About Us
Isandla Institute is a key role player in the local governance sector, an important analytical voice on urban development issues, a convener of spaces of dialogue on urban citizenship, a producer of quality research, and a thought leader on issues such as informal settlements upgrading, urban governance and local level planning systems. In several instances, it has either directly ensured the uptake of progressive ideas in government policy or contributed (with others) to a shift towards more progressive solutions in policy and practice, aimed at addressing urban poverty, inequality and vulnerability. The organisation is also acknowledged for its role in building networks and partnership approaches to development.
While we are ambitious about the change we want to contribute to, and meticulous about the quality of our work and the relationships we nurture, the team at Isandla Institute is quite small. This requires us to be smart about how we invest our effort and who we work with to ensure greater impact. Our team is also a relatively young, in line with the organisation’s commitment to support the professional development of young – primarily black – professionals.
While we are ambitious about the change we want to contribute to, and meticulous about the quality of our work and the relationships we nurture, the team at Isandla Institute is quite small. This requires us to be smart about how we invest our effort and who we work with to ensure greater impact. Our team is also a relatively young, in line with the organisation’s commitment to support the professional development of young – primarily black – professionals.
Directors
Ashoek AdhikariDirector
Ashoek Adhikari is a lawyer by training and has extensive work experience in the legal profession, in the public sector and in the private sector. Ashoek also serves on the boards of the Western Cape Economic Development Partnership, Accelerate Cape Town and chairs the Audit Committee of the Attorneys Fidelity Fund.
Anton Cartwright Director
Anton Cartwright is an economist whose work focuses on the application of economics to Africa’s urban transition, infrastructure and services, green finance, environmental degradation and poverty alleviation.
He is affiliated to the African Centre Cities (ACC) at the University of Cape Town where he has led work on the Just Urban Transition, the Coalition for Urban Transition (Tanzania and Ghana), infrastructure finance and the City of Cape Town's climate change citylab. He was a lead author on Chapter 4 of the IPCC’s Special Report on 1.5°C of Warming released in 2018 and the subsequent Summary for Urban Policy Makers. He is the founding Director of Credible Carbon a South Africa carbon registry for informal sector and poverty alleviation projects and a candidate registry for the Department of Minerals and Energy’s Domestic Carbon Standard.
Yasmeen DinathDirector
Yasmeen Dinath is an urban and regional planner with 17 years of working experience in urban planning across three sectors: Local Government, Higher Education and Research, and the Property Sector.
Yasmeen is the Planning Manager of the Johannesburg Development Agency (JDA) (SoE), a company owned by the City of Johannesburg. She is responsible for strategic area-based planning that informs the capital implementation of urban upgrading projects across Johannesburg’s strategic priority areas.
She has engaged in part –time research work for the National Research Foundation: South African Research Chair in Spatial Analysis and City Planning and by the Gauteng City Region Observatory.
Yasmeen has also produced research on peripheral towns and centres of the Gauteng City-Region, on approaches to Inner City regeneration in Johannesburg, on the evolving socio-spatial footprint of Islam in Johannesburg and on urban mothers’ experiences of the city.
Tracy JoosteDirector
Tracy Jooste is a social impact practitioner with extensive experience leading equity and accountability initiatives. She advocates for fair access to essential services such as health, housing, water, and sanitation while championing women’s and girls' rights. She is skilled in participatory governance, partnership-building, shaping public policy, and navigating budget processes using community-driven data. With leadership experience across academia, public, private, and non-profit sectors, she has successfully led teams to achieve impactful outcomes. She is a Senior Atlantic Fellow for Social and Economic Equity at the London School of Economics and served as an inaugural Leader in Residence for Policy Change at the Atlantic Institute.
Beryl ‘Nozipho’ KhanyileDirector
Beryl Khanyile has significant experience in managing executive and strategic programs portfolios across spatial planning, urban mobility, engineering infrastructure and human settlements as a Deputy City Manager and, prior to this, as Head of Department for Human Settlements, both in eThekwini. She has participated in and led various local, bilateral and international partnership programmes. From 2017 to 2023, Beryl was part of the SDG Leadership Cities Network convened by the Brookings Institute (Washington DC). She is currently leading the program management within Gauteng COGTA on the Old CBD Revitalisation Strategy across Gauteng City Regions. Beryl is a qualified Built Environment Professional, with a Bachelor of Technology degree in civil engineering. She is currently completing her master’s in business administration (MBA) and is also enrolled with the Gestalt Africa Leadership Program.
Allan MoolmanDirector
Allan Moolman is the Director of dala! Consulting Services – a consultancy focussed on organisational impact and performance. He currently is employed by Oxfam Great Britain as Interim Head of Partnerships and has worked previously as the Country Director for Oxfam in South Africa and Head of Programmes for Oxfam in Tanzania and as Programme Strategy and Design Lead for OGB. He is an experienced development practitioner who has a keen interest in organisational strengthening, leadership and strategy and increasingly, decolonisation in the not-for-profit sector.
Lindiwe NdlelaDirector
Lindiwe Ndlela has dedicated her career to supporting institutional and leadership development for elected and appointed government officials. She has worked with and for government for the last 28 years. She is the current Co-Director & Head of Programmes at PARI and before that, the Acting Head of Government Technical Advisory Centre in National Treasury where she was making a direct contribution to building state capacity and enabling government to function more effectively and efficiently. Her areas of specialisation include local government policy research and analysis, knowledge management, performance management, monitoring and evaluation, inter-governmental relations, strategic planning and capacity development in government. She has worked at all levels of government with organisations including South African Local Government Association (SALGA), Institute for Democracy in South Africa (IDASA) and Palmer Development Group (PDG).
Mirjam van Donk, DirectorDirector
Mirjam van Donk is the Director of Isandla Institute and serves Ex Officio