Most research into Africa’s development  process has so far focused on an economic dimension with the emphasis and success indicators placed on sustained and stable growth of national product and consumption per head. Economic change has been at the center of policy research.  Not surprisingly, major economic research institutions have ignored cultural, political and social issues even though economic activity and economic management without
exception affect and are affected by people living in a society. Socio-political concepts need to be formulated to re-orient economic research towards a social path that supplies societies with a basis for justice, while providing a code of economic life. This makes interdisciplinary policy research indispensable.  ARRF conducts research activities in order to provide policy trajectories that look at the region’s development problems from the perspectives of different
disciplines.

ARRF intends to promote regional knowledge collection and sharing by filling another gap that has gone unaddressed even as the interaction between the countries in the region expands at an unprecedented rate.  Some of the knowledge that deserves to be shared between the countries is to be found in national research institutions.  But  there are also other sources: universities and commissioned research by some donor agencies, NGOs and international
organizations. There is also an additional source which has not been tapped as yet.  This is the practical experience of  development policy-makers and implementers who have left public service in national governments or regional institutions like EAC, IGAD, African Development Bank (AFDB) etc. The programme entails:

•  A social science library and electronic database at ARRF open to external users.
•  ARRF publications, which includes;
-  The quarterly New Path
-  Working papers
-  Occasional papers
-  Discussion papers
-  Policy briefs 
-  Seminar/ workshop and conference reports.
-  Individual Reflections and memoirs 

Under this program, ARRF conducts:
•  Policy seminars.
•  Public lectures.
•  Thematic Round tables/ Working groups.
•  Conferences and workshops  to facilitate policy debates germane to regional
integration and development in the EAC and Great Lakes Region, and a wide range of players and stakeholders including governments, international agencies, private sector and other non- state actors. The primary goal in regard to advancing policy dialogue in these key areas is to improve the policy development capacity and the quality of development policy by these agencies.

The ARRF Associate Fellowship Programme provides an opportunity for selected Fellows to:
i)  Gain exposure and experience in the areas of ARRF work.  
ii)  Prepare themselves for future academic and  leadership roles in their respective disciplines.
iii)  Conduct research within the countries of ARRF’s mandate and along the themes of ARRF research programme.
Fellows may be scholars, graduate and doctoral students or professionals in fields relevant to ARRF’s thematic focus. Registered Fellows may work from  ARRF’s Secretariat for a period of not more than six (6) consecutive months in a year. ARRF particularly encourages the participation of researchers with own research grants in the Fellowship programme.

Background:

Since the advent of self-government, African societies through their institutions of governance have struggled to establish effective and sustainable political, economic and social systems. Most African independent states enacted economic and political systems based on the inherited colonial frameworks and principles. Yet there were others that tried through their liberation leaders to establish indigenous processes to guide their young republics. Such were the cases behind Kenneth Kaunda's Humanism policies and Julius Nyerere's Ujamaa and even Jommo Kenyatta's African Socialism . Whether or not these were indeed indigenous thoughts is a matter of debate. What is critical is their attempt to put the people of these countries at the center of both governance and development. So that the people are not just the means, but also the end of all social, political and economic processes.

Today, within the framework of a post-cold war uni-polar world, the realities of the unfolding development of political, economic and social systems of governance are yet to be clear. The African masses are yet to connect with these systems and as a result the principle of people - driven and democratic processes of both governance and development has not been attained in nearly all African countries. Neo-Liberal approaches to governance and development have dominated the choices available to nation states in terms of development frameworks and options for political organization in a modern society. Yet even these models are themselves the subject of raging debate among scholars and practitioners of politics and development. Unfortunately, these debates hardly involve ordinary citizens-taxpayers, workers, students, religious leaders etc. instead, this critical mass continues to form the audience and readership of the products of intellectual and other discourse around these issues.

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