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People (rather than NGOs) as agents of their own development
“Real change can only be achieved through challenging dominant political and economic interests.” For several years, the nature and discourse of “development” has been thrashed out among governments, donors and NGOs, all of whom have vested interests in Africa’s development. NGOs are strategic players – they have access to substantial funding to implement donor and government programmes and can create a bridge between those with money and power (state, donors, the market) and politically or economically disenfranchised citizens.  It has been argued however, that often NGOs are just co-opted into existing power relations and perpetuate existing hegemonic political and economic interests. The Broker has written a special report on “Deep Democracy: Civic Driven Change Initiative” as part of a process that interrogates the current Aid paradigm. See the discussion here.

What South Africa does the world need?
Today, it is commonplace to say there is a crisis in world governance. In the international arena, South Africa has a certain romance about it – a global solidarity movement that achieved the aim of toppling an illegitimate undemocratic government, through mostly peaceful means. And the world celebrated its success. In this world, South Africa’s choice and continuing struggle to affirm and implement the choice of a non-racial democratic state remains a beacon of hope. Now, what does South Africa offer in our quest to make the world a better place? Read more and share your ideas here.

Aid helping or hindering Africa?
Does foreign aid do more to help, or hinder Africa's development? Dead Aid, by Dambisa Moyo, has attracted huge attention as it made its way on to the New York Times’s bestseller list. In the book Moyo, a Zambian-born economist, lays out her argument that the foreign aid given to Africa over the past 50 years is the root cause of the continent’s enduring poverty, widespread corruption, civil wars and isolation from the global economy. Share your thoughts here.

Governance, citizens and HIV/AIDS
In the conversation spaces about HIV/AIDS, there is crucial interaction that needs to happen between citizens, governments and media.  Idasa is working in this space and has created a blog to share analysis, ideas and thinking.  See the latest, including options to subscribe to monthly updates, click here.

Idasa is working with partners in Kenya for the Right to Know, Right to Education project. This project's activities focus on: increasing the democratic space around the development of the national budget; sensitising policy-makers to better alignment between education policy and its corresponding budget lines; sensitising communities to their right of access to information; and improving parental involvement in local school governance. Idasa staff have been visiting network members in the development of this work. See more about this work here.

As Zimbabwe extracts itself from years of turbulence, the Global Political Agreement (GPA) provides the map for the way forward. Thus, monitoring the implementation of the GPA provides some measure of understanding of progress in Zimbabwe.  Idasa provides a monthly overview of political developments in Zimbabwe, under the terms set out in the Global Political Agreement (GPA). Read this month's monitoring report here.

Political party funding has the potential to derail democracy, if not appropriately regulated. Idasa recently participated in a Transparency International conference in Johannesburg, where Gary Pienaar presented a talk on Political Party Funding and corporate responsibility. See the presentation here - http://www.slideshare.net/idasa.

HIV is an emotive, difficult topic that is continually covered by media.  Idasa is working in several African countries including Tanzania, with partners and networks focusing on HIV/AIDS and media.  In recent meetings with Tanzanian organisations, several issues were raised, such as the following: media coverage of HIV/AIDS focuses mostly on funders and personalities; the way that citizens talk about HIV/AIDS is different from the way politicians talk about HIV/AIDS; it is difficult to turn knowledge about HIV prevention into action; and Idasa must ensure that it includes participants from local organisations in its current work. In addition, there was recognition that the over-dependence of African governments on international aid remains a challenge and has implications in terms of autonomy over the agenda of the governance response to HIV and AIDS. See more on this work here.

Idasa is now in the third phase of a project entitled “Building Capacities for Local Governance in Southern Africa”, which will continue to run until 2012 and be implemented in Botswana, Malawi and Zambia. This project aims to improve the quality of local governance in these countries, deepening democratic processes at local level and improving service delivery. For more about the project scope, context and tools, click here.

Traditional leaders are an important part of the power play within Swaziland’s democracy – Idasa has recently been involved in research that investigates the role of traditional authorities in a democratic Swaziland as perceived by the pro-democracy forces. This work also encouraged political organizations in Swaziland to start a policy debate on the question of traditional leaders in a democratic Swaziland. Read more here.

