AFIDEP to Release 10th Round Findings on Governance Performance in Africa

The African Institute for Development Policy (AFIDEP), through the Africa Integrity Indicators (AII) research project, will release its 10th round findings on critical governance mechanisms in the 54 African countries. The results, covering September 2020–September 2021, highlight a mix of milestones and regressions across Africa. The release is on Friday, 29 July 2022, at a webinar comprising governance experts. 

The Africa Integrity Indicators project assesses yearly data on transparency, accountability and social development across specific indicators. The findings show performances across African countries on themes such as the rule of law, accountability, elections, public management, civil service integrity, access to information, rights, gender, business environment, welfare, health and education. 

The 10th round research period was marked by notable instances of government censorship and the curtailing of press freedom, highlighting the continued decline in related indicators over the past several rounds. The period also coincided with the implementation of COVID-19 pandemic responses, including vaccine roll-outs, leading to a significant improvement of the indicator measuring health campaigns and responses to epidemics from the 9th round.  

Commenting on the overall findings, Dr. Alex Jiya, Governance and Accountability Thematic Lead at AFIDEP, stated: “The 10th round findings of the Africa Integrity Indicators project present a broad picture of how African governments conduct their daily business and how this in turn impacts the daily existence of citizens, from getting access to essential healthcare needed to be productive members of society, to having the capability to challenge attempts to repress their fundamental human rights. The findings are presented to support governments to make targeted improvements that can exponentially improve the lives of Africans.”  

The Africa Integrity Indicators project was initiated by Global Integrity, in collaboration with the Mo Ibrahim Foundation, in 2012. The project’s data collection and dissemination were transitioned from Global Integrity to AFIDEP in the 10th round. “The latest round of AII adds to the growing bank of rich and valuable data collected over the last 10 years that allows us to track trends and developments across dozens of indicators in every country in Africa,” said Max Levites, Project Manager at Global Integrity. 

The project enables governments and civil society to understand and evaluate the status quo of governance systems and identify intervention points for subsequent reform efforts. It also provides the Millennium Challenge Corporation, through the World Bank’s Worldwide Governance Indicators, with key information to support evaluations of country eligibility for their compacts.  

The webinar on the findings of the 10th round will provide stakeholders with valuable information to help ignite continent-wide debates on Africa’s governance trajectory. AFIDEP will hold a series of webinars in the coming months, specifically engaging stakeholders in government, civil society, media and academia on the continent, to reflect and improve in areas lacking performance.  

Register for the webinar here to be part of the conversation, taking place Friday, 29 July 2022 at 3:00–4:30 p.m. EAT.