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Research Facility on Inequalities: First Phase (2017-2020)

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Fighting Inequalities
Première phase de la Facilité de recherche sur les inégalités, AFD-Union européenne
© Kibuuka Mukisa Oscar / AFD

Endowed with 4 million euros delegated by the European Commission's Directorate-General for International Partnerships (INTPA), the first phase of the Research Facility on Inequalities was set up for the 2017-2020 period. Coordinated by AFD, this first phase has enabled 22 projects to be carried out in some thirty countries and the publication of around one hundred research papers and public policy dialogues.

An addendum to the initial agreement was also signed in 2020 between the European Commission and AFD. This addendum is accompanied by additional funding of 520,000 euros enabling AFD to continue the research work on inequalities undertaken during the first phase of the Facility.

Objectives and Actions

The objective of the first phase of the Facility was twofold:

  • To better understand socio-economic inequalities, their determinants, their evolution and their effects in order to better respond to them in terms of public policies
  • Promote common strategies on inequalities between EU Member States, in the framework of the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals. The final objective was thus to better coordinate the various European strategies and to strengthen the contribution of the European Union's development cooperation agencies to the reduction of inequalities.

Within this framework, the following activities were carried out: 

  • Conducting thematic and global research on the determinants and dynamics of socio-economic inequalities in developing and emerging countries, in partnership with research centres.
  • Implementation of research projects in partnership with research centres and governments in selected countries and cities to meet the needs of the countries studied and to create an opportunity for policy dialogue with partner governments on the subject of inequality.
  • AFD supports partner countries and development institutions in integrating research results into national policies and development cooperation strategies.

New funds granted by the European Commission to AFD in 2020 through the addendum will also enable the activities carried out during the first phase to be expanded. The aim of this addendum is twofold:

Return to the facility’s presentation page

3 types of projects were implemented in the first phase of the Research Facility on Inequalities: 

  1. Global projects to study the determinants and dynamics of socio-economic inequalities in developing and emerging countries.
  2. City and country projects that respond to the needs of partner countries and aim to support them in developing public policies to reduce inequalities. These projects were carried out in close collaboration with the governments concerned.
  3. Projects that provide tools for better analysis of inequalities in order to better respond to them in terms of public policies and development strategies. These projects have led to the formulation of inequality diagnostics, fiscal impact analyses and the development of methods to measure the distributive effects of development cooperation projects. The first phase of the Facility also led to the preparation by the European Commission of a reference document on how to reduce inequalities through development cooperation.
    New research projects using the methodologies developed during the first phase of the Facility are currently being carried out in the framework of the addendum.

Research Facility Inequalities - Map of Projects
© AFD

List of selected projects

Four additional projects are being carried out in the framework of the call for research proposals “Advancing the inequality agenda through collaborative research: identifying the priorities for a Global Team Europe Approach on inequalities”, launched by the Strategic Committee of the Research Facility on Inequalities. These research projects are coordinated by AFD and co-financed by the European Commission, AECID and ENABEL:

Governance and partners

Schéma de la gouvernance VA
© AFD

The first phase of the Research Facility on Inequalities was organized around 4 committees:

  1. An executive committee: Composed of AFD, DG INTPA and AECID. This committee met twice a year to ensure the management of the projects financed.
  2. A strategic committee: Composed of AFD, DG INTPA and organizations active in the field of inequality. This committee met once a year to define the strategic priorities of the first phase of the Facility and to ensure coordination of Member States around the 2030 Agenda on inequalities.
  3. A scientific committee: Provided by UN Wider through its network of researchers. Its role was to support AFD in the selection and the scientific monitoring of research projects.
  4. A "Development Policies" working group: Composed of AFD and the governments involved in the country and city research projects. Its objective was to reflect on how the results of the projects could be used in the development of inclusive public policies.

 

Our partners

More than 100 research papers and policy briefs have emerged from the 22 projects conducted during the first phase of the Research Facility on Inequalities. These deliverables are based on the results of research and consultations conducted between 2017 and 2020. They aim to inform governments and development actors on the implementation of more inequality-sensitive public policies. 

Read the final synthesis

 

The results by project