TRAINING COURSE ON INTRODUCTORY APPLIED ECONOMETRICS USING STATA IN TAJIKISTAN

The International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) together with the Tajik Academy of Agricultural Sciences (TAAS) held a training course titled “Introductory Applied Econometrics using Stata” during 14 – 18 November 2016 at the National Library of Tajikistan in Dushanbe.

The aim of this one-week training course was to strengthen the capacity of young researchers in Tajikistan. The training program was designed to introduce participants with principles of conducting empirical research in economics and related fields using modern statistical tools and computer applications.  The training in particular focused on how to:

Participants with instructors from IFPRI and TAAS

• Design research projects and construct research questions;
• Analyze economic data to produce a statistically adequate model;
• Check the validity of the statistical assumptions underlying the model;
• Use modern data analysis and statistical software (Stata);
• Generate descriptive statistics, do basic hypothesis testing, and run regressions;
• Interpret and use the main analytical findings in applied research.

A detailed training program with session slides is available here.

In total, fifteen researchers, analysts and postgraduate students attended the course from universities, NGOs such as Z-Analytics Group and research organizations such as the Center for Strategic Studies under the President’s Office and the Institute of Agricultural Economics. Participants were selected on a competitive basis by the selection committee.

During this first joint capacity building effort conducted by IFPRI with its national counterparts in Tajikistan, IFPRI donated 19 laptops to the TAAS as a contribution towards creating a computer lab for its researchers. Organizers also provided participants with course materials and books for their personal use.

A training session

The training course is part of a joint effort to enhance economic analysis capacities among researchers in Central Asia and is supported by the Ministry of Finance of Russian Federation and the CGIAR Research Programs on Policies, Institutions, and Markets (PIM) and Agriculture for Nutrition and Health (A4NH).