Africa’s governance performance declined for the first time in a decade as the COVID-19 pandemic worsened existing challenges and crushed hard-won gains, the 2020 Ibrahim Index of African Governance (IIAG) has found.
Between 2015 and 2019, performance slackened in both human development and foundations for economic opportunity, while deterioration continued in both security and rule of law as participation, rights and inclusion worsened.
According to the report launched Monday by the Mo Ibrahim Foundation, the 2019 African average score for overall governance declined by -0.2 points below that of 2018, registering the first year-on-year score on deterioration since 2010.
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However, overall governance performance has slightly progressed over the decade as 61.2 percent of Africa’s population as of 2019 live in a country where governance is generally better than in 2010.
Progress achieved over the last decade has mainly been driven by improvements in economic opportunities and human development. Foundations for Economic Opportunity (+4.1) and Human Development (+3.0) have made good progress, primarily led by improvements in the sub-categories Infrastructure and Health, complemented by advances in Sustainable Environment.
This is threatened, however, by an increasingly precarious security situation and concerning erosion in rights as well as civic and democratic space. Over the last decade, both Participation, Rights & Inclusion (-1.4) and Security & Rule of Law (-0.7) have registered worrying declines.
Only eight countries including Angola, Chad, Côte d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Madagascar, Seychelles, Sudan and Togo managed to improve in all four categories over the decade.
The 2020 IIAG is the most comprehensive assessment of governance performance in 54 African countries. It tracks Africa’s trajectory across four main categories including security and rule of law; participation, rights and inclusion; foundations for economic opportunity; and human development.
