Partnerships

AISA actively participated in numerous events, and was invited by the African Union (AU) to an expert meeting for the drafting of the pilot phase of Mapping of Civil Society organisations in Africa. This paved the way for a proposed meeting with the AU to concretise collaboration with AISA. Memorandums of understanding (MoUs) to collaborate with the AU, the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) and the University of Rutgers and the University South Texas on projects that cut across all AISA research units are being drafted. The Department of Defence (DoD) organised a gender conference entitled, Together entrenching constitutional imperatives within DoD. AISA actively participated in the conference and the relationship with DoD has been strengthened. A number of other projects have also been executed, including the South African National Defence and War Colleges training for elite security members of the Executive National Security and Joint Senior Command and Staff programmes.

AISA was also invited to participate in the Development Bank of Southern Africa’s Partners and Stakeholders’ Forum and the Southern African Customs Union (SACU) conference entitled, Implementing a common agenda towards regional integration in Southern Africa. Partnerships with the Pan-African Parliament enabled AISA’s participation in the Pan-African Parliament Third Ordinary Session of the Second Parliament for the Committee on Cooperation, International Relations and Conflict Resolution, held on 6 October 2010. AISA worked closely with DIRCO in the reporting period. This included participating in developing the SADC diplomat cooperation between academia and practitioners; an academic workshop on formulating a draft paper on South African Foreign Policy; the DIRCO annual conference themed, Cultural diplomacy and sport as tools for nation-building and development; the Shanghai Expo on 26 October 2010; the African Diaspora National Technical Committee of Experts meeting and the Sudan referendum observations in January 2011. AISA also made a presentation at the February 2011 DIRCO workshop on the Southern Sudan referendum forum, jointly organised by AISA, PRAU and the IGD. AISA has also partnered with DIRCO, PRAU, the IGD, and SADB for BRICS projects and was invited to attend the BRICS think tank symposium in Beijing from 24–25 March 2011. A new partnership was also established with the Southern African Trust, where we participated in workshops and other events. We are currently exploring cooperation on a youth exchange programme in Southern Africa. Partnerships with tertiary Institutions have also strengthened as research papers were presented by AISA researchers during workshops and conferences. Other partnership activities that saw the active involvement of the CEO included:

1. Chaired the session North African states’ foreign policies and African regional integration at the Regional integration in Africa: Bridging the North-Sub-Saharan divide conference, jointly hosted by AISA and Partnersin Development (PID), 5–6 October 2010, MarriottHotel, Cairo.
2. Chaired the Ambassadorial Forum sessions on Nigeria @ 50: Trends, issues and options, and Investment opportunities in Rwanda, 7 October 2010, and November 2010, Tshwane Conference Centre, Pretoria,
   respectively.
3. Panellist on the topic relevance of tripartite partnership for the success of responsible business at the seminar Business and development: Doing responsible business in Southern Africa, 25 November 2010, DBSA at Vulindlela Academy.
4. Presenter at the Kwanzaa celebrations on the topic of the day, Afrika – The world’s richest continent, 26 December 2010, Yeoville Recreation Centre, Johannesburg.