2019 SOUTHMOD workshop

The annual SOUTHMOD workshop, organized in collaboration with Southern African Social Policy Research Institute (SASPRI), will take place in Cape Town, South Africa in 6-7 June 2019. This year, the workshop brings together both the representatives of the national teams from Ecuador, Ghana, Mozambique, Tanzania, Uganda, Vietnam and Zambia, and the researchers from the senior partners including the University of Essex, and SASPRI to discuss about the progress of the project. The aim is to provide a possibility for the country teams to share the lessons learnt in the process of building and developing the country models and discuss about the future of the models.

During the 2-day workshop, presentations under specific themes will be featured and group discussions will be facilitated to provide a platform for sharing views on experiences in different countries. There will be presentations on the technical aspects of the models, introducing model innovations for this year, providing examples of collaborations with revenue authorities, and elaborating country experiences on using models for policy-making purposes and research.

The SOUTHMOD models, based on EUROMOD software, were built jointly with the national team representatives, senior partners and UNU-WIDER as part of the large research initiative SOUTHMOD – simulating tax and benefit policies for development.  As the initial models have been successfully set up, the focus is now on (1) consolidating and updating the models with the most recent policy changes and if needed underlying data, on (2) disseminating the models among policy makers and researchers, and (2) composing research by using the models developed. initially developed.