August 2022
Spotlighting the contributions of Bernard Decaluwé, a founding member of PEP who helped launch the organization in 2002.
Pictured: Bernard Decaluwé (far left)
The success of PEP has been a collective effort. In recognition, we are publishing a series of articles spotlighting the dedicated people who have contributed to PEP's development and how their contributions have enabled us to support locally-led development in the Global South for 20 years.
Bernard Decaluwé
Bernard Decaluwé was part of a core team at Université Laval (including Jean-Yves Duclos, John Cockburn, Louis-Marie Asselin and Sonia Moreau) that, together with Celia Reyes' team at the Angelo King Institute in the Philippines, launched PEP in 2002.
Bernard played a central role in several major capacity-building programs in economic development analysis. These programs included the Réseau sur les politiques industrielles (RPI), Centre Paradi and PEP's predecessor the Micro Impacts for Macro and Adjustment Policies (MIMAP) program, an initiative of the International Development Research Center (IDRC) that sought to understand the impact of the structural adjustment policies of the 90s on the poor.
PEP was a logical extension of Bernard's long-standing support for capacity building in economic research in the developing world, an interest that dates back to the 1980s.
In addition to founding and leading PEP's macro policy modeling group for its first ten years, Bernard also continues to providing mentorship to PEP-supported research teams, and to contribute to the organization's development.
"PEP was the fulfillment of a professor's career, which began with funding from the PARADI Program, a Center of Excellence supported by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) between 1991 and 1998. With my colleague Andre Martens and several collaborators (Mokhtar Souissi, Marie Claude Martin, Andre Lemelin, Luc Savard, Veronique Robichaud and Helene Maisonnave) we acquired the expertise and developed the techniques, and related training materials, to conduct development studies using macroeconomic modeling in developing countries.As a professor, it is really a great satisfaction to see that still today, in 2022, these methods and techniques are still at the core of PEP-supported research activities. Thanks to PEP, these approaches have been widely disseminated throughout the world and the credit goes to all these collaborators who, over the years, have contributed to the development of the material and sharing of the expertise. Long live PEP!"
- Bernard Decaluwé
"PEP a été l’accomplissement d’une carrière de professeur qui avait débuté grâce au financement du Programme PARADI, Centre D’excellence reconnu par l’Agence Canadienne de Développement international ACDI entre 1991 et 1998. Avec mon collègue Andre Martens et plusieurs collaborateurs (Mokhtar Souissi, Marie Claude Martin, Andre Lemelin, Luc Savard, Veronique Robichaud et Helene Maisonnave) nous avons acquis l’expertise et développé les techniques et le matériel pédagogique sur la modélisation macro-économique dans les pays en développement.
Aujourd’hui en 2022, et en tant que professeur, c’est réellement une grande satisfaction de voir que ces méthodes et techniques sont encore à la base d’un des axes de recherche central du réseau PEP. Grâce à PEP, ces approches se sont largement diffusées dans le monde et le mérite en reviens à tous ces collaborateurs qui ont apporté, au fil des ans, leur concours au développement du matériel et a la transmission de l’expertise. Longue vie à PEP!"
- Bernard Decaluwé
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