Search Climate Insights Directory

The report provides an 'Afro-realistic' analysis of accountability in Africa, contrasting the potential of continental initiatives like the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) and Agenda 2063 with the practical challenges of domestic implementation. It investigates the roles of the African Union (AU), national parliaments, ombudsman offices, and civil society in curbing executive power and ensuring sustainable peace. The text highlights a tension between economic development and democratic governance, noting that while some states achieve growth, it often occurs at the expense of human rights.

The report examines the intersection of energy poverty and gender inequality in West Africa, highlighting how socially determined roles lead to differential access to and use of energy services. It identifies significant barriers for women in the energy workforce and entrepreneurship, including gaps in STEM education and limited access to land and finance. The document assesses the existing regional and national policy landscapes, noting a general lack of gender-disaggregated data and limited collaboration between energy and gender ministries. It argues for a gender-responsive approach to energy planning to maximize the impact of interventions and achieve universal energy access by 2030.

The International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) argues that while the Arctic possesses vast renewable energy reserves and successful technology tests, adoption remains slow. To accelerate this transition, the IISD proposes clear long-term targets, the phase-out of fossil fuel subsidies—specifically subsidized diesel—and the establishment of public-private partnerships funded by environmental taxes.

The paper examines electoral management in Benin, Cape Verde, Ghana, Nigeria, Senegal, and Sierra Leone, highlighting a trend toward independent or hybrid EMB models. It identifies critical challenges including the high cost of elections, executive interference in appointments and tenure, and the complexities of electoral dispute adjudication. The author argues that the effectiveness of EMBs is often undermined by a political culture of impunity and zero-sum politics, despite formal legal guarantees of independence.

The report examines the financing of Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Actions (NAMAs), emphasizing the need to move beyond reliance on international public funding toward leveraging private capital. It defines 'bankability' as the attractiveness of a project to investors based on its revenue-generating potential and provides a framework for designing such projects. Through eight case studies from countries including Morocco, Tunisia, and the Philippines, the document illustrates the roles of public-private partnerships (PPPs), the importance of implementing bodies (such as Special Purpose Vehicles), and the necessity of risk mitigation tools like partial credit guarantees and power purchase agreements. The report concludes with recommendations for NAMA developers to engage the private sector early in the design process and for international stakeholders to disseminate best practices in private funding.

The paper examines the tension between 'positive' and 'negative' governance values in Africa. While the African Union has established comprehensive frameworks like the APRM and ACDEG to promote transparency, accountability, and human rights, the author argues that a lack of political will and moral leadership hinders their implementation. The document highlights persistent issues such as systemic corruption, political clientelism, the marginalisation of women, and electoral manipulation, while noting that a small group of countries has made significant progress toward democratic governance.

Brazil provides technical assistance to Africa primarily through the Brazilian Cooperation Agency (ABC), focusing on South-South solidarity and the transfer of domestic expertise in agriculture, health, and social policy. While Brazil has established flagship projects like ProSavana in Mozambique and 'Cotton-4' in West Africa, the rapid expansion of these commitments has led to institutional overstretch, a lack of monitoring mechanisms, and a need for greater transparency and civil society involvement.

The report analyzes President Barack Obama's 2013 visit to Africa, framing it as an effort to shift US-Africa relations from a focus on security and counter-terrorism toward economic growth, trade, and democratic investment. It highlights the competitive pressure from China's dominant trade position and the US's efforts to address energy poverty and youth unemployment through initiatives like YALI and renewable energy financing.

The document argues that increasing Africa's education spending from 4% to 4.8% of GDP could lead to universal primary education by 2030 and universal basic education by 2035. Using the International Futures (IFs) model, the authors project that this investment would add US$ 2.5 trillion to Africa's GDP by 2050, while significantly reducing child malnutrition, extreme poverty, and the probability of state failure. However, the report notes that these gains require a long-term horizon and a reallocation of government funds away from other sectors like health and the military.

The policy brief examines the activities of Chinese state-run banks (Exim Bank and CDB) and the private Luso-Chinese fund Geocapital in Mozambique. While these entities leverage strong political and personal connections to enter the market, they have struggled to attract significant Chinese capital due to poor strategic planning and a lack of institutional capacity within Mozambique. The document highlights specific infrastructure loans and the establishment of Moza Banco, while noting that many large-scale projects have either collapsed or failed to materialize.

The document argues that the rise of emerging powers—specifically the BRIC nations—provides an opportunity for South Africa and the broader African continent to shift the global economic center of gravity toward the South. Minister Nkoana‐Mashabane emphasizes that South Africa seeks to balance its memberships in IBSA and BRIC to amplify the voice of developing nations in multilateral processes and the reform of Bretton Woods Institutions. For Africa to transition into an emerging power itself, the Minister identifies four critical priority areas: Infrastructure, Intra-trade, Industry, and Integration. The speech frames these geopolitical shifts not as a zero-sum game, but as a means to address shared global challenges including climate change and energy security through cooperation between the developed and developing worlds.

