Strengthening Africa’s data landscape key to meeting development targets – report

Africa has a fragmented data landscape, making it difficult to quantify and therefore meet development targets, a new report from the Mo Ibrahim Foundation published on Tuesday shows.
Photo: African News Agency (ANA)

JOHANNESBURG – Africa has a fragmented data landscape, making it difficult to quantify and therefore meet development targets, a new report from the Mo Ibrahim Foundation published on Tuesday shows.

The African Governance Report, which draws on data from the Ibrahim Index of African Governance (IIAG), shares new insights on progress towards the African Union’s Agenda 2063 — a blueprint and master plan for transforming the continent into a future global powerhouse — and the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The report points to where policy efforts can be focused to tackle current governance challenges and highlights the urgency of addressing the ‘data gap’ in Africa to ensure progress can be assessed and shortfalls addressed.

“A concerning picture of data challenges emerge across the continent,” the Mo Ibrahim Foundation, which was established in 2006 with a focus on the critical importance of leadership and governance in Africa, said in a statement.

“Almost half of the targets for Agenda 2063 are not directly quantifiable and so far, fewer than 20 percent have an indicator to measure progress. On average fewer than 40 percent of the indicators for the SDGs have sufficient data to track progress accurately on the continent.”

Source: iol.co.za