Between 2007 and 2013, the average annual growth rate of Burkina Faso’s gross domestic product (GDP) was approximately 7% per year in real terms, representing one of the best economic performances in West Africa. If we take into account the country’s strong population growth, the average rate of per-capita GDP rose by 3% per year during this same period. Meanwhile, the poverty rate grew from 45% in 1994 to 47% in 2009. Despite signs of a decline (40% in 2014), considerable inequalities remain.

This project is part of the first phase of the Research Facility on Inequalities, coordinated by AFD and funded by the European Commission's Directorate-General for International Partnerships over the 2017-2020 period. The first phase of the Facility has led to the conduct of 22 research projects and the publication of around 100 research papers and policy briefs.

The initial objective of this research program on inequalities in Burkina Faso is to create an inequality diagnostic in the country. In a second phase, scientific studies will be carried out on three themes:

• The dynamics of inequalities and of multidimensional poverty;
• Educational trajectories; and
• What happens to graduates of the educational system.

The objective here is to examine how school graduates become integrated into society later, and to what degree they put into practice the skills acquired at school.

The research will mainly concern the cities of Ouagadougou and Nouna, in western Burkina Faso.

The diagnostic on inequalities will take stock of the situation in Burkina Faso through a literature review and analysis of data from national surveys. The dynamics of inequalities and of multidimensional poverty in Burkina Faso will be understood through the experiences of one of the partners of this project, the Ouagadougou and Nouna Observatories. Analysis of trends in inequalities and in multidimensional poverty over time will be carried out in urban, semi-urban, and rural areas, according to the demographic, social, and economic characteristics of households and to the degrees of poverty. Research on the educational trajectories and on what has become of people having graduated from the educational system will use the same data. The idea is to monitor cohorts of school graduates to study their trajectories and their integration into the society in the longer term.

This research will give rise to conferences and workshops. Various publications are also planned: a report, policy briefs, and research articles.

You may find the research papers here (in French) :

• Etat des lieux des inégalités multi-dimensionnelles au Burkina Faso
• Les inégalités au Burkina Faso à l'aune de la pandémie de la Covid-19: quelques réfléxions prospectives
• Dynamique des inégalités et de la pauvreté multi-dimensionnelle à Nouna
• Dynamique des inégalités de la pauvreté multi-dimensionnelle à Ouagadougou : données de l'Observatoire de population de Ouagadougou

You may also find the policy briefs:

• Meeting the equity challenge in Burkina Faso: regional policies to reduce economic inequalities
• Improving access to education in Burkina Faso: a major condition for benefiting from the demographic dividend

And the policy dialogue: Improving access to education in Burkina Faso: A major condition for benefiting from the demographic dividend

Contacts:

• Linda Zanfini, Research Officer, AFD
• Rohen d'Aiglepierre, Research Officer, AFD

The inauguration of President Ramaphosa in February 2018 has offered the country an opportunity to put the South African project of Nelson Mandela back on track. But this will require confronting, head-on, the lack of progress towards a more balanced distribution of opportunities and incomes and the difficult political and economic questions that this raises. Will the benefits of political change be limited to a narrow elite or is more broad-based equitable development possible? What kinds of social, economic or institutional change might contribute to more rapid  transformation of opportunities for the bottom half of the household income distribution? What kinds of constraints on power and privilege might contribute to fairer outcomes at the top tail of the distribution?

These difficult questions are of interest both in South Africa and internationally, and they are economic and institutional questions of considerable complexity. It is not just that a continued widening of inequality is unacceptable morally, it seems likely also that it threatens growth, social order and sustainability. Inequality reduction is under the spotlight in many countries and much work has been done internationally and in South Africa on understanding inequality.

This project will draw on and consolidate this evidence-base and then fill some important, policy-relevant gaps that remain. By design, the research programme outlined below seeks to address distributional issues in both the bottom half and the top of the distribution. The work programme recognises from the outset that there are several dimensions of human development and wellbeing, and progress in some measures might be accompanied by deterioration in others. It recognises that economic growth does not necessarily lead to equitable outcomes – both poverty and inequality have self-reinforcing characteristics that are hard to counter.

The project will be undertaken in formal partnership with South Africa’s national statistical office, Statistics South Africa. Also, as important steps in the proposed research programme, a series of dialogues will be held between the researchers and key stakeholders, including representatives of government, business, organised labour and civil society – to seek advice, test ideas and contribute to consensus on possible policy reforms.

The research project will be developed across three work streams:

1. The implementation of the inequality diagnostic under the form of a report summarizing existing knowledge on South African inequality trends and policies. It will further add to this knowledge using available data, explore the implications of this new work and then take stock of data needs in order to make further progress in framing policies to overcome inequality.
2. A paper on the role of earnings in the household inequality dynamics. It builds off preliminary evidence that a key aspect of the lack of support from the labour market into households is the volatility of employment and therefore earnings for the self-employed and other vulnerable workers.
3. A paper on the interlinkages between population dynamics and spatial inequality. This paper is responsive to an often-expressed opinion from the policy community that migration is being driven by differences across provinces and regions in the quality of schooling, health, and other services.

