The Center for West African Studies (CWAS) of UESTC, on Wednesday, December 15^th  2021, awarded two teams for the successful completion of its doctoral research innovation fund project (Project number CXJJ2021072601).

In July 2021, CWAS opened the nomination to receive proposals for its doctoral research project. Applicants were required to identify a problem related to policies, key developments, and strategies, or any trending issue within West Africa or Africa and employ an innovative method to address the problem.  After the close of nomination and all proposals being subjected to strict screening by expertise within the field, two research proposals with leaders, Isaac Appiah Otoo and Evans Opoku-Mensah, were approved for commencement.

Commenting on the quality of research done by the two teams, the Director of CWAS, Professor Zhao Shurong stated that the project led by Evans Opoku-Mensah developed a novel approach to forecast carbon emissions and another novel model to propose mitigation roadmaps for the countries that have ratified the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) treaty.  The project found that if current trends continue, these AfCFTA ratified countries will collectively increase their emissions per capita by 17% (corresponding to 32.58 metric tons) in 2030. However, if these countries follow the proposed roadmaps, they will collectively emit zero carbon emissions per capita by 2028. Due to the quality of the research, the findings from this project has been published in a JCRC Rank 1 Journal (Journal of Cleaner Production).

Next, Professor Zhao Shurong highlighted that the project led by Isaac Appiah Otoo, focused on reducing poverty among West African countries. The findings from the project has demonstrated how institutional quality (measured by the rule of law, regulation quality, control of corruption, government effectiveness, political stability, and voice and accountability) can play a role in the finance-poverty reduction nexus.

In recognition of the successful completion of these two projects, the team members and the supervisors received a certificate of honor.

From CWAS, we congratulate all team members for their success.