The 1st OTT Conference in Africa will take place in Pretoria on 17th July 2018. Southern Hemisphere is organising this one-day conference aimed at bringing together thinktankers, policy entrepreneurs, funders and policymakers from around the world to present, discuss and debate a range of issues related think tanks and evidence informed policy. We are supported by the Hewlett Foundation and Universidad del Pacífico.
The Conference follows the 2nd OTT Global Conference, held in London in February 2018 and follow-up meetings held in London and Lima. These events help us to reach new audiences and explore new ideas.
The programme is based on the London event (we had more than 2 days of meetings) but is indented to be a platform for the local thinktanking and policy research community to lead the discussion.
Find out more about the OTT Conference in London
Who is coming?
We want to encourage thinktankers, practitioners, policy researchers, think tank (and evidence informed policy) scholars, policy makers and funders to attend.
We have sent out direct invitations first to ensure that the core group of participants is somehow connected to OTT and its partners. This is not intended to be exclusive of others but rather to ensure that the first conference we organise in Africa maintains the same ethos as the ones we have organised elsewhere. We want to make sure that all participants feel comfortable and free to be open and candid about their work – as well as about the challenges and concerns they face.
You can join by applying below.
The programme
The draft programme below will be updated as more people sign up and you suggest what you would like to discuss.
- (900-1000) Opening remarks and introductions with Dena Lomofsky (Southern Hemisphere) and Enrique Mendizabal (On Think Tanks) to get to know each other
- (1000-1030) Keynote presentation and debate:
- Matodzi Amisi (Department of Planning Monitoring and Evaluation) on: Evidence Informed Policy Making in Africa – what is the end game?+
- (1030-1100) Coffee Break
- (1100-1130) Keynote presentation and debate:
- John Schwartz (Soapbox) on the future of think tank communications – branding+
- (1130-1300) Parallel sessions A:
- A1: Women in think tanks convened by Faith Mabera (Institute for Global Dialogue) and and Aditi Lalbahadur (SAIIA) +
- A2: The future of think tank communications led by Enrique Mendizabal
- (1300-1430) Lunch
- (1430-1515) Collective reflection:
- Transparify Think Tank Integrity Check. We will use this tool to explore the various ethical challenges that think tanks face and how to address them.
- (1515-1645) Parallel sessions B:
- B1: Enhancing think tank sustainability in Africa – can they be domestically funded? led by Professor Susan Booysen (Director of
research, MISTRA) and Gloria Britian (Company Secretary, MISTRA)+ - B2: Evaluating policy influence – what is possible? convened by Dena
Lomofsky (Southern Hemisphere) and Mishkah Jakoet(Genesis
Analytics)+
- B1: Enhancing think tank sustainability in Africa – can they be domestically funded? led by Professor Susan Booysen (Director of
- (1645-1700) Tea Break
- (1700-1800) Feedback from the parallel sessions and closing remarks
Please note the the coffee/tea breaks and lunches are long to encourage the conversation to continue. These are opportunities for you to share your work, present ideas and make new friends.
How to get there?
Stats SA is just behind the Gautrain Pretoria station – if you come out of the station and turn left, there is a bridge which leads straight to stats SA or there are metered taxis at the station that will drive you there for R80. Link to Goole Map.
Parking: There is limited parking inside Stats SA building, and there is plenty of parking outside the building.
Reading list
To help participants get in the mood we offer a reading and viewing list – developed, in part, by the 2018 OTT Conference participants’ own recommendations.
- Christopher Rastrick, “Thinking about Trump“
- Anthony King and Ivor Crew, “The Blunders of our Governments”
- Sense about Science, Transparency of Evidence
- Andreas du Toit, “The Politics of Evidence based Policy Making”
- Adolfo Garcé, “Political knowledge regimes”
- Don Abelson, “Northern Lights: exploring Canada’s think tank landscape“
- Jesper Dahl Kelstrup, “Politics of Think Tanks in Europe“
- Andrew D Selee, “What should think tanks do?“
- David Halpern, “Inside the Nudge Unit“
- Dan Gardner and Philip E. Tetlock, “Superforecasting“
- Defying gravity: why the ‘submarine strategy’ drags you down
- Hans Gutbrod, “Distract, Divide, Detach: Using Transparency and Accountability to Justify Regulation of CSOs”
- Mike Connery, “The Digital Think Tank“
- Joseph Miller, “Content Everywhere“
- Melanie Rayment, “The business of service: why think tanks need a service design lens“
- Geoff Mulgan, “Big Mind: How Collective Intelligence Can Change Our World”
- Diane Stone, “Recycling bins, garbage cans or think tanks? Three myths regarding policy analysis institutes“
- Diane Stone and Andrew Denham, “Think Tank Traditions. Policy Research and the Politics of Ideas“
- Robert Chambers, “Can We Know Better?“
- A Ted Talk by Rodney Mullen “Pop an ollie and innovate“
- John Ioannidis, “Why most published research findings are false“
- A Ted Talk by Tshering Tobgay “This country isn’t just carbon neutral, it’s carbon negative”
- Learning through play
(Some basics)
- The On Think Tanks 2016 Annual Report
- A permanent revolution on think tank communications
- OTT Series: Funding for think tanks: domestic funding
- OTT Series: Funding for think tanks: the private sector
- OTT Series: Think tanks definitions and terms
- Latin American executive directors
- African executive directors
- Asian executive directors