Out of Africa

One of the biggest problems when it comes to doing public policy in Africa is that nobody really knows what everyday people want. Most countries have cultures of political elitism that stifle the opinion of the man (and increasingly woman) on the street when important decisions are made that affect them.

Obviously everyone wants and needs the basics necessities, but how do Africans feel about more nuanced questions of how they'd like to be governed? How do they perceive democracy? What is their role in civil society? Moreover, how do their views change over time and from country to country?

Enter Afrobarometer, a public-funded and operated research instrument that allows "interested outsiders to educate themselves about public opinion in Africa and to influence policy makers accordingly. By giving a voice to African citizens, it challenges the view that elites understand the preferences of the people, including minority groups within society." Owing to its public backing, all the website's publications are  downloadable in PDF format.

Since 2002, the project has aggregated public opinion data in 12 different African countries (see map) though a series of standardized polls, which allow data to be compared across time and space.

For anybody who has hopelessly searched library archives for something, anything, on African public policy, this kind of free, accessible online resource is a boon to those trying to research the continent. Even better, it gives a voice to those men and women whose opinions have been otherwised ignored by their own leaders and the development community.