It was such an honor to participate in the On Think Tanks 2025 Conference in Johannesburg, co-hosted by the outstanding folks at South African Institute of International Affairs (SAIIA) and the New South Institute. The day before I flew out, Israel bombed Iran. Some of my relatives and loved ones had trepidation about my trip, but I knew I had to attend. As it turned out, our conference in “Josie” was the global gathering to fuel my professional and personal growth that I didn’t realise I needed in my life.
A sense of belonging
While I have a legal background, I have been working at the intersection of international development and foreign affairs. Likewise, my career has straddled the line between program management and policy analysis. During my work with the Carter Center’s China Program, our unit was the closest to a think tank that any of the Carter Center’s programs got. I conducted policy analysis and supervised research on a range of issues pertaining to PRC-Africa, U.S.-PRC, and the PRC’s global engagement. I also designed a series of international track 1.5 diplomacy-based engagements on Africa-U.S.-PRC issues, which culminated in implementing the Carter Center’s first project incubator, which focused on fostering U.S.-PRC cooperation on a response to the COVID-19 pandemic in the African continent.
Similarly, during my current position at the University of South Carolina’s Rule of Law Collaborative, I co-led a four-year project that supported think tanks in Sri Lanka. I also helped establish the first consortium of think tanks in South Asia dedicated to analysing foreign economic activities, development practices, and messaging in India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and the Maldives. As a Bangladeshi-American immigrant with deep, lasting ties with Bangladesh and South Asia, building capacity and engaging with think tanks in South Asia has been an immensely rewarding experience. I have written extensively on Bangladesh, South Asia, and broader development challenges, and continue to engage with global geopolitical issues.
Given my work and passions, in many ways, attending the OTT conference was a reunion with some dear partners, colleagues, and friends. I had the pleasure of co-organising the Carter Center’s track 1.5 diplomacy dialogue on Africa-U.S.-China engagement with SAIIA, which was the first time I visited Johannesburg in 2018. I also engaged with On Think Tanks for our 2022 conference on think tanks in Colombo. Given these long-standing working relationships, I naturally gravitated towards attending this conference.
A transformative experience
Those precious relationships notwithstanding, the most succinct way for me to describe the appeal of OTT’s world-famous conferences is that I call them “The World Cup of think tanks.” I have heard so much about OTT’s famed annual conferences (as well as its School for Think Tankers!)—and finally seeing it in action did not disappoint! There were 164 of us representing 121 organisations from 51 countries and six continents. It was wonderful to connect with so many brilliant minds around the world as we exchanged ideas and explored collaboration. As think tanks and civil society more broadly face unprecedented challenges, it was heartening to build transnational networks based around a common purpose and solidarity.
Every session was crafted with purpose and intentionality, and it seemed scientifically designed to maximise peer-to-peer engagement, expertise sharing, and professional networking. There were also multiple sessions on the role and impact of AI on the think tank sector, including ethical uses and implications. In addition to these sessions, the sessions which spoke to me the most were the various participatory sessions, the regional sessions, the sessions on constraining civic spaces, and the “unpopular opinions” sessions.
The participatory sessions were action-packed and fostered active collaboration with participants. I profoundly enjoyed the opportunity to explore innovative solutions for the knowledge products that our organizations produce Likewise, one of the participant-designed and led sessions focused on exploring systems thinking and networking-based approaches to the various issues we have confronted in our projects, as well as the organizational-level and personal challenges that we face.
Collegial catharsis
The hallmark of any great conference is presenting its participants with the “Sophie’s Choice” of picking which sessions they want to attend. Case in point: The regional sessions presented a very interesting dilemma—should I participate in the session where my projects are based (i.e. Asia), or where my organisation is? I ultimately decided to participate in the North American regional session, and I immediately felt validated in my decision. It presented an invaluable opportunity to learn from my esteemed colleagues in think tanks and donor organisations. It was also downright therapeutic to be able to express the challenges that project-based organisations and academic institutions such as mine have been facing. In the aftermath of the U.S. foreign assistance freeze, so many of my colleagues working in various fields of international development have lost their jobs, or have seen their livelihoods hanging by a precarious thread. Many have already transitioned to other career paths, which will severely impact the availability of precious talent in fields that are vital for advancing good governance, economic development, and human security around the world. Those of us in the implementer community have been too busy scrambling in “firefighting mode” for many months, and our families or even close friends who don’t work in this field simply don’t have the ability to truly understand the crises facing our sector. The opportunity to have these vulnerable conversations in a “safe space” with peers and colleagues who are also experiencing these issues—or at least understand them—was deeply moving and appreciated.
