International programs and projects

The Consortium for Economic Policy Research and Advice

Country: Russia
AUCC Project Manager: Darlene Moll
Funder: Canadian International Development Agency
Project dates: March 1999 - July 2007

Description: The Canada-Russia Consortium for Economic Policy Research and Advice (CEPRA) was a $9.0 million CIDA sponsored technical assistance project that was launched in the spring of 1999 and held its final activities in the summer of 2007. The project was implemented by the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada, working in conjunction with experts in academia, the public and privates sectors, non-governmental organizations, and policy research institutes both in Canada and the Russian Federation.

CEPRA was designed to support the Russian federal government and regional authorities in their efforts to improve centre-regional fiscal relations and to promote stable and equitable regional economic development in the country. Over its eight and a half year-long involvement in the region, CEPRA played a pivotal role promoting improved governance, better fiscal and interbudgetaty relations, and regional economic development in the Russian Federation by supporting the Russian government in the implementation of an ambitious and dynamic reform agenda.

The project continuously responded to the Russian government’s requests for advice on monitoring the implementation of existing reforms and on suggestions for modifying these reforms in the light of domestic and international experience. By the end of its operation, CEPRA contained six sectors of research, with the goal of assisting the Russian Government to initiate and implement reforms in the key areas of:

• Fiscal Federalism and Interbudgetary Relations;
• Economic Policy and Economic Development of the Regions;
• Problems of the Russian North;
• Local/Municipal Government Reform;
• Public Expenditure Management;
• Political, Institutional, Legal, and Deregulation Mechanisms.

CEPRA’s demand-driven structure provided it with the opportunity to make a considerable contribution to Russia’s reform agenda, influencing critical legislation and policies and developing Russia’s liberal-democratic policymaking capacity.

Please browse the publications published during the CEPRA project.