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History
IPOC in Africa has been through three revamps since 2003, with each predecessor responding to changes in user needs and from internal impetus.
On 17 July 2003 the first incarnation, the Southern African Online Corruption Information Centre, was launched. Our vision was to develop an online resource centre that would ultimately become one of the primary online reference points for those interested in combating corruption within Southern Africa. This was informed by a meeting amongst Southern African civil society organisations that took place in August 2002 and organised by Southern African Human Rights Initiative Trust and Transparency-Zimbabwe which identified the need for regional portal on corruption.
The following year, after having received feedback from corruption practitioners, we decided to revamp the site and changed its name to the Southern African Information Portal on Corruption. The aim of the update, in as much as it was to attract both repeat visitors such as anti-corruption practitioners as well as general users, reflected a deeper concern. The increasing prominence of anti-corruption on the global agenda was formidably making its way on the national agendas of African countries and thus made it imperative that we generate an open space to reflect and engage on what was going on. In practice this meant including and generating knowledge, information, as well as perspectives on the enveloping issues. More technically, we were aware of the value of simplifying the search functions on the website to make it easier for users to peruse the site and download documents from the database. Soon after this launch, the monthly newsletter, Umqol’uphandle, featuring the top SA corruption stories and an editorial was added as an important new dimension adding depth and critical perspectives to the site.
The latest site, IPOC in Africa emerged towards the end of 2006 out of a various tangle of factors present including the following:
• The formation of the Corruption & Governance Programme within the ISS Cape Town office necessitated a greater definition and breath of information added to the existing site
• The name change that incorporated the move beyond the Southern African region to the whole of Africa echoed the general drive within the ISS and the programme’s projects to expand the focus of work
• The researchers within the programme desired more exposure for the work they were involved in and most especially to encourage a wider engagement with issues they were delving into
• The need not merely to present contemporary information but to provide critical insights and perspectives informed the bi-weekly Spotlight column. This also signalled a move away from being solely database driven but as a multi-layer, multi-purpose vehicle for driving information and debates
• We wanted to ensure greater and more regular accessibility of information - without the user necessarily having to go online every time - thus we added the subscription (email) feature of the Daily News responds to the user who wants greater accessibility to corruption news around the continent
• In general the site needed to be made more user-friendly, accessible and indeed attractive encourage frequent participation
IPOC in Africa is now fully content-management driven and driven by responses within the programme, from users and from the changing African context in which we are situated.
Programme & staff
IPOC in Africa’s physical presence resides within the Institute for Security Studies in Cape Town, South Africa and amongst a small committed team making up the Corruption and Governance (C&G) Programme.
The C&G Programme itself was formed at the beginning of 2006 although work on corruption and governance issues preceded this formation by about five years. The team includes a programme head, senior researcher, three researchers and a programme administrator. The ISS Cape Town Office Manager remains closely associated with the programme’s activities and that of the site.
Each member of the team is all involved in at least two aspects of IPOC. Listed below are the staff and their contact details:
ISS Cape Town Tel:+27 21 461 7211 Fax:+27 21 461 7213
HENNIE VAN VUUREN
Programme Head: Corruption & Governance
E-mail:
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ANDILE SOKOMANI
Researcher: Corruption & Governance
E-mail:
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PILISA GAUSHE
Office Manager
ISS Cape Town
E-mail:
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TRUSHA REDDY
Researcher: Corruption and Governance Programme
E-mail:
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NATASHIA EMMETT
Programme Administrator
E-mail:
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ANDRE STANDING
Senior Researcher: Corruption and Governance Programme
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Interns
We have benefited from the following dedicated group of research interns
- Chandiona Lungu (UWC/Zambia)
- Cari Coetzee (Stellenbosch/SouthAfrica)
- Chareen Mathope (UWC/South Africa)
- Jennifer Lee (Canada)
- Mishinga Seyuba (UCT/Zambia)
- Musa Marawu (UCT/South African)
- Neil Mathee (UCT/South Africa)
- Paul Arendse (UWC/South African)
- Phindile Wilhemina Xaba (UCT/South Africa)
- Sizathu Cwati (UWC/South Africa)
- Thomas Orr (Stellenbosch/South African)
- Mzoxolo Maki (UWC/South African)
- Nokuthula Mpala (UCT/Zimbabwean)
- Siyanda Bentley Makula (UWC / SA)
- Luzuko Maider Pupuma (UWC / SA)
- Mari-Lise du Preez (Stellenbosch / SA)
- Elly Manyonda (UCT / Zimbabwe)
- Nondumiso Njengele (UWC / SA)
- Mzuvukile Ngese (UWC / SA)
- Daniel Scher (SA)
- Janine Ogle (UKZN/SA)
- Mercy Erhiawarien (UCT/Nigeria)
- Msuthukazi Makiva (UWC/SA)
- Tammy Evans (UCT/SA)
- Spokazi Mlandu (UCT/SA)
- Justin Sylvester (UCT/SA)
- Andrew Faull (UCT/SA)
- Nobuntu Mtwa (UWC/SA)
- Andile Sokomani (UCT/SA)
- Madalitso Phiri (UCT/SA)
- Thobei Madia (UWC/SA)
Donors
IPOC is funded by the Danish Development Agency (Danida) through the Embassy of Denmark and the Norwegian Agency for Development (NORAD) through the Embassy of Norway .
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