Even more compelling was the opportunity to share the challenges that our in-country implementing partners have been enduring. Attending an international conference like this carries a weight of responsibility for program managers like me—the duty to effectively articulate the challenges that our partners have been facing in their countries. Our partners in countries around South Asia are experiencing some unprecedented economic and political challenges and severe governance issues. Indeed, most countries are grappling with similar issues, suffering to some degree. Our think tank partners fully understand that the impact of issues within any given country won’t be contained within any artificial borders, and other countries in the region may face similar crises. I can only imagine that the regional session in Asia and other regions were having similar conversations in parallel—an exhilarating thought.
The unique role of global south think tanks
The sessions on constricting civic spaces were incredibly timely and inspiring. For one of the sessions, an esteemed panellist from Beirut was unable to attend in person due to the escalating conflict between Israel and Iran. Her willingness to participate virtually was a microcosm of the dedication and resiliency of think tankers and other civil society actors writ large, as well as the inability for us to escape the harsh realities of the world in which we operate.
Perhaps unfairly, think tanks in Western countries are often perceived as “ivory tower” institutions in which elite academics conduct research in a vacuum and tinker with policy prescriptions. But that is decisively not the case in Global South contexts. For instance, think tanks play a special role in South Asia. They conduct rigorous field research by working closely with local communities. They engage in advocacy at both the national and grassroots levels. They build capacity for local organisations and train and mentor young researchers and activists, thereby empowering future generations. Think tanks in the region are critical civil society actors, and they play a vital and unique role in pushing for good governance and accountability. They are vital contributors to peacebuilding efforts at the community and national levels. Even when economic distress or diminishing political spaces restrict the space that they can operate and function in, their work actually becomes that much more important.
Think tanks in South Asia are resilient and adaptive. They have operated through some of the most difficult conditions imaginable-vicious armed conflicts, economic distress, tumultuous political climates, including outright military dictatorships in the case of Pakistan and Bangladesh, and massive natural disasters and climate crises. They are a source of inspiration for the whole world. If think tanks can continue building local capacity, utilise creative and innovative approaches, and foster connections and build networks with other think tanks, donors, and a broad array of stakeholders, they can weather even the most difficult challenges.
Civil society comradeship
The “unpopular opinions” session was truly thought-provoking. There were two related questions that weighed heavily on my mind: How should think tanks adapt to the inevitable cutback of funding that is already affecting other civil society organisations, and to what extent should think tanks remain politically neutral when facing unprecedented political crises and direct attacks on their work? Think tanks continue to play an indispensable role in providing evidence-based, non-partisan analysis of key policy issues. Yet while think tanks generally attempt to remain “above the fray” of the direct political engagement and advocacy that human rights and policy advocacy organisations embrace, think tanks are ultimately also a part of civil society. When civil society actors come under attack, even the most prominent and respected think tanks will not forever remain immune to those blanket assaults on the civic space writ large.
That is why allyship and solidarity among civil society are so vital. Our communities ultimately look to us to not just advocate for policies that advance the public good, but to actively serve and protect their interests and well-being. We are ultimately part of our communities, and they will need us to stand shoulder to shoulder with them, in concert with our fellow civil society organisations, when facing existential challenges. An attack on any segment of civil society through lawfare, disinformation campaigns, and other repressive tools is an attack on civil society writ large and requires unity of purpose and strength.
Otherwise, I firmly believe and fear that the collapse of civil society will eventually sink all of us into the abyss of regressive populism, hyper-capitalism, and techno-Fascism.
A venerated venue
Even the choice of the host city and country for our conference was brilliant. While our conference venue at GIBS Business School and the surrounding areas were lovely, it was also important to see people impacted by the cost-of-living crisis in South Africa. Likewise, South Africa itself was an inspired choice. The country famous for overcoming and overthrowing one Apartheid regime is famously challenging another before the International Court of Justice.
While I am still an early mid-career professional, I have been privileged enough to attend a decent number of conferences. Likewise, I have organised quite a few international conferences myself. I believe this conference was by far the most innovative, action-packed, and participatory conference that I have had the pleasure of attending. It was so wonderful to be back in South Africa, and I am already dreaming of Rabat 2026 to be hosted by the Policy Center for the New South!
Atif Choudhury is an independent consultant as well as a Non-Resident Fellow with the Vanderbilt Center for Global Democracy. The views expressed in this article reflect the author’s perspectives and do not reflect any other institution, individual, or entity.