Special projects

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) estimates that Africa loses as much as $60 billion each year in illicit financial flows (IFF). The African Capacity Building Foundation estimating losses amounting US$50 billion in Illicit Financial Flows (IFF) out of Africa.

The IFF’s out of Africa have become a matter of grave concern to 17 civil society organisations drawn from 10 Southern African countries. The regional coalition coordinated by ACT-SA seeks to complement efforts by government agencies in the process of identification, tracing, seizure, confiscation and return of stolen assets. Generally, recognising that States lead the process but CSOs play an important supporting role in the different stages of the asset recovery process. Asset recovery is often undermined by the simple reason that the stolen assets cannot be found because of lack of concerted efforts by all stakeholders in the asset recovery process. Excluding CSOs in the entire asset recovery process would be self-defeating and thus the setting of the Civil Society Initiative for Stolen Asset Recovery in Southern Africa (CSO-ISARSA) to make the participation of CSOs well organized and coordinated. The project has elected its own Regional Steering Committee, Secretariat and Membership as shown below.