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 IDEP's 43rd Governing Council Meeting 

On 23 and 24 September 2003, IDEP hosted the 43rd meeting of its Governing Council which was held under the  Institute's revised Statute. At its meeting held in Johannesburg in October 2002, the UNECA Conference of Ministers  of Finance, Planning and Economic Development approved the revised Statute of IDEP as well as its Medium Term  Strategy and Indicative Programme of Work 2003-2006. The changes in the Statute relate to the composition of the  Governing Council, which now includes representatives of ten African countries appointed by each of the five  subregions. Also represented are key African development institutions such as ADB, AU and ECA as non-voting  members. Civil Society Organizations and the Private Sector also serve on the Governing Council, with two non-voting  representatives each. The UNDP and the host country complete the list of members, while the Executive Secretary of  UNECA is the ex-officio Chairman. The changes also include the creation of an Executive Committee. 

Being the first Council meeting held under the revised Statute, it brought together a mix of high-level representatives  and experts from government, civil society, the private sector and academia. Council discussed the Institute's  management report, programme of work and financial matters and approved the proposed programme and budget for  the next biennium. It also approved proposals to transfer SISERA, formerly hosted by the IDRC Secretariat, to IDEP  and adopted a resolution to that effect. 

Council members expressed their satisfaction with the achievements of the Institute under the management of the new  Director, and reiterated the need for continued support from Member States through the regular payment of their  contributions. 

 UPDATE ON TRAINING ACTIVITIES 

The MA Programme 

Theses

Three trainees successfully defended their M.A.  theses and were awarded the M.A. Degree. The  table below gives the details. 

Selection of MA candidates for academic  year 2003/2004 

More than 50 applicants have been provisionally  admitted to the M.A. Programme. The candidates  are required to confirm their effective participation  in the programme.

Academic Rules 

The Academic Rules and Regulations, having gone  through the Academic Committee, came into  effect on 1 September, 2003 after approval by the  Management Team. 

IDEP is seeking Visiting Lecturers for  its MA Programme in Economic Policy and Management

Scholarships for Qualified MA Trainees 

IDEP is pleased to announce the offer of a limited  number of scholarships for candidates admitted to  its 18-month MA Degree Programme in  Economic Policy and Management, starting from  the 2004/2005 academic year. The scholarships  will cover full tuition waiver, a modest living  stipend, and allowance for books, documentation  and thesis preparation. 

Beneficiaries will be nominated by their respective  countries or institutions, which will also be  responsible for the cost of travel to and from  Dakar, Senegal. Selection will be based on merit of  the candidate and needs of the country or  institution concerned, and will be done by the  Academic Committee of IDEP. 

Candidates must apply and be admitted into the  IDEP M.A. programme for each academic year of  study. The applicants should possess an excellent  academic record and at least two years of working  experience. They must be from the African  continent and have a good command of English  or French – the two main working languages of  IDEP. 

Application forms can be downloaded from the  IDEP web page and submitted by the  nominating country or institution not later than  August of each academic year which starts in early  November. 

Short Courses 

Implementation of the Agricultural  Policy Analysis Course: Anglophone  Session 

The four-week Anglophone session of the Course  on Agricultural Policy Analysis in Africa was run  as scheduled, from 21 July to 22 August 2003. It  was fully sponsored by IDEP. Out of 50 nominees  from 18 countries, 20 were selected and offered  fellowships. Criteria for selection included:  academic qualification, past experience, current  position, gender and regional balance. 

Two of the selected candidates, from Namibia and  Lesotho, did not come due to unforeseen  circumstances and it was too late to replace them.  The 18 participants included 6 females and 12  males.  

They came from 15 countries, namely: Botswana,  Cameroon, Egypt, Ethiopia, Gambia, Ghana,  Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria, Seychelles, Sierra Leone,  Swaziland, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. 

A total of 12 course topics were delivered by 4  external resource persons from Cameroon, Nigeria  and Senegal, in addition to the course Coordinator. 

The evaluation of the session covered various  aspects including: course contents and delivery,  training material distributed, accommodation,  working environment and suggestions for  improvement. 

The results of the evaluation were highly positive  on all aspects, particularly on the content and delivery  of course modules. The dedication of IDEP staff, the  computer and library facilities, and the clean  environment, were particularly mentioned among the  most appreciated things beyond the skills acquired.  The address delivered by the Representative of the  Participants during the closing ceremony stressed the  very significant contribution of the course in  strengthening their professional capacity. The training  gave them not only new skills but also the  opportunity to develop a network of alumni, with a  view to pursuing professional exchanges and  friendship relations initiated during the course.  

The closing ceremony, which took place on 22  August, was attended by Senegalese Officials and  Representatives of International Organizations, as  well as African Embassies in Dakar. All the 18  participants successfully completed the course and  received their certificates. 

