1.  Barriers to Small Firm Growth

  Objective: The objective of this project was to identify economic barriers to expansion of small firms and recommend specific policies to alleviate them. The goal was to provide more employment and incomes through the growth of small firms.

Undertaken by: Institute for Development Studies (IDS), University of Nairobi

Country: Kenya

Project Director: Dr Dorothy McCormick

FY Completed: 1995/96

2.  Impact of Policy Reforms on Ghana's Agriculture: A Policy Analysis Matrix (PAM) Methodology Approach     

Objective: This project undertook a quantitative review of agricultural policies with a view to isolating the impacts of these policies on the agricultural system of Ghana and on the economy as a whole.

Undertaken by: Institute of Statistical, Social and Economic Research (ISSER)

Country: Ghana

Project Director: Dr A Wayo Seini

FY Completed: 1997/98

3.  Savings Mobilisation for Capital Formation and Growth in Africa: The Case of Nigeria

Objective:  This project examined various policy approaches for enhancing mobilization of domestic savings within the current climate of economic reforms in Africa. It included a focus on capital markets, analyzed the performance of existing capital markets and identified the elements of an enabling environment for the development of this market in Africa.

Undertaken by: Department of Economics, University of Calabar

Country: Nigeria

Project Director: Dr Michael Nyong

FY Completed: 1996/97

4.   Enhancing the Role of Local Authorities in Formulation and Implementation of Policies Affecting Micro and Small Enterprises in Kenya

 

Objective: The main objective of the study was to review the status of the existing policy framework affecting MSEs for which it is the responsibility of LAs to implement; to identify gaps, shortcomings and weaknesses in those policies and their implementation; and to propose topics for research to overcome these limitations.  The policy implementing responsibilities of LAs may relate to policies handed down to the LAs by the central government or those formulated by LAs themselves. The longer-term goal of the project is to promote the MSE sector in order to generate more employment, incomes and productivity in the sector and in the nation as a whole.

Undertaken by: Regional Center for Socio-Economic Studies and Development (RECSSAD)

Country: Kenya

Project Director: Dr Peter O Ondiege

FY Completed: 1997/98

5.       Review of Current Central Government Policies for Micro and Small Scale Enterprises in Kenya

 

Objective: The main objective of the study was to review the status of the existing central government policies; to identify gaps, shortcomings and weaknesses in those policies and their implementation; and to propose topics for research to overcome these limitations. The longer-term goal is to promote the MSE sector in order to generate more employment, incomes and productivity in the sector and in the nation as a whole.

Undertaken by: African Development Research Foundation (ADRF)

Country: Kenya

Project Director: Professor Joseph Maitha

FY Completed: 1997/98

6.       Structural Adjustment and Poverty in Cameroon:  A Labour Market Analysis

 

Objective: The objective of this study was to analyze the dynamics of the labour market in Cameroon and its impact on poverty.  The study was intended to directly assess the link between poverty and the labour market at the national level and to produce policy recommendations.

Undertaken by: The University of Yaounde II, SOA, Faculty of Economics and Management

Country: Cameroon

Project Director: Dr Dominique Njinkeu

FY Completed: 1997/98

7.       Multi-country, Multi-institute Comparative Study of Private Enterprise Development

 

Objective: The first objective of the study was to explore whether large, medium and small size firms are complementary or competitive, and whether this helps or inhibits private enterprises. The second objective was to shed light on the potential for technology and skills transfer from foreign to domestic firms, and visa versa, and to explore possibilities for symbiotic linkages.

