for harnessing the power of natural resources. The conference was preceded by a workshop, which was held in Cairo on October 7- 8 2011 to discuss draft papers.

To view posts from the Conference, check the ERF blog

Download the conference agenda

Follow-us on twitter @ERFlatest

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Some findings on the investment climate and business environment in Africa

January 9, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Once again, I am sharing with you a couple of video interviews I made in Kampala, Uganda at the GDNet-TrustAfrica Policy Workshop held on June 7-8, 2011.

Francis Kemausuor, Energy Centre at the Kwameh Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in Ghana, presented the findings and recommendations from his paper on “Jatropha biofuels in Ghana – Making informed policy decisions”. The study addresses the role policy can play in the emerging biofuels industry to the benefit of Ghana. It shows that jatropha production could be more rewarding for investors when using irrigation under the application of fertilizer, and could be even more promising at the national level if Ghana begins commercial production of clean jatropha oil.

Margaret Matanda explored the complexity of the new market entry and the risk taking by earthenware manufacturers through her paper on “Entrepreneurial orientation and access to new markets by small-scale earthenware manufacturers in Western Kenya”.

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Take away lessons from the GDNet-TrustAfrica Workshop

January 8, 2012 by Leave a Comment

It has been quite a while since I posted the last blog from the GDNet-trustAfrica Policy Workshop held in Kampala, Uganda, on June 7-8, 2011.

During the workshop, I have had the opportunity to interview some of the participants about the so-called “take away lessons” from the workshop. I thought of making a blog out of those interviews since it is important for GDNet to keep an eye on what participants learn from the research communications capacity building events, and to use their comments and critics to improve the training workshops and materials.

Watch highlights from researchers sharing what they learned from the workshop below:

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Dr. Justine Nannyonjo discusses communicating research at the Bank of Uganda

January 4, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Blog written and posted by Betty Allen on Research to Action

I recently co-facilitated a Policy Brief Writing workshop for the Global Development Network (GDNet) and the African Economic Research Consortium (AERC) in Nairobi, Kenya.

This workshop brought together a specific group of researchers who have produced research papers for the AERC “ICT and Economic Development” Project and is the fourth in a series of research communications capacity building workshops, which have been taking place globally since 2010.  The researchers came from Cameroon, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, the Congo, Senegal, Tanzania and Uganda and it was incredibly interesting to hear about the different levels of capacity their research institutions and organizations have for communicating the work they carry out.

In the short clip below, one of the workshop participants, Dr. Justine Nannyonjo, Head of Domestic Resource Costs and Index of Agricultural Production at the Bank of Uganda, discusses the challenges she faces in communicating her research. The Bank of Uganda has an in-house communications department and policymaking body, which come together every week to discuss research findings. However, opportunities remain limited for researchers in connecting with these key decision-makers. Dr. Nannyonjo believes that “communicating in the Bank is fairly new” and it must be pushed and encouraged.

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Accessibility is Key: A journalist’s perspective on communicating research

January 4, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Blog written and posted by Betty Allen on Research to Action

There have been a number of posts on Research to Action about researchers and journalists working together to communicate development research. Practical tips on how to target Journalists with your research through Twitter looks at the ways you can utilise social media’s ever-expanding reach to build up a following for your work. Friendship or Friction? Bringing journalists and researchers together highlights research as a valuable source for journalists and outlines practical skills that can build trust and collaboration between these two fields.

At a recent Global Development Network (GDNet) and African Economic Research Consortium (AERC) workshop on ‘Writing Policy Briefs’ in Nairobi, Kenya, a media panel was held for participants. One of the key speakers during this session was Nick Benequista, who worked for a number of years as a journalist writing on finance, business, economics and agriculture for Bloomberg news in Latin America.

Nick gave some great advice on how researchers can work alongside journalists to get their work into the public eye. He stressed that the most fundamental thing they should do is make themselves accessible, stating “If I have to call up your communications department to get authorisation to talk to you…I’m not going to call.”

He also emphasised the importance of academics working together with the media and outlined these key factors in making it this happen:

  • Think about media hooks – how to you connect your story to an event or story in order to make it travel in the news.
  • Be able to summarise your research quickly and succinctly.
  • Critical opinion is important, don’t sit on the fence and be specific with journalists as to how they should use your comments upfront.
  • Build good personal relationships with journalists and encourage open access and trust.
  • Do a made for media event through your institution to raise your profile (or if you cannot organise one yourself piggy-back onto another event).

Nick ended his talk with an element of caution, telling researchers that their research might not get directly into the media straight away but that it is just as important to draw attention to the issues behind your work, stating:

“A lot of the time researchers think that they are going to get their study quoted in the media, that’s unlikely to happen…Most of the time it’s your ideas that will get into the media.”

Watch highlights from Nick’s talk below:

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