Occasional Paper

Funding African Governance Institutions and Processes: Insights and Lessons

“This paper examines the financing of selected governance institutions in Africa, looking at national, continental and international levels and at the institutions and processes that assess, improve or incentivise governance. Specifically, anti-corruption commissions and African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) structures are reviewed as institutions at the national
and continental level respectively. In terms of governance processes, assessments at three
levels are analysed: at the national level with UN Development Programme (UNDP) country led governance assessments; at the continental level with the APRM self-assessment; and at the international level with the Public Expenditure and Financial Accountability (PEFA)framework. Governance improvement processes in a national, continental and international
framework include constitutional reform, APRM National Programmes of Action (NPoAs), and
the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI). As processes that indirectly incentivise governance improvements, the EU’s Governance Incentive Tranche and the US Millennium Challenge Account are also examined. The latter, offering funding as a reward for good
governance, presents a particularly interesting aspect of financing governance institutions. The APRM, as the premier African governance institution, is used throughout this paper as a point of reference.”