SAGA Progress Report - Competitive Grants

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SAGA Progress Report
October, 2003

IV. COMPETITIVE GRANTS

Since the inception of the grant program, the SAGA Research office has awarded 20 individuals with research grants—thirteen (13) students of which four were females, and seven faculty members of which two were females). All but four awardees have started their fieldwork research. The SISERA institutions participating in hosting these awardees include: six (6) Partner Institutions and five (5) Emerging centers. The total amount awarded for both rounds is $ 264,875.00.

Year 2: During the second round of competition ending March 3, 2003, we received 15 excellent (complete) proposals. We awarded 11 individuals, 7 students (3 females) and 4 faculty (1 female).

Twelve (12) of these proposals were recommended for funding by the blind reviewers (based on technical merit). The total amount requested by awardees for this round was $193,215.00. The total amount awarded was $159,875.00. Of this, $7,900.00 was provided to the host institution to assist in administrative costs. We followed the same review process as in Year 1. We applied the nine (9) criteria, five (5) objectives and four (4) subjective, as detailed in the companion report on the grants program. From these criteria, the blind reviewers scored and ranked the applicants. From the blind reviewers’ rankings and scores, a short-list was created. While most of the applicants came from the Land Grant Schools, we have two recipients from small four-year schools (one minority) during this round (See Final Awards Table for details).

All but four recipients have begun their fieldwork. The host SISERA institutes for the 11 awardees are:

Institute of Policy Analysis and Research (IPAR), Kenya (2 awardees);
Centre d’Orientation et de Recherche en Compétitivité, en Economie et en Décision Organisationnelle (CORCEDO), Benin;
African Institute for Applied Economis (AIAE), Nigeria;
Economic and Social Research Foundation (ESRF), Tanzania (2 awardees);
Centre de Recherche en Economie Appliquée (CREA), Senegal;
Botswana Institute for Development Policy Analysis (BIDPA), Botswana;
Institute of Statistical, Social and Economic Research (ISSER), Ghana;
Economic Policy Research Center (EPRC), Uganda (2 awardees).

During the first round we awarded (9) individuals. The total amount awarded was $105,000.00 ($5,000 provided to the hosting institution to assist in the administrative costs of hosting the awardees).

The host institutions for Year 1 awardees were:

Economic Policy Research Center (EPRC), Uganda (2 awardees);
Institute of Statistical, Social and Economic Research (ISSER), Ghana (2 awardees);
Economic and Social Research Foundation (ESRF), Tanzania;
Groupe de recherché en economie appliquée et théorique (GREAT), Mali;
Centre d’Etudes et de Recherches en Economie et Gestion, Cameroon;
Institute of Economic and Social Research (INESOR), Zambia;
National Institute of Economic Policy, (NIEP), South Africa

As of the date of this report, all awardees from Year 1 have completed their fieldwork and have submitted a number of the short-term deliverables (i.e., presentations at the host institutions, trip reports, etc.). More details are provided in Part II of this report.

In order to begin assessing the effectiveness of the CRGP, we have also developed a survey instrument and solicited feedback from all the Year 1 recipients and host institutions. We have also gathered information about the effectiveness of the outlet we used for grant announcement.

Competitive Research Grants: Final Awards — Year 2
Strategies and Analysis for Growth and Access (SAGA)

NAME	UNIVERSITY	PROPOSAL TITLE	SISERA INSTITUTE	TOTAL $ AWARDED*
Armah, Paul	Arkansas State University	Ensuring Food Security in Ghana — The Role of Maize Storage Systems	ISSER	15,000.00
Gandonou, Jean Marc	University of Kentucky	An Economic Evaluation of the Profitability and Adaptability of Precision Agriculture for Cotton Production in Benin	CORCEDO	10,000.00
Kabahenda, Margaret	University of Georgia	Evaluating the Nutritional Status of Ugandan Children	EPRC	15,000.00
Kaliba, Aloyce	University of Arkansas	Potential Impact of AGOA on Poverty Alleviation: The Case of Tanzania	ESRF	15,000.00
Lucas, Linda	Eckerd College	The Work of Women in Uganda: Contributions of the Macroeconomy	EPRC	13,125.00
Mude, Andrew	Cornell University	A Cross Sectoral Comparative Study of Institutional Arrangement: The Case of the Small holder Tea and Coffee Sub-sector in Kenya	IPAR	13,125.00
Mulaa, John	University of Maryland	Social Capital and Education: The Case of Busia, Western Kenya	IPAR	12,500.00
Mutambatsere, Emelly	Cornell University	Regional Integration of Cereals Markets in Southern Africa: A Case of Wheat, Rice and Maize Trade	NIEP	13,125.00
Nwokolo, Benedict	Grambling University	The Role of Investment Strategies and E-Commerce in Poorly Accessible Regions of Nigeria as Tools for Economic Uplift	AIAE	12,500.00
Sarr, Leopold	Cornell University	The Determinants of Schooling Transitions in Senegal	CREA	15,000.00
Werema, Gilbert	University of Georgia	Regional Differences and Food Consumption Behavior	ESRF	10,500.00

Note: *Includes 5% SISERA’s

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