East Africa has largely managed to buck the trend of low growth that has affected some of the continent’s largest economies, but faces a diverse range of challenges.
These include rising state authoritarianism, the management of recent oil and gas discoveries, diversifying heavily agriculture- and commodity-dependent economies, and growth that is not benefiting the poorest in society.
Work on East Africa focuses on inclusive development in Kenya – with ongoing research into gender-responsive budgeting at the county level – and on Tanzania’s apparent re-orientation towards the developmental state.
A report assessed prospects for the scaling-up of African businesses including in Uganda and Tanzania, and the need for developing a shared understanding of the policy responses required to create the volume of jobs needed to make economic growth sustainable and equitable.
A focus on the DRC is conducted in parallel to, and feeds into, our thematic projects on Peace and Security, Elections and Political Systems, and Extractive Resources and Governance, which focuses on revenue management and poverty reduction.
In 2018, the Programme hosted HE Bruna Tshibala, Prime Minister of the DRC, and held a series of events that focused on the DRC elections; assessing the human rights context, political structures and electoral preparedness in the country.
