Two years ago, IMANI Africa took a critical decision to dedicate part of its work to Francophone West Africa. A project, called IMANI Francophone, was instituted to fulfil this vision. Two years on, IMANI Francophone has been able to attract global attention for its quality work. Below are extracts of the 2015/2016 IMANI Francophone Report.

IMANI Francophone / IMANI Africa

1. IMANI Francophone is the extension of IMANI Center for Policy and Education. Since its official launch in June 2014 with a very small grant from OSIWA, IMANI Francophone has undertaken a number of activities true to its objectives, and within a short period of time, achieved an appreciable level of success and gained global media attention with appearances in AllAfrica.com, NextAfrique.com, Fraternité Matin, La nouvelle Tribune, Le Point Afrique, African Business Journal, Jeune Afrique among many others. Over past couple of months, IMANI Francophone has produced over 40 research-based, evidence-based, and solutions-oriented publications and also conducted an appreciable number of policy engagements and other strategic initiatives.
   Policy engagements

2. One way to influence policy is to engage the right audience. IMANI Francophone attracted policymakers’ attention by producing quality content at the right time and in the right format. Its topnotch work did not escape the eyes of Malian policymakers, namely His Excellency Moussa Mara and Mr. Ousmane Sy, respectively former Prime Minister of Mali and former Minister for Territorial Administration and Local Communities, who invited the IMANI Francophone team to a policy dialogue relating to local Governance and Decentralization in Mali. In the same vein, the African School of Economics (ASE) also acknowledged IMANI Francophone’s quality inputs in public policy and invited the Director of IMANI Francophone to share his perspectives on the topic “Politics, Governance and Development: Are they interconnected?”.

3. The Africa Performance Index
   The Africa Performance Index (2015) – which is a ranking and advocacy tool developed by IMANI Francophone to assess the performance of various ministries of finance in western and central Africa – has been widely acclaimed in the Francophone media fraternity, especially in Ivory Coast. The Index shaped many public discussions in francophone Africa, especially regarding the future of economic planning in the UEMOA Zone (West African Economic and Monetary Union). See more here>>>

4. 2016 Presidential elections in Benin: Technical evaluation of Manifestoes
   In the face of the 2016 Presidential elections held in the country, IMANI Francophone developed a blueprint which listed areas of policy reforms and structural adjustments. IMANI Francophone subsequently developed an assessment framework based on the blueprint to analyze the “integrity” and competitive nature of the 22 publicly-available political parties’ manifestoes. The assessment was accompanied by key recommendations to political parties on how they can improve their manifesto formulation. The quality of the data produced; coupled with cogent recommendations have been subject of public debates and referencing by politicians (who obviously find interest in doing so). A Presidential aspirant in the Benin election visited IMANI for policy advice. See more here>>>

5. Demanding accountability and political responsiveness in Mali

 In Mali, the effectiveness of the public sector remains an issue of concern. Ordinary Citizens have one option: to pay bribes in order to get public services delivered to them. For over two years, the Passport Authority in Mali was unable to deliver passports to Malians. The Government remained unconcerned. Citizens who needed passports were forced to pay “big bribes”. Through, a commentary piece, IMANI Francophone literally issued an “attack on the government” and demanded more political responsibility. The media responded to our call and in turn asked the government to act in good faith. Few months later, government reacted and subsequently undertook a number of corrective measures.

6. Thanks to its vibrant team, IMANI Francophone continues to engage development actors in the francophone world to take actions that favor development. One of such engagements was with West African Civil Society Institute (WACSI) and the Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI) of President Barack Obama. The partnership with these two originations permitted IMANI Francophone to increase its visibility in the francophone world and host the Mandela Washington Fellows.

IMANIfrancophone (www.imanifrancophone.org)  is capable of rendering socio-economy analysis on the following francophone countries, Benin, Togo, Mali, Burkina Faso and Ivory Coast.  We require support and will be glad to discuss. Please reach out to us at fcudjoe@imanighana.org or info@imanighana.org

Visit www.imanifrancophone.org  for more.