Information about South Africa | ASCL Country Portal - Information about African countries

South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa, is a country located at the southern tip of Africa. It is divided into nine provinces and has 2,798 kilometres (1,739 mi) of coastline. To the north lie the neighbouring countries of Namibia, Botswana and Zimbabwe; to the east are Mozambique and Swaziland; while Lesotho is an enclave surrounded by South African territory. South Africa is the 25th largest country in the world by area and the 24th most populous country with over 51 million people.
From Wikipedia

General information

Representation of (tentative) African heritage sites on the World Heritage List which is maintained by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).UNESCO World Heritage List
The African Union (AU) was founded in 1999 with the goal of accelerating the process of integration in the continent, to enable it play its rightful role in the global economy while addressing multifaceted social, economic and political problems compounded as they are by certain negative aspects of globalisation. African Union member
ecoi.net, the country of origin information system of the Austrian Red Cross’ department ACCORD, aims at contributing to fair and efficient refugee status determination procedures by securing easy and fast access to high-quality and up-to-date country of origin information (COI) for all actors involved in asylum cases.ACCORD country of origin information

Government, law, politics and elections

FAOLEX is a database of national legislation, policies and bilateral agreements on food, agriculture and natural resources management. The FAO Legal Office also collaborates with other FAO and non-FAO initiatives by facilitating the integration of FAOLEX data into separate platforms or by the systematic exchange and linking of information.FAOLEX associated databases
The Institute for International and Comparative Law in Africa (ICLA) is a research institute located in the Faculty of Law of the University of Pretoria. The ICLA was established at the beginning of 2011. Drawing on the extensive networks that the Faculty has established over many years in Africa and beyond, the objective of the ICLA is to become a first port of call for those who wish to engage in legal research and legal reform in Africa involving comparative or international law at the advanced level. ICLA offers country reports in PDF format. Institute for Intl. and Comparative Law in Africa
A directory of embassies worldwide.Embassy Worldwide
The African Legal Information Institute (AfricanLII) is a project of the Democratic Governance and Rights Unit (DGRU) at the Department of Public Law, Faculty of Law, University of Cape Town. It was incubated at the Southern Africa Litigation Center (SALC). AfricanLII's main goal is to promote Free Access to Law and Open Justice in Africa. AfricanLii access to law
The World Legal Information Institute (WorldLII) is a free, independent and non-profit global legal research facility. WorldLII provides a single search facility for databases; the WorldLII Catalog provides links to over 15,000 law-related web sites in every country in the world. WorldLii legal information
UN ILO Database of national labour, social security and related human rights legislation.Intl. Labour Organization NATLEX database

Crisis, conflict, security

This site has information provided by the Uppsala Conflict Data Program at Uppsala University on armed conflicts around the world.Uppsala conflict database
The Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED) is a disaggregated conflict collection, analysis and crisis mapping project. ACLED collects the dates, actors, types of violence, locations, and fatalities of all reported political violence and protest events across Africa, South Asia, South East Asia, the Middle East, Europe, and Latin America. Armed Conflict Location & Event Data
The International Institute for Strategic Studies is a world-leading authority on global security, political risk and military conflict.International Institute for Strategic Studies
The Global Observatory provides timely analysis on peace and security issues by experts, journalists, and policymakers. It is published by the International Peace Institute. The views expressed here represent those of the contributors and not IPI.IPI Global Observatory
Stratfor is a geopolitical intelligence platform that brings global events into valuable perspective. Worldview is the primary source for Stratfor’s published geopolitical analyses and forecasting. Stratfor Worldview
The Africa Center is a U.S. Department of Defense institution established and funded by Congress for the study of security issues relating to Africa and serving as a forum for bilateral and multilateral research, communication, training, and exchange of ideas involving military and civilian participants. Its mission is to advance African security by expanding understanding, providing a trusted platform for dialogue, building enduring partnerships, and catalyzing strategic solutions.Africa Center for Strategic Studies
Established in Washington, D.C., over 50 years ago, the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) is a bipartisan, nonprofit policy research organization dedicated to providing strategic insights and policy solutions to help decisionmakers chart a course toward a better world.Center for Strategic and International Studies
This information portal of the German Federal Agency for Civic Education (bpb) and BICC provides background information on issues regarding security policy.War and Peace security policy issues
The Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) is an independent, nonpartisan membership organization, think tank, and publisher dedicated to being a resource for its members, government officials, business executives, journalists, educators and students, civic and religious leaders, and other interested citizens in order to help them better understand the world and the foreign policy choices facing the United States and other countries. Council on Foreign Relations
This index (formerly the Failed States Index), created by The Fund for Peace, has put countries into perspective by providing an annual snapshot of their vitality and stability (or lack thereof) and ranking them accordingly.Fragile States Index

