The Africa Governance Report PREFACE The Africa GovernanceReport (AGR) is a product of cooperation and collaboration between the African Peer Review Mechanism(APRM) and members of the Africa Governance Architecture (AGA) Platform. The AGRassesses the state of governance in Africa with a view to providing Member States of the African Union with a comprehensive baseline that can help governments to enhance governance. It provides a yardstick that can be used to measure change or to analyse, assess and track developmentsto determine governance trends on the continent. It thus identifies best practices that can be shared amongst the Member States through experience sharing and peer learning to enhance governance in Africa. The AGA Platform decided that the AGR should focus on the assessment of implementation by the Member States of AU sharedvalues in the five thematic areas of governance:transformative leadership, constitutionalism and the rule of law, peace, securityand governance, development and governance,and the role of regional economic communities (RECs) in African governance. Thesefive thematic areas make up core componentsof the AU Agenda 2063, which is the AU’s strategic framework for the socialand economic transformation of the continent.Accordingly, the AGR focuses on the Agenda 2063 aspirations 1, 3, 4 and6. These aspirations resonate with the (global)United Nations Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which are the United Nations’ universal call for action to end poverty, protect the planet, and ensure that all people enjoy peace and prosperity. The AGR was produced using complementary research methods. These involved the examination, critical analysis and synthesis of existing information and data from published governance, economic performance, human development, peace and security, academic literature and other reports, and consultations with key stakeholders in the AGA Platform, AU Organs and Institutions, AU Member States, Regional Economic Communities, private sector organizations, civil society organizations, policy researchers and academics and other prominent persons. The APRM Secretariat wishes to thank all the stakeholders for their cooperation and collaboration in developing the Report. This AGR is structured as follows: Chapter 1 is the introduction,which defines the concept of governance, provides background information and context, explains the purpose and methodology of the Report, and introduces the relevant structures of the AU. Chapter 2 outlines the Africa Governance Policy Framework, including the African Union Shared Values, within the context of theAU Agenda 2063. Chapter 3 looks at transformativeleadership. Chapter 4 examines constitutionalism and the rule of law. Chapter 5 deals with peace, security and governance. Chapter 6 examines the nexus between development and governance. Chapter 7 considers the role of RECs in African governance. Eachchapter of the Report provides a comprehensivereflection and assessment of the state of governance in Africa, focusing on the relevant AU instruments, progress made in implementation of these instruments, challenges to and enablers of good governance, and best practices. From the analysis, each chapter proposes recommendations for improvement. The Report’s recommendations are not meant to be prescriptive; rather, they are intended as a basis for discussions on reforms that can be implemented to enhance governance at the continental, regional and Member State levels. The Report shows that, in general, governance in Africa has improved considerably. The strongest performance has been in the area of socio-economic development, and the weakest in democracy and political governance. Member States have also performed satisfactorily in economic, governance and management and in corporate governance. The Report also highlights the various challenges faced and makes a series of recommendations that the AU Member States can implement to boost governance institutions, practices, and performance. We hope that this AGR will spur debate on governance on the continent, enable AU Member States to take a closer look at how they govern and how they address their governance challenges. We also hope that the AGR will encourage AU Member States to develop mechanisms and processes for assessing governance at the national level and for sharing best practices. Prof Eddy Maloka Chief Executive Officer African Peer Review Mechanism Secretariat Page 10 of 96