Who we are

Vision, mission, values, and culture

The vision of the IEJ speaks to the society we aspire to – a project which we can contribute to, as one of thousands of organisations and individuals. Our mission reflects the contribution we strive to make. The IEJ is driven by a series of values, defining who we are and aspire to be, and what distinguishes us as an organisation.

Vision

A just society where an equitable distribution of resources, the democratisation of economic decision making, and systemic change are secured and entrenched for the realisation of rights and planetary wellbeing.

Mission

To advance economic justice by collaborating in the provision of rigorous, accessible research and policy alternatives that empower progressive social forces to create systemic change from above and below in South Africa and the continent.

Values

Valuing each other: We value each person’s uniqueness and respect their contributions.
Open communication: We openly express our thoughts and ideas.
Collaboration and creativity: We work collaboratively, innovatively and creatively to solve challenges.
Justice, diversity, and inclusion: We ensure equitable access to opportunities, ensuring a diverse and representative workplace.
Rigorous work: We produce high-quality work with positive impacts for our partners and the communities with whom we work.
Solidarity: We act in concert with allies and each other to advance the cause of economic justice.
Boldness: We have the confidence and courage to advance systemic change in the face of political resistance, taking risks while advancing shared objectives.

Culture

At IEJ, we are a value-driven and inclusive organisation that provides a space where we collaboratively practice social justice, and value each other as human and intellectual beings who operate with integrity and respect.

Organisational goals

To produce knowledge that critically engages with the impacts of existing economic systems and advances systemic change that centres just socioeconomic outcomes and wellbeing.
To shift the economic discourse, open policy space, and provide alternative policy proposals in strategic areas towards just socioeconomic outcomes.
To support the building of collective power through strengthening heterodox economic analysis and the capacity to undertake it, and empowering progressive social forces to create systemic change from above and below, in South Africa and the continent.

Programmatic and strategic objectives

Objective 1

Advancing inclusive macroeconomic and development frameworks for the just distribution of resources, equitable access to public goods, and advancement of human rights.

Objective 2

Growing communities of practice around the development and advancement of new progressive forms of economic thinking and action.

Objective 3

Supporting workers and marginalised communities to build just economic systems in response to the climate crisis and the changing nature of work.

Objective 4

Popularising and building support for policies and new economic thinking that build collective power to advance economic justice.

Objective 5

Strengthening and positioning the organisation as a progressive force for systemic change and economic justice.

Cross cutting

Across all of these objectives – and associated projects and activities – priority is given to adopting a feminist and intersectional analytical lens. Through this we centre how workers, women, the unemployed, rural communities, and other marginalised groups, are subjected to multiple forms of dispossession, and develop alternatives aimed at overcoming this.
The IEJ will prioritise strengthening its work across the African continent in all appropriate programmatic areas. This will be undertaken through building strong and equitable partnership and alliances. As economic justice is a global endeavour, international and Global South partnerships will also be developed where appropriate.

Strategy 2023-2027

The IEJ’s Strategy 2023-2027 document presents our organisational and programmatic goals for the next five years. The strategy embeds these within the organisation’s vision for a just society, its mission, culture, and values, and a conceptualisation of how we contribute to systemic change.

It represents the collective work of the IEJ Team and Board, with input from a diverse range of partners, between July 2021 and December 2022.

Strategy 2023-2027 Implementation plan

The IEJ’s Implementation Plan for it’s 2023-2027 Strategy delves deeper into the objectives the organisation has set for itself and outlines the concrete steps we are taking to drive systemic social and economic change.

The Plan sets out:

The projects we will implement to achieve these.
How we have redesigned our organisation to advance our objectives.
Where we stand in our learning journey.
How resources will be allocated to drive the strategic plan forward.

It further outlines the six projects, aligned with our objectives, that we will pursue.

The founding of the IEJ

In 2018, the Institute for Economic Justice (IEJ), a progressive economic policy think tank, was launched by a group of South African academics, activists and former government policymakers. The IEJ’s founding vision was an economy anchored by the values of equality and social justice. In just three years, the IEJ has become a significant voice and thought leader in directing the movement for economic justice.

The formation of the IEJ broadened and institutionalised, work successfully undertaken through the National Minimum Wage Research Initiative (NMW-RI) at the University of the Witwatersrand. The NMW-RI provided academic research which supported the carefully crafted national minimum wage proposal and contributed a much-needed progressive voice to the public debate. The research was drawn upon by stakeholders within Labour, social movements and others within the NEDLAC political process. The research was a tool for organisational education. The impact of the NMW-RI showed the value of academic research, and its ability to guide policy. It is unlikely that the outcome of the negotiations would have been the same without the NMW-RI research. The Deputy President’s Expert Panel, amongst others, adopted its key arguments.

Following this, the co-founders (Gilad Isaacs and Neil Coleman) and a reference group of (mainly young) black intellectuals began laying the groundwork for the establishment of the IEJ. A scan of 38 existing research institutions in South Africa was undertaken, and consultations with over 50 academics, union and civil society activists, policymakers, and government officials conducted. Leaders of this initiative already had a track record of undertaking high quality, policy relevant research.

The IEJ was founded to respond to the following key challenges:

The deficiencies in existing social and economic policies, and the ideas and research upon which they rest. These policies are unable to address the deep economic and social crises that manifest in extreme levels of poverty, inequality and unemployment and, subsequently, undermine democracy and democratic institutions.
The lack of coherent, viable economic alternatives and the failure of progressive social forces to organise a social consensus around such interventions.
The need to build capacity for policy-relevant economic research that responds to the concerns of labour, community activism, civil society, and progressive politics thus developing research and policy which directly contributes towards leveraging social change. Particular under-researched policy areas were identified.
The lack of integration between economic research and policy proposals, and progressive social forces that can utilise those to bring change.

The IEJ was launched on 7 September 2018 with a public (televised) lecture on the Trajectory of economic thought in Africa and the implications for economic policy with the late Professor Thandika Mkandawire, together with Professor Jayati Ghosh, Oxfam South Africa’s Director Sipho Mthathi, IEJ Chairperson Zane Dangor and music and poetry by Xho-pera singer Mthwakazi Lenga and poet Noluthando Buthelezi.

For more about who we are, who our partners are, and who funds the work we do click through on the links below.