WHAT IS REFA?
Rethinking Economics for Africa (REFA) is a network of students, academics, and civil society organisations committed to challenging how economics is taught and learnt in universities, and how it is practiced in the real-world of research and policy-making.
REFA is about making economics accessible to everyone; giving a platform to different points of view and making sure that the economics curriculum is relevant to the real world.
The main themes explored by REFA are:
Promoting pluralism in economics (such as exploring different economic schools of thought, and how they apply to real world topics).
Bringing about change in the economics curriculum (including the formal academic economics curriculum, the "extra-curricular" economics curriculum (such as debates, workshops, reading groups) and the public economics (in the form of public education).
Exploring alternative economics and alternative economies.
REFA is mainly organised as university chapters at a number of South African universities. Chapters organise public debates, reading groups, and are moving towards other activities like curriculum reform.
UNIVERSITY CHAPTERS
Interested in setting up a chapter at your university?