Undertaken by: Institute of Economic Affairs, Ghana

                              Economic and Social Research Foundation, Tanzania

                              Department of Economics, University of Zimbabwe, Zimbabwe

                              Institute for Development Studies, University of Nairobi, Kenya

Countries: Kenya, Ghana, Tanzania and Zimbabwe

Project Director: Professor Patrick Alila

FY Completed: 1997/1998

8.       Private Enterprise Development in Africa: A Case of Nigeria

 

Objective: The goal of this study was to facilitate research into linkages, if any, between large, medium and small firms in Nigeria in order to understand their nature and dynamics. The study specifically attempted to explore whether large, medium and small firms are complementary or competitive in the Nigerian business environment, whether this helps or inhibits private enterprise, and whether larger firms expand at the expense of smaller firms thus impeding the survival and growth of smaller firms. The second research question focussed on linkages between foreign and domestic firms in order to shade light on the potential of technology and skills transfer from foreign to domestic firms and vice versa and assess whether there are opportunities for symbiotic linkages.

Undertaken by: Department of Economics, University of Ibadan

Country: Nigeria

Project Director: Dr David B Ekpenyong

FY Completed: 1997/98

9.       Improving Access to Infrastructure for Micro-Enterprise Development

 

Objective: The main objective of the study was to enhance the policy setting within which microenterprises gain access to infrastructure facilities and services. The longer-term goal was to promote the MSE sector in order to generate more employment, incomes and productivity in the sector and in the nation as a whole. 

Undertaken by: Kenya Rural Enterprise Programme (K-Rep)

Country: Kenya

Project Director: Mr Aleke Dondo

FY Completed: 1998/99

10.   Improving Access to Energy for Micro and Small Enterprise Development in Kenya

 

Objective: The goal of this grant was to analyse the adequacy of existing and on-going energy sector policies on MSE activities with a view to making specific proposals for consideration by the government focussing on policy recommendations, weaknesses and other policy constraints with respect to microenterprise development.

Undertaken by: Regional Center for Socio-Economic Studies and Development (RECSSAD)

Country: Kenya

Project Director: Dr Peter O Ondiege

FY Completed: 1998/99

11.   Multi-Country Collaborative Study on Macroeconomic Policies and Exchange Rate Management in African Economies

 

Objective: This multi-country multi-institute research project drew lessons of experience in Africa with exchange rate management and was aimed at producing rigorous and policy-oriented research for the international audience as well as the African policy-makers who are daily involved in matters of economic management.  The project gave a historical account of exchange rate regimes and exchange rate management experiences of the different African countries and the economic environments within which they operate. In addition to the rigorous policy-oriented research, the project produced policy papers (summaries of the main research findings) which were presented in a Senior Policy Seminar. The main research papers as well as the derived policy papers have formed the basis of a joint ACEG/AERC publication.

Undertaken by: African Economic Research Consortium (AERC)

Countries:  Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, South Africa, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Ghana, Guinea, Cote 

                              d'Ivoire, Burkina Faso, Cameroon and Gabon

Project Director:  Professor Benno Ndulu

FY Completed: 1998/99

12.   Policy Analysis with a Multisectoral Model in Botswana

 

Objective: The broad objective of the project was to develop an improved version of multisectoral model for policy analysis in Botswana and Namibia. The project generated the following outputs: (a) an improved version of the current model used by the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning (MEMBOT) for policy analysis; (b) various versions of Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) models capable of providing information on a number of policy issues; and (c) local capability to develop and use CGE models for policy analysis

Undertaken by: Department of Economics, University of Botswana

Country: Botswana

Project Director: Professor Mohamed Mukras

FY Completed: 1998/99 (The Namibian case-study was not finalised)

13.  Technology Policy for Micro and Small Enterprises in Kenya

 

Objective: The immediate objective of the grant was to improve the technology policy environment for MSEs in 

                  Kenya.

MI Involved: Kenya Industrial Research and Development Institute (KIRDI)

Country: Kenya

Project Director: Dr. Ing. Harry L. Kaane

FY Completed: 1998/99

14.   Policies to Enhance the Environment for Growth and Development of MSEs in Urban Areas

 

Objective: The goal of this study was to produce policy recommendations that would promote economic growth and development of MSEs within local authorities. The immediate objective was to enhance the policy environment for growth and development of MSEs within local authorities.

