First Meeting of the Initiative’s International Advisory Group

The Think Tank Initiative’s International Advisory Group (IAG) held its first meeting on April 29-30 in Oxford, England. All nine International Advisors participated in the meeting together with program staff, the initiative’s Executive Committee, and key observers. The meeting centred around discussing three main areas: the program’s monitoring and evaluation framework; the potential growth of the initiative into a global program funded by additional donors; and the selection and assessment process for the first Call for Expressions of Interest, to be launched on June 9th.

Team Leader for the Think Tank Initiative Appointed

In early May, Dr. Marie-Claude Martin was appointed as the Initiative’s Team Leader. Dr. Martin first joined IDRC in 1994 as a Program Officer and progressed to Team Leader for two Programs: the Micro Impacts of Macroeconomic and Adjustment Policies (MIMAP) and Vietnam Economic and Environmental Management (VEEM). An economist by background, she left IDRC in 1999 to obtain a Ph.D. in Public Health from the University of Montreal. Her professional experience includes research at Université Laval and Université of Montreal and consultancy work with several international organizations. Before returning to IDRC in 2006, she was senior researcher at the Canadian Population Health Initiative at the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI). Her areas of research include poverty analysis, inequality and human development, health financing and determinants of population health.

Think Tanks: Catalyst for Economic and Social Development

On May 29th, Dr. James McGann, FPRI Senior Fellow and director of its Think Tanks and Civil Societies Program, presented an overview of the role that think tanks play in the policymaking process in developing countries around the world with a special focus on East and West Africa. Dr. McGann summarized the findings from a recently completed regional mapping exercise of Africa. An effort which has resulted in the first comprehensive directory of think tanks in the region that provides a regional map of the institutions and regional and sub-regional trends in research and methods of operation.

Dr. McGann maintains a global directory and database of more than 5,000 think tanks and has tracked global, regional and national trends facing think tanks and the environments in which they operate for the last 25 years.

Think Tank Initiative launches is first Call for Expressions of Interest

The Think Tank Initiative invites applications from independent African organizations that are committed to using research to inform and influence social and economic policy. The Initiative will provide multi-year funding to promising think tanks, and will work with successful applicants to improve their organizational performance.

Read more about the Call for Expressions of Interest

Presentation of the Think Tank Initiative at the Global Development conference

In January, 2008, Think Tank Initiative representatives Brent Herbert-Copley from IDRC and Linda Frey from the Hewlett Foundation, had the opportunity to present the program's implementation plan to researchers, donors, and policymakers from across the world gathered at the Ninth Annual Global Development Conference.