January 2022
PEP’s Chair of the Board, Fred Carden, and Executive Director, Jane Mariara, reflect on the achievements of 2021 and look forward to the opportunities that 2022 will bring for PEP and PEP researchers.
PEP staff, advisors and researchers meet online at the start of 2022
PEP’s Chair of the Board, Dr. Fred Carden, and Executive Director, Prof. Jane Mariara, look back on PEP’s achievements over the past twelve months and look forward to the opportunities that 2022 will bring for PEP and PEP researchers.
Throughout 2021, PEP worked diligently to provide essential support for our researchers, promote evidence-informed decision making, and build capacity for policy analysis in developing countries. With the conclusion of our two first initiatives involving mixed government-research teams, we have established a new benchmark for policy-engaged research.
PEP’s innovation, commitment to quality, and a locally-focused perspective helped secure new collaborations with the Mastercard Foundation, Co-Impact, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, and the International Development Research Centre in 2021. We look forward to building upon these foundations over the coming months and years.As part of our heightened efforts to amplify the voices of in-country experts last year, we found evidence that researchers in the Global South remain severely underrepresented in the field of development research, despite the region being the focus of most development work. In 2022 we will be working harder to help redress this imbalance.
I wish to thank Xiaobo Zhang for his service on the PEP Board of Directors. I also warmly welcome Go Shimada, who joined us in 2021.
On behalf of the PEP Board of Directors, I thank PEP, its management, staff, partners, and donors for their continued dedication to fulfilling our mission. Most importantly, I thank the large number of PEP team members in developing countries who, despite facing many and varied challenges, work so hard to produce evidence of the highest quality and bring that evidence to strategic stakeholders and decision-makers. Together, we are making a difference, and I look forward to our achievements in 2022.
Dr. Fred Carden
Chair, PEP Board of Directors
I am proud to say that 2021 was a successful year for PEP as we rose to the ongoing challenges of the pandemic. We expanded our online activities to keep our project teams, scientific and policy experts, and staff safe while continuing to carry out high-quality research and democratize access to knowledge and training.
We directly answered the need for rapid yet rigorous evidence to inform economic and social policy as governments around the world responded to the pandemic and its effects. As part of our efforts, we supported eleven teams led by senior PEP-affiliated researchers in Africa, Asia, and South America.
PEP continues to promote Southern voices. We hosted policy webinars where PEP project teams shared and compared findings and recommendations for boosting women’s economic empowerment with a broad, international audience. Our Research Fellows hosted two sessions of seminars to share cutting-edge research and present new techniques, tools and methodologies in Development Economics. We also launched a new series of online roundtable discussions on lessons for more effective and inclusive policy responses to the Covid-19 crisis in the Global South.
PEP researchers’ multiple publications in peer-reviewed journals and presentations at international (online) conferences further raised our profile. In close collaboration with our stakeholders, we will continue to develop and build upon the hard work of this past year in 2022.
I take this opportunity to wish our donors, the PEP Board, management and staff, including those from partner and collaborating institutions, mentors, researchers and all other stakeholders a productive, collaborative and healthy new year.
Prof. Jane Mariara
Executive Director
PEP’s highlights from 2021
More people benefit as PEP further expands online activities
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The PEP Annual Conference, including a Policy Conference on the Power in proximity: For greater participation of local researchers in development policy debates, is held online
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PEP online courses build capacity in low-income and fragile situations
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Webinar series on Women’s Economic Empowerment, Development Economic Skills, and Lessons on Covid-19 Policy Responses
New research initiatives get underway
- Gender-Sensitive Training and Employer Incentives to Improve Women’s Labour Market Outcomes, supported by the IDRC
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Strengthening Impact Evaluation Capacities for Development and Fostering Autonomous Local Impact Evaluations for Policymaking in East and West Africa, supported by the Hewlett Foundation
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What Works for Youth Employment in Africa, supported by the Mastercard Foundation
- Five project teams are selected for support under the Climate Change in Africa: Impacts and Responses for Women and Girls (2020-23) initiative, supported by Global Affairs Canada
PEP responds to the COVID-19 crisis
- Supports 11 quick-response policy research projects under the COVID-19 Responses for Equity (CORE) initiative and launches the webinar series on Lessons on Covid-19 Policy Responses
- Shares free publications and information sources from PEP-affiliated researchers and beyond.