 

Specific Objectives:

1. To analyse policy weaknesses, policy constraints and gaps in policy with respect to LA policies for promoting MSEs development;

2. To assist LAs to formulate policies that would foster growth and development of MSEs;

3. To include the policy changes required to enhance the environment for MSE activities in the scope of ongoing reforms in LAs;

4. To propose policy recommendations that would foster growth and development of MSEs in urban areas.

Expected Impact: The expected impact of this study is enhanced MSE policy formulation and implementation in urban areas leading to an enabling policy environment for MSE operations and growth; improved institutional coordination amongst MSE stakeholders and support to the policy planning process at the LA level.

MI Involved: Central Planning Unit, Ministry of Local Authorities

Country: Kenya

Project Director: Mr. Mwangi Macharia

FY Completed: 1998/99

15.   Policies for Incorporating Gender Concerns in Microenterprise Development in Kenya

 

Objective: The goal of this study was to make policy recommendations that would enhance women’s participation and performance in micro and small enterprise development.

 

Specific Objectives:

1. To analyse biases, gaps and weaknesses in policies affecting gender access to finance and skills development, thereby constraining women’s involvement and performance in micro and small enterprise development;

2. To examine the situation of female and male involvement in MSEs in a changing financial and skill development policy environment;

3. To make policy recommendations that would incorporate gender concerns in improving access to finance and skills development services for micro enterprise development in Kenya;

4. To analyse the extent to which existing financial and skill development policies affect/influence gender concerns in the mediation of supply and demand factors in spawning and creation of entrepreneurship, training, skill development and stimulation of linkages and networks between enterprises.

MI Involved: Association of African Women in Research and Development (AAWORD)

Country: Kenya

Project Director:  Dr Kaendi Munguti

FY Completed: 1998/99

16.   ACEG/AERC Collaborative Project on "Africa and the World Trading System"

 

Objective: To identify and examine the framework and policies within which Africa's economic links are forged with the rest of the world.  Research ranged from examining historical factors, to Africa's present relationship with the European Union in particular in view of the emerging global system.

 

Specific Objectives:

1.  Bringing together various African and international researchers so as to build a critical mass of expertise on a set of African policy issues.

2.  Enhancing capacity building in Africa for rigorous analytical research that would also serve important policy purposes.

3. Stimulate and nurture the interest of experienced international scholars on African policy issues.

Undertaken by:  African Economic Research Consortium (AERC)

Countries: Cameroon, Cote d'Ivoire, Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya, Mauritius, South Africa, and Uganda

Project Director: Prof. Delphin G. Rwegasira

FY Completed: 1999/2000

17.   Towards a Pluralistic System of Social Provisioning for Kenya 

 

Objective: To provide information and an analysis of social services provided in Kenya and make recommendations on how social services can be organized and financed to increase their efficiency and sustainability.

 

Specific Objectives:

1. To identify main providers of key public services within the government sector, private sector and various NGO sub-sectors, and trace their size and evolution patterns.

2. To identify and describe institutions responsible for social provision of private services to the public during periods of vulnerability and to assess their evolution over time.

3. Use the information obtained about the institutes described above to assess feasibility of a decentralised and pluralistic social provision system in which the central government would play a key role in coordinating and facilitating provision services by local authorities, civil society and private agents.

Undertaken by: Dept. of Economics, University of Nairobi

Country: Kenya

Project Director: Dr. Germano Mwabu

FY Completed: 1999/2000

18.   Third-Round National Baseline Survey of MSEs in Kenya

 

Objectives: The goal of the survey was to update information generated in two previous surveys undertaken in 1993 and 1995, in order to generate more reliable information with regard to the size of the micro and small enterprise sector and its contribution to both income and employment growth in the economy. The survey also corrected for any errors of the two previous surveys and improved reliability of the estimate of the MSE sector’s contribution to the economy in terms of employment growth and income generation.

