Research on Poverty Alleviation ranked 11 out of 612 think tanks

Dar es Salaam. Research on Poverty Alleviation (Repoa) has been ranked number 11 out of 612 listed think tanks in Sub Saharan Africa, The Citizen has learnt. Repoa won the recognition during the launching of the 2019 Global Go to Think Tank report at the University of Pennsylvania.

The event held last month was organised by the Think Tanks and Civil Societies Program (TTCSP), a non-profit program at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Repoa executive director, Dr Donald Mmari said yesterday that the organizers released report to mark 14th years of acknowledging important roles played by think tanks across the world in informing policy and examine patterns and trends worldwide.

He said think tanks were ranked using various criteria including the quality of research, capacity building initiatives and contribution to of researches to formulation and improvement of the policies in respective countries and regions at large.

“We are aware that there are other Tanzania think tanks that improved their rankings overtime and got recognitions. But, to us this is a big achievement as we start implementing our four-year strategic plan,” he said. He said research institutions from North America grabbed 51 percent of the votes, followed by think tanks from Europe with 21 percent.

Research institutions from Sub Saharan Africa scooped 7.5 percent while those from Latin America and Asia shared the remaining 14.5 percent.

“We are thankful to the government, development partners and other stakeholders for their continued support. They have always considered our researches as among important components of the country’s development,” he noted.

In another development, Dr Mmari said Repoa has launched its four year strategic plan whose implementation will cover years 2020 to 2024.

He said the plan mainly focused in three areas that are in line with implementation of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Dr Mmari named the areas as production sectors and inclusive development, gender and human development as well as governance, accountability and citizens’ engagement.

According to him, those were essential elements to inform the comprehensive national agenda in social-economic transformations for inclusive development and commitment to achieve the SDGs