The document analyzes China's 'exceptionalism' in Africa, a policy framework based on the 1955 Bandung conference principles of sovereignty, non-interference, and mutual benefit. While this approach seeks to differentiate China from Western powers by emphasizing political equality and a non-donor-recipient model, the author identifies three primary challenges to its sustainability: the tension between non-interference and the protection of economic interests, the gap between nominal sovereign equality and actual power asymmetry, and the lack of central government control over autonomous sub-state and private actors.

The policy brief evaluates the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM), a governance monitoring tool designed to foster political stability and sustainable development in Africa. The author identifies ten reasons for optimism, noting that 29 African countries have voluntarily joined the process and that the mechanism has accelerated its pace of reviews over time. While the author acknowledges that the system struggles to hold heads of state accountable for specific crises, the APRM has produced comprehensive reports that identify systemic weaknesses and has led to tangible governance gains in countries like Ghana, Rwanda, and Kenya. The brief concludes that the APRM empowers citizens through participatory assessment and promotes peer learning among states, though it requires more transparent leadership and better documentation of successes to maintain momentum.

The document outlines the UNDP's strategy to integrate climate change adaptation into national development priorities, emphasizing the need to move beyond technical climate modeling toward strengthening political leadership, financial management, and accountability systems. It identifies four primary barriers to effective national decision-making: sporadic political commitment, fragmented technical knowledge, limited institutional capacity for direct fund access, and weak reporting systems. To address these, the UNDP implements initiatives such as the Africa Adaptation Programme and the Adaptation Learning Mechanism, while promoting the use of National Multi-Donor Climate Funds to shift from agency-led to nationally-led financial management.

The IBSA Forum has successfully fostered political coordination and South-South dialogue, most notably through its development fund and a 96% vote convergence at the United Nations. While trade integration is hampered by regional constraints, the forum has seen success in science, technology, and revenue service cooperation. The author recommends that IBSA focus on development efforts and trade facilitation rather than overarching trade agreements, positioning itself as a development-oriented complement to the economically driven BRIC grouping.

The document analyzes the shift in Chinese migration to Africa from ideologically driven state projects to profit-centered entrepreneurial and labor flows. It identifies four main types of migrants: temporary labor migrants, small-time entrepreneurs, agricultural workers, and transit migrants. The paper highlights the diversity of these groups, their settlement patterns as 'sojourners' or 'transnational citizens', and the mixed reactions from host communities, ranging from admiration for their work ethic to anti-Chinese sentiment driven by economic competition and political mobilization. A detailed section on South Africa distinguishes between indigenous Chinese South Africans, Taiwanese, and new immigrants from the PRC.

The document examines the methodological requirements for conducting representative public opinion surveys to support the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM). It argues that while participatory consultations are useful for public ownership, they often produce biased results. Instead, the author advocates for random probability sampling, noting that relatively small samples (e.g., 1,200 respondents) can provide accurate national estimates. The paper outlines essential prerequisites—such as recent census data and freedom of travel—and warns against the common error of polling only heads of households, which biases results toward older, employed males. It also provides a practical timeline and cost estimate for implementing such surveys in Africa.

The paper examines the methodological requirements for conducting credible representative public opinion surveys within the framework of the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM). It contrasts the limitations of 'participatory' consultations—which often suffer from self-selection bias—with the precision of random probability sampling. The author provides technical guidance on sample sizes, the necessity of accurate census data, and the importance of sampling individual citizens rather than household heads. It also outlines the practical costs and timelines for implementing such surveys in Africa, suggesting that national surveys of 1,200 respondents typically cost between $85,000 and $125,000.

The paper examines the relationship between elections and democracy, arguing that while elections are primary prerequisites for democracy, they are often used in Africa as 'window-dressing rituals' to legitimate existing regimes. It analyzes various electoral systems, the critical role of independent electoral commissions, judiciaries, and militaries, and the functions of international and domestic observation. Additionally, it explores the nature of African political parties, noting their tendency to be ethnically based, personalized, and non-institutionalized.

The report analyzes China's engagement with the Lusophone world through the Macau Forum, established in 2003. It argues that China uses the forum as a foreign policy instrument to secure energy and food security, expand its consumer markets, and increase soft power in Africa, Latin America, and Asia. While trade volumes grew from $11 billion in 2003 to $34 billion in 2006, the report notes that most significant economic agreements remain bilateral. Brazil and Angola are identified as the most critical partners due to their vast natural resources and economic scale. The document also highlights the role of Macau as a service platform and provides policy recommendations for China, the Lusophone states, and the Forum to improve transparency and mutual benefit.