Idasa is running a capacity-building project in fifty municipalities in South Africa over five years. The project aims to promote and strengthen good governance and develop critical capacities for municipalities and civil society organisations in identified provinces with a specific focus on enhancing service delivery. Read more here.

The public protector in South Africa has the crucial role of ensuring that ordinary citizens benefit from efficient and fair public administration. When governments act unfairly, it is difficult for citizens to fight back. Thus, the public protector was established to investigate any maladministration in government. One expects independence, impartiality and reasonable powers (including subpoena, and search and seizure) from such an office. The South African parliament is currently interviewing for a new public protector – see more here.

Idasa's Economic Governance Programme works through in-country partnerships, and is driven by the concept of citizen agency. It aims to ensure that the state, the private sector, civil society and donor agencies consistently engage with issues that directly and indirectly affect marginalised groups in pursuit of its mission, which is to democratise economic decision-making processes and resource management through citizen engagement to achieve sustainable socio-economic justice in Africa. See more about the strategy of this programme here.

The Economic Governance Programme will be holding a conference on November 9th – 11th on Governance and Small-Scale Agriculture in Southern Africa. The aim of the conference is to discuss governance and public investment processes and how these are shaping small-scale agriculture in the region. See more details here.

Citizen Leadership in Mozambique
Idasa staff have recently spent time in Mozambique interviewing citizen leadership trainers for future training programmes.  See more about past similar interventions here.

Social accountability in Benin and Uganda
ANSA – Affiliated Network for Social Accountability – is hosted by Idasa.  Recently, Idasa staff have been visiting partners in Benin and Uganda, to discuss the quality of social accountability methods and tools to improve governance and service delivery.

Democracy, Dialogue and Development in Tanzania
Idasa was invited by the SA High Commission to speak at a Women's Day Seminar in Arusha, Tanzania. The event coincided with Tanzania's Farmers Day - Nane Nane, a national holiday dedicated to farming and agricultural development. Speakers at the event encouraged citizens to engage in dialogue with the government. See Idasa’s presentation entitled – “Democracy, dialogue and development: how citizen engagement can lead to sustainable livelihoods”, click here.

Farmers to Influence Agriculture Policy
Idasa recently signed on new partners in Malawi for the Wellspring Agricultural Project, which aims to work through local CSOs to build the capacity of small-scale farmers, so they are able to influence agriculture policy and budget allocations and hold their governments accountable. The project aims to improve the sustainable livelihood of small-scale farmers. Idasa is the implementing agency of this project, which has partners in 10 African countries including Ghana, Liberia, Malawi, Tanzania and Senegal.

Challenges of Democracy – Countries in Transition
Idasa’s States in Transition Observatory (SITO) provides analysis, information and briefings on Zimbabwe to policy-makers in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the African Union (AU). This work also goes beyond Zimbabwe, to strengthen African understanding of the experience of democratic transformation. The aim of this work is to build capacity in Africa to analyse and provide advocacy to countries in transition – or in crisis – in particular helping local grassroots organizations and civics to strengthen their ability to deal with the challenges of democratization.

Idasa Annual Report 2008
Each year Idasa publishes its annual report in order to account for its work to those who support it and to enable the general public to understand and assess its value and impact. A printed copy can also be requested from our publishing department. Download the report here.

Reflecting on the work of democracy
For one week a year, Idasa dedicates time to reflecting on our work, sharing experiences and debating our work. It's the only time we take during the year to stop the frenzy of our daily work and take time out to reflect on what we do and why we do it...  We call this our “reflection week”. See the report here.

Every year, following reflection week, Idasa management and senior staff spend time focusing on the organisation’s work and mission at an annual “bosberaad” in August.  This year, a series of critical issues were identified and framed, dealing with human security, regional integration, rapid changes in information and communication technology, global governance, conflict, transnational crime, citizenship and social accountability, and climate change.

Idasa also held its annual AGM in August. Idasa’s Friends of Idasa board members from the USA also participated in the roundtable discussions surrounding this event. Discussions centred on the role of civil society, new world governance and the emergence of a global community, and different Idasa programme events.

Idasa book sales
Our latest book sales report is out, and in the July-Dec period in 2008 Idasa sold a total of 865 of our titles. Idasa books are sold abroad through African Books Collective, an agency based in Oxford; in South Africa through a book-selling company called Blue Weaver, and through our own online book store. Go to Idasa's online Lobby Book Store.