SAIIA Ranked 2nd in Survey of Top Think Tanks in Southern and Sub-Saharan Africa
The South African Institute of International Affairs has been ranked second best think tank in southern and sub-Saharan Africa by an international survey conducted at the University of Pennsylvania in the United States.
The 2008 "Global Go-To Think Tank" survey conducted by the Think Tanks and Civil Society Program at the University of Pennsylvania is in its second year and ranks top think tanks in the United States and across the globe. It is the first comprehensive global ranking of top think tanks and results are based on an extensive worldwide survey of hundreds of scholars and experts.
This year, 420 organisations were assessed, a figure which has almost doubled from the year before. Organisations were nominated by an international group of scholars who study think tanks, executives and researchers from think tanks, public and private donors, and policymakers.
The selection criteria included (amongst others) organisations' ability to meet funders' demands or the goals of their respective grant-making institutions, the relationship between organisations' efforts in a particular area and the positive change in that area, organisations' ability to bridge the gap between policymakers and grassroots realities as well as their ability to be the hub or central actor in issue and policy networks.
This international peer recognition of SAIIA's effective policy engagement based on quality research and a high public profile comes as the Institute enters its 75th Jubilee year.