Feedback from Course Participants 

Having returned to their home countries and duty  stations after the one-month course at IDEP,  participants had this to say: 

"This is just to thank you once more for the  important work you do for Africa.  Progress has to start somewhere and IDEP is  a good start. May IDEP have its impact in  this new decade and may AFRICA have  people like you around to make a difference.  Thank you for taking good care of all of us  during our stay in Dakar." 

Walter Christopher Talma

Director General of Agricultural Planning and  Training,  

Ministry of Agriculture and Marine Resources,  

Seychelles (Sent 23 September 2003)

"Indeed I have benefited a lot from the  training, and the skills I acquired from it will  be life-long skills with me. The same is true  for most of my colleagues, because we  discussed a lot about the program and the  quality of the instructors." 

Fafanding Fatajo, 

Agricultural Economics Research Fellow 

National Agricultural Research Institute  Serrekunda  

The Gambia (Sent 15 September 2003) 

"We arrived in Kenya safely and we were  happy about everything, particularly the  course that enriched our working knowledge.  I am sure it will benefit many more African  countries." 

Mwangi Johnson Maina 

Senior Economist 

Ministry of Planning and National Development  

Nairobi Kenya  (Sent 10 September 2003) 

"Thank you very much for everything you did  for us while in Dakar. May Allah bless you and  all that you are doing! As of now, your training  has made me the only policy analyst at my  workplace though we have a lot of senior  policy researchers. Thank you very much for  what you have put in me. I hope I will be  given the opportunity to put my expertise on  display''. 

Ampadu Richard Ameyaw 

Research Scientist 

Science and Technology Policy Research Institute  

Accra Ghana (Sent 11 September 2003) 

Start of the Francophone Session 

The Francophone session of the Course on  Agricultural Policy Analysis started on 22  September 2003, as planned. There are 23  participants enrolled, including 21 sponsored by  IDEP and two who secured scholarships from  other sources. Out of the 21 participants  sponsored by IDEP, 10 are women. 

Twenty countries are represented, namely Angola,  Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape  Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo,  Côte d'Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo,  Gabon, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Madagascar, Mali,  Niger, Rwanda, Sao Tome & Principe, Senegal,  and Togo. The course will be completed on 23  October 2003. 

Graduate Research Series 

Materials under the Graduate Research Series  continue to be produced by IDEP research  trainees in the form of theses. As soon as the  requisite human and financial resources are  available, the first issues in this series will be  published. 

 COLLABORATION AND  PARTNERSHIPS 

Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the  Netherlands 

The Director undertook a mission to the Ministry  of Foreign Affairs, the Netherlands on July 15,  2003 to meet with officials in charge of  institutional cooperation and discuss priorities of  the Government regarding the establishment of  cooperation for African development and a  number of other initiatives, including IMF's  AFRITAC project. The project is meant to  provide capacity building to African policymakers  in the field from a number of centres based in  Africa. The main motive of the discussions was to  exchange views with the respective officials, taking  into account their opinions and those of the  African Conference of Ministers of Finance. From the discussions, it was quite clear that the  Dutch Government strongly supports African  ownership in the domain of capacity building.  

The Dutch authorities requested that IDEP be  part of a team that is to prepare a review  document to be used for formulating future  orientations of the Ministry with respect to  international cooperation with developing  countries.  

The European Union 

While in Europe, the Director also contacted the  European Union Headquarters in Brussels and  held discussions with officials of the European  Commission as a follow-up on previous initiatives  aimed at collaboration and assistance concerning a  capacity building project in the amount of 50  Million Euros. 

Discussions about this have been ongoing since  December 2002. The EU officials informed the  Director that the Project Committee had approved  the proposed Concept Paper, and that a significant  role had been planned for IDEP in the design of  the project. Consequently, a meeting was  scheduled for a later period to further discuss the  role that IDEP could play in the project. IDEP  has expressed an interest in managing the  component of the project that covers capacity  building in research. 

IBF Project Management Unit 

The visit to the EU Headquarters provided the  Director with an opportunity to visit IBF Project  Management Unit offices to seek collaboration  and partnership in the execution of EU capacity  building projects in sub-Saharan Africa. A number  of African countries have requested the EU for  financial support for capacity building in the area  of trade negotiation capacity, and it is considered  that this could be a chance to initiate significant  partnership with IDEP. While some of the  projects are modest in size and focus only on a  few countries, this initiative may provide an  excellent opportunity for collaboration between  the EU and IDEP, especially for capacity building  programmes aimed at supporting Africa's Regional  Economic Communities.  

