Afrobarometer: Public Opinion Surveys

Name of Organization: 
Afrobarometer (Idasa-South Africa, CDD-Ghana and Michigan State University-USA)
Center for Democratic Development
Institute for Democracy in South Africa (IDASA)
Geographical Scope: 
Regions:
Country:
Purpose: 
The Afrobarometer is a state-of-the-art research instrument that measures the social, political and economic atmosphere in Africa. A first round of Afrobarometer surveys has been conducted in a dozen African countries and will be repeated on a regular cycle. Because the instrument asks a standard set of questions, countries can be systematically compared.
 
The Afrobarometer is dedicated to three main objectives:
 
  1. to produce scientifically reliable data on public opinion in Africa
  2. to build a pan-African capacity for survey research
  3. to broadly disseminate and apply survey results
 
Because of its broad scope, the Afrobarometer is organized as an international collaborative enterprise. The Afrobarometer Network consists of three Core Partners who are jointly responsible for project leadership and coordination:
 
  1. Institute for Democracy in South Africa (IDASA)
  2. Centre for Democracy and Development in Ghana (CDD-Ghana)
  3. Michigan State University (MSU)
 
The Afrobarometer Network also includes National Partner institutions, NGOs, university research institutes, independent think tanks, or private polling firms which conduct the surveys. In particular, other implementing partners are:
 
  1. Botswana University CESPAM, Faculty of Social Sciences, Block 240 Office 278, Gaborone;
  2. Sechaba Consultants - Maseru West 105 LESOTHO
  3. Research on Poverty Alleviation (REPOA) - University Road Dar Es Salaam, TANZANIA
  4. Mass Public Opinion Institute (MPOI) - 504 Robinson House, 5th floor Cnr Union Ave & Angwe St, Harare
Area of Governance : 
Civil Society
Democracy
Website of initiative: 
http://www.afrobarometer.org
Publications: 

www.afrobarometer.org

Funding sources: 
National Science Foundation, SIDA, U.S.AID, Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, Netherlands MFA, Danish Governance Trust Fund, Trocaire Reg. Office for Eastern Africa, Michigan State University, African Development Bank
Source of Data: 
Own source of data
Type of Data Collection: 
Administrative Data
Aggregation of multiple indicators using various d...
Random sample population survey
Specifications of type of data collection: 
Round I Botswana (Sample size: 1200) Ghana (2004) Lesotho (1177) Malawi (1208) Mali (2089) Namibia (1183) Nigeria (3603) South Africa (2200) Tanzania (2198) Uganda (2271) Zambia (1198) Zimbabwe (1200)
 
Round II Country (Date / Sample size) Cape Verde (May/June 2002 / 1268) Mozambique (Aug/Oct 2002 / 1400) Uganda (Aug/Sept 2002 / 2400) Ghana (Aug/Sept 2002 / 1200) South Africa (Sept/Oct 2002 / 2400) Mali (Oct/Mali 2002 / 1283) Senegal (Nov/Dec 2002 / 1200) Lesotho (Feb/Apr 2003 / 1200) Malawi (Apr/May 2003 / 1200) Zambia (Jun/Jul 2003 / 1200) Botswana (Jul/Aug 2003 / 1200) Tanzania (Jul/Aug 2003 / 1200) Kenya (Aug/Sept 2003 / 2398) Namibia (Aug/Sept 2003 / 1200) Nigeria (Oct/Nov 2003 / 2400)
Measurement Methods / Tools Generated or Used : 
  1. Likert Scales
  2. Categorical
  3. Ordinal Nominal
  4. Interval
List of Indicators: 
Democracy: Popular understanding of, support for, and satisfaction with democracy, as well as any desire to return to, or experiment with, authoritarian alternatives; Governance. The demand for, and satisfaction with, effective, accountable and clean government; judgments of overall governance performance.
 
Livelihoods: How do African families survive? What variety of formal and informal means do they use to gain access to food, shelter, water, health, employment and money?
 
Macro-economics and Markets: Citizen understandings of market principles and market reforms and their assessments of economic conditions and government performance at economic management.
 
Social Capital: Whom do people trust? To what extent do they rely on informal networks and associations? What are their evaluations of the trustworthiness of various governmental and non-governmental institutions?
 
Crime: How safe do people feel? What has been their experience with crime and its control?
 
Participation: The extent to which ordinary folks join in development efforts, comply with the laws of the land, vote in elections, contact elected representatives, engage in protest, and consider migration.
 
National Identity. How do people see themselves in relation to ethnic and class identities? Does a shared sense of national identity exist?
Main Users: 
Civil society
Donor agencies
Media
Policy makers
Researchers