Building on our solid two-decade track record of providing data on what Africans are thinking, the Afrobarometer (AB) Board of Directors has approved a 10-year strategic plan designed to extend the network’s reach and strengthen its ability to illuminate the way forward for Africa’s development.
Reflecting a year-long collaborative effort by network leaders and staff, partners, and stakeholders, the 2022-2032 strategy provides a roadmap for AB as a key player amplifying citizens’ voices to shape conversations about the continent.
The new strategy will help ensure that high-quality data – rather than the claims of “experts,” leaders, and pundits without a nuanced understanding of the values and preferences of African citizens – inform problem solving and intelligent employment of the continent’s great resources and talents. This is critically important at a time when official government statistics continue to be of variable quality and the growth of new and more viral forms of misinformation fuels polarisation and conflict.
By extending its use of cutting-edge social science and communications methods to fill data gaps, AB will institutionalise citizen voice in public policy making. It will strengthen the evidence base needed to prioritise and target interventions in pursuit of global and regional agendas for peace and prosperity, such as the UN Sustainable Development Goals and the African Union’s Agenda 2063.
Simply put, it will shine a light on what’s ahead so that decision makers aren’t driving in the dark.
Our bold 10-year strategy is guided by AB’s vision of “a world in which Africa’s development is anchored in the realities and aspirations of its people” and its mission to “make citizen voice a key pillar of Africa policy and decision-making.” It focuses on five major areas:
Gather
- Maintain high quality of surveys and continuously improve methodology
- Develop demand-driven public opinion surveys
- Enhance efficiency in conducting surveys and timeliness
Analyse
- Improve knowledge generation and management
- Sustain and improve accessibility of public opinion data
Inform
- Advance effective dissemination, communication, strong brand, and visibility
- Increase demand for and impact of Afrobarometer data and analysis
Build
- Develop and strengthen skills, especially among the youth
- Extend expertise and capacity across Africa
Thrive
- Mobilise resources effectively and sustainably
- Extend Afrobarometer’s capacity, reach, and impact through partnerships
- Strengthen institutional capacity
Building on Afrobarometer’s recent moves to strengthen its structure, management, and governance, the next phase of strategic development will enhance AB’s comparative advantage in contributing to Africa’s social, economic, and political spheres.
In addition to improving the quality of its core activities of collecting and analysing public attitude data, disseminating findings, and building capacity for survey research, the strategy calls for a variety of new steps.
As we look ahead, we’ll cast our net wider and extend our survey coverage to more African countries, aiming for 45 countries by 2032.
We’ll continue to innovate to develop the network’s rapid-response capability, increasing timeliness and data uptake through special surveys using phones, social media, and other platforms.
New formats will improve targeted delivery of findings tailored to user demand.
A new dedicated Communications Unit will ensure that data and analysis inform policy and decision-making at priority levels.
As part of our core strategy, we’ll expand and deepen the reach and quality of capacity building through themed analysis seminars, a mentoring network, authorship workshops, and other activities.
And we’ll build a sustainable financial foundation by establishing a resilience fund, exploring the feasibility of creating an endowment fund, and developing a more diverse portfolio of support, including from within the continent.
Click here for the results framework.