AIDC was formed in 1996 in response to the democratic transition in South Africa and the new opportunities and challenges it brought those seeking greater social justice within the democracy.

Over the years AIDC has played a leading role in various civil society responses to ongoing inequality including facilitating the launch and building of the South African Jubilee 2000 debt cancellation campaign, and the Right to Work Campaign. AIDC has established itself as a leading source of research and information on themes of poverty, trade, and globalisation as well as playing a central role in various regional and international networks and forums including the Southern African Peoples’ Solidarity Network (SAPSN), Third World Network (TWN), Jubilee South, and the Trade Strategy Group (TSG). AIDC has contributed to strengthening South African civil society over the years by building leadership and analytical capacity and facilitating networking through a series of conferences, trainings, and leadership schools for trade unionists, women, and youth.

A merger with Amandla Publishers in 2008 has provided a communication focus for rebuilding the organization into an effective capacity enhancing and knowledge-producing organization.

Vision

A sustainable society free of racism, xenophobia, sexism, resource degradation, oppression, exploitation, and alienation, where people live in dignity and govern by participatory democracy is respected and free to realize their potential productivity and creativity and live in peace without fear and in harmony with the environment.

Mission

To produce and promote alternative knowledge and analysis which enables popular movements for social, economic, and ecological justice to engage with the intersecting crises flowing from the natural, economic, and social challenges confronting humanity.

Strategic Objectives

AIDC’s broad strategic objectives are:

• - Within the context of the multi-dimensional global crisis they will work with popular organisations of civil society to produce and promote research and analysis that provide concrete alternatives for creating decent work and livelihoods while ensuring the sustainability and integrity of the natural environment.
• - Disseminate information and analysis that facilitates an engagement between activists of popular organisations of civil society, opinion shapers and policy makers on alternative strategies for sustainable development.
• - Facilitate advocacy, campaigns, and popular mobilisation for a million climate jobs that address simultaneously the economic and ecological dimensions of the global crisis.
• - Undertake popular education programmes that strengthen the capacity of popular movements, especially key strategic partners, to link their struggles and campaigns in respect of jobs, livelihoods, and the provision of essential services to the critical ecological and economic factors arising from the global and macro context.