Call for Research proposals/abstracts for the 11^th EPRN Annual Economic Research Conference

Theme: Policies to stimulate Rwanda’s development agenda: best practices, challenges and opportunities

Deadline to submit Research proposals/abstracts: 15^thJanuary 2025 (by 5 pm CAT)

 1. Introduction  

 Rwanda aspires to become a Middle-Income Country by 2035 and a High-Income Country by 2050. Specifically, this means that the GDP per capita will be over USD 4,036 by 2035 and over USD 12,476 by 2050. This will also be achieved through ensuring all walks of society have increased opportunities to contribute to national development, including by growing investments in human capital and ensuring universal access to amenities, safety and security. All youth, women, men, people with disabilities and elderly people will contribute as actors of sustainable development, ensuring that no one is left behind in benefiting from development.

Rwanda's economy continued to stage a strong growth in the first half of 2024. After growing by an average of 8.2% in 2022-2023, real GDP increased by 9.7% in the first half of 2024. GDP growth is expected to maintain momentum in 2025–26, with a projected average of 7.7%, thanks to a recovery in global tourism, new construction projects, and manufacturing activities. During the first National Strategy for Transformation (NST1), Rwanda made remarkable progress whereby over 1.37 million jobs were created between 2017 and 2023. Exports grew at an average annual rate of 21%, with revenue more than doubling by 137% from 2017 to 2023, driven by the "Made in Rwanda" initiative.

Despite remarkable growth performance in recent years, creation of jobs in Rwanda is insufficient and the level of productivity remains low, reflecting infrastructure gaps, limited progress in innovation, and sub-optimal allocative efficiency. Furthermore, the inclusiveness of growth remains a key challenge, as the poverty reduction momentum has weakened in recent years. The benefits of structural transformation have tended to accrue to more educated workers, worsening inequality. vulnerability to climate change, and the increasing pressure on natural resources are also among key challenges to be tackled.

The Rwandan government approved the second National Strategy for Transformation (NST2), a comprehensive and forward-looking five-year plan that will run until the end of 2029. Approved on August 23, this strategy charts a bold new course for Rwanda's continued development. NST2 seeks to further advance the progress made under the previous strategy, NST1. It is designed to lay a strong foundation for sustained growth, bringing Rwanda closer to achieving higher living standards for all.

As such, growth and development will follow a sustainable path in terms of use and management of natural resources while building resilience to cope with natural, economic, political and climate related shocks. Rwanda targets to become a green, climate resilient and low carbon economy by 2050. These aspirations will continue to be embedded in Rwanda’s long term Green Growth and Climate Resilient Strategy (GGCRS) whose impact is intended to bring about mind-set and developmental transformation in Rwandan society that is necessary to achieve the desired carbon-neutral and climate resilient economy. Efficient use of land across sectors will be guided by the National Land Use and Development Master Plan (2020-2050).

To achieve the Vision’s targets, Rwanda needs to transform the structure of its economy to respond to current challenges and opportunities driven by technological progress and climate change. Furthermore, Rwanda has to overcome the limits of its small domestic market and landlocked position and find its place in global and regional value chains. There is also need for greater reliance on private sector investment to enhance productivity growth, raise incomes, enhance its human capital, modernise agriculture and provide the financing to address infrastructure shortfalls.

2. About the 11th Economic Research Conference  

 In line with the above emerging developments and policy initiatives, the Economic Policy Research Network and partners will be organizing the 11^th Economic Research Conference under the following theme: “Policies to stimulate Rwanda’s development agenda: progress, challenges and opportunities”.  

This theme is subdivided into the following sub-themes to which Research Papers to be presented will be aligned:  

• Economic transformation and development under the NST2
• Enhancing productive capacities across the economic sectors
• Education and human capital development
• Digital economy and the role of AI in economic development
• Green economy and climate change resilience
• Agriculture development and food systems  
• Effective fiscal and tax policies to stimulate investments and long-term growth  
• Regional integration and progress towards the AFCTA

This high-level and interactive 2-day research conference is expected to bring together more than 200 participants, including researchers, senior policymakers, representatives of the development partners, civil society, private sector and the media. During the conference, research papers and reports related to conference sub-themes will be presented and discussed. Policy recommendations will be formulated and shared with concerned institutors as a contribution towards boosting Rwanda’s economic resilience during the current socio-economic shocks. To help achieve these objectives, EPRN and partner organizations seek submissions of proposed research abstracts from researchers, development partners and postgraduate students.    Selected and approved papers will be invited to present at the conference.

3. What Should the Abstract Contain?

The following guidelines are for the abstracts to be submitted for the 11^th Economic Research Conference. A Research abstract of maximum 500 words should include:

The policy context of the proposed research.

Research Issue.A detailed statement of the issue to be researched, including reference to other work and perceived gaps in knowledge.

Objective(s).A brief statement of the specific objectives of the research.

Literature Review.A detailed but brief reference to existing (current) relevant literature is important in identifying perceived knowledge gaps and relevant methodology to use.

A statement detailing how the research objectives are to be achieved, i.e., hypotheses, methods, data collection, data analysis, etc.

Anticipated results and how they might contribute to knowledge, future research, and especially public policy.

Expected output from the project, e.g., paper(s), article(s), and other forms of dissemination to interested researchers and policy makers.

Timetable and duration.The length and time needed for each portion of the project and an estimated completion date.

4. Venue, Dates and Logistics   

The 11^th Research Conference is scheduled on 26th-27^th June 2025 in Kigali (Venue to be confirmed and communicated soon). Lunches will be served to all participants at the conference venue and catered for by EPRN. EPRN will not cover accommodation and transport of participants.

5. Submission of the proposed research paper

EPRN Rwanda encourages researchers to submit abstracts related to one of the sub-themes listed above, which, once accepted, will be developed into a full paper. Research Proposals must be original, in English and submitted in Word format to: info@eprnrwanda.org and conference2025@eprnrwanda.org and copy to ed@eprnrwanda.org. A researcher may submit more than one abstract; and a team of researchers may submit a joint abstract.

6. Key Dates

• Deadline to submit Research proposals/abstracts: 15^thJanuary 2025 (by 5 pm CAT)
• Notification of acceptance of proposals by the selection committee: 20^thJanuary 2025
• Deadline for initial submission of full draft papers: 20^thMay 2025 (by 5 pm CAT)
• Comments from external reviewers sent to researchers: 05^thMay 2025
• Submission of final papers: 15^thJune 2025 (by 5 pm CAT)
• Final notification on acceptance of a paper for conference presentation: 20^thJune 2025
• 11^thEPRN Annual Economic Research Conference: 26^th-27^th June 2025

7. Contacts  

For more information, contact us through: info@eprnrwanda.org or ed@eprnrwanda.org OR Phone number (office): +250788357648. You may also visit our website: www.eprnrwanda.org.