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ORGANISATION FOR SOCIAL SCIENCE RESEARCH IN EASTERN AND SOUTHERN AFRICA-OSSREA

ADDIS ABABABA, Ethiopia
Joined March 2021

to become and remain a center of excellence for the creation and dissemination of social science knowledge as well as linking social science research with public policy in Eastern and Southern Africa.



Presence in: Botswana, Burundi, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Rwanda, Seychelles, South Africa, South Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Zimbabwe
Focus: Community / Customary Land Rights, Education, Environmental Justice, Family, Gender-based violence, Governance, Accountability & Transparency, Health, Labor & Employment, Livelihoods, Peace-building & Transitional Justice, Policy Advocacy, Right to Information, Traditional / Customary Justice, Women's Rights

The Organization for Social Science Research in Eastern and Southern Africa (OSSREA) is a membership based regional academic Think-Tank established in 1983 by independent African scholars to promote research and capacity development for evidence based policy formulation, analysis and implementation. It is based at the Sidist Kilo Campus of the Addis Ababa University in Ethiopia. It is an independent body hosted by the Government of the Federal Republic of Ethiopia and vested with privileges of a regional non-governmental research organization. It is a multi-regional organization with a presence in 19 countries represented by OSSREA chapters of Eastern and Southern Africa and hosted by Universities in those countries. It is a partnership organization with a loose network of South to South and North to South partnership.  It works with institutions of higher education, policy makers, civil society organizations, private practitioners and media to support multi-disciplinary social science research with the aim of having impact and transforming livelihoods. Over the past four decades, OSSREA has been hinged on 6 pillars which are: Generating data and co-creation of knowledge through Social Science research, data analysis and writing research evidence papers; sharing and exchanging data, evidence and knowledge widely through off-line(workshops) and on-line methods (publications- peer reviewed books, sharing events on  journals, social media platforms, writing blogs); translating the research and data into evidence and knowledge products ( policy briefs, guidance notes,infographics,fact sheets) for research up-take  that policy makers can use for decision-making thus translating research into policy and practice; strengthening the capacity of the  stakeholders and institutions that they come from; and fund administration. OSSREA conducts, a tailor made advanced research methodology training is conducted together with gender mainstreaming into research.