The Regional Steering Committee (RSC) provides overall guidance and oversight for the project. The RSC is the decision making body of the project and has been involved in ACE II from the preparation stage. It comprises of representatives from participating countries, academics and representatives from regional bodies and the private sector. The RSC discussed and approved the five priority cluster areas for ACE II to address regional development challenges. It also selected the IUCEA as the RFU for ACE II. The RSC approved the Call for Proposals and made the conditional selection of the 24 Centers of Excellence (ACEs) based on the recommendations of the technical evaluation conducted by the Independent Evaluation Committee (IEC). During the implementation phase, the main task of the RSC will be to provide oversight and guidance to the project, to ensure that the ACEs are working towards achieving the Project Development Objective, and to help unblock any obstacles in implementation.