The African Institute for Economic Development and Planning (IDEP) organized a first round of seven short courses for mid-career and senior level African policymakers during the first semester of 2016.

Those courses are part of IDEP’s portfolio of traditional short courses (organized on a yearly basis) and addressed the following important topics for Africa’s development:

• Agricultural policy in Africa from 14 th  to 25 th  March 2016
• International trade policy from 5 th  to 15 th  April 2016
• International trade negotiations from 11 th  to 22 nd  April 2016
• data analysis from 18 th  to 29 th  April 2016
• Fundamentals of development planning from 2 nd  to 13 th  May 2016  
• Industrial policy in Africa from 17 th  to 27 th  May 2016
• Macroeconomic modelling from 23 rd  May to 3 rd  June

All these short courses took place at IDEP’s headquarters in Dakar, Senegal.

In the framework of those training programs, 177 policymakers from 45 African countries were trained. All the five African sub-regions were represented and the continental coverage ratio was 83%. With regard to gender considerations, the number of female officials trained was 69 (39% of the participants), which reflects IDEP’s sustained efforts to attract female participants in its programs, given the relatively low number of female applicants.

Free e-Learning Course on Industrialization in Africa via Trade

In order to provide interested stakeholders with a better understanding of how trade can serve as an instrument of accelerated industrialization and structural transformation in Africa, the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) together with the Institute for Economic Development and Planning (IDEP), has partnered with the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) to offer an instructor-led e-Learning course based on ECA's Economic Report for Africa 2015. Online registration available here. More about the ECA in this BRIEFING.

Through the evaluation questionnaires, participants expressed their satisfaction with the quality of the courses. This was reflected in high ratings in terms of overall satisfaction, quality of the delivery, relevance of the course modules and competence of the experts. Generally, participants considered that the courses fulfilled their expectations very well.

The closing ceremonies of the training programs were chaired by high-ranking Senegalese government officials, including the Minister of Industry and Mining of Senegal. Ambassadors of countries represented in the courses also attended the ceremonies and commended IDEP for continuing to build the capacities of African government officials in key areas of development planning and economic policy management.

IDEP is starting the second round of short courses with the course on Mineral Policy and Contract Negotiations for public officials organized from 11 th  to 22 nd  July 2016.