The project aims to strengthen constructive engagement between institutions and policymakers.

We are pleased to announce that CSEA has been awarded a grant under the project Strengthening Institutions to Improve Public Expenditure Accountability (STIPEA) sponsored by the UK Department for International Development (DFID), and administered by the Results for Development Institute (R4D) in Washington D.C. and the Delhi based Global Development Network (GDN). The project covers a period of some four years beginning June 2009. Under the STIPEA project, CSEA proposes to examine public expenditure in three areas of the Nigerian budget: health, education and water sectors, the project will review public expenditure efficiency for the Federal Government of Nigeria and two States in the Northern and Southern regions of the country.

The goal of this project is to enhance public expenditure accountability at all levels of government by providing useful data on the effective delivery of social services. The STIPEA project aims to improve development outcomes by increasing the effectiveness with which governments allocate and use their resources. CSEA hopes that this project will strengthen analytical underpinnings of the policy debates around public expenditure priorities and their impact, thus improving the governance of public service delivery.

There are four guiding themes to this project:

Program budgeting and expenditure analysis
Cost Effectiveness Analysis
Benefit Incidence Analysis
Research-based policy options
The GDN is an international network of research and policy institutes promoting the application of multidisciplinary knowledge to policy for the purpose of development. GDN builds research capacity to advance development and promote research reflecting the developing and transition countries' perspective.

CSEA, the Centre for the Study of the Economies of Africa, is an independent non-profit think tank funded by several regional and international donor organizations. Its objectives includes to contribute to improving the efficiency of public sector spending in Africa, as well as to improve Africa's preparedness to contribute to international economic policy debates. CSEA is actively building collaborative partnerships with both internal and external research institutions including NOI Polls in Nigeria, Global Development Network (GDN) in New Delhi, India; the Centre for the Study of African Economies (CSAE) in Oxford, UK; the Brookings Institution (Global Economy and Development Program) and the Results for Development Institute (R4D), both in Washington DC, USA.

For more information about CSEA, visit www.cseaafrica.org

***
Press contact:
Dr. Menachem Katz
The Executive Director
Centre for the Study of the Economies of Africa (CSEA)
No. 4 Dep Street, off Danube Street
Maitama, Abuja, Nigeria
Tel: 09-8709090
E-mail: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Website: http://www..cseaafrica.org