UNU-WIDER UNU-WIDER Project Conference on African Development: Myths and Realities

UNU-WIDER is collaborating with African Centre for Economic Transformation (ACET) on the WIDER project, African Development: Myths and Realities. This conference will be held on 10-11 December 2009, in Accra Ghana.

The research subject

Existing research on Africa has produced a seemingly endless list of reasons why African growth and poverty reduction record has lagged behind that of other regions of the developing world. This project looks at the reasons put forward for Africa’s disappointing development record, attempting to differentiate between myth and reality. It also seeks to determine the relative priorities that need to be given to factors that have in reality most contributed to this record, providing a blue print for public policy into the 21st Century.

Paper submission
We invite submissions of substantive papers for the above conference on topics bearing directly on African economic development as related to the research subject. We particularly encourage quantitative and critical-review papers that shed light on sub-Saharan African countries generally instead of on specific countries or sub-regions, unless generalization of the results beyond those localities is apparent. Comparative studies that view Africa’s development in a global perspective are also welcome. Those interested in presenting a paper should submit a draft of their full paper, together with their CV, to: africadev(at)wider.unu.edu.

The deadline for submissions was 15 October 2009.

Funding
There is no registration fee. Subject to UN procedures, travel expenses will also be covered for some participants, with preference given to those from developing countries.

The official language for the workshop is English (simultaneous translation will not be available).

For more information on this project, please refer to the research page here.