Africa's Governance Landscape: Progress, Challenges, and the Path Forward

The 2019 Africa Governance Report, produced by the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) in collaboration with the African Governance Architecture (AGA), offers a comprehensive assessment of governance across the continent's 55 member states, benchmarked against the African Union's Agenda 2063 and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. The report evaluates five core thematic areas — transformative leadership, constitutionalism and the rule of law, peace and security, the nexus of development and governance, and the role of Regional Economic Communities — and presents a mixed but cautiously optimistic picture of Africa's governance trajectory.

On the positive side, the continent has recorded its strongest performance in socio-economic development, with most member states formulating National Development Plans and National Vision statements increasingly aligned with continental and global frameworks. Democratic consolidation has also gained ground, with presidential term limits now more widely respected, multi-party political systems firmly established across many states, and civil society playing an increasingly active role in public life.

However, significant challenges persist. Progress in democracy and political governance remains the weakest area, with concerns around executive dominance, electoral manipulation, and inadequate public participation mechanisms. On peace and security, while large-scale inter-state conflicts have declined, intra-state violence, terrorism, and governance deficits continue to fuel instability across key conflict zones including the Sahel, the Horn of Africa, and the Great Lakes region. The report also flags illicit financial flows, weak natural resource governance, and persistent gender inequality as structural obstacles to inclusive development.

The report calls on member states to strengthen anti-corruption frameworks, align national development plans with AU Agenda 2063, ratify and implement shared values instruments, and invest in the operational capacity of the African Standby Force. It also urges deeper coordination between the AU and Regional Economic Communities to eliminate overlapping mandates and build a more coherent continental governance architecture.

As Africa's first internally generated, AU-commissioned governance report, the 2019 AGR marks an important milestone — a continent choosing to assess, own, and steer its own development story.

Source: The Africa Governance Report 2019, African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) / African Governance Architecture (AGA).