New in the 2009 index of african governance

1. The Index of African Governance now includes detailed scores and rankings on all fifty-three African countries, adding assessment of the five North African countries to the forty-eight sub-Saharan African countries assessed in previous editions.
2. The Index now uses raw data collected by in-country affiliates in thirty-eight of the fifty-three countries of Africa. Where and when appropriate, the Index supplements its assessments of Africa through internationally comparable data with data collected by its own researchers in those countries.
3. The Index is now subject to a thorough sensitivity analysis, rigorously undertaken for the Index by an outside research team.
4. The Index is now capable of being displayed and its data arrayed in a variety of useful ways and places.
5. The 2009 Index follows the 2007 and 2008 Ibrahim Indexes of African Governance, using the methods pioneered by Robert I. Rotberg and Rachel M. Gisselquist in those years.
6. The 2007 and 2008 Ibrahim Indexes, and the first four months of research on the 2009 Index were generously supported by the Mo Ibrahim Foundation. Since the end of 2008, there has been no official connection between the Mo Ibrahim Foundation and this Index. It is now backed by the World Peace Foundation of Cambridge, Massachusetts and remains based in the Program on Intrastate Conflict in the Harvard Kennedy School.

The research team
2009

The Index of African Governance is compiled and updated annually by a team of researchers at Harvard University and across Africa, under the leadership of Robert I. Rotberg and Rachel M. Gisselquist. The 2007 and 2008 editions of the Index were published as the Ibrahim Index of African Governance. In the first edition, published in 2007, Rotberg and Gisselquist set out the Index’s basic framework and theory of governance, building on earlier work by Rotberg. The Index and all of its data have been revised annually to reflect the latest research and best data currently available. The project has been advised by a distinguished Executive Council of African scholars and business leaders, whose names are listed below.

Although based at Harvard’s Kennedy School, the Index of African Governance project is committed to African involvement—particularly of scholars and students—and to the transition of the project to African counterparts. The Index’s team, both at Harvard and in Africa, reflects that commitment. Since 2008, Rotberg and Gisselquist have built a team of research affiliates (institutions and individuals) throughout the continent. They have collaborated on the collection of basic data for the Index in thirty-eight countries. In 2009, affiliates in twenty-nine countries submitted data collection questionnaires. The 2009 Index also drew on data collection completed during 2007-2008 by research affiliates in nine additional countries. These research affiliates lend a wide range of experience; while most are in academia or national statistical agencies, others are from the NGO sector, in journalism, or have independent consulting backgrounds. Each year, this (growing) team of in-country researchers diligently collects official statistics and other information on a range of indicators from sources in their countries. Many of these in-country researchers, well-respected scholars and analysts, also share their insights on the reliability of the figures and the Index project more generally. As anyone who has conducted research in Africa will know, this task is far from straightforward: Many countries lack the resources to produce basic statistics in a timely way. Many others do not make public the information that they do collect. Although government agencies in some countries have provided extensive support for our project, in other countries the relevant agencies have cooperated less fully with our researchers.

In addition to this team of in-country researchers, the Index project, from its inception, has worked with a talented and international group of graduate student researchers at Harvard, including African students from across the continent. This Harvard-based team provides assistance with quantitative analysis and with coding projects, compiles data from international sources, and conducts literature reviews and desk studies. Several of our Harvard research assistants have also contributed published papers to the Index.

Finally, since 2008, the Index project has actively sought to build and deepen collaborative research with African academics and analysts. As part of this effort, the project in October 2008 held a workshop on the Ibrahim Index at Harvard (funded by the Mo Ibrahim Foundation and the World Peace Foundation). The workshop brought together for a week of discussions scholars from universities in Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Mauritius, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, and Tanzania. Rotberg and Gisselquist have also met directly with other scholars during trips throughout the region to solicit feedback, to learn about the latest research on the continent, and to introduce the Index as a research and teaching tool.

Rotberg and Gisselquist invite those interested in working with the Index project to contact them directly. They are especially interested in contacts from countries where the project currently lacks an in-country research affiliate.