People are growing into academic and policy leaders: A story of change from the WIDER Annual Report 2025

Long-term change depends not only on producing evidence, but also on whether skills and capabilities remain within institutions and research communities. By supporting people as they grow into academic and policy leaders, UNU-WIDER contributes to stronger institutions and more effective, evidence-informed policymaking. UNU-WIDER Winter School in Stellenbosch, South Africa In 2025, UNU-WIDER’s capacity development work continued to support professional growth in governments, academia, and international organizations. With sustained investment over time, UNU-WIDER training, applied research, and partnerships help individuals as they move into roles that can shape policy and knowledge production. From training to applied research: South Africa The Southern Africa – Towards Inclusive Economic Development (SA-TIED) programme shows what sustained engagement can look like in practice. Through this programme, the South African government’s tax data has become accessible for research purposes. Early-career researchers and analysts develop technical capability by working with this data on policy-relevant questions, linking methodological training directly to real-world applications. In 2025, UNU-WIDER training activities, scholarships, and programmes supporting local doctoral candidates continued to strengthen analytical capacity within government institutions. Through these initiatives, people develop real skills. Not just people, but the institutions they work for—today and in the future—will gain greater capacity to generate and interpret evidence. As more analysts gain experience in applied research using tax data, they contribute to tax policy analysis, distributional assessments, and broader economic research, gradually building a more resilient base of in-house expertise within partner institutions. Building a new cohort of policy economists in Mozambique The Inclusive Growth in Mozambique (IGM) programme operates a traineeship programme designed as a long‑term inves