Partnership for Economic Policy Inc

What it reported doing in 2025

In 2025, pep continued to demonstrate the value of southern leadership in generating and using evidence to address complex development challenges. As some research and capacity-building programmes commenced, and others advanced or concluded, we reaffirmed our long-standing commitment to strengthening southern research leadership and supporting evidence-informed policymaking.this commitment was reflected across priority themesincluding gender equality, youth employment, climate action, education, and healthwhere local research teams produced rigorous, policy-relevant evidence while engaging policymakers throughout the research process. In 2026, this work is evolving toward even closer collaboration with decision-makers. The ongoing programmes supported by the hewlett foundation for building sustainable and synergistic evidence-informed policymaking (eip) ecosystems in africa, demonstrate pep's new policy engagement approach. The project teams are working directly with government partners on policy questions defined by national priorities.youth employment was a central focus of pep's work in 2025, marked by the conclusion of what works for youth employment in africa, implemented in partnership with the mastercard foundation across ten countries. The initiative combined robust analysis with extensive stakeholder engagement, including youth, policymakers, educators, employers, and civil society actors. Its findings were consolidated into the book youth employment programmes in africa and an open-access repository, providing actionable insights to inform youth employment policies and programmes across the continent.advancing women's economic empowerment (wee) in the global south remained a core priority in 2025, reflected across several research and capacity-building initiatives. Through projects such as the learning and knowledge management project (lkmp) (supported by global affairs canada), renewable energy and sustainable agriculture research (supported by the international development research centre (idrc), and the what works for youth employment in africa initiative, pep-supported teams generated evidence and strengthened capacity to address gendered barriers to decent work, access to resources, and economic opportunity. This also included experimental research in ethiopia, supported by the fund for innovation in development, assessing reforms to community-based health insurance systems, with a focus on financial protection, equitable access to health services, and women's empowerment. In response to the growing urgency of climate change and sustainability challenges, 2025 saw pep-supported researchers contribute evidence on green transitions, sustainable agriculture and food systems, and climate policy through initiatives supported by canada's idrc, and the european union's horizon europe programme. As well as pep's contribution to the sustainability, performances, evidence and scenarios (spes) consortium, this includes work on inclusive and sustainable procurement and cooking models to strengthen local food systems, and renewable energy and agriculture. Towards the end of 2026, pep researchers will be sharing policy-engaged findings to inform inclusive reforms in burkina faso, kenya, uganda, and vietnam.capacity development remained central to pep's mission throughout 2025. In partnership with the university of florence, pep continued to deliver its online training in development economics. Alongside specialised monitoring, evaluation, and learning support for researchers participating in the lkmp, pep strengthened local capacity to conduct high-quality impact evaluations, helping ensure that evidence meaningfully informs policy design and implementation. We also expanded access to skills and knowledge through a self-paced, interactive, bilingual online course on gender equality and inclusion (gei) supported by idrc. In 2026, pep will consolidate and sustain these investmentsdelivering the development economics micro-progr

Financial Efficiency

• Mission deployment rate: 74.2%; rating input score 74
• Program expense ratio: 76%; rating input score 76
• Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

• Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
• Pay-setting controls: 3 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 50
  • Compensation committee: Missing
  • Independent consultant: Missing
  • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
  • Written employment contract: Pass
  • Compensation survey or study: Pass
  • Board or committee approval: Pass
• Foreign activity oversight: 1 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 12
  • Claims monitoring procedures: Pass
  • Requires narrative reports: Fail
  • Conducts field audits: Fail
  • May suspend future funding: Fail
  • Requires financial reports: Fail
  • Conducts site visits: Fail
  • Requires grant agreements: Fail
  • May require repayment: Fail
• Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 75th percentile among comparable filings
• Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
• Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

• Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
• Governance controls: 9 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 100
  • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
  • Whistleblower policy: Pass
  • Document-retention policy: Pass
  • CEO compensation review process: Pass
  • Other executive compensation review process: Pass
  • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
  • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
  • Audit committee oversight: Pass
  • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

• Operating margin: 2.8%; rating input score 36; 36th percentile among comparable filings
• Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.85; rating input score 29; 29th percentile among comparable filings
• Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.85; rating input score 7; 7th percentile among comparable filings
• Officer compensation ratio: 12.7%; rating input score 26; 26th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

• Program expense growth: 5.8% per year; rating input score 100; 40th percentile among comparable filings
• Revenue growth: 2.4% per year; rating input score 100; 19th percentile among comparable filings
• Asset growth: 4.4% per year; rating input score 100; 30th percentile among comparable filings