Human rights

JusticeInfo.net is an independent media platform of Fondation Hirondelle, together with academic partners Oxford Transitional Justice Research (OTJR) and Harvard Humanitarian Initiative (HHI). JusticeInfo.net provides news and analysis of justice developments in transition societies, such as the work of Truth Commissions, tribunals investigating serious human rights abuses, peace and reconciliation processes. Fondation Hirondelle Justice Info
The Global Slavery Index provides a map, country by country, of the estimated prevalence of modern slavery, together with information about the steps each government has taken to respond to this issue. This information allows an objective comparison and assessment of both the problem and adequacy of the response in 167 countries.Global Slavery Index country study
Freedom House is an independent watchdog organization dedicated to the expansion of freedom and democracy around the world.Freedom House 2018 report
The Cato Institute Human Freedom Index presents the state of human freedom in the world based on a broad measure that encompasses personal, civil, and economic freedom. Human Freedom Index
Explore the status and timelines of LGBT rights in each country, state, province, and region; same-sex marriage, adoption, serving openly in the military, discrimination protections, age of consent differences, blood donation restrictions, gender changing restrictions, and gay conversion therapy bans.Equaldex LGBT Rights
From villages in rural India to the corridors of power in Brussels, Transparency International gives voice to the victims and witnesses of corruption. We work together with governments, businesses and citizens to stop the abuse of power, bribery and secret deals.Transparency International

Economy

The Southern African Development Community (SADC) is an inter-governmental organization headquartered in Gaborone, Botswana. Its goal is to further socio-economic cooperation and integration as well as political and security cooperation among 16 southern African states. It complements the role of the African Union.Southern African Development Community
The legal currency used in this country (Wikipedia).National currency (Wiki)
The Central Bank of this country.National Central Bank
The Collaborative Africa Budget Reform Initiative (CABRI) is an intergovernmental organisation that provides a platform for peer learning and exchange for African ministries of finance, budget and planning. The Budgets in Africa section provides up-to-date and regular information on African national budgets. Here you will be able to access publicly available budget documentation for African countries, since 2010.Collaborative Africa Budget Reform Initiative
The Observatory of Economic Complexity is a tool that allows users to quickly compose a visual narrative about countries and the products they exchange. It was Alexander Simoes' Master Thesis in Media Arts and Sciences at the MIT Media Lab.Observatory of Economic Complexity
The CCBG consists of 15 Governors from the SADC (Southern African Development Community) central banks. The CCBG deals with the development of financial institutions and markets, co‑operation regarding international and regional financial relations, and monetary, investment and foreign exchange policies. Committee of Central Bank Governors in SADC

Trade and taxes

PricewaterhouseCoopers Worldwide Tax Summaries provides information on corporate and individual taxes in over 150 territories worldwide.PWC Worldwide Tax Summaries

