ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL RESEARCH FOUNDATION
(ESRF)
Capacity Building in Policy Analysis and
Economic Management
By Samuel M. Wangwe
ESRF Discussion Paper Series No. 012
CAPACITY BUILDING IN POLICY ANALYSIS AND ECONOMIC MANAGEMENT
by Samuel M. Wangwe
Published by: Economic and Social Research Foundation (ESRF)
P.O. Box 31226 51 Uporoto Street
Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
ISBN: 9987 610 14 5
1997, Economic and Social Research Foundation
CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS........................................................................................................ v
1. INTRODUCTION..................................................................................................................1
1.1 The Premises .....................................................................................................................1
1.2 The Process.......................................................................................................................1
1.3 Policy Analysts and Economic Managers............................................................................ 2
2. THE CHANGING ENVIRONMENT FOR POLICY ANALYSIS
AND ECONOMIC MANAGEMENT.....................................................................................3
2.1 Internal Changes - Towards Economic and Political
Liberalization......................................................................................................................4
2.2 External Changes ...............................................................................................................6
3. ASPECTS OF CAPACITY BUILDING.................................................................................6
3.1 Creating and Sustaining Capacity........................................................................................ 6
3.2 Using Capacity...................................................................................................................8
4. THE EXPERIENCE OF TANZANIA IN CAPACITY BUILDING FOR
POLICY ANALYSIS AND ECONOMIC MANAGEMENT.................................................9
4.1 The Colonial Legacy ..........................................................................................................9
4.2 The Arusha Declaration.................................................................................................... 10
4.3 The Reform Era ...............................................................................................................10
5. SUSTAINABILITY OF CAPACITY BUILDING................................................................ 12
6. CONCLUSION.................................................................................................................... 13
BIBLIOGRAPHY..................................................................................................................... 17
iv
ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL RESEARCH FOUNDATION DISCUSSION PAPER
1. INTRODUCTION
Capacity building is the continuous and multidimensional process of nurturing the ability of individuals
and institutions to undertake quality policy analysis and economic management. Planning for capacity
building must of necessity incorporate the challenges of a complex and continuously changing national
and international environment.
1.1 The Premises
Capacity building in policy analysis and economic management is addressed on the basis of four
premises:
That changing conditions in Tanzanian society and in the world economy require a greater capacity
for policy analysis and economic management. Policy analysis has been a monopoly of government,
but under political and economic liberalization it calls for the participation of various stakeholders in
the economy.
That capacity building as a process deals with multifaceted issues and therefore requires a
multidimensional approach. A clear elaboration of various aspects of capacity is needed to facilitate
the proper design of the process.
That substantial lessons can be drawn from the experiences of policy analysis and economic
management over the last three decades.
That the capacity building process must be continuous, which means it must be sustained.
1.2 The Process
Policy analysis, as one of the pillars of sound economic management, refers to the sequential process of
identifying problems, analysing them, formulating appropriate policy options to solve them and
articulating these options clearly. From there the process moves on to deciding which options to take,
imple menting these choices and finally evaluating the implementation process. Capacity building in policy
analysis requires instilling or enhancing the ability to manage this sequential process. Specific action steps
are needed to enhance the ability to:
Identify problems: This means establishing the causal factors of the problem, which may be
systemic, i.e., inherent within the system; individualistic, i.e., within actors in the system; or exogenous,
i.e., caused by external shocks.
Analyse problems: Solving a problem requires assessing and understanding the problem in terms of
its magnitude, causes, complexity and effects, in order to facilitate the formulation of appropriate
solutions and establish a good order and priority for applying the solutions.
Formulate appropriate policies: This involves identifying and measuring the impact of various
proposals and policy options as solutions, assessing trade-offs, and weighing alternative solutions to
problems that more often than not are complex. It is a process that