The diagnostic of inequality in South Africa, carried out by Statistics South Africa in partnership with the Southern Africa Labour and Development Research Unit (SALDRU), the African Centre of Excellence for Inequalities Research (ACEIR) within the EU-AFD Facility framework is available online: Inequality trends in South Africa: a multidimensional diagnosis of inequality.

This report was presented at a workshop involving all actors working to reduce inequality, held on 11 February 2020 in Philippi, Cape Town, on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the release of Nelson Mandela. You will find here the synthesis of the workshop, including the presentations, discussions and debates held this day: Stakeholder engagement on inequality trends in South Africa.

You may find the research papers here:

• Spatial inequality through the prism of a pandemic: Covid-19 in South Africa
• Earnings inequality over the life-course in South Africa

Twenty years on since independence and the end of Apartheid, South Africa is yet to emerge as a socially cohesive nation. South Africans still live apart – geographically and socially – except within a few groups where the constituents share common identities such as race, ethnicity and class. Moreover, inequality continues to provoke tension – between the rich and the poor, between racial groups, between the urban metropoles and former homelands, and between farm owners and their workers. Economic growth, to the extent it has occurred, has not brought with it greater equality and cohesion in South Africa, the essential ingredient of inclusive growth.

Scholars, policy makers, opinion leaders, and citizenry of the country have been extensively debating issues surrounding the cohesiveness of South African society. Yet, the term “social cohesion” has been used loosely in academic literature and political discourse, and its meaning and its mutual dependence with economic development have not been well understood. We do not yet have a clearly defined concept – and hence definition – of social cohesion as relevant for inclusive development in South Africa. Without definition and measurement, we cannot conclusively ascertain if social cohesion has improved. Without knowing a few key levers (i.e., determinants of social cohesion), it would be difficult to formulate policies that can materially improve social cohesion and effectively achieve inclusive development.

Against this background, the proposed research project aims to contribute to addressing social cohesion and inclusive development, two of the most fundamental challenges facing South Africa. More specifically, the objectives are to:

1. formulate a relevant approach for social cohesion in the case of South Africa;
2. construct and measure social cohesion indicators;
3. conduct an in-depth analysis of ethnic and racial inequalities in South Africa;
4. shed light on the linkages between social cohesion and inequalities and their implications for policies.

The research will combine the wealth of knowledge of top South African scholars about history, society, politics and economy of the country with the expertise of a Japanese researcher and that of the AFD’s research officers on global practices and analytical tools.

Preliminary results from the Social Cohesion Index research suggest: 

• We can operationalise a definition of social cohesion and measure it using available national data.
• There is a large degree of consistency in trends in the index and its constituent components over time across four national data sets.
• Social cohesion in South Africa increased between 2008 and 2011, although the trend thereafter is less clear and a longer time series is required.
• Higher levels of per capita income and employment are positively associated with higher social cohesion.
• Poverty, unemployment, and service delivery protest are negatively correlated with social cohesion.
• Municipal policy and competence are closely associated with higher social cohesion.

Our research shows that social cohesion hinges on overcoming prevailing prejudices, interracial mistrust, and negative attitudes towards integration. How people perceive inequality (or not) determines the likelihood of inter-racial interactions.

High levels of inequality and the perception that our inequality has not improved in the post-apartheid period are the key impediments to social cohesion in South Africa. This importance remains even when inequality is analyzed alongside other clearly critical influences such as racial, spatial, and educational factors.

There are two minimum requirements for building a cohesive society in South Africa:

• Prioritize a defined and monitored agreement to overcome poverty, inequality and social exclusion; and
• Do it in a way that actively and legitimately ensures voice and agency for marginalised individuals and communities.

Our studies of social cohesion show that these bold policies to address socio-economic challenges must include behavior and practices in everyday life that demonstrate evidence of a society that is actually committed to overcoming remaining prejudices, interracial mistrust, and negative attitudes.

To build, track, and improve social cohesion we should start by operationalising a shared definition of social cohesion that includes five dimensions (inclusion, belonging, social relationship, participation and legitimacy).

Policy Briefs

• Policy Brief 1 : Defining and measuring social cohesion in South Africa
• Policy Brief 2 : Seeing the gap : trends and relationships between social cohesion and inequality in South Africa 

Research Papers

• Social Cohesion and Inequality in South Africa
• Defining Social Cohesion
• The Gap Between Rich and Poor
• Spatial poverty and inequality in South Africa: A municipality level analysis
• From definition to measurement: Constructing a social cohesion index for South Africa