Progress Report: Governance and Fighting Corruption in Africa

11.26.07

 

 

Fast Facts

• In 1989, there were only three electoral democracies in Africa. By 2005, that number had risen to 18.
  
• Rwanda has the largest proportion of women in parliament of any country in the world.
• The number of African conflicts declined from 16 in 2002 to 5 in 2006.

 

Uganda - Fighting Corruption to Ensure Funding Reaches Schools

With funding from the World Bank and bilateral donors, the Ugandan government developed a program to monitor and track the government’s education budget. Before the program, between 1991 and 1996 only 13% of education funding reached schools in Uganda. By informing parent associations through announcements in newspapers and on the radio the amount of money schools should be getting, the percentage of funding reaching Ugandan schools increased to 80% by 2000. Uganda’s primary school enrollment increased from 68% in 1995 to 91% in 2006.

 

Tanzania - Anti-Corruption Program Exceeds Targets

With funding from the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), the government of
Tanzania has put in place a program to crack down on corrupt practices. In year one of the program, the number of anticorruption investigations brought before the Prevention of Corruption Bureau has more than doubled (increasing from 17 to 40), far exceeding its target of 23 cases by mid-2007. In addition, since the end of 2006, the number of corruption-related stories appearing in the Tanzanian press has also grown from 20 per month to roughly 130 per month.

 

Africa-Wide - New Initiative to Recover Stolen Assets

The Stolen Asset Recovery (StAR) Initiative was announced by the World Bank and the IMF in April 2007. StAR is a partnership between the World Bank, the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and other organizations to help developing countries recover assets stolen by asking all countries to sign up to the UN Convention on Anti-Corruption, helping developing countries access legal assistance and monitoring the use of recovered assets in developing countries. The StAR report, issued in September 2007, estimates that $148 billion is lost in Africa each year due to corruption.

 

Nigeria - Government Directs Debt Relief Funds to Poverty Reduction

The Nigerian government has committed to ensure that the resources from debt relief are directed towards the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals. In 2005, $750 million of the $1 billion saved from debt relief was spent through a tracking system (the “virtual poverty fund”) that monitored the flow of funds to poverty reducing activity and evaluated their impact.

Learn more about governance and corruption in Africa

• The DATA Report 2007 Governance Chapter