Africa ISTR Regional Network

ISTR African Research Network Meets in Geneva
by Devan Pillay, South Africa and Paul Opoku-Mensah, Ghana

A meeting of the ISTR African Research Network was held in Geneva on the last day of the Third International Conference and was attended by delegates from Egypt, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Mauritius, Niger, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania, and Uganda. The meeting endorsed the broad thrust of the article written by network coordinator, Devan Pillay, as reflecting the overall mood and tone of the December workshop. It also endorsed the research theme which came out of that workshop, namely, Globalisation, Marginalisation and the Retreat of the State in Africa: The Role of Civil Society in the Pursuit of Democratic Governance, Socio-Economic Development and Regional Integration.

The following decisions were made by the participants:

• Individual researchers should get in touch with each other to develop research projects within this broad theme.
  
  
• The South African NGO Coalition (SANGOCO) should be approached to continue with the coordinating role it played until the Geneva conference. Devan Pillay volunteered to approach them to continue this role.
  
  
• Regional contact people were identified to facilitate coordination. These people will work in close collaboration with whomever is elected onto the ISTR Board from the continent (the latter is/are meant to play a key role/s in keeping the network functioning).
  
  
• Paul Opoku-Mensah volunteered to look at all the research papers from African scholars, and make recommendations to the editor of Voluntas for possible publication as a special issue on Africa.
  
  
• Mahendranath Busgopaul volunteered to organise the next Africa researchers meeting which will be held in Mauritius during the latter half of 1999.

For additional information on the network, contact Devan Pillay, Head of Research and Resource Unit, National Union of Mineworkers, 7 Rissik Street, Johannesburg, 2001, South Africa; phone: (27-11) 833-7012; fax: (27-11) 836-6051; e-mail: dpillay@num.org.za