Cornell
and Clark Atlanta Universities invite research proposals from
U.S. based Ph.D. students and faculty in economics, agricultural
economics, and other closely related fields to be carried out
in selected African countries. The grant is supported by the
U.S. Agency for International Development under the Strategies
and Analysis for Growth and Access (SAGA) project.
The
overall goal of SAGA is to increase African capacity to produce
high quality, policy oriented research on key issues affecting
economic growth and access in Saharan Africa. In support of this
goal, the SAGA will have four main objectives:
Strengthening of selected African economic research institutes;
Expanding the pool of highly trained African economists;
Conducting policy oriented research on economic growth and access
issues; and
Facilitating linkages between U.S. and African researchers. For
more information on SAGA, go to www.saga.cornell.edu.
The
objectives of the small research grants program are to complement
these goals, and directly to facilitate the fourth goal of SAGA.
More specifically:
To
foster productive and long-lived relationships between U.S-based
researchers and SISERA-based researchers;
To support policy-oriented research of the highest quality on
SAGA-related themes;
To
maximize the possibilities for complementarities between the
small grants program and the research and technical assistance
components of this Cooperative Agreement;
To
promote the research of women and minorities who are under-represented
in the economics profession; and
To
pursue these goals in the most cost-effective manner possible.
The grant would cover costs of travel, research-related expenses
(e.g., data collection) and a stipend to cover daily lodging
and food ($5,000 - $20,000). The recipients of the grant will
be based in one of the member research institutes of the Secretariat
for Institutional Support for Economic Research in Africa (SISERA)
during the field research period.
SISERA--Ten
research institutes in different countries throughout the West
African region, and South Africa constitute the core of the SISERA
network. SISERA activities are devoted simultaneously to providing
managerial, and research support to individual research institutes.
SISERA's role in this activity will be to assist a process of
solicitation, review, approval and monitoring for the research
program that will aim at ensuring cost-effectiveness, quality,
fairness, and transparency.
