ECUAMOD is being constructed as part of the UNU-WIDER-funded SOUTHMOD project that will also see new tax-benefit models created for several African countries.

The IAEN visitors spent a week in ISER, working closely with – and learning from – ISER’s Xavier Jara, who is taking the lead on the work to deliver ECUAMOD. During their visit, the visitors attended a three-day training course on the use of EUROMOD and worked with Xavier on the description and implementation in the model of tax-benefit policy changes occurring in recent years in Ecuador.

As the Ecuadorean model nears finalisation over the coming months, the IAEN visitors will play an important role in the model’s macrovalidation – that is, identifying and then employing national statistics that can be used to check that the model’s baseline results are in line with values provided by official sources – and they will also assist Xavier in running a two-day training course on ECUAMOD in Quito in early 2017.

More generally, the knowledge exchange activity covered by this GCRF award aims to strengthen ties between ISER and IAEN and to facilitate building capacity within the Ecuadorean institution so that they may be in a position to use and maintain ECUAMOD in the longer term.