What People are Saying About the PEP Network

Ce que les gens disent du réseau PEP

I enjoyed the conference a lot and would be very pleased to participate again in the future.  I feel that I learned a great deal.  I was again impressed with what an outstanding program you and the whole PEP team are running. (Jim Davies, University of Western Ontario and WIDER)

Thank you again for a wonderful and stimulating stay in Dakar. I feel I have learnt a lot and met very interesting colleagues (Marzia Fontana, Institute of Development Studies)

I am very impressed by the level and the contents of the conference. Its use of non-standard economic tools and its openness to broad issues (such as health and health care) pleases me very much. I have attended many African conferences on health in the past, but this one seems to me 10 times as rigorous as the average one I have been to. (Slim Haddad, Professor, Université de Montréal)

This is to thank you all for a very interesting (albeit exhausting!) meeting. I am honestly impressed by the progress that has been made in achieving the objectives of the PEP Network in building local capacities in economic research. You guys are indeed doing a fabulous job. (Swapna Mukhopadhyay, India Habitat Centre)

I cannot recall a conference held in Africa where the level and the relevance of research was anything close to that one (the Dakar conference).

Je ne voulais pas te laisser sans vous féliciter une fois encore pour le grand travail que vous avez fait avec ce projet. Contrairement à d'autres, je trouve que c'est une contribution plus importante qu'un simple travail académique qui a rarement un impact réel. Vous avez considérablement renforcé les capacités de traitement de données de pauvreté en Afrique et ceci me parait un résultat remarquable. Vous pouvez donc être réellement fiers (Christophe Muller, Departamento de Fondamentos del Analisis Economico, Universidad de Alicante)

This is just to thank you for inviting me to Dakar - and to congratulate you both on an extremely good and successful workshop.  I think I gained as much from it as anyone else present.  The general quality of the papers, the variety, and the level of modelling skills are now significantly higher than I recall from my last worshops two years' or so ago (Quebec, Singapore).  To me this represents a measure of what you have achieved so far - not only in the training but also in the way in which you pursue the project monitoring and review process.  Each participant must have gained a very great deal from the full, direct and constructive feedback. And I think you are well on your way to meeting your objectives. (Jeffery Round, Reader in Economics, University of Warwick)

Thank you for your message. I enjoyed participating in the meeting very much. In establishing the PEP network, you have created a valuable resource with considerable potential. I've just received an e-mail from a former student who is learning to do dynamic micro-simulations with the model used by the UK's Department of Work and Pensions. She has just learnt of the PEP/MIMAP work in this area and and has been exploring the website. So, you are drawing in 1st world as well as 3rd world researchers.

The type of research that PEP does is extraordinarily well suited to the current international policy agenda.

I found the PEP general meeting extremely stimulating and enjoyed it very much. It was a pleasure to meet up with old friends and make new ones, as well as to see projects moving through the cycle from proposal stage to final report.

The success of this event is due in large part to the huge amount of effort you both invested in organising it. So, let me take this opportunity, on behalf of the Steering Committee, of congratulating you on a task well done. (Chris Scott, Research Affiliate, STICERD, London School of Economics)

I think this research environment is more helpful to African researchers… because PEP is more international and the quality of the research presented seems to me to be higher. I did appreciate a lot the conference and think that this network has a great future. (Waly Wane, Economist, Development Economics Research Group (DERG), The World Bank)

Thanks a lot for the invitation to the conference, and for the excellent organization. I really enjoyed it. (Stephen Howes, Principal Economic Advisor, AusAID)

Just a quick note of thanks for the conference. Really, really interesting! (Paul Shaffer, University of Toronto)

I really enjoyed the conference. (Siwan Anderson, Professor of Economics, University of British Columbia)

It was a pleasure to attend the conference--always interesting and quite inspiring, really, to see the drive and enthusiasm of so many researchers. (Michelle Hibler, Chief, Writing and Translation, IDRC)

This was indeed an interesting meeting and a great deal of effort went into it. I thoroughly enjoyed the company and the substance of PEP. It is a real pleasure to be associated with the network. I thoroughly enjoyed the PEP meeting, and as always, learned a lot. (Evan Due, MIMAP, team leader, IDRC)

It was so nice to attend the conference and hear the papers, and it was a real pleasure to meet each of you.  I hope those of you who did so much to organize everything so beautifully have a chance to get a bit extra rest this week! (Anne T. Sweetser, Social Development Specialist, Asian Development Bank)

Je saisis l'occasion pour dire toute la satisfaction ressentie tant pour l'organisation matérielle de l'atelier que pour le déroulement de l'ensemble du programme. A mon avis, la réussite de cette 4eme réunion témoigne du sérieux du réseau et de la rigueur avec laquelle il est géré. J'adresse à mon tour toutes mes félicitations à l'ensemble de l'équipe et contribuerai à faire connaître davantage le réseau par la qualité de ses travaux. (Cosme Vodounou, Directeur des études démographiques, Institut National des Statistiques)