The third round of the PEP Network included the creation of a regional office in Latin America based at the Grupo de Análisis para el Desarrollo (GRADE) in Lima Peru. PEP and GRADE aim at promoting research capacity development in the region by strengthening their capacity to raise research funds, and by Increasing the academic interaction among them, allowing for some southsouth component. This capacity building would definitely enhance the participation of Latin American researchers in national and international policy and academic debates relating to poverty, but the work of the regional office will also devote additional resources to support and promote such participation.
The Latin American office would have the mandate to work with researchers in Latin America in identifying specific topics associated to poverty in which there is a need for regional initiatives for promoting comparative research, training and policy debates.