Douglas Scott

10 Sheerness Road, Kenilworth, Cape Town, 7700, South Africa

South Africa office: +27 (0)79 515 8727
Email: douglas.i.scott@gmail.com

School of Public Policy and Management, Tsinghua University, Beijing Masters in International Development
George Washington University Semester on government and political management
University of Cape Town BSc in Politics, Philosophy and Economics

experience
The Safety Lab,
Cape Town
Jul 2012-present

Knowledge Manager
The Safety Lab is a government funded innovation test centre focussed on safety &
security in the Western Cape. A significant part of my job involves liaising with local
government officials and advocating for effective crime reduction policies. On a daily
basis I am responsible for the gathering and analysis of data related to the projects
the organisation runs and/or supports. In this regard I have or currently oversee and
manage the following projects:

iSafety an app for closed user groups to help gather key data and streamline
in-field management and monitoring of personnel. It has been successfully
deployed to help mitigate gang violence and to help streamline an at risk youth
diversion program in two different projects within the city of Cape Town.
Other programs I managed at The Safety Lab

CCTVision a public safety advocacy program that reused government CCTV

footage to increase awareness of particular crime modus operandi in a friendly
accessible way thereby reducing the publics risks of becoming victims of that
particular type of crime.

Violence correlation study a study using murder statistics by police precinct

with census data to find variables that correlate with murder rates.

Wikimedia South
Africa, Cape Town
Nov 2013-Nov 2014

Manager

Sustain our Africa,

Cape Town
Feb 2012-Jul 2012

Researcher

Dojo Project, Cape

Town
Oct 2010-Feb 2012

Project Manager (p-t)

Conservation
International (CI),
Cape Town
Dec 2010 Apr 2011

Intern/Researcher (p-t)

Wrote a grant for and lead the institutionalisation of Wikimedia South Africa by hiring
its first full time employee. I oversaw the management of the full time employee so
as to free up volunteers to focus on core chapter projects and functions.

Sustain our Africa is a public advocacy organisation established to facilitate and

promote sustainable development in Africa. My responsibilities included research,
data analysis, writing and maintaining the website. I also assisted in creating Sustain
our Africas internet publication, namely the Change Agent.

The Dojo Project is a non-profit with two goals namely, i) set up a catalogue of new design
innovations to assist governments and NGOs in developing countries implement development
projects and alleviate poverty; ii) set up a retreat for thinkers and designers to think about,
discuss and come up with new ideas to help combat poverty.

A research project for CI on mapping the presence of Chinese companies in the extraction
industry in eleven African countries. The report focused on which Chinese extraction

companies are mining in these countries, what they are mining, exactly where they are mining
as well as if the area they are mining in is environmentally sensitive. The report was aimed at
developing a best-practice strategy for CI and the mining companies. After the report was
concluded in August 2011, I presented the findings to CI headquarters in Washington D.C.

Mind Shift
Magazine, Cape
Town
Aug 2006-Dec 2007

Writer / Columnist (p-t)

Ben Cardin US
Senate Campaign,
Maryland, USA
May-Nov 2006

Senatorial Campaign Officer

Based in Cape Town, Mind Shift Magazine specializes in covering sustainable development
issues. I wrote numerous articles for the magazine covering several themes such as Chinese
government policy on development and exchange controls as well as general interest pieces.
In 2008, the magazine won the SAB Environmental Journalism of the Year award.

Conducted phone banking, phoning volunteers for support, fund raising, drawing up voting lists
and volunteer lists on Excel, and conducting field research for the campaign of Rep. Ben
Cardin (D-Md.). Congressman Ben Cardin (Democrat Party) won the election and is now a
senator representing the state of Maryland.
Learned firsthand how a political campaign is run and won in a modern democracy. That
organization, team unity, focus and a well thought out and researched strategy was key to
victory.

