Details

THE SOUTH AFRICAN INSTITUTE OF INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS cordially invites you to a Dialogue on

“Policymaking and the Role of Think Tanks and the Research Community” with:

Date: Monday, 12 October 2015

Time: Light lunch from 13:00-13:30 to be followed by Panel from 13:30-15:00

Venue: South African Institute of International Affairs (SAIIA), Witwatersrand University, Johannesburg

RSVP: Please confirm your attendance to: pkuck@gppi.net

What is the role that think tanks and the research community ought to play in helping to address Africa’s policy challenges? Initiatives like the “2014 African Think Tank Summit” show that African think tanks are keen to network, discuss their role in society and put forth new ideas. However, they continue to face numerous barriers and challenges with respect to both communicating these ideas to the general public and promoting their uptake within the policy community. At the same time, governments often complain that research is supply- and not demand-driven and ideas coming from the research community fail to take into account political sensitivities, contexts or processes.

What are the key barriers that African think tanks and researchers face in feeding ideas into policy processes and what are the challenges that policymakers face that prevent the development of fruitful relationships with the research community? How can policy entrepreneurship and leadership be promoted among policymakers to create a more conducive environment for promising ideas to take root and flourish? Looking forward, what expectations do government agencies, think tanks and researchers have and how can a mutually beneficial relationship be fostered?

The South African Institute of International Affairs (SAIIA), together with the Global Public Policy Institute (GPPi) and the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung (KAS), cordially invites you to participate in a discussion on these issues with our panellists.

The public event itself is part of a longer-term initiative, the African Civil Society Circle, which aims to foster a network of African think tanks and civil society organisations and develop and communicate policy positions on key issues in international development debates. The African Civil Society Circle is generously funded by the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung and organised by the Global Public Policy Institute (GPPi).

Current members of the African Civil Society Circle include: African Monitor, the Agency for Cooperation and Research in Development (ACORD), the African Forum and Network on Debt and Development (AFRODAD), the Botswana Institute for Development Analysis (BIDPA), the Democracy Development Programme (DDP), the Institute for Peace and Security Studies (IPSS), the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR), the Institute for Security Studies (ISS), Policy Research for Development (REPOA), the South African Institute of International Affairs (SAIIA), and Southern Africa Trust.