Human capacity (skills, knowledge, and expertise) is fundamental to a sustainable future. EfD supports the strengthening of domestic graduate programs to develop skills and competencies to carry out the necessary analyses on poverty, environmental, resource and climate challenges.
EfD’s high-quality graduate programs in environmental economics, resource management, and climate change facilitate effective policymaking, as well as a larger-scale perspective of global and regional environmental problems. This combination of deeper knowledge and hands-on, evidence-based tools is critical for societies to create pathways toward inclusive sustainable development.
EfD’s academic capacity development aims to build and retain sufficient human capacity in the Global South to teach, conduct high-quality research, give evidence-based advice in national policy processes, and implement practical evidence-based policies and programs for achieving poverty reduction and efficient long-term management of the environment.
Two different types of academic capacity development modalities are supported:
- EfD supports existing “residential” graduate programs in environmental and natural resource economics at EfD centers. Almost all EfD centers are connected to Masters and PhD programs at their host institutions.
- EfD supports newly established “sandwich” PhD programs in environmental and natural resource economics in Ethiopia and Rwanda with bilateral funding from Sida.