Representatives of West African Think Tanks participated in a workshop on the revitalisation of West African Think Tanks Network (WATTNet) on 21 and 22 January 2019 in Dakar, Senegal. The discussions which were led by Consortium pour le Recherche Économique et Sociale(CRES), Senegal, provided a platform for participants to reflect and share ideas on how to revive the network.

WATTNet was created and launched in March 2016 in Accra, Ghana. The network was intended to be a platform for the development and exchange of ideas, information and experiences among think tanks in West Africa, to help address the region's key development challenges while strengthening the organisational performance of the member institutions of the network. However, the network has been faced with challenges towards achieving its objectives.

The 2-day workshop provided a platform for participants to establish a clear and comprehensive diagnosis of what prevented WATTNet from becoming fully operational and undertaking its designed action plan described in its strategic framework. The group also reflected on the implementation plan of WATTNet in order to understand why members failed to abide by the core values and agree on the structure as stipulated in its Strategic framework. The workshop also allowed the group to: ·        identify  the  main  issues  and  challenges  that  hindered the effective  functioning  of  the network; ·        draw lessons on the inhibiting factors; and ·        develop an immediate action plan to make WATTNet operational.

CSEA senior research fellow, Dr. Grace Onubedo participated in this workshop.

The third edition of the International Conference on the Emergence of Africa (ICEA III) convened more than 1000  decision-makers and experts from around fifty countries around the world including : leaders of international and African institutions, eminent personalities from the private sector, academia, experts and representatives of civil society under the theme "Emergence, the Private Sector and Inclusiveness". The conference featured a high-level session bringing together heads of state and government, heads of institutions, and business leaders, highlighted six major underlying themes the issue of the conference. These are: • promote stability, both politically and securely, but also maintain the long-term strategy of emergence; • Mobilize internal resources and encourage foreign direct investment (FDI) in strategic sectors with technology transfer; • Develop human capital with special access to training-employment adequacy; • Establish a network of local SMEs / SMIs through better access to financing and better consideration of local content in development projects; • Broaden the size of African markets through country connectivity infrastructure and business development reforms and; • Initiate a sustainable industrialization dynamic for a better valuation of raw materials. These themes were further explored in discussions in plenary sessions and parallel panels that provided answers to questions relating to the promotion of the private sector as a driver of emergence, and of inclusiveness, a guarantee of the sustainability of emergence. CSEA senior research fellow, Dr. Grace Onubedo participated in this high-level meeting which was held from 17 to 19 January 2019, at the Abdou Diouf International Conference Center in Diamniadio, Senegal.

CSEA organized a policy dialogue on “A Scoping Study of Nigeria’s Tobacco Market and Policy Space” to share findings of the study to policymakers and the public, and also receive feedback to enrich the study. The study was commissioned by Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids (CTFK) and examined four dimensions of the tobacco market and policy space: i) Snapshot of Prices and Taxes on Tobacco Products; ii) Simulation of the Effect of Tax Increase on Public Health and Government Revenue; iii) Prospects for Earmarking Revenue from Taxes on Tobacco Products; and iv) Understanding Political Will for Tobacco Control in the Nigerian Context. The dialogue took place at NAF Conference Center Abuja on the 13th of December 2018.

The 9th APC meeting was co-hosted by the Centre for the Study of the Economies of Africa (CSEA) and the Institute Prospective Agricole et Rurale (IPAR). The meeting provided a platform for African CSOs and think tanks to share knowledge and discuss strategies for policymakers to meaningfully harness the benefits and counter the challenges of economic migration amid demographic transition in Africa under the theme: “Migration and Demography: Shaping Migration Policies for Demographic Dividend in Africa”. The meeting also featured a panel discussion to develop an agenda on African economic migration that South Africa can advance at the UNSC. The APC meeting was hosted in Dakar, Senegal, on November 29-30, 2018.

On the occasion of the 13th African Economic Conference (AEC), African think-tanks, researchers, policy makers, public and private sector leaders as well as representatives of Regional Economic Organizations, convened to discuss "Regional and Continental Integration for Africa’s Development". The gathering comes just nine months after African leaders signed an agreement establishing the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), the world’s biggest free trade agreement since the establishment of the World Trade Organization, an equally important milestone. The Conference also provided a platform for discussions to help ensure that the African Continental Free Trade Area becomes an instrument for promoting Africa's inclusive development by supporting institutions and partnerships that pursue activities for African integration in all its aspects - economic social, cultural, environmental and political. The event also featured the launch of the SDG Report (AfDB, ECA, UNDP) and the African Governance Report (ECA). Dr. Chukwuka Onyekwena participated in this high-level meeting which was hosted in Kigali, Rwanda from 3 to 5 December, 2018.