The Nairobi-based African Economic Research Consortium (AERC) has been awarded the contract by the sub-saharan African Executive Directors at the Bank and Fund to act as the commissioning agent for the Analytical Trust Fund (ATF). The ATF is a £660,000 initiative to support the analytical capacity of African EDs by funding research and policy dialogues. It will be administered by DFID on behalf of donors France, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and the UK. AERC will be responsible for coming up with a roster of experts by country and issue specialisation to respond to the requests of African EDs.