AFRICAN SUMMER SCHOOL (AFSS 2025)

23-28 May, 2025

The African Summer School (AFSS) 2025 is organised by the Ecole Nationale Supérieure de Statistique et d’Economie Appliquée (ENSEA) from 23 to 28 May 2025 and will bring together students, young professors and research professionals from African and foreign institutions.

Important dates for applications:

• Call for Applications opens: 27 January 2025
• Applications dealine: 10 March
• Admission decision: 24 March
• Registration deadline: 14 April

Registration fees:
On-site participants: 600 USD
Online participants: 200 USD

Confirmed Speakers

Confirmed speakers are :

• Clément de Chaisemartin (Sciences Po), Moussa Richard Kouamé (ENSEA);
• Heitor S. Pellegrina (Université de Notre Dame); Romaric Coulibaly (ENSEA)
• Tavneet Suri (MIT), Salifou Coulibaly (ENSEA).

Organising Committee

• Co-Président  Hugues Kouadio (Directeur de l’ENSEA);
• Co-Président  Doko Tchatoka (Université d’ Adelaïde);
• Membre  Romaric Coulibaly (ENSEA)

Financial support

Financial support will be available for young African researchers and students who submit a competitive application. This financial support will partially cover travel and accommodation costs or registration fees. Requests must be made at the time of application.

For more information, please write to us at the following address: afss2025@ensea.ed.ci

Hotels: All participants sponsored by ENSEA will be accommodated in hotels close to ENSEA (see list on the conference website), located in the Municipality of Cocody within a 10-minute drive. A nightly rate will be negotiated for all participants staying in these hotels.

Please consult the list of hotels.

How to get there ?

The Conference will take place over the two days at ENSEA in Abidjan.
The Ecole Nationale Supérieure de Statistique et d’Economie Appliquée (ENSEA) is located in the Municipality of Cocody on Boulevard Mitterrand, at Avenue des Grandes Ecoles.

Location: https://goo.gl/maps/Lo5qoWvdYnA9Y9tu6

Means of transport to get there are:

• Taxilines
• Private vehicle rental structures

For all information, please send an email to the following address: afes2024@ensea.ed.ci

Participation fees

Registration includes:

• Participation in scientific activities
• Lunches
• Coffee breaks
• Gala dinner
• Registration does not include accommodation or transportation costs.

Visa

All participants coming from countries where there is an embassy of the Republic of Côte d’Ivoire are strongly encouraged to obtain their visa in their country before departure. Otherwise, apply for the visa online (Contact e-visa airport: (00225) 05 54 36 29 15 available 24/7 – https://snedai.com/e-visa/

After registration and online payment of the fees, a biometric e-visa is issued upon arrival at Abidjan international airport. The visa is valid for 1 to 3 months. Participants arriving in Côte d’Ivoire must undergo the usual police and customs formalities. In addition to travel documents (passport, visa or identity card for nationals of UEMOA countries), you must have your vaccination record. Only the yellow fever vaccine is mandatory. NB: Participants must have the Conference invitation letter with them.

Travel information: Means of transport: For any other travel, use taxicab, orange in color or VTCs, namely Uber, Yango or Heetch.

Hotels: All participants supported by ENSEA will be accommodated in hotels near ENSEA (see list on the conference website), located in the Municipality of Cocody, 10 minutes away. Please consult the list of hotels.

Conference location: The Ecole Nationale Supérieure de Statistique et d’Economie Appliquée (ENSEA) is located in Cocody, Avenue des Grandes Ecoles. During the conference, an ENSEA bus will provide transportation from Hotel-ENSEA-Hotel (Departure hotel: from 7:30 am – Departure ENSEA: 6:30 pm).

Language: The Conference proceedings will be held in both French and English.

Communication: Communications at the hotel are relatively expensive. You can also buy a local chip for 500 FCFA or 1,000 F CFA depending on the operator (see stand at the airport). Telephone operators offer mobile and/or data packages.