Second Visit to the Ministry of Foreign  Affairs, the Netherlands 

As a follow-up to the July contacts mentioned above,  the Director visited the European Union Headquarters  in Brussels on 19 and 20 August, 2003 for a third  meeting since December 2002 to discuss the upcoming  Trade.com-All ACP Institutional Trade Capacity  Building Facility initiative. The 50-Million Euro  program has been in gestation since December 2002.  While the project has been approved internally, some  of its technical details are still being finalized. During  the discussions, it was revealed that the initiative will be  entrusted to a Project Management Unit on a  competitive basis. IDEP was invited to tender its  interest either alone or in a consortium, given its  favourable image at the Commission. 

Meeting of the Heads of European  Development Research and Training  Institutions 

On 6 September 2003, Professor Aloysius Amin,  IDEP's Deputy Director/Chief of Training Division  attended the meeting of Heads of the European  Development Research and Training Institutions which  was held under the aegis of the European Association  of Development Research and Training Institutions  (EADI).  

A network of European institutes, researchers and  students of various disciplines in the field of  development studies, the EADI develops contacts with  researchers from other regions of the world. At the  meeting Prof. Amin had interesting discussions with  officials of the Overseas Development Institute and  the United Nations University (UNU)/ Comparative  Regional Integration Studies (CRIS) concerning the  various areas in which mutual collaboration can be  established. It was noted that UNU/CRIS is also  working with COMESA on regional integration issues.  Based on the already established links with some  African Regional Economic Communities, further  cooperation could start in the area of regional  integration.  

Efforts are on to select SISERA  Executive Director (ED) 

IDRC and the Steering Committee of SISERA have  been looking for a new Executive Director of SISERA.  The Director was invited to participate as a member of  the interview panel that sat in Paris, France, on 11-12  August 2003. This is a good development, considering  SISERA's upcoming transfer from IDRC to IDEP.  

 NEWS UPDATE 

VSAT Equipment Arrives 

The VSAT equipment donated to IDEP by the  United Nations Economic Commission for Africa  (UNECA) has already been received and is about  to be installed. 

Through the VSAT Link, it is envisaged that the  Institute will enhance the capacity and speed of its  communication system for the provision of value  added services. The link will further facilitate  IDEP's communication capacity for data, voice  and video lines. This is a welcome development,  especially at the current stage where  communication networks require high speed  connections for multimedia applications. 

From 8 to 10 September 2003, a ECA technical  team led by Mr. Gideon de Beer (ISS) and  including Mr. Olana Afework (ISS), Mr. Fisseha  Bisrat (ISS) and Mr. Melakou Guirbo (FMS/ISS)  visited IDEP to carry out a site survey for the  installation of the V-SAT. It is expected that the  actual installation and testing of the equipment will  take place shortly. 

Acquisition of Computer Equipment 

Fifty Optiplex GX 280 Dell desktop computers  ordered through IAPSO (IDEP e-Newsletter, Vol. 1.  No 2) were received in July 2003. Twenty of them  were installed in the Computer Centre/Lab and the  rest were allocated to staff members. 

IDEP Web Page Use Report 

On 9 September 2003, IDEP's Internet Service  Provider (ISP) and the Computer Centre put the final  touches to the Internet connection parameters, ending  a long process that began in July when it was noticed  that the website www.unidep.org was not visible from  outside the IDEP LAN. 

As if web browsers were just  waiting for that news, the website had to deal with 271  hits on its first day of availability, and a total of 6,839  for the month of September (see chart), coming from  all over the world.  

The Institute wishes to thank the browsers for their  interest in its website. A detailed report is available at  the website. 

Feedback from IDEP e-Newsletter  

Readers Several comments and good wishes have been received  from readers of the IDEP e-Newsletter, especially the  IDEP alumni. The editorial team wishes to thank them  for their interest and invites them to frequently logon  to the Institute's web page for updated information  concerning training and research activities. Due to lack  of space in this publication, only one feedback message  will be published in each issue. The selected message  for this issue is as follows: 

''I wish to acknowledge receipt of the first two  issues of the IDEP`s e-Newsletters. While  thanking you, I wish to praise the initiative and  also to hail the rich content of the Newsletter. It is  always a pleasure to pause for a flashback to  appreciate the education and inspiration received  from IDEP, but also more importantly to know  that the Alma Mater is fairing very well and  growing from strength to strength. I wish to encourage you to uphold the high  standards you have set while wishing the entire  management of IDEP more grease to your elbows. Once more thank you.'' 

BWEH Ewane Vinatius <bwewanev@yahoo.co.uk> 4 October 2003 

New Books Received 

Following orders made in May/June, several core  economics books in English and French have now  been received, processed and added to the library  stacks. The electronic public access catalogue (EPAC)  has also been updated and can now be accessed  through the IDEP LAN or Intranet. It is envisaged  that more library materials will be ordered on a  continuous basis, especially with the recent increase in  the library budget. Plans are under way to upload the  bibliographic and factual databases, and the electronic  catalogues onto the IDEP web site for online access.  The Accession Lists and the CD-ROM based  electronic libraries catalogues can now be accessed via  the Intranet. Users may consult both the electronic and  hardcopies at their convenience.

