Programme Overview

The Economic and Social Policy Division of ECA performs:

• Economic policy analysis
• Social policy and poverty analysis
• Macro economic and finance analysis
• Statistical development

The objective of ESPD’s subprogramme is to assist member States in designing and implementing effective economic and social policies and strategies so as to achieve sustained economic growth.

ESPD is concerned with providing a vision for Africa. It tackles a comprehensive array of subjects that range from macro finance planning to HIV/AIDS in a series of seminars, workshops, individual country advisory services, and publications aimed primarily at African policymakers.

ECA’s flagship the Economic Report on Africa (ERA) is compiled and edited by ESPD:

Other major outputs:

A. Servicing of intergovernmental and expert bodies:

i. Substantive servicing of meetings

Thirty-sixth session of the Conference of African Ministers of Finance, Planning and Economic Development

ii. Parliamentary Documentation

Reports to the Conference of African Ministers of Finance, Planning and Economic Development on selected themes (2004/2005)

iii. Ad hoc expert group meetings

• Assessing Economic Performance (2004/2005)
• Capital flows and current account sustainability in African countries
• Financial systems and resource mobilization
• Spatial dimension of poverty and inequality

B. Other substantive activities

i. Recurrent publications

• African Socio Economic Indicators
• African Statistical Yearbook
• Compendium of Intra-African and Related Foreign Trade Statistics
• ECA Policy Research Report
• Economic Report on Africa 2004/2005
• Integrated national and subregional economic, social and environmental indicators
• Newsletter on health and social conditions in Africa

ii. Non-recurrent publication

• A study on the organization and management of National Statistical Offices
• A study on the use of Geographic Information System (GIS) in National Statistical Offices for data collection and poverty mapping
• Capital flows and current account sustainability in African economies
• Country case studies for African Peer Review Mechanism
• Enhancing Health Systems in Africa
• Manual on Forecasting Economic Growth in Africa
• Poverty Profile of African countries
• Banking system and Domestic Resource Mobilization in Africa
• Youth, education, skills and employment

iii. Booklet, information kits

Promotional materials for African Statistics Day (poster and press communiqués) 2004/2005

iv. Special Events

• African Statistics Day 2004/2005
• African Development Forum on labour market and employment in Africa

v. Technical material

• Data for household survey (DHS)
• Poverty maps of selected African countries
• Regional Statistical Database

C. Technical Cooperation:

i. Advisory services

Ten advisory missions at the request of Governments on the formulation of development of policies and strategies, in particular economic reforms and poverty alleviation programmes

ii. Group trainings, seminars, and workshops

• New database development technologies and organization and management of development information, including dissemination on the web and used of geo-information in statistical offices
• Capital markets development and regulation
• African policy makers in the area of macroeconomics and finance
• Indicators for monetary and non-monetary poverty measurement and monitoring
• The 1993 System of National Accounts
• Organization and the management of National Statistical Offices/institutes

iii. Fellowships

To enhance capacity in development issues and policy analysis for the African Economic Regional Communities/ECA African fellows programme and on household surveys, poverty indicators and analysis

iv. Field Projects

• Collaboration between ECA and the Department of Economics, University of Pretoria to support the Research network for Development Policy Analysis (the United Nations African modeling project)
• Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper Learning Group.
    

Expected accomplishments:

• Improved capacity of member Sates to design and implement and monitor pro-poor development policies and strategies consistent with the framework set out in the millennium development goals and NEPAD
• Understanding by member States and regional organizations of the economic trends and developments in the regional and global economy
• Improved understanding of capacity gaps and constraints towards effective policy-making including in the area of statistical capacity
• Enhanced ability of member States to confront challenges posed by pandemic diseases such as HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria, etc.
• Increased mobilization of financial resources for the development of Africa countries
• Enhancement of the institutional capacity of the least developed countries for economic management