Kenya’s think tank Kippra tops Africa in global index

Launching of "The 2015 Global go to Think tank Index Report" by the Lauder Institute of the University of Pennsylvania in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on Friday February 5, 2016. PHOTO | ANDUALEM SISAY | NATION MEDIA GROUP. 

By ANDUALEM SISAY

Posted  Saturday, February 6   2016 at  13:16

The Kenya Institute for Public Policy and Research Analysis (Kippra) has been ranked the top think tank in sub-Saharan Africa in 2015 by the Global Go to Think Tank Index Report.

“It is a perception survey on reputation of think thanks. It is not objective. But it works,” said Mr Steve Glovinsky, special adviser to the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), speaking at the launching of the index on Friday in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Imani Centre for Policy and Education from Ghana, Senegal’s Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa and Botswana institute for Development Policy Analysis were ranked second, third and fourth place respectively.

Four think tanks from South Africa namely, African Centre for the Constructive Resolution of Disputes, South Africa Institute of International Affairs, Africa institute of South Africa and Centre for Conflict Resolution took fifth to eighth position, respectively.

Out of the total 6,846 world’s think tanks the index covered, 615 are from sub-Saharan Africa.

Brookings Institution of the United States of America, Chatham House of the United Kingdom and Carnegie Endowment for International Peace from the United States of America are respectively ranked as the top three think tanks in the world.

At global level, Kenya’s Kippra is ranked 143rd.

The think tank index, which has been produced annually for the past nine years by the Lauder Institute of the University of Pennsylvania, covers 143 countries