Project to support research into development issues
Objective:
As the region advances in its process of development, new and greater challenges appear. As a leading institution in the promotion of development in the region, the CAF requires a knowledge base to react to these new challenges. Additionally, local research institutions have increasing difficulties in keeping abreast of developments and attracting new researchers who are training overseas.
The objective of this program is to establish a mutually beneficial relationship by assisting local researchers, while the CAF benefits by developing the issues on its agenda. The program is divided into two components: a guest researcher program and a competition for research works.
Guest Researcher Program:
Through this program, researchers specializing in issues on the CAF priority agenda are invited to continue their work in the CAF headquarters in Caracas for about three months, collaborating on issues that CAF researchers are currently working on or which they feel require attention.
Program of Research Works Competition:
This program calls for submission of research works on issues of interest to the CAF. The works should cover issues that are included on the CAF priority agenda for which no resources are available and/or cannot be immediately developed because of the short-term agenda of the CAF researchers.
Event date:
October 17, 2001 - October 17, 2001
Guest researchers program:
Description and Timetable:
This program is designed to provide support for the CAF internal research agenda. CAF researchers, within their priority agenda, will select the projects on which they are working or would like to work and for which external assistance would be beneficial. The chief benefits are that CAF researchers will be able to work on other projects on the CAF agenda, or the guest researches will contribute new ideas and updated knowledge to work where this is a priority.
The program does not have fixed dates (for reasons of availability of space), but the steps are expected to be as follows:
Identification of priority issues.
Preparation of terms of reference.
Call for submission of credentials.
Selection of researcher.
Contracting of researcher.
Publication: although there are no fixed dates for individual researchers, the CAF plans to publish an annual book of the works completed.
Guest researcher profile:
Graduate students will be given preference, but others are not excluded, including students who are studying overseas with a view to keeping them involved with the region. The researchers should be starting or halfway through their doctoral dissertation.
Program for Research Works Competition:
Description and Timetable:
This program is designed to develop issues on the priority agenda which cannot be handled by CAF researchers with available resources or which require more urgent attention.
The timetable for this program is:
August: Definition of issues.
September: Call for submissions.
Selection of a jury: which should include both CAF personnel (to judge the relevance of the work) and external academic jurors (to judge the quality).
March: Reception of works.
May: Announcement of results
June: Seminar with the selected works
Publication of a book with the selected works.
Guest Researcher Profile:
Preferably, but not exclusively, the works should be submitted by researchers from local universities. Consideration will also be given to works by graduate students from the region, which form part of their doctoral dissertation.
