Independent Council of People of African Descent
The Independent Council of People of African Descent (ICOPAD) is a coordination and governance platform that brings together grassroots communities, member organisations, and experts working on issues affecting people of African descent.
ICOPAD exists to strengthen alignment across diverse initiatives, consolidate shared priorities, and support meaningful engagement with public institutions and international mechanisms. By connecting lived experience with policy expertise, ICOPAD contributes to more transparent, accountable, and informed decision-making processes.
ICOPAD does not replace the work of its member organisations. Instead, it provides continuity, structure, and coordination across engagements that would otherwise remain fragmented, temporary, or informal.
Across many policy and institutional contexts, communities of African descent are consulted repeatedly, yet their input often remains fragmented, inconsistently documented, or disconnected from longer-term decision-making processes.
ICOPAD was established to respond to this structural gap. Its purpose is to ensure that community knowledge, priorities, and expertise are not lost between consultations, administrations, or policy cycles. By providing coordination and continuity, ICOPAD helps move engagement beyond one-off moments toward sustained, traceable participation.
This approach supports both communities and institutions by creating clearer pathways between lived experience and formal decision-making.
ICOPAD's work focuses on coordination, consolidation, and structured engagement. In practice, this includes:
ICOPAD's role is process-oriented. It focuses on how engagement happens, rather than claiming ownership over outcomes.
To avoid misunderstanding, ICOPAD is explicit about its boundaries.
ICOPAD is:
ICOPAD does not centralise or control the work of others. Member organisations retain their autonomy, mandates, and identities. ICOPAD's role is to support coordination and coherence, not to subsume existing initiatives.
ICOPAD brings together a diverse ecosystem of actors, including:
Public institutions are not members of ICOPAD, but are engagement counterparts within policy and institutional processes.
This structure allows ICOPAD to reflect a wide range of perspectives while maintaining clarity about roles and responsibilities.
ICOPAD operates through structured coordination rather than ad hoc engagement. Its work is informed by:
Where appropriate, ICOPAD facilitates working groups, thematic discussions, or coordinated input, always with attention to process quality and accountability.
ICOPAD functions as an independent council with defined governance principles. Decision-making focuses on coordination priorities, process integrity, and alignment with ICOPAD's mandate.
Accountability is supported through:
These mechanisms help ensure credibility with both communities and institutions.
ICOPAD engages constructively with public institutions at local, national, and international levels. Its engagement is based on independence, clarity of role, and long-term perspective.
Rather than focusing on single consultations, ICOPAD tracks policy and institutional processes over time, contributing where relevant and maintaining continuity across changing contexts.
This approach supports more informed dialogue and reduces the risk of symbolic or short-term participation.
Transparency is a core principle of ICOPAD's work. Activities, policy processes, and outputs are documented and shared publicly where possible.
This allows communities, partners, and institutions to:
The ICOPAD website serves as a public reference point for this documentation.
ICOPAD works through collaboration and support. Organisations and individuals can engage in different ways, including:
Each engagement pathway is designed to support ICOPAD's coordination role while respecting independence and accountability.