Fifteen years since its inception in 2000, the Centre d’analyses des politiques économiques et sociales (CAPES) of Burkina Faso remains instrumental to the shaping of national policies, which impact on the west African country’s effort to meet its development goals.
Created at a time when the country was suffering from an acute deficit of capacity at all levels, CAPES has since consistently produced incremental results through an exhaustive number of studies, working papers, training workshops and seminars and its information and documentation centre. Through its networks and partnerships, CAPES contributes to the promotion and inspiration of national expertise.
Its activities have changed the perceptions of policy makers, academia, civil society and the private sector, who have come to recognize over the past years the critical role capacity building plays in the socioeconomic development process of Burkina Faso. For instance, capacity building has been included in the revised Poverty Reduction Strategic Framework (PRSF) as a result of an assessment study on the impact of government’s actions on poverty reduction.
The PRSF tasked CAPES with supervising the design of a capacity development benchmark.
Other achievements under CAPES include its contributions to Burkina Faso’s evaluation process for the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM), as well as the Accelerated Growth and Sustainable Development Strategy, which aims to develop the country’s policy process.
Also under the influence of CAPES, Burkina Faso has adopted a Capacity Building National Policy that brings coherence and impact to capacity development programmes.
CAPES has worked in collaboration with the World Bank Institute for the development of the Capacity Enhancement Needs Assessment (CENA) method, the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) within the Micro Impacts of Macroeconomic and Adjustment Policies (MIMAP) network, the OECD Development Center, the Danish Embassy and the African Development Bank.