CD-ROM Electronic Library Catalogue  Updates Enhanced 

One of the overall objectives of the IDEP Library is to  ensure timely access to economics data, whatever their  sources. An indispensable source of these data and  information is to be found in the form of CD-ROM- based Electronic Libraries and databases. Since the year  2000, the Library has acquired and continues to collect  this form of materials for the benefit of the user  community. 

The Catalogue which contains the cumulative  collection is housed in the library and is available for  consultation by registered library users. A new update,  with colour pictures and use guidelines is now available  in both the electronic and hardcopy formats.  

The listed CDs can only be read using the computers in  the Library reading room. They are treated as reference  materials and may not be borrowed. However, lecturers  may sign out CDs for use in the classrooms. For  further information on the rules governing the use of  these materials, users are kindly requested to refer to  the Library Management Policies and Procedures  document, now available on the Intranet. 

Conference Room Refurbished 

The renovation work on the Conference room,  which included the acquisition of modern  conference tables and chairs, was completed in  August 2003. 

The Conference Room has a seating  capacity of fifty places and is equipped with  simultaneous interpretation equipment. It offers  conference and secretariat services to other UN offices  and Intergovernmental Organizations. The demand for  the IDEP Conference services has increased after the  renovation work. It is hoped that this will increase the income generated  from the rental of the conference services, especially in  view of the fact that the VSAT Link will soon be  providing video and teleconferencing facilities. 

Staff News 

The Third Conference on the  Capability Approach: From Sustainable  Development to Sustainable Freedom,  University of Pavia, Italy, 6-9  September 2003. 

IDEP's Deputy Director & Chief of Training, Prof  Aloysius Amin participated at the Third Conference on  the Capability Approach: From Sustainable  Development to Sustainable Freedom, Pavia, 6-9  September 2003, where he presented a paper entitled  "Economic Growth and Human Development with Capability  Expansion". During the conference he also chaired a  session on "Food Insecurity in Africa and Latin  America.'' There were interesting discussions on both  theoretical and practical issues, with world famous  economists giving key note speeches at the four  plenary sessions. 

Prof. Amin also held useful discussions on possible  collaboration between IDEP and some of the key  personalities, including Dr. Sakiko Fukuda-Parr,  Director of the Human Development Report Office of  the UNDP, New York and Prof. Jochen  Oppenheimer, Director, African Studies, Higher  Institute of Economics and Management, Technical  University of Lisbon, among others.  

IDEP Staff Attend UNPAN's  Electronic Information Management  Training Workshop in Greece 

From 22 to 25 September 2003, two IDEP Staff  members, Mr. Charles Bara and Ms Paulette  Diene, both Library Assistants, attended a training  workshop organized by the Division for Public  Administration and Development Management, a  Division of the United Nations Department of  Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA) New  York. 

The workshop was organized under the  aegis of the United Nations Public Administration  Network (UNPAN), a virtual documentary  content network for which IDEP is one of the  three leading Online Regional Centres (ORCs) in  Africa. The workshop was held in Chalkidiki,  Greece, and was attended by participating  members of the UNPAN from Africa, Asia and  the Pacific, Canada, Europe, Latin America and  the Caribbean, and the USA.  

One of the major decisions made at the workshop  was that the network members are to establish an  UNPAN Newsletter, a quarterly publication which  will debut on 1 November 2003. The two  colleagues learnt new skills and exchanged valuable  information regarding the management of digital  libraries and other electronic information, collating  and updating the UNPAN data content and the  development of documentary tools for the  UNPAN node at IDEP. They are already using  their experience to serve library users. The IDEP  community is most welcome to browse and  download documents from the UNPAN web  page, which can be found at:  http://www.unpan.org. The Newsletter can be  viewed at: http://www.unpan.org/discover-newsletter.asp 

Internal Directory 

An Internal Directory was published in August 2003  with the names of all staff, their telephone numbers  and email addresses. It can be consulted from the  IDEP Intranet. 

Recruitment 

Miss Berthilde MUKANYILIGIRA has been  recruited as Messenger/Machine Operator  effective 15 July 2003. The posts of Messenger  and Machine Operator have been combined as a  result of the staff downsizing exercise undertaken  in 2002.

© October 2003, 

United Nations African Institute for Economic Development and Planning – IDEP 

BP 3186, Dakar (Senegal) Tel: (221) 823-1020, Fax: (221) 822-2964  

Email: idep@unidep.org  Internet: http://www.unidep.org