Public policy in Africa is being made against tight fiscal space, heavy debt service obligations, climate pressures and rising expectations from citizens. In that environment, the ability to say clearly what a policy will cost, who will benefit, who will bear the burden and how confident we can be in the evidence is a core professional skill, not an academic luxury. Many analysts, however, have studied economic theory without ever applying it to a live policy question under a deadline.

The Practical Applied Economics & Policy Analysis Training Course closes that gap. It starts with the economic case for government action and the main sources of market and government failure, then moves to quantitative tools for appraising options: elasticities and incidence, cost-benefit and cost-effectiveness analysis, and distributional analysis. The second half deals with evidence: reading and running simple regressions, understanding the causal inference methods used in impact evaluation, and judging the quality of studies cited in policy debates. The final day concentrates on communicating analysis to decision-makers in briefs, presentations and cabinet-style memos.

Exercises use realistic African policy cases on fuel and fertiliser subsidies, excise taxes, minimum wages and infrastructure investment. Participants work in spreadsheets with real datasets and leave with a completed options appraisal and policy brief.

After the five days, participants should be able to:

• Diagnose the market and government failures that justify, or argue against, public intervention.
• Estimate and interpret price and income elasticities and the incidence of taxes and subsidies.
• Conduct a cost-benefit analysis with discounting, net present value and sensitivity testing.
• Compare policy options using cost-effectiveness and multi-criteria analysis.
• Analyse the distributional effects of policies across income groups and regions.
• Interpret regression results and causal evidence from impact evaluations.
• Write a concise policy brief that sets out options, trade-offs and a recommendation.

The course is relevant to professionals who advise on or appraise public decisions, including:

• Economists and policy analysts in ministries of finance, planning and trade
• Economic planning and budget officers in national and sub-national government
• Researchers in central banks, think tanks and universities
• Regulatory and competition authority staff
• Policy and advocacy officers in NGOs and development agencies
• Advisers to parliamentary budget and finance committees
• Consultants preparing feasibility studies and policy appraisals

The course leaves participants with:

• A reusable cost-benefit analysis spreadsheet with sensitivity tables.
• A structured approach to framing any policy problem in economic terms.
• A checklist for judging the strength of evidence behind a policy claim.
• A distributional analysis of a subsidy or tax reform case.
• Practice in explaining technical results to decision-makers who are not economists.
• A finished two-page policy brief on a real policy question.

Teaching is applied and quantitative but accessible to non-specialists. Participants learn through:

• Short lectures linking each economic concept to a live policy question
• Spreadsheet labs using real datasets, with optional Stata or R extensions
• Worked African policy cases on subsidies, taxes, wages and infrastructure
• Critical reading of published evaluations and policy reports
• Writing and peer review of policy briefs

Participants earn a CPD-accredited Certificate of Completion issued by Vision Reach Global Consultancy by attending all five days and completing the spreadsheet labs and the final policy brief.