From the Executive Secretary of ACBF

The African Capacity Building Foundation (ACBF) is pleased to announce to the African Think Tank Community, the launch of the Africa Think Tank Network (ATTN) whose Secretariat is being hosted at ACBF’s headquarters in Harare, Zimbabwe.

As the Think Tanks community will recall, the Summits held in Pretoria, South Africa (February 2014) and Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (April 2015) concluded with a set of recommendations to be implemented. Key amongst those recommendations was the necessity to establish an African Network of Think Tanks. Along with this was need to establish a Think Tank Task Force, which would follow-up with implementation of the recommendations of the Summits. To move toward with implementation of the recommendations, the Think Tank Taskforce at its inaugural meeting, as recommended by the Summits, mandated ACBF to establish the Africa Think Tank Network and its Secretariat.

The Network’s main objective is to provide a platform for sharing information, exchanging ideas, and enhancing partnerships among think tanks in order to individually and collectively develop informed solutions to the pressing development challenges facing Africa.

Membership is open to all think tanks based in Africa. Any Think Tank can send a request for membership to the Secretariat for approval by the Advisory Group made up of the Think Tank Task Force. Members of the Taskforce are ACBF, the Think Tanks and Civil Societies Program (TTCSP, University of Pennsylvania), the UN Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), the African Center for Economic Transformation (ACET), the Kenya Institute for Public Policy Research and Analysis (KIPPRA), and the Centre d'Etudes et de Renforcement des Capacités d'Analyse et de Plaidoyer (CERCAP).

For more details on the Network, its modus operandi, and some of the Nework's proposed activities please see the Concept Note. 

ACBF is committed to working with the African Think Tank community for an active Network that promotes evidence-based policies and programs capable of driving sustainable and inclusive growth on the continent.

For more information on the Network and contributions on how to make the Network more effective and responsive to member’s needs, get in touch with the focal person in the Secretariat whose contacts are as below:

Dr Barassou Diawara
The Coordinator - African Think Tank Network Secretariat
The African Capacity Building Foundation (ACBF)
2 Fairbairn Drive, Mt. Pleasant
P.O. Box 1562
Harare, Zimbabwe Tel. +263 4304663
Email: b.diawara(at)acbf-pact.org