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Begin New Search Topic Development Political Geography Africa Content Type Policy Brief Publishing Institution Afrobarometer Publication Year within 25 Years

1. Who gets Involved? Insights on Civic Engagement in Africa and Implications for Fostering Volunteerism

Author:
Carolyn Logan, Josephine Appiah-Nyamekye Sanny, and Kangwook Han
Publication Date:
03-2021
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Afrobarometer
Abstract:
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) set ambitious targets for countries and societies to improve lives and livelihoods around the world. While the expectations of meeting these goals largely fall on governments, it is widely recognized that joint efforts by citizens and their governments will be needed to achieve the best outcomes. Citizen action takes place in many forms and forums, including organizing and working together on shared goals, providing mutual support and assistance, campaigning or advocating for shared needs, and engaging with governments, making demands on them, and holding them to account. While some citizens may become involved in a formal capacity, such as through paid employment in nongovernmental advocacy or service organizations and through employment with governments or other service providers, large numbers will – and must – be engaged in a voluntary capacity. Understanding the nature of this voluntary engagement is a key goal of this analysis. Advocates of volunteerism in Africa have been plagued by a lack of data on who engages in voluntary service, how much they contribute, in what formats, and what the outcomes are. Only a handful of governments have collected data on this topic. Yet our ability to foster and build support for volunteerism is partly dependent on how well we understand the ways people are already engaging every day in these critical but uncompensated contributions in pursuit of the public good. Afrobarometer data can help to fill this void. Although Afrobarometer has not collected data with the explicit aim of studying volunteerism, for more than 20 years it has captured extensive, nationally representative data on respondents’ levels of political and civic participation (much of which can be classed as volunteerism) across seven rounds of surveys in 38 countries. This includes membership in religious and civic organizations and participation in individual and collective efforts to engage with leaders and to voice community needs. In particular, in addition to membership in associations, Afrobarometer tracks the contact of respondents with political and community leaders, their attendance at community meetings, and their efforts to join with others to address issues or express their views. These kinds of civic engagement are the cornerstone of volunteerism to solve problems and improve lives. Understanding who engages, under what circumstances, and why provides a foundation on which to more effectively promote civic engagement and volunteerism in pursuit of the SDGs and other development objectives. This paper explores Afrobarometer data on civic engagement with four main goals: specify how Afrobarometer indicators of civic engagement link to core understandings of volunteerism and its various typologies; map profiles and patterns of the people who engage in volunteerism, especially at the country level; model voluntary civic engagement to identify the key factors and contexts that facilitate or inhibit it at both the individual and country levels; and use these profiles and models to identify entry points for activists who want to foster or support voluntary civic engagement. Our analysis identifies several factors that shape voluntary civic engagement, from socio- demographic ones such as education and wealth to citizens’ socio-political engagement, their personal sense of efficacy, and their overall trust in their governments. Country contexts are important, as we see wide cross-country differences in levels of volunteerism. Among other aspects, wealthier countries, on average, report less volunteerism, while democracies report more. We have found evidence that confronting unmet needs – whether one’s own or those of others – is a major motivating factor of voluntary engagement. These findings suggest a number of opportunities and entry points for increasing citizen engagement. The paper is organized in four parts. Part A begins with a discussion of knowledge on volunteerism and participation, highlighting the lack of evidence and data sources on Africa and how civic engagement intersects with volunteerism. Part B develops descriptive profiles of the participants in voluntary civic engagement. Part C explores key driving factors at the individual and country levels. The final section presents recommendations for acting on these findings.
Topic:
Development, Sustainable Development Goals, Sustainability, and Civic Engagement
Political Geography:
Africa

2. Local Governance in Benin: A Guarantee of Sustainable Development?

Author:
Romaric Samson and Richard Houessou
Publication Date:
03-2018
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Afrobarometer
Abstract:
Faced with the disappointing performance of centralized systems, many African states opted for decentralization in the 1990s in a bid to ensure that their citizens receive quality services (Anago, 2009). In theory, decentralization involves withdrawing some powers from the central state and transferring them to elected bodies at the local level. This introduced the concept of local governance, whose practical implementation supposes that all actors understand the institutional framework within which they function as well as their roles, responsibilities, and room for maneuver. In Benin, since the installation of the first communal and municipal councils in February 2003, decentralization has become one of the pillars of development, making better governance in local matters a fundamental element of the process. Municipal councils have taken on a number of responsibilities once left to the central state, such as maintaining local marketplaces and community hygiene, issuing bicycle licenses, and collecting some taxes. In order to manage and monitor financial resources allocated to local bodies, the central state established the Communal Development Support Fund (Fond d'Appui au Développement des Communes) in 2008. Despite good intentions and political decisions in favor of the decentralization process, good governance in our communities faces significant hurdles. Local populations express dissatisfaction with local councillors, and the transfer of powers and financial resources from the central state to local bodies is still not completely effective. Fifteen years after the first steps toward local governance in our municipalities, what lessons should be learned? How do Beninese citizens assess this governance process, and what roles do they play in its implementation? Has decentralization impacted the most vulnerable, i.e. the poorest? What are the interactions between local councillors and their constituents? Afrobarometer data from Benin make it possible to examine citizen perceptions of local governance. Our analyses reveal that popular assessments of local government performance are largely negative and haver worsened over time. We find a link between the level of popular trust in the municipal council and the perceived quality of local governance, as well as between communal development and perceptions of the local authority's activities.
Topic:
Development, Governance, Local, and Sustainability
Political Geography:
Africa and Benin

