Nebson Mupunga (PhD), MEFMI Accredited Fellow

Nebson Mupunga (PhD), MEFMI Accredited Fellow

Deputy Director, Economic Policy and Research Division; Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe.

I joined the MEFMI Fellows Development Programme in 2009, specialising in Sovereign Risk Analysis and Modelling under MEFMI’s Debt Management Programme. I graduated as a MEFMI Fellow in 2011 and received the MEFMI Fellows Accreditation status in 2015.

The MEFMI Fellows Development Programme has greatly improved my analytical capacity in my day to day work and knowledge on public debt management issues. Following graduation, MEFMI has engaged my services on several occasions as a Consultant in regional and in-country workshops, including joint Missions with the World Bank on Medium Term Debt Strategy (MTDS) and Debt Sustainability Analysis (DSA). This opportunity has improved my understanding of the dynamics of regional economies and best practices in public debt management, which I have also applied and offer as advice to my country authorities as part of my day to day duties.

More important, the Programme has also enhanced my research capacity including writing skills, which enabled me to advance my academic qualifications to PhD Level with a thesis deriving from my MEFMI Fellows Development Programme technical paper. The training has also assisted me to author several papers in public debt management which have been published in peer-reviewed Journals and research findings presented at various international conferences. I, therefore, encourage MEFMI to continue with the Fellows Development programme, which I personally equate to a research-based Masters Degree that prepares candidates to undertake independent research work with minimal supervision.