• Telephone code: +225
• Electric current: 220-230 V, 50-60 Hz. (Bring an adapter if possible)

Currency: The local currency is the CFA Franc (1 Euro = 655.957 F CFA). International credit cards are accepted in most banks in Abidjan. ATMs are quite easy to find 24/7 in the city. Traveler’s checks are accepted by the main banks in Abidjan.

Health: ENSEA infirmary will be available to administer first aid in cases of illness.

Local time: Greenwich Mean Time (GMT)

Weather: Rainfall occurs from May to July for the main season and from October to November for the short rainy season, the weather is rather pleasant but humid. A sub-equatorial climate characterized by low temperature ranges (25 °C to 30 °C), a high humidity rate (80 to 90%) and abundant rainfall, which reaches 1,766 mm3 in Abidjan. This area has two dry seasons and two wet seasons. The long dry season, hot, is interspersed with some rain and extends from December to April. The short dry season covers the months of August and September.

Sightseeing Tours

 

The African Summer Scool (AFSS), 2025 is organized by the Ecole Nationale Supérieure de Statistique et d’Economie Appliquée (ENSEA) from May 23 to 28, 2025 and will bring together students, young professors and research professionals from African and foreign institutions.

Important dates for applications:

• Call for Applications Opens: 27 January 2025
• Application Deadline: 10 March
• Admission Decision: 24 March
• Registration Deadline: 14 April

The African Summer School (AFSS) 2025 will cover the following topics:

Topic 1. The Role of Technology in the Structural Transformation of Sub-Saharan Africa

Instructor: Tavneet Suri, MIT Sloan School of Management

The course will cover new and emerging literature on the role of technology in the structural transformation of Sub-Saharan African countries: agricultural technology, mobile money, digital lending, etc.

Topic 2: New Trends in Migration, Specialization, and Trade with a Focus on the Developing World

Instructor: Heitor S. Pellegrina, University of Notre Dame, USA.

This course will explore recent research on the economic drivers and consequences of migration, with a focus on how labor movements are reshaping labor markets, skills distribution, and productivity in origin and destination countries. It will also address key issues regarding trade liberalization, technology diffusion, and skills transfer, highlighting the unique opportunities and challenges that these trends present for developing countries. Through regional case studies and data-driven analysis, students will learn to critically evaluate policies related to migration and trade, gaining a deeper understanding of global economic interdependencies and practical skills to assess the impact of policies in diverse development contexts.

Topic 3. New trends in difference-of-reference methods

Instructor: Clément de Chaisemartin, Department of Economics, Sciences Po, France

This course will provide students with a modern understanding of causal inference techniques, enabling them to tackle complex policy evaluation tasks with confidence. Through a mix of theoretical foundations, real-world case studies, and hands-on coding exercises, students will acquire the practical skills needed to apply advanced DiD methods in policy analysis. By the end of the course, they will be well prepared for research and decision-making in data-driven environments, able to rigorously analyze policy impacts and adapt these methods to a wide range of scenarios in which causal inference is essential.

For more information, please write to us at afss2025@ensea.ed.ci

Application File:

On-site participation in the Summer School has limited capacity and will be on a selective basis, particularly among graduate students.

Candidates are invited to submit their application:

• A cover letter of no more than 200 words indicating their school, program and level of study
• A Resume of no more than two pages updated
• The selection will be based on these two elements; candidates are therefore requested to present them well.
• The candidate must be a member of the Econometric Society at the time of application. To join the Econometric Society, please go to http://www.econometricsociety.org or https://www.africaeconometricsociety.com/econometric-society-membership. To benefit from free membership, the applicant must reside and work in an African country.

Application Link: Applications are submitted via Oxford Abstract: https://app.oxfordabstracts.com/stages/77864/submitter

Application Fee:

• Onsite Participants: USD 600
• Online Participants: USD 200

Financial Support:

Financial support will be available to young African researchers and students who submit a competitive application. This financial support will partially cover travel and accommodation or registration costs. Requests should be made at the time of application.