3. Ambitious SDG Goal Confronts Challenging Realities: Access to Justice is still Elusive for Many Africans

Author:
Carolyn Logan
Publication Date:
03-2017
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Afrobarometer
Abstract:
Access to justice for all citizens has long been recognized as a cornerstone of democracy, good governance, and effective and equitable development. Its centrality has recently been highlighted in the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal 16 (SDG16), which calls for all societies to “promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels” (United Nations, 2016). The United Nations Development Programme (2004) has even described access to justice as a basic human right. Access to justice is described broadly as the ability of citizens to “seek and obtain remedies” (American Bar Association, 2012, i) and to “prevent the abuse of their rights and obtain remedies when such rights are abused” (United States Agency for International Development, 2010, 12). Providing access to justice requires meeting several conditions. It requires a legal framework that protects citizens’ rights and that is known and comprehensible to ordinary people. It requires that court costs are reasonable and that legal counsel is both available and affordable. And it requires that citizens are confident that laws will be fairly and effectively applied. In short, it requires the existence of a remedy, citizens with the legal empowerment and capacity to seek a remedy, and a court system with the capacity and will to provide an effective remedy (International Commission of Jurists, 2009). These conditions are often evaluated through expert assessments. However, the perspectives of ordinary citizens – including both the public at large and actual users of the legal system – can shed critical light on the extent to which people enjoy access to justice. Do ordinary citizens use the legal system to resolve disputes, or do they avoid it? Do they have confidence in court decisions, and in their own ability to secure just outcomes? Can they obtain the legal advice they need, and afford to pursue a case? And when they do go to court, what are their experiences? Are women, the poor, or marginalized groups treated differently than men or wealthy elites?
Topic:
Development, Inequality, Sustainable Development Goals, Justice, and Sustainability
Political Geography:
Africa

4. Evaluating Botswana’s Performance on National Vision 2016

Author:
Rorisang Lekalake
Publication Date:
06-2016
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Afrobarometer
Abstract:
On 30 September 2016, Botswana will mark its 50th year of independence from the United Kingdom, a significant occasion for both celebration and reflection. An important part of this reflection has focused on Botswana’s transition from National Vision 2016, the blueprint that has guided the country’s development for the past two decades, to National Vision 2036, in tandem with the global move from the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals to Sustainable Development Goals (Ministry of Finance and Development Planning, 2016a). A presidential task force is leading national consultations on National Vision 2036, a first draft of which is due for presentation, debate, and approval during the 2016 parliamentary winter session (Botswana Press Agency, 2016)). A final document is expected to replace Vision 2016 in September. In monitoring progress toward Vision 2016’s four long-term goals (sustained development, rapid economic growth, economic independence, and social justice) and seven development “pillars,” the Vision 2016 Council has generally relied on a variety of regional and international indicators of objective data, such as per capita gross national income (GNI) or the Human Development Index (HDI) on the economic front and indicators of governance and democracy from the Mo Ibrahim Foundation and Freedom House on the political front (Vision 2016 Council, 2016). In addition, the council conducted a public opinion survey in 2010 to gain an understanding of ordinary citizens’ evaluations of the document itself and of the country’s progress on its development indicators. This paper aims to complement that study by providing updated analysis from the latest Afrobarometer survey (2014) in Botswana, in addition to longitudinal data and supplementary insights from the Afrobarometer questionnaire’s broader focus. What are Batswana’s evaluations of the progress made toward each of the National Vision 2016 development pillars? Which areas should the government prioritize moving forward into a post-2016 development agenda? The analysis applies the Vision 2016 Council survey’s benchmarks to Afrobarometer findings to evaluate success or failure on all seven pillars: an educated, informed nation; a prosperous, productive, and innovative nation; a compassionate and caring nation; a safe and secure nation; an open, democratic, and accountable nation; a moral and tolerant nation; and a united and proud nation. Positive evaluations by 67% or more of citizens constitute “good” performance, 50%-66% is “average,” 34%-49% is “poor,” and less than 33% is “critical” (Vision 2016 Council, 2010, p. 6.). Overall, the results show that the country has done fairly well in a number of areas, particularly in improving access to education and maintaining social cohesion, but continues to struggle to distribute national wealth among all of its citizens. Consequently, political leaders and ordinary Batswana will continue to face many of the same economic challenges identified in 1997 as the country moves into the next phase of national development.
Topic:
Development, Education, Governance, Public Opinion, Democracy, and Social Justice
Political Geography:
Africa and Botswana