Development

The Overseas Development Institute (ODI) is a leading independent think tank on international development and humanitarian issues. ODI works with partners in the public and private sectors, in both developing and developed countries. You may also want to use the website search function, or see: https://www.odi.org/our-work/sub-saharan-africa.Overseas Development Institute
Chatham House, the Royal Institute of International Affairs, is an independent policy institute based in London. Chatham House
The Indices of Social Development (ISD) hosted by ISS brings together 200 indicators, synthesising them into a usable set of measures to track how different societies perform along six dimensions of social development (data available for download as .slx, .csv, or .odf)ISS Indices of Social Development
Chatham House, the Royal Institute of International Affairs, is an independent policy institute based in London. Its mission is to help build a sustainably secure, prosperous and just world. Chatham House carries out independent and rigorous analysis of critical global, regional and country-specific challenges and opportunities. UK Royal Institute of International Affairs
The Country Information Portal provides overview and consolidation to more than 80 countries. The individual country contributions are subdivided into five subject areas and thus cover a broad spectrum of relevant aspects of international cooperation. This information is supported by the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), as part of the project "Key Qualifications for International Cooperation". In German.LIPortal country information (German)
The Brookings Institution is a nonprofit public policy organization based in Washington, DC. Our mission is to conduct in-depth research that leads to new ideas for solving problems facing society at the local, national and global level. Brookings brings together more than 300 leading experts in government and academia from all over the world who provide the highest quality research, policy recommendations, and analysis on a full range of public policy issues. The research agenda and recommendations of Brookings’s experts are rooted in open-minded inquiry and our 300+ scholars represent diverse points of view. Research topics cover foreign policy, economics, development, governance and metropolitan policy. Brookings Institution
SciDev.Net is the world’s leading source of reliable and authoritative news, views and analysis about science and technology for global development. Our Mission is to use independent journalism to help individuals and organisations apply science to decision-making in order to drive equitable, sustainable development and poverty reduction. SciDev.Net is part of CAB International (CABI) - a not-for-profit organisation that improves people’s lives worldwide by providing information and applying scientific expertise to solve problems in agriculture and the environment.SciDev.net
At this transparency portal you can find every development cooperation activity supported by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs since 2010. The portal enables you to find the activities in specific countries or regions, in sectors or by receiver organisation. This platform extracts the raw IATI data published by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs from the IATI registry, and presents it in an easy-to-use web interface. It does not alter or interpret the data in any way.Dutch Foreign Affairs open aid data
The German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development provides information about (their relations with and projects in) countries in Africa.German Economic Cooperation and Development
The Commission's Directorate-General for International Cooperation and Development (DG DEVCO) is responsible for designing European international cooperation and development policy and delivering aid throughout the world.EC International Cooperation and Development

Sustainable Development Goals

The UNESCO Institute for Statistics provides data for the Sustainable Development Goals.UNESCO SDG4 Data explorer

Food, water, land and health

UN Environment is supporting countries in monitoring and reporting on Sustainable Development Goal 6 (SDG 6), including indicator 6.5.1 on the Degree of Integrated Water Resources Management implementation.IWRM Data Portal
The UNEP-DHI Partnership is a United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) centre of expertise dedicated to improving the management, development and use of freshwater resources from the local to the global level. UNEP-DHI Publications
Wikipedia pages with lots of information about water supply and sanitation in Africa.Water supply and sanitation (Wiki)
The WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme for Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene (JMP) has reported country, regional and global estimates of progress on drinking water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) since 1990. The JMP maintains an extensive global database and has become the leading source of comparable estimates of progress at national, regional and global levels. JMP Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene
The FAO Fishery and Aquaculture Country Profiles provide a comprehensive overview of the fisheries and aquaculture sector for each country (or areas/territories recognized by the Organization and with important fishery sector).FAO Statistics Fishery and Aquaculture
The Gender and Land Rights Database (GLRD) was launched by FAO in 2010 to highlight the major political, legal and cultural factors that influence the realisation of women’s land rights throughout the world. It also serves as a platform to address, discuss and provide information about gender and land issues with the support of 84 Country Profiles, Land Tenure Statistics disaggregated by gender, and a Legal Assessment Tool for gender-equitable land tenure (LAT).FAO Gender and Land Rights Database
The South African Land Observatory is an initiative whose overall objective is to promote evidence-based and inclusive decision-making over land resources in South Africa. As its name ‘Observatory’ suggests, it collects data and information on land. The initiative is a repository of what is published on land in South Africa and on the events that take place around land in South Africa.South African Land Observatory
Focus on Land in Africa (FOLA) is an educational resource for development practitioners and policy makers that explores how land and natural resource rights affect, and are effected by, development in Africa. Focus on Land in Africa
The Land Book presents comprehensive country and thematic pages with linked open data on land governance from diverse sources around the world.Landportal landbook
Part of the World Health Organization's website, with statistical information, health profiles, WHO collaboration, mortality and burden of disease, nutrition and risk factors. UN World Health Organization

