The five-year USAID-funded Equity and Growth through Economic Research project (EAGER/Trade) accelerated economic growth and equity in Sub-Saharan Africa and built applied research capacity by effectively applying research results to public policy initiatives. Research topics were demand-driven, chosen by policymakers from the public and private sectors.

IBI led the capacity building and institutional strengthening components of this project and designed the consultative process and research method involving significant collaboration among African and US researchers. The research produced three book-length reports, six policy papers, and eight briefs. IBI orchestrated a successful policy dialogue process whereby policy-makers were involved from the inception in the research and stakeholders were able to test reforms - in many cases while the research was still in progress - to monitor impact and adjust policies. The following were among the studies completed:

• Bringing Down Barriers to Trade: The Experience of Trade Policy Reform
• Ghana-Cross-Border Trade Issues: Socioeconomic study of cross-border trade: incentives and effects by Gayle Morris and John Dadson.
• The WTO/GATS and Liberalization of Financial Services in Africa: This study noted the opportunities offered by globalization and computerization of financial services, but also warned of the risks for developing countries of rapid capital inflows and outflows.
• Fixing African Economies: Policy Research for Development. This book includes case studies from six African countries on the impact of research on their policy making process.

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