Harnessing Afrobarometer’s evidence-based insights on women’s rights, civic space and democratic resilience

 

Afrobarometer (AB) was founded in 1999 by a group of researchers who recognized that the voice of African citizens was absent from discussions and debates about policymaking and public policy, politics and development in most of Africa. Its current round of surveys covers not only the regular governance and democracy questions, it also includes such issues as women’s rights, gender discrimination as well as freedoms and civic space.

One of AB’s key objectives is to generate knowledge products from the survey data and disseminate them widely among governments, policy actors, the research community and citizens across the continent and globally. Additionally, AB implements a series of training programs to build research and analysis capacity of African researchers and policy activists, notably civil society activists and journalists.

This project will seek to achieve four results: greater evidence on African citizens’ preferences and perspectives in critical democratic and inclusive governance areas; a better understanding of democratic resilience in countries across the continent and greater Southern leadership in this emerging agenda; strengthened institutional and individual capacities to conduct cutting-edge analytical work; and social and policy uptake of AB research and analysis through its wide and inclusive dissemination.