Led by TPP Associate, Nisar Majid, the FCDO-funded Horn Research Facility (HRF) was a political economy analysis facility providing support for the delivery of embassy priorities on conflict, the political settlement and service delivery in Ethiopia. The expected outcome throughout the programme was to deepen the UK’s understanding of the political economy context in Ethiopia and to increase the effectiveness of HMG’s development programming and policy design.

The Policy Practice undertook a political economy analysis commissioned by the UK’s Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) entitled: ‘Ethiopia and Somaliland: The political economy of Berbera port and corridor: continuities and volatility.’ This was the latest in a series of Policy Practice studies of the Berbera corridor since 2016 for the FCDO, and its predecessor the Department for International Development.

The project produced a tax strategy for the Economic Policy and Research Division of the Department of Economic Affairs of the African Union Commission. It also provided recommendations to the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office to inform their future engagement with the African Union on tax matters.

The Policy Practice assisted the preparation of a new UK funded programme in the Horn of Africa around the Berbera port and corridor in Somaliland and Ethiopia.

The Policy Practice facilitated a political economy analysis process for the Swiss Development Corporation (SDC) in the Horn of Africa (HoA), focused particularly on Somalia, southern/south-eastern Ethiopia, the arid and semi-arid lowlands of north-eastern Kenya and Djibouti. Simon Brook, TPP Principal and team leader, managed a complex process involving SDC teams in Kenya and Ethiopia, as well as TPP regional, sector and political economy experts.

This is a DFID funded research project on the relatively slow adoption of agro-processing waste to power electricity generation in Africa. The Policy Practice is contracted to provide insights and training on the political economy of this theme. Researchers from the team attended a PEA training programme in London.