Climate, environment, energy and resources

Global Forest Watch offers the latest data, technology and tools that empower people everywhere to better protect forests. Global Forest Watch
he Ocean Health Index is a valuable tool for the ongoing assessment of ocean health. By providing a means to advance comprehensive ocean policy and compare future progress, the Index can inform decisions about how to use or protect marine ecosystems. The Index is a collaborative effort, made possible through contributions from more than 65 scientists/ocean experts and partnerships between organizations including the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis, Sea Around Us, Conservation International, National Geographic, and the New England Aquarium.Ocean Health Index
RISE is a set of indicators to help compare national policy and regulatory frameworks for sustainable energy. It assesses countries’ policy and regulatory support for each of the three pillars of sustainable energy—access to modern energy, energy efficiency, and renewable energy.Sustainable Energy Indicators
Offers statistical data such as balances, indicators, coal, oil, natural gas, renewables, electricity, heat.International Energy Agency statistical data
The International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) is an intergovernmental organisation that supports countries in their transition to a sustainable energy future, and serves as the principal platform for international cooperation, a centre of excellence, and a repository of policy, technology, resource and financial knowledge on renewable energy. IRENA promotes the widespread adoption and sustainable use of all forms of renewable energy, including bioenergy, geothermal, hydropower, ocean, solar and wind energy in the pursuit of sustainable development, energy access, energy security and low-carbon economic growth and prosperity.International Renewable Energy Agency
The Africa Energy Portal (AEP) is a one-stop-shop for energy sector news, insights, data and more. Launched in November 2018, the AEP focuses exclusively on Africa, serving as a repository for accurate and relevant information and data across the energy value chain. Africa Energy Portal
Faces of Energy is an interactive data visualization that maps stakeholder engagement on gender equality, social inclusion and women’s empowerment at the intersection of sustainable energy and climate change agendas.Faces of Energy
The African Development Bank (AfDB) and the Infrastructure Consortium for Africa (ICA), in cooperation with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), have developed an ATLAS OF AFRICA ENERGY RESOURCES to graphically illustrate where the resources are, where the potential for expansion occurs and what the possible impacts on the environment could be. It provides visual information on the challenges and opportunities to providing Africa’s population with access to reliable, a fordable and modern energy services. Atlas of Africa Energy Resources
The World Nuclear Association’s mission is to promote a wider understanding of nuclear energy among key international influencers by producing authoritative information, developing common industry positions, and contributing to the energy debate. World Nuclear Association
Publications, blogs, data visualizations, graphs and maps by the World Resources Institute.World Resources Institute

Other data and statistics

The UN Evidence and Data for Gender Equality (EDGE) project is a joint initiative of the United Nations Statistics Division and UN Women that seeks to improve the integration of gender issues into the regular production of official statistics for better, evidence-based policies. Select a country to see statistics for a minimum set of gender indicators.UN EDGE Gender Statistics
The United Nations Statistics Division collects, compiles and disseminates official demographic and social statistics on a wide range of topics. Data have been collected since 1948 through a set of questionnaires dispatched annually to over 230 national statistical offices and have been published in the Demographic Yearbook collection. The Demographic Yearbook disseminates statistics on population size and composition, births, deaths, marriage and divorce, as well as respective rates, on an annual basis. The Demographic Yearbook census datasets cover a wide range of additional topics including economic activity, educational attainment, household characteristics, housing characteristics, ethnicity, language, foreign-born and foreign population.UN Population Censuses' Datasets
Provides statistics on the economy, labour, utilities, tourism and transport and gives access to census data and publications.Statistics South Africa (Stats SA)
The Atlas of Urban Expansion of the NYU Urban Expansion Program at the Marron Institute of Urban Management and the Stern School of Business of New York University, in partnership with UN-Habitat and the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, monitors the quantitative and qualitative aspects of global urban expansion. Atlas of Urban Expansion
The use of public-private partnerships to design, build and deliver infrastructure worldwide has grown significantly in the past decade. Yet the availability of reliable information to help governments and advisors design and deliver projects well, has lagged behind. The PPP Knowledge Lab brings together the most relevant and authoritative resources on public-private partnerships in one location to empower governments and their advisors to design and deliver best in class infrastructure projects. Public-Private Infrastructure Partnerships
The Global Infrastructure Hub aims at connecting the global infrastructure community and sharing insights to facilitate delivery of G20 members’ economic, social and environmental outcomes through more and better infrastructure. The GI Hub works with public and private sectors globally to increase the flow and quality of infrastructure projects around the world. We share data, knowledge and leading practices, and help the public and private sectors work more closely to deliver crucial public infrastructure projects.Infrastructure Knowledge Exchange
UNCTADSTAT country profiles are selections of key economic statistics by country. They include a wide range of internationally comparable indicators allowing users to compare statistics across countries. The maritime profiles provide a basic snapshot of a country's situation regarding maritime transport and international trade, facilitating convenient cross-country comparisons.UNCTAD statistics maritime profiles
The Global Slavery Index provides a map, country by country, of the estimated prevalence of modern slavery, together with information about the steps each government has taken to respond to this issue. This information allows an objective comparison and assessment of both the problem and adequacy of the response in 167 countries.Global Slavery Index
Internet usage statistics for every country in the world.Internet World Stats
DataReportal is designed to help people and organisations all over the world to find the data, insights, and trends they need to make more informed decisions. Datareportal Global Digital Insights