Undertaken by: K-Rep Holdings Ltd, and Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS)

Country: Kenya

Project Director: Dr Andrew Mullei

FY Completed: 1999/2000

19.   Defining Informal Property Rights

 

Objective: To identify, document and characterise the existing MSE informal property rights in order to establish whether the facilitating and the recognition of these existing informal property rights and claims would yield significant benefits to those affected and to the economy as a whole.

 

Specific Objectives: 

1. Document exhaustively and characterize what constitutes property rights in the context of micro and small businesses on a sub-sector approach providing a clear distinction between formal, informal and traditional property rights regimes;

2. Provide a set of case studies illustrating the extent to which informal sector property relationships conflict with formal property rights thereby undermining the growth and development of micro and small businesses in Kenya;

3. Define the institutional framework under which the existing informal sector property rights can be defined, established, utilized and enforced (includes describing the mechanism for the transfer, arbitration and adjudication of these rights);

4. Design a feasible institutional/legal program which when implemented, would give recognition and secure informal sector property rights in Kenya.

Undertaken by: Kenya Institute for Public Policy Research and Analysis (KIPPRA)

Country: Kenya

Project Director:  Prof Mwangi S Kimenyi

FY Completed: 1999/2000

20.   The Socio-Economic and Growth Consequences of Corruption in Kenya

 

Objective: To build domestic ownership of anti-corruption reforms in Kenya and coordinate a national initiative to address corruption. yyyyy 

Undertaken by: Prof Anyang’ Nyong’o, John Githongo, Aaron Ringera, Nikhil Hira, Gerrishon Ikiara, Brian Cooksey, Germano Mwabu, Christopher Mulei, and Geoffrey Mwau

Country:  Kenya

Project Director: Dr Andrew K Mullei

FY Completed: 1999/2000

21 Trade Liberalization and Regional Integration Study of East Africa

Objective: The basic objective of this study is to determine and quantify the benefit and costs of the EAC regional integration scheme and propose options for equitable sharing of these benefits and costs by Uganda, Kenya, and Tanzania. The specific objectives are to:

• Document areas of possible benefits as well as costs for Kenya’s, Uganda’s and Tanzania’s full participation in the EAC regional integration scheme;

• Determine and quantify the benefits and costs of Kenya’s, Uganda’s and Tanzania’s full participation in the EAC regional integration scheme, highlighting the actual/potential beneficiaries and losers;

• Identify acceptable formulae and an institutional framework for equitable sharing of the benefits and for handling matters of compensation within EAC regional integration scheme;

• Explore any other aspects that may hold back the pace at which progress is made towards full regional integration of Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania;

• Identify key areas of policy reform that need to be addressed if the process of regional integration in East Africa is to move forward.

Institutes Involved: Kenya Institute of Public Policy Research and Analysis (KIPPRA)

                  Department of Economics, University of Dar es Salaam

                  Research Department, Central Bank of Uganda

Countries: Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania

Project Director: Dr Andrew K Mullei

22 Sessional Paper on Growth and Development of Micro and Small Enterprises in Kenya

Objective:   This project aims to formulate a new policy framework for the development of micro and small enterprises in Kenya utilising research results from the extensive policy research work carried out by ACEG on the policy environment within which micro and small enterprises in Kenya operate. The Sessional Paper, expected to be presented to the Cabinet for adoption in October 2000, departs from the earlier one of 1992 by paying special attention to implementation clarity, the role of the private sector and the importance of linking MSEs to the knowledge economy. Other significant areas of improvement include policy attention to coordination of MSE activities, environmental concerns, gender specific issues and measures to address the challenges posed by the HIV/AIDS pandemic to the sector.

