Stakeholders at the 12th Annual General Meeting of the Economic Policy Research Centre (EPRC) have called for stronger, independent and actionable policy research capable of directly influencing government decisions and accelerating Uganda’s socio-economic transformation.
The call was made during the EPRC Annual General Meeting, chaired by the Permanent Secretary and Secretary to the Treasury (PSST), Ramathan Ggoobi, with Finance Minister Henry Musasizi among the officials who attended the meeting.
The AGM, held as the supreme decision-making body of the EPRC, brought together key stakeholders to assess the institution’s performance and discuss its future direction amid Uganda’s push to achieve faster economic growth and structural transformation.
The Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development said stakeholders commended EPRC for its performance but cautioned that the success of policy research should not be judged solely by the volume of studies produced.
Instead, they argued that research institutions must demonstrate how their findings influence policy decisions, improve implementation and ultimately translate into measurable improvements in people’s lives.
“Research must go beyond producing reports and publications to influencing policy, strengthening implementation and delivering measurable development outcomes,” stakeholders said.
The meeting also considered the financing requirements of EPRC’s 2025/26–2029/30 Strategic Plan, which is aligned with the government’s Fourth National Development Plan (NDP IV) and the Tenfold Growth Strategy.
The strategic plan places EPRC at the centre of efforts to generate evidence that can guide government in addressing some of the country’s most pressing economic challenges.
Stakeholders called for stronger government support for the research centre, alongside strategic partnerships and competitive funding mechanisms to enable it to undertake high-quality research capable of responding to emerging national priorities.
The demand for more actionable research comes at a time when the government is implementing NDP IV, which seeks to accelerate Uganda’s transformation through increased productivity, industrialisation, employment creation and expansion of the country’s productive sectors.
EPRC is expected to focus its research agenda on areas including NDP IV implementation, employment creation, urbanisation, structural transformation and tourism.
The institution is also expected to strengthen the link between research findings and actual policy decisions, ensuring that evidence generated by researchers is translated into practical interventions.
The AGM’s emphasis on policy impact reflects growing concerns over the gap that can exist between research and implementation, where extensive studies may be produced without their recommendations being fully adopted or implemented.
For Uganda, stakeholders argued, policy research must provide government with timely and credible evidence to guide investment, public expenditure and economic reforms.
The EPRC was established as a policy research and analysis institution affiliated with Makerere University and operates with the participation of the Government of Uganda.
The Ministry of Finance said the EPRC AGM has a broad institutional membership, including the Government of Uganda through the Minister responsible for Finance and Planning and Makerere University through its Vice Chancellor. The two institutions are the first subscribers to the EPRC Memorandum of Association.
The participation of senior government officials, including Musasizi and Ggoobi, underlines the importance attached to the research centre’s role in shaping economic policy.
Going forward, the centre faces pressure to demonstrate that its work can provide practical solutions to challenges affecting Uganda’s economy, rather than remaining largely within academic and policy circles.
Its research priorities—employment, urbanisation, structural transformation, tourism and implementation of NDP IV—are areas with direct implications for economic growth, household incomes and the country’s development ambitions.
The AGM therefore placed renewed emphasis on ensuring that evidence generated by EPRC reaches policymakers in a form that can inform decisions and improve implementation.
Stakeholders further urged the government and development partners to strengthen financing for policy research, arguing that sustainable funding would allow EPRC to undertake competitive research and build stronger partnerships.
The meeting concluded with a renewed focus on positioning EPRC as a key source of independent evidence for Uganda’s economic policy-making, with the ultimate test being whether its research contributes to better policy choices and faster socio-economic transformation.