Map of South Africa
South Africa on Google maps

Publications

Directory of Open Access Journals - DOAJOpens external covers free, full text, quality controlled scientific and scholarly journals. The link provided here gives results restricted to Social Sciences.Directory of Open Access Journals
African Journals Online (AJOL) is a collection of over 380 peer-reviewed, African-published scholarly journals. AJOL provides access to citations, and where available to abstracts and/or full-text. The link provided here is a Google site search. You may also browse the journals by category or country, or browse only Open Access titles.African Journals Online
NARCIS is the main national portal in the Netherlands for those looking for information about researchers and their work. NARCIS provides access to scientific information, including (open access) publications from the repositories of all the Dutch universities, KNAW, NWO and a number of research institutes, datasets from some data archives as well as descriptions of research projects, researchers and research institutes.NARCIS Academic Information System
IDEAS is the largest bibliographic database dedicated to Economics and available freely on the Internet. Based on RePEc, it indexes over 2,600,000 items of research, including over 2,400,000 that can be downloaded in full text.IDEAS Economics database
BASE (Bielefeld Academic Search Engine) is one of the world's most voluminous search engines especially for academic web resources. BASE provides more than 140 million documents from more than 6,000 sources. You can access the full texts of about 60% of the indexed documents for free (Open Access). BASE is operated by Bielefeld University Library. The links in this portal for each country are queries for open access documents.Bielefeld Academic Search Engine
The FAO Corporate Document RepositoryOpens external houses FAO documents and publications, as well as selected non-FAO publications, in electronic format. It includes publications dealing with food, food security, agriculture, aquaculture, forestry, and rural development. Please add search terms yourself (for example country name).FAO Documents
OECD iLibrary is the online library of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) featuring its books, papers and statistics and is the gateway to OECD’s analysis and data. It replaced SourceOECD in July 2010. OECD iLibrary also contains content published by the International Energy Agency (IEA), the Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA), the OECD Development Centre, PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment), and the International Transport Forum (ITF). OECD iLibrary
DART-Europe is a partnership of research libraries and library consortia who are working together to improve global access to European research theses. DART-Europe is endorsed by LIBER (Ligue des Bibliothèques Européennes de Recherche), and it is the European Working Group of the Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations (NDLTD).DART-Europe E-theses Portal
The United Nations Economic Commission for Africa ASKIA (Access to Scientific Knowledge In Africa) database provides access to many (scientific) publications. You can search for a country name, and limit the results to the availability of full-text.UNECA Access to Scientific Knowledge in Africa
The Dag Hammarskjöld Library provides research and information to support the work of United Nations Member States. As an integral part of the UN Organization, the Library also aids in the dissemination of UN information to a wider public audience through online services, and a global depository library network.UN Dag Hammerskjöld Library

Libraries and archives

The International Institute for Social History (Netherlands) offers access to archives from NiZA (Dutch Institute for Southern Africa, now ActionAid), fully processed by archivist Kier Schuringa, in alphabetical order. These archives are all freely accessible. All inventories are in Dutch only. Anti-apartheid and Southern Africa archives
The African Activist Archive Project is building an online archive of primary materials - documents, photographs, artifacts, and written and oral memories - of 50 years of activist organizing in the United States in solidarity with African struggles against colonialism, apartheid, and injustice. An African Online Digital Library (AODL) / Michigan State University (MSU) website.African Activist Archive
This digital publication is part of a Llarec project to digitise, research and publish the Bleek and Lloyd Archive. The Digital Bleek and Lloyd includes scans of every page of the 110 Lucy Lloyd |xam notebooks, 17 Lloyd (mostly) !kun notebooks and 28 Wilhelm Bleek |xam notebooks.Digital Bleek and Lloyd Archive
The Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory delivers the core-work of the Nelson Mandela Foundation. The Foundation is a not-for-profit organisation established in 1999 to support its Founder’s ongoing engagement in worthy causes on his retirement as President of South Africa. Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory
A news and information platform for the South African Heritage Sector. It is a volunteer driven initiative that relies on content contributions from members of the heritage community.The Heritage Portal
Struggles for Freedom: Southern Africa focuses on the complex and varied liberation struggles in the region, with an emphasis on Botswana, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, and Zimbabwe.Struggles for Freedom in Southern Africa
The International African Institute (IAI), hosted at SOAS University of London, aims to promote the scholarly study of Africa's history, societies and cultures. The institute realizes its aims primarily by means of scholarly publishing. The list of known repositories within the African continent has been compiled by the International African Institute as a service to African studies research and scholarship in line with our remit to promote the dissemination of knowledge from and on Africa. African Digital Research Repositories