Institutes Involved: Ministry of Labour & Human Resource Development (MLHRD)

Countries: Kenya

Project Director: Dr Andrew K Mullei

23 Multi-Country Study on Growth and Transformation of Small Firms in Africa

Objective: The major objective of this study is to determine ways through which the transformation process of small firms in Zimbabwe, Ghana and Kenya can be enhanced. The specific objectives of the study are to:

• Determine the most appropriate measure of firm-size categorization (employment, investment and turnover) from the perspective of growth and transformation;

• Categorise small firms by size, determine the size distribution and identify key features under each size category;

• Discuss the pattern and process of growth and transformation of small firms, highlighting indicators of growth and transformation from one size category to the next and the internal and external factors behind each;

• Explore the existence of growth spurts in small firms in Zimbabwe, Ghana and Kenya and determine ways through which such can be activated or enhanced once it sets in;

• Make specific and actionable recommendations on ways through which the growth and transformation rate of small firms in Zimbabwe, Ghana and Kenya can be enhanced.

Institutes Involved: Institute of Policy Analysis and Research (IPAR)

                  Department of Economics, University of Ghana

                  Southern Africa Microfinance Capacity Building Facility

Countries:  Kenya, Ghana, Zimbabwe

Project Director: Dr Andrew K Mullei  

24 Information and Communication Technologies and the Productivity of MSEs in Africa

Objective: The collaborative project, jointly co-sponsored by ACEG and the Institute for New Technologes at the United Nations University (UNU/INTECH), seeks to identify mechanisms through which MSEs in Africa can utilize Information and Communication Technologies to increase their productivity and overall contribution to growth and development in the continent.

Institutes Involved: Institute for Development Studies (IDS)

                  Kumasi Institute of Technology and Environment (KITE)

Countries: Kenya, Ghana

Project Director: Dr Catherine Nyaki Adeya

25 The Status of Regional Trade Liberalization in East Africa

Objective: The broad objective of this project is to take stock of recent trends and current status of regional trade liberalisation in East Africa. Specifically, the project explores the recent and current trade regimes in each of the three EAC countries as well as the direction of intra-regional trade, the evolution of general tariffs and tariff structures, revenue implications of tariff reforms, EAC negotiations on formation of a customs union, and discusses technical, political and strategic issues that may constitute stumbling blocks in the achievement of regional integration in East Africa.

Institutes Involved: Collaborating researchers drawn from Kenya

Countries:   Kenya

Project Director: Dr Nehemiah Ng’eno

26 ECA Africa Governance Project: The Kenya Case

Objective: The overall objective of this research project is to monitor the progress of good governance in Kenya as part of an Africa-wide project using ECA-developed research instruments. The specific objectives of the project are to:

• Define good governance in a comprehensive manner;

• Conceptualise and operationalise indicators to measure good governance;

• Device and fine-tune the research methodology and instruments that will serve as the mechanism for monitoring and assessing progress towards good governance.

Institutes Involved: University of Nairobi (Political Science Dept)

                Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS)

Countries: Kenya

Project Director: Dr Andrew K Mullei

27. Governance Project to Inform the Current Debate on Kenya’s Future

Objective: The broad objective of this project is to promote informed dialogue and convergence of views on the key governance issues touching on Kenya’s political transition to ensure sustained social and economic stability in years to come. The specific objectives of the project are to:

• Identify and prioritise the key governance issues that must be tackled for Kenya to get into a path of sustained economic growth and social stability;

• Conduct objective research and analysis of the four top-most priority issues identified with a view to establishing areas of common concern to Kenyans and ways through which an amicable process of tackling them can be reached;

Institutes Involved: Collaborating researchers drawn from Kenya

Countries: Kenya

Project Director: Prof Abdalla S Bujra  

28. Governance and Fiscal Policy Systems in Kenya

Objective: The broad objective of this project is to promote informed dialogue and convergence of views on the key issues surrounding economic management in Kenya, starting with formulation and administration of fiscal policy systems. The specific objective of the project is to critically examine formulation management, and implementation of fiscal policies with a view to identifying areas of governance loopholes and ways of addressing these. The project will also assess how the process has impacted on matters of economic governance, performance of the economy, and welfare of Kenyans.

Institutes Involved: Collaborating researchers

Country: Kenya

Project Director: Prof Wafula Masai  

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