Ideal Home Internet

Start-up, Cape
Town
Feb-May 2006

Research Analyst
Conducted a market feasibility study and SWAT analysis for a real estate internet start-up firm,
IdealHome, on behalf of former Old Mutual executive Carlton Hood. The latter has since gone
on to found the insurance company Confused.com.

education
Konall Language
and Culture
Institute,
Shijiazhuang, China
Aug 2010, Jun-Aug
2011

Student

Tsinghua
University
Language School,
Beijing, China 20092010

Student

School of Public
Policy and
Management,
Tsinghua
University, Beijing,
China
2007 - 2009

Postgrad Student: Masters in International Development (MID)

Intensive Chinese Mandarin language training program based in Shijiazhuang, Hebei province,
China. One month in 2010 and two additional months in mid-2011.

Chinese Mandarin Language Program: a one year program

Postgraduate thesis on USAID contracting-out policy with a focus on contracting-out aid in

southern Africa and its effectiveness. A particular focus was placed on the role of for-profit
contractors.
A MID is a specialized variant of a Masters in Public Administration that focuses on
understanding of economic development internationally and particularly in China as well as the
practical implementation of public policy. The program gave me invaluable insight into how
policy is formulated and implemented in China as well as many of the policy objectives of
Chinese government and how they shape and impact the way foreign companies can do
business in China.
The MID degree which I received is public-policy-centered, with an international perspective,
combining rigorous training through analytical and quantitative methods, with an emphasis on
Chinese practice and sustainable development.

George Washington
University,
Washington DC,
USA
May-July 2006

Semester Student

University of Cape
Town, Cape Town,
South Africa
2003 - 2005

B.Soc.Sc. Politics, Philosophy and Economics (PPE) degree

This intensive course provided in-depth knowledge of the role of Washington D.C. as a center
of government for both the USA and international institutions. It was also largely focused on
building institutional and management capacity to implement successful political campaigns
and advocacy work to influence public policy.

The UCT PPE degree focused on the special economic, political and ethical aspects of the
private and public sectors policy formation in the age of accelerating commercial and
informational globalization.
Final year courses taken: Advanced Macro-Economics & Micro-Economics, Quantitative
Methods in Economics, Applied International Trade and Bargaining, Conflict in World Politics,
Contemporary Political Philosophy, Political Analysis, Commercial Law.

interests
Personal
Achievements

Elected president of Wikimedia South Africa (ZA) in 2014/15.

Leading the institutionalisation of Wikimedia ZA by overseeing the hiring and managing
of the chapters first full time employee.
Board member of Wikimedia ZA from 2012-present.
Advocated for open data and creative commons causes in South Africa including the
lobbying for the Copyright Act of 1978 to be redrafted to promote Freedom of Panorama.
Assisted in organising and successful completion of the Tsinghua University delegation
to South Africa, which saw resulted in numerous academic and professional contacts
with South African Universities and think tanks.

Areas of interest

Editing Wikipedia, been an editor since 2006.

Economic History.
Design and data visualisation.
Africa in China / China in Africa affairs.
Editing and modifying computer games.
Etching, graphic art and metal casting.
Krav Maga.

Other information

Strong proficiency with MSOffice, Excel, Power Point, Gnumeric, Inkscape (editing
software for Scalable Vector Graphics), Wiki HTML and Photoshop, Wikimedia HTML
markup syntax.
Proficiency with Open Office, The Gimp (graphic editing software) and Word Press.
Currently working on gaining proficiency in R and Python programming languages.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Discott

My Wiki user page

references
1.

Noah MALTZ, Director, The Safety Lab, The Terraces building, 10th floor, 34 Bree Street, Cape Town, South Africa.
Email: maltz.noah@gmail.com or noah@safetylab.co.za
Phone: +27 (0)83 654 4940

2.

Dr Tobias Schonwetter, Director: Intellectual Property Unit , Department of Commercial Law , University of Cape
Town, Cape Town, South Africa, 7700.
Website: www.ip-unit.org
Email: tobias.schonwetter@uct.ac.za
Phone: +27 (0)21 650 3914

3.

Dr ZHANG Yanbing, School of Public Policy and Management Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China.
Email: zhangyanbing@mail.tsinghua.edu.cn
Phone: +86 (010) 62797483

4.

Alan ROBBINS, Partner, Development Executive Group (DevEx), Washington, D.C, USA.
Website: www.devex.com/en/management
Email: alan.robbins@devex.com
Phone: +1 (202) 249 9222

Signed:

Douglas Ian Scott