Education

The International Network for Higher Education in Africa (INHEA) is one of the leading global resource hubs on African higher education. Established in 2003, at the Boston College Center for International Higher Education, before moving to the University of Kwazulu-Natal, South Africa in 2013, the Network is committed to the advancement of higher education in the continent. Intl. Network for Higher Education in Africa
The AAU (Association of African Universities) TV is your one stop place for all information on Higher Education in Africa. We bring you news spanning the continent and beyond as well as intriguing discussions and interviews on the AAU Talks. We also give you an insight into the wonderful universities in Africa as well as some documentaries.AAU TV Talks and Documentaries
The UINESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) Global Education Database provides internationally comparable data on all levels of education for more than 200 countries and territories.UIS Global Education Database
Southern African Regional Universities Association (SARUA) is a membership-based association of Vice-Chancellors of public and private universities in the Southern African Development Community (SADC). SARUA enables collaborative partnerships that develop the institutional and human capacity of the Southern African region’s universities and contributes to regional collaboration for the public good within higher education. SARUA is the regional convenor of choice and connecting hub for SADC’s universities multiple stakeholder interests.Regional Universities Association
Universities South Africa is tasked with ensuring that: Quality teaching takes place in our institutions; Adequate resources are allocated to universities; Deserving students gain access to our universities regardless of their social, cultural and economic background; Universities contribute significantly to the socio-economic and cultural development of South Africa; Our Higher Education policy is evidence-based, informed by research of the highest quality; Our university sector is sufficiently internationalised to benefit from a mobile global student and academic talent pool; and South Africa understands the value of universities in the economy.Universities South Africa
The International Education Association of South Africa (IEASA), a non-profit organisation, was established as a result of the need for universities and universities of technology in South Africa to respond to international educational trends. If South Africa is to remain competitive within the global economic environment it is important that our higher education provides opportunities for students to obtain a global perspective to their studies.Intl. Education Association South Africa
The main areas of work of the CHE are to: provide advice to the Minister of Higher Education and Training on all higher education matters on request, and proactively; promote a system of quality assurance for all higher education institutions, including private providers of higher education, which focuses on programme accreditation, institutional audits, national reviews, standards development, quality promotion and capacity development; monitor the state of higher education and publish information regarding developments in higher education on a regular basis; and contribute to the development of higher education through intellectual engagement with key issues in a number of activities in partnership with relevant stakeholders.SA Council for Higher Education
The Southern and Eastern Africa Consortium for Monitoring Educational Quality (SEACMEQ or SACMEQ) is to undertake integrated research and training activities that will expand opportunities for educational planners and researchers to: (a) receive training in the technical skills required to monitor, evaluate, and compare the general conditions of schooling and the quality of basic education, (b) generate information that can be used by decision-makers to plan the quality of education, and (c) to utilize innovative information dissemination approaches and a range of policy- dialogue activities in order to ensure that SEACMEQ research results are widely discussed, debated, and understood by all stakeholders and senior decision-makers and then used as the basis for policy and practice.Consortium for Monitoring Educational Quality
The HAQAA (Harmonisation of African Higher Education Quality Assurance and Accreditation) Initiative, funded by the European Union in partnership with the African Union, has been established to support the development of a harmonised quality assurance and accreditation system at institutional level, national, regional and Pan-African continental level. The Initiative is currently being implemented by a consortium consisting of the University of Barcelona (coordinator), the Association of African Universities (AAU), the European University Association (EUA), the European Association for Quality Assurance in Higher Education (ENQA) and the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD). Education Quality Assurance initiative
The International Bibliographic Database on Higher Education (HEDBIB) is a unique resource of references and publications on higher education systems, administration, planning, policy and evaluation from around the world. Links to electronic publications are provided where freely available. New higher education publications are identified by the IAU Information Centre monitoring team. Bibliographic Database on Higher Education

