Climate change: SA response ‘groundbreaking’. Read this new book from Idasa

When it comes to Climate Change the gap between what we are doing and what we need to do is vast. Developing a plan to get us from where we are to where we need to be is now one of the most important tasks of modern society. In this, South Africa was an early [...]

SA is torn between secrecy and transparency

SA is capable of sustaining two narratives. One, which provoked a Financial Times editorial suggesting the Protection of Information Bill represents the path to Zimbabwe, is cloaked in secrecy. The competing narrative — the one of transparency — was enhanced with the unveiling of the 2010 Open Budget Index, an international survey that measures countries’ [...]

ANSA-Africa hosts series of public dialogues on Extractive Industries and Natural Resource Management

ANSA-Africa hosts series of public dialogues on Extractive Industries and Natural Resource Management as the starting point for targeted in-country action as well as building the foundation for networking across borders towards an Africa-wide movement. The talks are intended to create a platform for sharing of experiences on extractive industries and natural resource management, as [...]

Corruption fight comes under global spotlight

Corruption in Zambia was under the spotlight as the head of Idasa’s Economic Governance Programme, Richard Calland, recently spoke about corruption in the construction sector. Read full article here.

Zuma should play by the rules

“We should not have to be dragooned into setting high standards in public life. We should willingly seek maximum openness about what our public representatives do, and receive.” These words are as true today as they were in 1996, when senior African National Congress member Kader Asmal said them. Intrinsically connected with the advent of [...]

Eskom – we need a public conversation

By Richard Calland and Gary Pienaar Picking holes in the governance of electricity supply, and energy policy more generally, is like shooting fish in a barrel. Whether it is the development and sequencing of key policy documents, the absence of proper stakeholder consultation, leadership failure, or the lack of clarity about intragovernmental roles and responsibilities, [...]

Media and HIV – getting together

It was hot, humid and sweaty and the airline had lost my luggage.  After filling out a few bureaucratic forms with a smiling Zambian face, I joined the bus of strangers – new recruits to Idasa’s Community of Practice for African communications practitioners who write about HIV/AIDS.  We were to spend two days together, at [...]

Government Committed to Priorities – SA Budget

SA Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan delivered the South African medium term budget statement on 27th October. Government priorities remain social spending, infrastructural expansion and job creation. See Idasa’s comment in the video and statement below.

Making Aid Work

Idasa recently hosted the ‘Southern African Civil Society Consultation Workshop & Multi-Stakeholders Consultation on Aid Effectiveness: Catalysing Broad Implementation Of The Accra Agenda For Action (AAA)’. This was one of a series of workshops on the African continent and around the world. Others have been held in the Philippines and Columbia. These workshops are aimed [...]

Reforming the IMF

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is a special agency of the United Nations with 186 member countries, to which it provides policy and technical assistance and funding. The IMF is a core International Financial Institution (IFI) and an influential funding body which has influence over developing countries’ economic and other policies. IFIs are the largest [...]