Gorée
Institute Board of Trustees Meeting, 6 August
2007
Gorée
Institute Board of Trustees Meeting, 6 August
2007
On August 6th the annual Board
Meeting of Gorée Institute's Trustees
took place here at the Institute. This was
an important event. Since our last meeting
the Institute had undergone a thorough institutional
audit. In the light of a number of deficiencies
that became apparent thanks to the audit,
several adjustments were made to the structures
and the functioning of the Institute. The
process of clarifying the Institute's internal
procedures and structures is nearly completed
now. A document (Strategic Plan 2007-2009)
with its accompanying planned budget was
produced - in collaboration and consultation
with some of the Fellows of the Institute.
The clearer outlining and presentation of
our objectives and the proposed changes
and adaptations had to be examined and validated
by the Board as our highest policy-setting
entity.
Similarly, it was also time
to strengthen the Board and to meet with
new appointees to the staff. We are very
happy to announce that Ms Ayo Obe has agreed
to serve as Board chairperson for the next
three years. Ms Obe, a prominent human rights
activist from Nigeria has not only been
with us for a number of years now, but also
brings with her a vast and valuable experience
flowing from her work with international
civil society organisations over the past
decade. We are proud to have her lead us
into the next phase of the Institute's existence.
In the same way, we are very
privileged to welcome Ms Barbara Masekela
as a new Trustee. Ms Masekela, from South
Africa, is widely known as a senior political
figure in the liberation movement. Her most
recent tour of duty has been as the South
African ambassador to the United States.
We know that her experience and wisdom,
her originality and independence of mind
and her particular interest in cultural
and artistic creativity, will be of benefit
to the Board of Trustees and the Institute.
We are happy to assure all our partners
and colleagues that Dr Van Zyl Slabbert
will continue to guide us clearly and inspirationally
from the Board - and that our other trusted
Trustees also reconfirmed their commitment
to our work.
In the very near future we
hope to bring on board at least two more
new Trustees
(if you'll excuse the pun) in order to give
this objectives-setting council its full
strength and to enhance even more the diversity
and representative potential we strive for.
The Board encouraged the Institute
in its decision to systematically proceed
with the strengthening of TERAL, our hospitality
department, in order to make of it a more
effective motor for financial self-sufficiency.
The Board also advised us to reinforce our
programmatic sector by the appointment of
two senior professionals by the end of October.
Gorée NDAJE: Roundtable Workshop,
7-9 August 2007
We then immediately proceeded with a roundtable
workshop having as theme
"The Ethical Implications of Governance
in Africa." We shaped and presented
the three days of dialogue and discussions
as one of our on-going series of NDAJE -
a formula allowing us to bring together
key people from a particular geographic
area or conversant with a given set of themes,
to have them work together in a space of
excellence and freedom, and then to share
some of the results of the deliberations
with our 'constituency' of ambassadors and
representatives of international agencies
and major NGOs represented in Dakar. Our
Trustees stayed on to take part in the reflections.
This workshop brought about
40 participants to the Institute. A core
component was a number of people, active
in public life as decision-makers, who participated
in the by now historic meeting between the
African National Congress of South Africa
and a significant delegation of influential
political, academic and cultural figures
from South Africa, in Dakar, exactly twenty
years ago. It was therefore only natural
that the point of departure of our NDAJE
should be a review of the processes facilitated
by that encounter, and of the state of South
Africa today. Needless to say that this
led to vigorous exchanges and a number of
fresh insights. It was encouraging to note,
for example, that a continuing critique
of all aspects of South African development,
including its positioning within the larger
African context, is contributing towards
establishing and re-invigorating public
debate in that country.
The three days of discussions,
analysis and debate, were immensely enriched
by the contributions of a number of intellectuals
and civil society activists from Senegal,
the RDC, Togo, Zimbabwe etc. We were lucky,
as well, to have the participation of experienced
military officers. The subjects discussed
ranged from the general - such as Africa's
geo-political position in the world and
the growing presence and influence of China
on the continent - to the examination of
very specific case studies: Darfur, Zimbabwe,
the RDC and Guinea-Bissau. The presence
and the crisp participation of some of Gorée
Institute's Fellows (professionals associated
with aspects of our programs) were favourably
remarked upon.
We hope to share with you
a full report of the proceedings and a complete
list of participants, in the very near future.
Although we deliberately did
not intend this workshop to conclude with
yet another set of conclusions or declarations,
we did make it clear that we'd like to have
the support of the gathering for the next
phase in the Institute's development - namely,
the creation of a permanent reflections
and analysis unit capable of identifying
the deeper underlying problems bedevilling
our continent; capable, also, of providing
the mapping of areas of activity and the
supportive data bases that would be of service
to our partners, as also to the private
sector. We are happy and grateful that the
consensus from among the participants, confirmed
by the presence on the final afternoon of
the ambassadors of Germany, the Netherlands
and the United Kingdom, was indeed to encourage
us to proceed with the creation of an 'agora',
a meeting-place of critical minds, a 'centre
of excellence' and, perhaps a think tank.
We will keep you updated as we move forward
towards the realization of this new 'space'.
We are grateful that this
NDAJE was made possible by the support of
TrustAfrica. I thank them for their confidence
and their strategic encouragement.
Breyten Breytenbach
Executive Director
Gorée Institute
