The Cross Sector Social Interactions (CSSI) Symposium series hosts biannual conferences that foster collaboration and exchange among diverse scholars and practitioners working on cross sector collaboration. The purpose is to advance and exchange knowledge and experience on how to effectively partner for sustainable development.

CSSI 2024 was hosted from 3-6 April 2024 by the University of Cape Town Graduate School of Business, in collaboration with The Partnering Initiative (TPI), PRME Chapter Africa and the Embedding Project. It was the 9th CSSI symposium in the series, but the first to be held outside of Europe and North America. Hosting it on the African continent was an intentional response to calls from scholars, practitioners, and policy makers that development can only be “inclusive” if it also considers intellectual traditions, philosophy, and experience, from the Global South.

The conference focused on “Power and Inclusion in Cross-Sector Social Interactions” and brought together more than 130 participants from over 30 countries across the globe, 90 of whom we were able to welcome in Cape Town in person.

Discussions were embedded in the South African context which is characterized by severe inequality and historical injustice, but also by far-reaching and ongoing attempts to respond to such inequality and exclusion through cross-sector collaboration.

CSSI 2024 was hailed for its innovative design and inclusive implementation which fostered authentic connection among participants and expanded the CSSI community across academics and practitioners on the African continent.           Scene setting videos and recordings of some of the sessions are available on this website.

For additional information on CSSI 2024, please see the Call for submissions , the Conference programme , the Participants list, and the Conference Report. A photo gallery provides a sense of the overall in-person experience – and the full conference book is available upon request.

We are very grateful to everyone who contributed to and participated in CSSI 2024. It was a very enriching experience.

CSSI 2026 will be hosted by the Indian Institute of Management Udaipur, in collaboration with Indian Institute of Management Lucknow in Udaipur, India under the theme: Cross-Sector social interaction to confront marginalization issues. We look forward to it!

Dr Sarita Sehgal                                                                    Professor Ralph Hamann 

Sarita.sehgal@tpiglobal.org                                                    ralph.hamann@uct