Afrobarometer Earns Global Recognition As Think Tank To Watch For Second Year

Afrobarometer Earns Global Recognition As Think Tank To Watch For Second Year

Princess-Ekwi Ajide

For millions of Africans whose daily experiences and concerns rarely shape policy decisions, having their voices heard by governments is critical.

Afrobarometer’s work in bringing those voices into public debate has earned the pan-African research network another global recognition.

Afrobarometer has been named a 2026 Think Tank to Watch, retaining its place on the international honour roll for the second consecutive year.

The recognition, announced on Thursday, 5 November, in Accra, Ghana, is part of the second edition of the On Think Tanks (OTT) initiative, which features 55 organisations worldwide nominated by their peers for outstanding practices, innovations and contributions to research, policy and public debate.

Afrobarometer was recognised for its use of face-to-face surveys to capture the experiences, priorities and expectations of ordinary Africans, providing credible evidence that helps shape government policies and institutional decisions.

Its research has featured in several policy processes across the continent, including South Africa’s Medium-Term Development Plan 2024-2029, discussions in Ghana on proposed reforms for the direct election of local chief executives, and Senegal’s launch of an entrepreneurship programme.

Chair of Afrobarometer’s Board of Directors, Amina Oyagbola, said the recognition reflected the importance of making citizens’ experiences central to policymaking.

She noted that for more than two decades, the organisation had worked to ensure that public opinion and citizens’ experiences formed part of the evidence used in shaping public policy.

Afrobarometer Chief Executive Officer, Joseph Asunka, said the network’s responsibility extended beyond collecting research data to ensuring that findings reached people and institutions capable of using them.

He identified policymakers, researchers and civil society organisations as key audiences whose decisions could benefit from reliable public-attitude data.

The Think Tanks to Watch initiative, launched in 2025, is a peer-recognition platform rather than a ranking or independent assessment of organisational performance.

It highlights valuable practices and contributions while encouraging learning and collaboration within the global think-tank community.

With more than 440,000 interviews conducted across 45 African countries, Afrobarometer provides data representing the views of more than 75 per cent of the continent’s population.

Its publicly accessible datasets also contribute to major international governance and accountability indicators, including the Ibrahim Index of African Governance, Transparency International’s Global Corruption Barometer and the World Bank’s Worldwide Governance Indicators.

The latest recognition reinforces the growing importance of citizen-generated evidence in shaping public debate and helping governments make decisions that reflect the needs and expectations of the people they serve.