Movies and images

The Northwestern University (US) Herskovits Library's collection includes photographs, maps, posters, videos, books in African languages, archival materials and manuscripts, as well as art objects, ephemeral materials and other artifacts, many of which are digitally accessible. The poster collection contains mainly posters from Southern Africa and Nigeria. Herskovits Library Africana posters
The historical images (ca.1860-ca.1960) in the International Mission Photography Archive come from Protestant and Catholic missionary collections held at a number of centers in Britain, Europe, and North America. The photographs record missionary endeavors and reflect the missionaries’ experience of communities and environments abroad. International Mission Photography Archive
The digital collections showcase digital content from the Library and Information Service’s unique digital collections and repositories. It offers a single connection point to various collections of primary resources as well as digital research output. Stellenbosch University image collection
A project of the U.S. Library of Congress, with the support UNESO. It makes significant primary materials from all countries and cultures available on the Internet.The World Digital Library
The Vernon McKay Photographs collection (US Northwestern University - Herskovits Library of African Studies) contains images of African daily life date from the mid-20th century.Vernon McKay Photographs
Dr. Harold Scheub is the Evjue-Bascom Professor of Humanities in the Department of African Languages and Literature and one of the world’s leading scholars in African oral traditions and folklore. To record oral traditions he has walked more than 6000 miles through South Africa, Swaziland, Zimbabwe, and Lesotho. This University of Wisconsin collection includes images and sounds. Harold E. Scheub collection
While working for the Trigonometry division for the Western Cape Government in 1959, Ian Bruce Huntley began documenting the Cape Town jazz scene in areas such as District Six. Covering the period 1964 - 1974, the Ian Bruce Huntley Collection opens a window to a little known era of South African music history, documenting an ‘underground’ jazz scene that persisted in creative defiance of all that grand apartheid threw at it. This previously hidden archive documents accomplished South African jazz musicians pushing the creative envelope and entertaining appreciative audiences. The collectionis hosted by the International Library of African Music (ILAM) online Photo Archive,Ian Huntley Cape Town jazz scene photos
Images of African textile in the University of Wisconsin African Studies Collection. African Studies Collection
The International Library of African Music (ILAM) online Photo Archive was made possible with grant funding from South Africa's National Heritage Council (NHC). In 2007, with the NHC grant, ILAM undertook the digitisation of its photographic archive in conjunction with Africa Media Online . In October and November 2007 the Africa Media Online team relocated to ILAM and in conjunction with ILAM staff, managed to digitise over 11,000 images including negatives, slides and photographs of various formats. Currently this web site allows you to search a selection of the best of the picture collection.International Library of African Music
Africa Focus brings together, in digital form, two categories of primary and secondary resources: research and teaching materials collected by University of Wisconsin faculty and staff; and unique or valuable items related to these fields held by the University of Wisconsin Libraries. This collection contains more than 3000 slides, 500 photographs, and 50 hours of sounds from forty-five different countries.University of Wisconsin Africa Focus

News media

African Arguments is a pan-African platform for news, investigation and opinion.African Arguments
Al Jazeera English - News medium.Al Jazeera English
The Star is a daily newspaper based in Gauteng, South Africa. It is one of the titles under the Independent News & Media South Africa Group.The Star
Focuses on (breaking) news and politics in Southern Africa. Provides informed comment and opinion, easy access to key online resources and a forum for reasoned debate. It welcomes comments and contributions. Politicsweb
All Africa is an important provider of news from and about Africa. All Africa aggregates and distributes news from many African and international news sources and media.All Africa
Thomson Reuters is a leading news and information provider. Their philantropic arm is the Thomson Reuters Foundation (http://www.trust.org), providing humanitarian news.Reuters Africa
The Economist prodives world news, news on politics, economics, business & financeThe Economist
The international blogger network #AfricaBlogging is an online platform featuring a plurality of voices and views supporting democratic culture and debate in Sub-Saharan Africa.Africa Blogging
Noovell is a global news website which aggregates news stories on current affairs and politics from more than 5,000 news sources worldwide in English, French and Spanish. Noovell presents a mix of articles from both domestic and international news sources for all the countries and regions covered. Noovell global news