September 09, 2008

One of the most salient external influences on African politics and economy is foreign aid. According to the World Bank’s African Development Indicators, in 2005, foreign aid funded 28.1% of central government expenditures in sub-Saharan Africa. Moreover, in July 2005 the G8 agreed to double foreign aid to Africa to $50 billion.

These foreign aid statistics led Olufunbmi Elemo, IFES’ 2008 Manatt Fellow and PhD Candidate at Michigan State University, to ask: Does African dependence on foreign aid (as an external source of revenue) undermine the expansion of representative institutions?

Ms. Elemo presented intriguing findings at a roundtable last month on this very question after spending the summer researching at IFES under the mentorship of the Africa Regional Division and the Applied Research Center.

She hypothesized that as the percentage of foreign aid constituting government expenditures in sub-Saharan Africa increases, politicians are less responsive to citizen demands. In aid dependent governments, elected officials can fund and pursue their activities without having to yield to public opinion, scrutiny, or interests. Using political efficacy (citizens’ ability to affect political outcomes) and quality of public service delivery as two manifestations of representation, her analyses focused on perceptions at both the country and individual levels.

Using cross-national data from the World Bank African Development Indicators (47 sub-Saharan African countries, missing Somalia) in 2005 and public opinion data (Afrobarometer, IFES), she found support for her hypothesis. Highly evident at the individual level, as government aid dependence increases, perceptions of political efficacy and access to public services diminish across Africa. African respondents living in more aid dependent nations are more likely to identify national representatives (MPs) as unwilling “to listen to what [ordinary] people [like the respondent] have to say,” and more likely to report increased difficulty obtaining household services, such as piped water and electricity.

What do these results mean for Africa and those concerned with African development?

First, Ms. Elemo recommends further investigation, and suggests political efficacy and service delivery as useful measures of government responsiveness. Second, the negative relationship between aid dependence and representation suggests taxation and tax capacity are salient for development in Africa. Thus, building citizen capacity to monitor government budgeting processes and provide oversight can bolster a responsive and accountable government. And third, civic education is crucial to encouraging citizen participation and oversight of government, along with free and fair elections and civil society support. NGOs should continue to play a key role in educating and empowering Africans about the rights and responsibilities of citizenship. In addition, roundtables, simulations, TV programming (IFES tools) and university courses (through local partnerships) provide a fertile opportunity for integrating citizenship education into daily African life. For example, IFES programs in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (Nexus for Executing Anti-Corruption Tasks or DRC NEAT) included civic education to accompany efforts aimed at government and civil society capacity building.