Exciting Fully funded opportunity to Ethiopia: Apply now for the UNU-WIDER/African Union Winter School on Public Finance for African policy analysts and researchers

Ednah Carrick June 2, 2026

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Closing Date: 7 June 2026

Exciting Fully funded opportunity to Ethiopia: Apply now for the UNU-WIDER/African Union Winter School on Public Finance for African policy analysts and researchers

UNU-WIDER/African Union Winter School on Public Finance Overview

UNU-WIDER and the African Union are launching a course on public finance for development geared towards African policy analysts and researchers. The course will take place in two parts. Part one is a three-day online methods workshop, held 28–30 July 2026. Part two is an in-person course for one week, hosted by the African Union, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, from 14–18 September 2026.

The first day of the in-person course coincides with the SOUTHMOD at 10 celebration. SOUTHMOD is UNU-WIDER’s programme of tax-benefit microsimulation models for selected developing countries, including several African countries, designed to support evidence-based analysis of tax and social protection policies. Course participants will join the event, which will feature a keynote and panel discussions on public finance and domestic revenue mobilization.

The aim of the course is to provide African policy analysts and researchers in government with an understanding of the theories, methods, and data availability for conducting high-quality analysis on public finance and development economics.

Course outline and objective

The course on public finance will provide participants with a comprehensive skillset in applied public economics with a special focus on the quantitative analysis of public finance in developing countries. Part one will provide participants with a basic understanding of how to use Stata and R for data analysis, understanding statistical concepts in economics, and tax-benefit microsimulation for policy analysis.

During part two of the course, participants will attend lectures by leading experts from UNU-WIDER’s global network and work intensively to apply their knowledge through practical exercises that strengthen their quantitative research skills. Beyond providing a methodological toolkit through practical examples, one of the main aims of the course is to sensitize participants to the key factors that make research policy relevant. These may include innovativeness and the ability to make causal claims.

Topics that will be addressed during the course include:

Public finance and development: a developing country perspective
Tax evasion and enforcement
Redistribution
Social protection

Empirical methods, data, and AI will be covered specifically in the online methods workshop and integrated into the in-person course through lectures and practical sessions. The course will be taught by UNU-WIDER researchers, including Jukka Pirttilä, Pia Rattenhuber, Jesse Lastunen, Kwabena Adu-Ababio, and Anna Zasova. Additional lecturers from UNU-WIDER’s wider
research network will be announced once confirmed.

Beyond providing state-of-the-art methods in empirical analyses adapted to the context of developing countries, the course aims at improving the ability to produce research to support policymaking. To facilitate this, all applicants are requested, when applying for the course, to submit a recommendation letter from their workplace. The course will also support creating South-South links sharing similar interests in other countries.

Selection criteria

Applicants must be a researcher or an analyst and have shown ability and interest to conduct policy-driven research on African economies. Candidates should be fluent in oral and written English and possess good quantitative analytical skills. The application is open to researchers from ministries, revenue authorities, other government agencies, universities, and research institutes in Africa. Applications from suitably qualified early-career female researchers are particularly encouraged.

Course certificates will be issued to participants who attend a minimum of 80% of the lectures and practical sessions in both parts of the course. Participants are expected to use their own laptops for both parts of the course, ideally with Stata and R pre-installed.

Financial assistance

Successful applicants will receive a travel grant to cover travel to and from their home institution, accommodation, and most meals during their stay in Addis Ababa. Back-office support will also be available to help obtain an entry visa for Ethiopia.

Application procedure

UNU-WIDER will only receive online applications for the course.

Please take note that the following documents are required when submitting your application:

CV
Motivational letter
One-page original Stata or R code sample
A note (max. 500 words) outlining how you have used AI tools in writing the code and/ or what you would like to learn about the use of AI in the space of this course
Letter of recommendation. This document must be submitted by its signatory to wider.unu.edu before 7 June 2026 and you must provide their name in the application

Shortlisted candidates may be requested to take a short test on their quantitative skills (coding, interpretation of empirical results, etc.). This will take place online. Once selected applicants have been informed via email, they must confirm their decision to take up the offer within two weeks of being contacted.