Concept note on ECA Country Profiles

This Concept Note outlines a proposal for the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) to produce Country Profiles (CPs), through coordination between ECA Subregional Offices (SROs), African Centre for Statistics (ACS), Macroeconomic Policy Division (MPD) and other substantive divisions. The CPs will provide data, institutional and policy information, as well as forecasts, policy and risk analysis, and recommendations. The CPs will also serve a number of clients, ranging from member States to academia, policymakers, civil society, and analysts within Africa and outside of Africa. Proposals for the frequency and specific indicators to be included in the CPs are outlined in this Concept Note.

While several other CPs are currently in circulation, ECA CPs are envisaged to add value in terms of the provision of timely policy analysis and forecasts from an African perspective, in addition to monitoring and informing on the central theme of economic and structural transformation in member States. Moreover, in the process of preparing CPs, the primary and secondary data collected can be accessed through ECA by a large number of data users for additional policy analysis on Africa.

This Concept Note provides a justification and rationale for ECA CPs. It will define their objectives, proposed scope and structure, indicators and areas of focus; provide data template; and look at periodicity and length, as well as timeline for CPs. The Note will also define the responsibilities of SROs and relevant divisions; partnerships to be formed with member States and external organizations; resource requirements for ECA CPs; and country coverage in the next biennium.