The inaugural workshop of the African Civil Society Circle was convened on 14-15 August 2014 in Johannesburg with two main overarching goals: to strengthen the connections between think tanks and civil society organisations in Southern Africa and to develop and promote common positions on key development challenges. With these goals in mind, the group discussed and defined thematic priorities, decided on a series of initial outputs that will promote positions on key African development challenges as well as agreed on conferences and fora that the group aims to address and influence.