5. Despite Gains, Barriers Keep Health Care High on Africa’s Priority List

Author:
Daniel Armah-Attoh, Edem E. Selormey, and Richard Houessou
Publication Date:
04-2016
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Afrobarometer
Abstract:
Access to health care gained the spotlight on national and international development agendas when the 1978 Alma Ata Declaration outlined a strategy for achieving universal access to primary health care by the year 2000 (World Health Organization, 1978). The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) set targets for improving health-care delivery by 2015, and the United Nations’ new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which took effect in January 2016, extend and supplement those with ambitious targets aimed at ensuring healthy lives for all. Despite significant gains under these initiatives, Africans fully support health care’s continued prominence on development agendas: In Afrobarometer surveys across 36 African countries in 2014/2015, citizens rank health as the second-most-important problem (after unemployment) that their governments need to address, as well as the No. 2 priority (after education) requiring additional government investment. While the proportion of Africans going without needed health care has decreased over the past decade, citizens’ perceptions highlight some of the challenges that still stand between current reality and “health for all,”
Topic:
Development, World Health Organization, Governance, and Health Care Policy
Political Geography:
Africa

6. Botswana's Democratic Consolidation: What Will it Take?

Author:
Rorisang Lekalake
Publication Date:
01-2016
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Afrobarometer
Abstract:
Botswana is Africa’s oldest continuous democracy, having enjoyed decades of peaceful multipartyism since independence in 1966. However, this success is tempered by growing concerns that the country’s remarkable stability has come at the cost of further political development. Significant weaknesses in Botswana’s democracy include low civic participation, relatively weak opposition and civil society sectors, and a lack of incumbent turnover in 11 consecutive free and fair elections. Despite these challenges, Botswana has maintained its reputation as an African success story due to the scale, pace, and endurance of its socioeconomic and political development, particularly given setbacks elsewhere in the region. Democracy is one of Botswana’s four founding principles and is a pillar of its National Vision 2016, which has driven development plans since 1997 (Presidential Task Group, 1997).1 The Vision 2016 Council’s evaluation of the country’s progress on this front is largely positive, citing high rankings on international benchmarks relative to other African countries (Botswana Vision 2016 Council, 2015). Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI), for example, ranks Botswana as the least corrupt country in sub-Saharan Africa, while Freedom House has classified the country as “free” since 1973. In recent years, however, the country’s CPI score has declined (Transparency International, 2015), and in 2009, Freedom House downgraded Botswana’s political rights rating as a result of “decreased transparency and accountability in the executive branch under President Seretse Khama Ian Khama’s administration” (Freedom House, 2015a).
Topic:
Corruption, Development, Governance, Democracy, and Leadership
Political Geography:
Africa and Botswana

7. A Window on Policy Priorities: Evidence From the Citizens of 34 African Countries

Author:
Marvis Zupork Dome
Publication Date:
03-2015
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Afrobarometer
Abstract:
The post-2015 sustainable development discourse has emphasized the need for a more inclusive and participatory policy framework projecting the voices of the people in policy-making and implementation processes. Some commentators have argued that while the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) have achieved some poverty reduction, the post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) should be better designed to enhance the living standards of the people. Yet not much has been done to create the necessary space for citizens’ voices to be heard. This paper argues for a more rigorous insistence on listening to citizens’ voices as part of the development policy process. It begins this listening through an analysis of the most urgent policy priorities of Africans, as expressed in Afrobarometer survey data from 34 African countries. Analyses of differences by region, income level, and human development level provide useful insights for the development discourse going forward.
Topic:
Civil Society, Development, Public Opinion, and Sustainability
Political Geography:
Africa

8. Mali’s Public Mood Reflects Newfound Hope

Author:
Michael Bratton and Peter Penar
Publication Date:
01-2014
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Afrobarometer
Abstract:
In an Afrobarometer survey in December 2012, three quarters of adult Malians were worried that the country was moving in “the wrong direction.” At that time, at the depths of a profound national crisis, most Malians thought the future looked bleak. A year later, however, a follow-up survey reveals newfound hope in the future. By December 2013, two thirds of all Malians now consider that that the country is headed in the “right direction.” What explains this remarkable turnaround in the public mood? The upswing in the country’s collective frame of mind within the space of a single year is traced to several positive developments. These include an improved security situation, the restoration of a freely elected government, and rising confidence in economic recovery.
Topic:
Security, Development, Public Opinion, Internal Displacement, and Economic Recovery
Political Geography:
Africa and Mali

9. Oil and Mining Countries: Transparency Low, Official Impunity High - 2013

Author:
E. Gyimah-Boadi, Daniel Armah-Attoh, Mohammed Awal, and Joseph Luna
Publication Date:
12-2013
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Afrobarometer
Abstract:
Twenty-two of 34 African countries surveyed by Afrobarometer stake their countries' economic futures on development of mineral or oil production, but successful shepherding of these natural resources hinges on governments’ ability to manage them while maintaining stable democracies.
Topic:
Development, Economics, Oil, Natural Resources, Democracy, and Mining
Political Geography:
Africa