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This policy brief evaluates the capacity development component of the Water, Climate and Development Programme for Africa (WACDEP). Launched in 2011, the programme trained 170 people across eight countries to integrate water security and climate resilience into development planning. Key findings indicate that national ownership and localized programme management are critical for translating training into tangible outcomes, and that national trainers are preferable to international experts.

This research paper proposes an optimization-based method for selecting a small number of relevant scenarios from large sets generated by computer simulations, combining criteria for both policy vulnerability and future diversity. The method was tested on climate resilient infrastructure cases for three African river basins.

This policy brief examines the legal complexities and risks associated with foreign investment in African farmland, specifically focusing on the often-overlooked issue of water rights. It highlights a systemic imbalance where foreign investors' statutory rights frequently override the customary water rights of local communities, exacerbated by poor state enforcement and restrictive investment contracts.

The 2016 SAIIA Young Leaders Declaration is a statement of recommendations from South African youth aimed at implementing the COP 21 Paris Agreement, the African Union's Agenda 2063, and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The document outlines specific demands for municipal, provincial, and national governments across five key areas: accountability, education, basic needs, economic development, and stakeholder engagement, while concluding with a pledge of youth commitment to these global and national goals.

This research paper analyzes the challenges facing Africa's youth population using reports from the African Peer Review Mechanism, focusing on education gaps and socio-economic exclusion while recommending partnerships between states and non-governmental bodies to foster entrepreneurship.

This research paper investigates the impact of Chinese and Indian investment in Africa's extractive industries on local industrialisation, specifically focusing on the dynamics of Zambia's copper value chain and the role of mine ownership in the development of upstream linkages.

This fact sheet provides a quantitative overview of the South African beef industry, detailing production distribution, supply chain integration, and international trade patterns including key import and export partners.

This research paper evaluates Africa's prospects for achieving universal access to safe water, adequate sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) by 2030, as outlined in Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6. Using the International Futures (IFs) forecasting system, the authors compare a 'Current Path' (business-as-usual) against two alternative scenarios: 'Universal Access' (an aggressive push for 97% coverage) and 'Balancing WASH' (a moderate approach based on 2015 baselines). The analysis highlights the massive infrastructure investment required, the potential for significant economic and human development gains, and the risk of spending trade-offs that could undermine health and education goals.

This policy brief examines the misuse of electric shock equipment by law enforcement agencies in Africa, arguing that such tools often facilitate torture and ill-treatment in violation of international and regional human rights frameworks. It specifically analyzes the legal landscape of anti-torture commitments in Africa and provides a detailed case study on the South African Police Service (SAPS), recommending the prohibition of handheld and body-worn electric shock devices.

This research paper analyzes the challenges facing Africa's youth by examining Country Review Reports (CRRs) from the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) for 16 countries. It identifies a 'crisis of integration' characterized by a mismatch between education and labor market needs, high rates of youth unemployment and underemployment, and the resulting risk of social instability. While noting the potential for youth to be a 'destructive force' if marginalized, the author also highlights a strong entrepreneurial drive and a growing trend of political activism among young Africans.

This research paper examines the role of the Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO) in advancing South Africa's developmental agenda and its strategic focus on the African continent. It analyzes the alignment between South Africa's normative goal of African primacy and its actual resource allocation, noting that while budgets face restrictions, strategic investment in African missions remains a priority to support economic diplomacy and the National Development Plan.

This paper pilots the use of Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) to identify the combinations of factors that lead to the uptake of development research by policy-makers. Analyzing 20 projects from the Climate and Development Knowledge Network (CDKN), the study finds that while high research credibility is a necessary 'gatekeeper' condition, uptake typically occurs through three distinct causal pathways. The most common pathway (80% of cases) combines credibility, strong communication, stakeholder engagement, explicit demand, and influence on discourse. The authors suggest QCA is a powerful tool for testing Theory of Change assumptions but note it is resource-intensive and requires specific technical expertise.

This policy brief by the South African Institute of International Affairs examines the state of youth policy in Africa, drawing on African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) Country Review Reports. It argues that while youth policies are becoming more common, they are often hindered by poor design, inadequate data, and weak state implementation capacity. The author emphasizes the need for evidence-based strategies and partnerships with non-state actors to effectively integrate young people into developmental agendas.

This research paper examines land governance in Africa, highlighting the tension between formal statutory systems and customary informal arrangements, and argues that improving state capacity is essential for establishing productive land governance.

This case study describes a methodology developed by the Reiner Lemoine Institut gGmbH (RLI) to evaluate the economic potential of hybrid photovoltaic (PV) systems in Africa, specifically for substituting or supplementing diesel-based off-grid power generation.

This research paper analyzes the state of constitutionalism and civil liberties across Africa by examining African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) Country Review Reports for 12 countries. It categorizes these nations based on Freedom House rankings and identifies systemic challenges to freedom, including executive dominance and securitization.

This briefing describes the Restoration Diagnostic, a structured method developed by the World Resources Institute (WRI) to identify key success factors (KSFs) necessary for the effective implementation of forest landscape restoration (FLR) projects.

In a 2016 address, SAIIA National Chairman Fred T Phaswana discusses the intersection of South Africa's domestic political and economic crises with global instability. He highlights the erosion of South Africa's international leadership due to internal corruption and poor growth, while contrasting these failures with the success of the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Programme (REI4P) and global multilateral agreements on climate and development.

This policy brief details the Obama Administration's fiscal year (FY) 2017 federal budget proposal, focusing on investments in clean energy, sustainable transportation, energy-efficient buildings, and climate action. The proposal emphasizes doubling clean energy research and development by 2021 and introduces a crude oil tax to fund transportation sustainability.

Nigel Sizer, outgoing director of the World Resources Institute's (WRI) Forests program, reflects on the development of monitoring and restoration initiatives and the increasing role of the private sector in forest conservation prior to his transition to president of the Rainforest Alliance.