The Botswana Institute for Development Policy Analysis (BIDPA) - Botswana

Source: The Botswana Institute for Development Policy Analysis (BIDPA)

• Overview
• Selected Research and Consulting Activities
  • Economic Planning and Projections
  • Welfare, Incomes and Poverty
  • Structural Change in the Botswana Economy
  • Other Projects
• Capacity Building

Overview

The Botswana Institute for Development Policy Analysis (BIDPA) is an independent trust set up by a Presidential Decree. It started operations in 1995 as a non-government policy research institution. BIDPA's main foci are Policy Analysis and Capacity Building.

BIDPA's trust deed sets out the objectives and functions of the institute, which include to:

• Promote and conduct research, analysis and publication on development policy issues ofrelevance to Botswana and the Southern African region.
• Monitor the performance of the Botswana economy and the management of public policy implementation, especially with regard to the implications for economic and social development.Offer advice and consultancy services to agencies of Government and other clients under suitable contractual and other arrangements. Provide technical and financial assistance, directly or indirectly, to individuals and organisations in Botswana as deemed desirable for purposes of facilitating policy analysis.
• Assist professional training and public education of Botswana citizens in matters relating to policy analysis, and encourage collaboration between expatriates and local professionals in these matters in ways that build or augment national capacities for performance and understanding of policy analysis.
• Employ staff members who will themselves, or jointly with other organisations or qualified people, carry out research, consultancy, training and education projects, including arrangement and management of contractual relationships designed to facilitate such activities by persons affiliated with the Institute.
• Present or publish, as the case may be, the outcome of its policy analysis, orally or in writing, to individuals, organisations or the general public at large.
• Mobilise and administer funds to be used for achievement of the objectives and performance of the functions of the Institute.

The staff now consists of the Executive Director and five Senior Research Fellows in the areas of Econometrics, Macroeconomics / Finance, Microeconomics / Enterprise and Statistics. In addition there are three Research Fellows in the areas of Agricultural Economics, Public Administration and Social Development and ten Assistant Research Fellows. BIDPA has its own Information Systems Manager, a Programme Coordinator, two specialist library staff and six Finance and Administration staff.

It is the policy of BIDPA that junior staff (Assistant Research Fellows) should be included in all of BIDPA’s major research and consultancy work, in order to build research capacity within the country.

Selected Research and Consulting Activities

BIDPA is a member of the High Level Consultative Council (HLCC) in Botswana and has been involved in many other contract researches and consultancy projects over the last two years.

BIDPA’s research programmes have been focussed on three areas: "Economic planning and projections"; "Welfare, Incomes and Poverty" and "Structural Change in the Botswana economy". Some of the projects carried out are described below under these headings.

Economic Planning and Projections

The BIDPA Executive Director was a member of the NDP8 Reference Group, which guided the formulation of the 8th National Development Plan during 1996. BIDPA also co-ordinated and provided resources for the editing and production of the plan.

BIDPA is currently engaged in producing an updated version of the macroeconomic planning model for Botswana (MEMBOT), in collaboration with staff from the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning. The model is used extensively for the production of projections used in the National Development Plans.

Welfare, Incomes and Poverty

The largest study carried out so far by BIDPA in association with Maendeleo and other colleagues was the Study of Poverty and Poverty Alleviation in Botswana - Phase One.

The study considered both income and capability measures of poverty in Botswana through a comparative analysis of the Household Income and Expenditure Surveys conducted in 1984/5 and 1993/4, respectively.

The study carried out reviews of key poverty alleviation programmes and policies to assess their effectiveness, leading to a considerable number of policy recommendations. Much of the data and analytical tables produced during the study have now been compiled and integrated within BIDPA into a Poverty Database.

BIDPA has presented papers and assisted with the organisation of a workshop on the Role of the State in Poverty Alleviation, in conjunction with the University of Botswana and the Centre for Comparative Research on Poverty (CROP).

Structural Change in the Botswana Economy

This is a research programme that has been developed to address important policy issues for certain sectors of the economy that are of particular interest to Botswana at the current stage of development. Some of the components of this research programme have been done under individual financing from clients.

The civil service and state administration can play an important role in promoting or hampering economic growth. BIDPA is cooperating with Christian Michelsen Institute (CMI) in Norway to conduct a study on Making Government smaller and more efficient. The project is funded by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The project addresses the role and scope of Government as compared to its capacity, Government as provider of services and Government as an employer. The project starts with a comparative desk-study of the development of government expenditure, employment revenue and the comparison of expenditure in United Republic of Tanzania, Uganda, Gabon, Malaysia and Mauritius.

Other Projects

BIDPA provided both technical and logistic support to the Task Group established to formulate a Vision for Botswana in the year 2016.

BIDPA conducted a consultancy on Community Based Natural Resource Management (CBNRM) for IFAD (the International Fund for Agricultural Development] during 1997. The consultancy involved assistance in the formulation phase for a CBNRM project in Botswana.

