ABOUT US

The International Afrocentric Think Tank (IATT) is a cooperation framework among scholars and practitioners with an interest on National Security Studies and Public Affairs, whose work is deliberately biased in favour of Africa. It is a self-funded and results driven initiative that promotes the exchange and sharing of cutting edge scholarship through globally competitive but locally relevant conferences and publications.

The conferences and publications are normally hatched through ties established with strategic partners in the academic and professional spheres. Such partners include universities, government entities, research institutes, professional and scholarly associations. Sustainable partnership with these stakeholders is crucial for exploring the untapped knowledge and experiences of their members for the realisation of IATT’s vision and mission.

Governance structure

Besides the rotational convenors and administrative support, IATT prides itself with an advisory council which is constituted by men and women who command reasonable respect within their areas of operation or speciality in either academia, business, government and/or general public.

MOTTO:

“Securing Africans through evidence based knowledge”

MISSION:

Our mission is to become an intellectual powerhouse of a secure Africa

VALUES:

To educate, inform and influence policy making and implementation processes in South Africa and Africa at large

Values

Interdependence,
Cooperation,
Selflessness
Communalism
Ubuntu/ Botho

Aims

To conduct cutting edge research on socio-economic and political issues that have direct bearing on the national security of the Africans.
To analyse trends at national, regional and international level in order to rightfully position Africa.
To educate the Africans about the central tenets of national security in order to enhance their level of political understanding and maturity.
Stimulate informed public debate about issues of national and continental importance.
Inculcate and instil the culture of research among postgraduate students, lecturers, bureaucrats and policy makers.
Fill the human capital deficit in research created by the movement of people from Africa to the Industrialised World.
Conscientise the people of Africa about South Africa’s national security strategy; its pull and push factors.

Founding statement

Knowledge (information and ideas) is significant in the formulation and implementation of policy interventions, initiatives and strategies by governments or any organisation. Asymmetry or irregular flow of information can lead to the conceiving and implementation of bad national security strategies and policies. It is therefore important to have institutions such as IATT dedicated to scientific research and production of policy-relevant knowledge. Its services would help in the formulation of national security strategies and policies based on facts in order to evade the problem of formulating policies around assumptions. Since socio-economic and political changes are inevitable and often established national security policies and strategies become obsolete and inadequate to new challenges; it is crucial that new national security policies and strategies are constantly evolved to address new problems. The production of research based-information is therefore quite critical in updating public policy and national security strategies in particular.

Recognising the negative impact of the lack of policy-relevant knowledge on individual and/or collective national security of African nations, IATT is hereby constituted as:

An independent, non-partisan and non-governmental conference of policy research and analysis.

Research Agenda

The Research Agenda of IATT is divided into five categories, namely:

Facts Finding Programme (FFP)
Monitoring and Evaluation Programme (MEP)
Political and Risk Analysis Programme (PERAP)
Diplomacy and External Affairs Programme (DEAP)
Climate Change, Population and Health Studies (CCPHS)