Global Advocacy for African Affairs
Leadership/Governance

Think Africa Partnership: A knowledge Platform for Economic Transformation and Growth in Africa

The Think Africa Partnership (TAP) is a multi-partner fund administered by the World Bank Africa region. Its objectives are to promote economic transformation across Africa by supporting African policy-makers to make better use of evidence and knowledge.

This Africa-centered initiative supports capacity along the entire knowledge to policy pipeline, from original economic research, through to the use of evidence and knowledge by African governments in navigating critical economic policy choices. By strengthening African scholars, policy centers, and presidential economic advisors, the program will enhance the uptake of cutting-edge research and evidence, to support more informed economic policy making. It champions Africa as a knowledge-based continent driven by its own citizens and representing a dynamic labor force in the global arena.

Amplifying the Knowledge Base

The partnership supports policy-relevant economics research, with greater engagement and participation of African scholars and experts, those working at the forefront of cutting-edge research in the independent research community, and helping to ensure their work reaches the hands of policy-makers and others engaged in the policy design and deliberation process. Under this pillar, the partnership supports amplification of cutting-edge evidence to maximize the potential for positive policy impact.

  • AERC Visiting Scholars Program. This program provides competitive research fellowship grants to support the collaboration of African scholars, World Bank researchers, and partner institutions in strengthening research papers and core teaching curriculum. The program is administered in partnership with the African Economic Research Consortium (AERC).

Supporting Regional and Domestic Knowledge Capacity

The partnership works to strengthen the knowledge capacity of Africa-based think tanks and others supporting policy impact via interactive policy dialogues, research to policy events, and peer learning.

  • Africa Fellows Program. The Africa Fellows program brings leading African and Africa diaspora young professionals to the World Bank on a six-month assignment to gain firsthand experience of World Bank operations and research.
  • Support to the implementation of the Compact with Africa (CWA).TAP supports the African Center for Economic Transformation (ACET) who were appointed the CWA countries’ secretariat for coordination and peer learning. ACET are catalyzing CWA implementation via a peer learning platform and independent peer review of progress towards country identified policy goals.

Building the Bridge to Policy Impact

The partnership will support policy impact activities through a network of senior economic advisors and government chief economists.  It will also foster the next generation of government economists and experts.

  • Chief Economists of Government (CEoG) initiative. Its purpose is to promote peer learning among these senior advisors and to improve their access to the latest economic evidence and enhance their positive policy impact.
  • Africa Centers of Excellence.The World Bank will support African institutions of higher education in the creation of a quantitative Masters in Public Policy Program to strengthen quantitative skills in economics and impact evaluation.

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