BIDPA is also collaborating in a British funded project to investigate the impact of policy on CBNRM in dry-land areas in Botswana and neighbouring countries.

Early in 1997, in co-operation with the Commonwealth Secretariat BIDPA organised a conference on Competition, Productivity and Privatisation in Botswana.

During 1997, BIDPA carried out an evaluation of the Botswana based projects of the SNV, one of the largest Netherlands development organisations. This involved data collection and analysis of an AIDS Home Based Care pilot project in Bobonong amongst others.

During 1997, BIDPA collaborated in a Pilot Study of the impact of HIV/AIDS on companies in Botswana, in conjunction with the Botswana Federation of Trade Unions (BFTU), the Botswana Business Coalition on AIDS (BBCA), and the Organisation of African Trade Union Unity (OATUU).

In 1998, BIDPA collaborated with Maendeleo to prepare a national Human Development Report for Botswana, intended to be the first in a series. This included the development of human development indicators for Botswana, and the compilation and presentation of human development data.

BIDPA has carried out an analysis of the Botswana Family Health Survey, in a short consultancy funded by UNICEF. The statistical expertise within BIDPA was also utilised for an analysis of data forming part of a Gaborone Housing Needs Assessment, financed by the British Department for International Development (DFID).

Contracted by the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning, in 1997/98 BIDPA advised the Task Force on Privatisation Policy and co-ordinated all its consultation and logistic activities including the production of the draft White Paper on Privatisation Policy for Botswana.

BIDPA has undertaken an Evaluation Study for the Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA) on District Development in Botswana. The overall mandate of the project team was to evaluate development co-operation between SIDA and the Government of Botswana on District Development Sector Support Programme – Phase Five (DDSS-V). Specifically:

• To assess the relevance, results, impact, and sustainability of the DDSS-V programme;
• To Provide the Botswana government with recommendations to further promote decentralisation in Botswana;
• To Provide the Botswana government with recommendations to further promote decentralisation in Botswana;
• To provide SIDA with information for use in supporting decentralisation programmes in other countries.

BIDPA is currently engaged in the first of two major studies on HIV/AIDS. This is a Review and Evaluation of HIV/AIDS Data. The second will be a study of the Macroeconomic Impact of HIV/AIDS in Botswana.

Since its establishment, in addition to providing professional advice to the Ministry of Commerce and Industry on a variety of important policy issues, BIDPA has been involved in a large number of consultancies related to trade and industry issues; for example

• BIDPA played an essential role in organising the National Seminar on the New Industrial Development Policy in 1996;
• In 1997, BIDPA carried out a review of Botswana’s Trade Policy on behalf of the World Trade Organisation (WTO);
• Later in 1997, BIDPA was contracted to organise a seminar on the Future of EU/ACP Relationship, and
• BIDPA carried out a study on Small-scale Credit as an input into a Government Task Force on SMMEs working under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry;Early in 1998, we prepared a study on Exchange Rates, Inflation and Competitiveness in Botswana;
• In the second half of 1998, BIDPA also completed a large-scale study to assess the Economic Impact of the Proposed EU/SA Free Trade Agreement on Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia and Swaziland using several different methodologies that gave broadly consistent results. Broadly speaking, the overall impact was quite small, and if anything positive, with the single exception of the impact on customs union revenue. A survey of firms in the four countries found that only a very small minority would be adversely affected by duty free imports from Europe, and an even smaller number might be affected by South African exports getting duty-free access to Europe (comparable to the current Lome access of BLNS). The impact on government revenue would be significant (from 5% to 14% of total government revenue); the four countries would, however, have a number of years to implement reforms of government revenue and spending, which should be done anyway.
• Most recently, BIDPA has organised and co-ordinated the 1998 Botswana National Business Conference which aimed at bringing together senior executives from the private sector and senior Government and parastatal officials to discuss issues pertaining to the development of the business sector and issues of overall national interest. The theme of the 1998 conference was "Globalisation and International Competitiveness". This was chosen to reflect the importance of ongoing developments in regional and international trade liberalisation, as well as the more general process of global economic integration. It is highly appropriate to Botswana’s development strategy of export-led economic diversification, in which the need to be internationally competitive is paramount

Capacity Building

BIDPA has an active programme of training for its own staff, including opportunities for further study towards Masters and Doctoral degrees, as well as short courses, seminars and workshops.

BIDPA is engaged in a project to link its library catalogue with that of the Bank of Botswana. BIDPA has also provided assistance to the Bank to catalogue its library.

BIDPA runs a Doctoral Programme, offering a scholarship to study for a doctoral degree to one or more candidates each year.

In early 1997, BIDPA facilitated and reported on the conduct of a SADC funded workshop to discuss a European funded project to train statisticians from all of the statistical offices in the SADC region.

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