About REFA

What is Rethinking Economics For Africa (REFA)?

REFA is a network of students, academics and civil society organisations – whose purpose is to challenge 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 REFA explores include:

- 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.

It 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 reviews.

Those who are not in a university with a REFA chapter, can be a part of the webinars, activities and reading groups organised throughout the year.

Through this work and the annual REFA Festival, we hope to grow the REFA Movement!