Conflict resolution centre is leading think tank

Leading edge: Dr Adekeye Adebajo, executive director of the Centre for Conflict Resolution, sub-Saharan Africa's leading think tank according to a University of Pennsylvania survey.

The Centre for Conflict Resolution (CCR) is sub-Saharan Africa's leading think tank according to a survey conducted by the University of Pennsylvania's Think Tanks and Civil Societies Programme.

It is the first survey of its kind and included 5 500 organisations in 170 countries.

The CCR was established in 1968 and is affiliated to UCT.

The results of the Think Tank Index survey were published in the Foreign Policy magazine in Washington DC. "This is a great honour as we had set out to become the leading pan-African organisation in our field five years ago," said Dr Adekeye Adebajo, who joined the CCR as executive director in October 2003.

The CCR is also the only African organisation listed among the top 50 think tanks globally.

In an article in Foreign Policy Dr James McGann, director of UP's Think Tanks and Civil Societies Programme, wrote: "Far more than simply churning out endless papers, think tanks generate and fine-tune solutions to some of the most complex and vexing issues of the day."

Of the survey he says: "Think of it as an insider's guide to the competitive marketplace for ideas that matter."