Africa

Situation analysis

UNDP in Burundi recently distributed
one million ID cards to enable
new voters to take part in the upcoming elections

Africa has the highest number of countries with democratic systems to date since the 1960s. A large majority of African countries now conduct regular elections at the national, regional and local levels, enabling populations to choose their political leaders and ensuring legitimacy of elected governments and officials. This is exemplified by the increasing number of peoples participating in elections (25.7 million or 80% in the DRC in 2006; 23 million or 77 % in South Africa in 2009; and 8.6 million or 69.5 % in Ghana in 2008).

Despite some traumatic events which would in the past have been expected to plunge countries into crises, such as the assassination of Guinea Bissau’s president or the Coup D’état in Mauritania, , African societies are demonstrating increasing levels of adeptness at dealing with potential conflicts. Peaceful elections took place in these two countries. All elections that took place in 2009 were peaceful, over-turning what seemed like a tendency toward post-election conflict.

General progress is evidenced by regional efforts such as the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) to institutionalize democracy.

In addition, the continent has made significant progress with regards to gender equity in politics. The recent South African election in April 2009 saw women representation in Parliament rise to 45%; Uganda’s parliament is comprised of 30.9 % women whilst in Rwanda the proportion of women in parliament is now 56% (above parity) and 36 % in the cabinet.

The increase of democratic systems on the continent has seen an improvement in the respect for human rights in many countries. Consistent with global trends more African countries are also allowing more voice for civil society organisations, including the media in public affairs. These non-state actors are increasingly playing a dual role: expanding opportunities for citizen engagement and decision-making in relation to public affairs; and holding governments and public institutions accountable for their actions.

UNDP’s mission and work on the ground

The UNDP Democratic Governance practice is the largest practice worldwide. Support to governance in Africa builds on the long United Nations tradition of governance support and focuses on three key areas outlined in UNDP’s Strategic Plan (2008-2011) namely:

• Enhancing participation and civic engagement in public affairs (political and economic);
• Strengthening capacity, responsiveness, and effectiveness of the state as a whole;
• Ensuring that national policies, processes and institutions are founded on democratic governance principles namely gender equality, anti-corruption and human rights.

UNDP primarily provides policy, programming and technical support directly to programme countries and to regional institutions such as the African Union and regional economic communities in Africa. Through its strategic partnership with the Economic Commission for Africa and the African Development Bank, UNDP has provided key support to the NEPAD Secretariat in developing the conceptual framework, institutional set-up and processes governing the Africa Peer Review Mechanism (APRM). UNDP established an APRM Trust Fund in 2005 and provided a contribution to the Fund together with other partners including Algeria, Canada, Lesotho, United Kingdom and Senegal.

Over the past few years, UNDP has helped African countries to conduct successful elections. These included countries emerging from conflict such as Burundi, DRC, Liberia, Rwanda, Sierra Leone. It has helped to establish or maintain successful human rights institutions in Tanzania, Uganda, Ethiopia, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Rwanda, Burundi and others. In addition, UNDP has supported the biennial publication of the Africa Governance Report (a flagship publication on the state of governance in Africa) which is led by the Economic Commission for Africa.

UNDP recognizes the need to shift from providing support for elections to support the entire electoral cycle.  Electoral support projects developed or implemented in 2009 have adopted this approach. In Malawi for instance, UNDP has engaged in building the capacities of the institutions in charge of managing elections between elections and helped the Electoral Commission to computerize voter registries, enabling 94% of eligible voters register to vote, resulting in a voter turnout of74% of all registered voters, as compared with 59% in 2004.

UNDP has also been helping African countries to strengthen women's participation in public office. In Burkina Faso, parliament passed a law on quotas that states that any municipal and parliamentary election must involve at least 30% of male or female candidates. In Togo and Malawi, more women candidates were trained on campaigning and financing techniques for elections than ever before. In all of these instances, UNDP was able to lobby to increase the number of women in public office as well as enhance their leadership.