Recognising that the task of developing an African response to African issues cannot be executed by any one institution, the CCLA has embarked on partnership building to promote synergy in addressing these issues. Some strategic partnerships to which the CCLA has committed include:
Inter-Faculty Co-operation:
The CCLA has entered into co-operation agreements with a number of institutions, such as the Law Faculties of the University of Jos, Nigeria, the University of Hargeisa, Somaliland, the University of Guinea Bissau, the University of Lisbon as well as the Swiss Institute of Comparative Law. Other co-operation frameworks are in the pipeline.
African Legal Support Facility:
The Chair in Comparative Law is the Facilitator of a think-tank put in place by the African Legal Support Facility, which itself is a capacity-building initiative hosted by the African Development Bank to promote respect for the rule of law and fair business in Africa with particular reference to business law. Among other things, the African Legal Support Facility provides legal and technical assistance to African countries for the purpose of building African expertise and capacity to negotiate complex commercial transactions and respond to the growing challenge of vulture funds.
Organisation for the Harmonisation of Business Law in Africa (OHADA):
OHADA is a network of African countries that have undertaken to co-operate in the development of less restrictive legal environments conducive to business in Africa. The Chair in Comparative Law is keenly involved in this initiative and is a member of the OHADA network of resource persons for training and capacity building.
Global Forum on Law Justice and Development (GFLJD):
The CCLA is a member of the Global Forum on Law, Justice and Development, which is a platform created by the Knowledge and Research division of the Legal Vice-Presidency of the World Bank to stimulate the generation of innovative legal solutions to development problems globally .
IALS-UNESCO Patronage:
The CCLA initiative is recognised by the International Association of Legal Sciences (IALS), the legal research organ of UNESCO. Consequently, IALS patronage is extended to CCLA activities.
UCT Law@Work:
The CCLA is in partnership with the professional development programme of the UCT Law Faculty, Law@Work, to organise professional capacity building workshops. The workshops are organised in comparative contexts for various industries and sectors in Africa. Areas of research looked at thus far include oil and gas, intellectual property and intra-African business development, among others.