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New report on Social Cohesion in Eastern Africa
Poverty, inequality, migration and political unrest have all threatened social cohesion in Eastern Africa, as well as many other threats. Yet the region has proved remarkably resilient to these challenges, finds a new report launched the Economic Commission for Africa.
The report examines social cohesion using data from a wide variety of sources, including national statistics institutes and international organisations. But it also investigates qualitative data, including opinion surveys and questionnaires to gain a deeper appreciation of the perspectives of citizens in the region.
This results in some surprising findings. For example, the official estimate of how many people are living in poverty is different in many countries from the number of people who view themselves to be living in poverty. Understanding perceptions, the report argues, is essential for understanding the state of social cohesion.
The enormous economic and social progress made in Eastern Africa over the last 10 to 15 years is discussed in the report, as well as a number of rising challenges. These include some of the fastest rates of urbanisation in the world, high levels of gender-based violence in some countries and alcohol abuse in certain regions.
A regional approach needs to be taken to many of these issues, argues an author of the report, Ms Emelang Leteane, ECA Social Affairs Officer, speaking at the 20th Intergovernmental Committee of Experts meeting in Nairobi. “Some threats to social cohesion do not respect national borders. These threats demand a regional response,” said Ms Leteane.
The report makes other recommendations as well, including the creation of a fund managed by the East African Community that would be used to reduce spatial inequalities and strengthen social cohesion in the region.
Social Cohesion in Eastern Africa
Executive summary
This report provides an overview of the state of social cohesion in Eastern Africa.[1] The term “social cohesion” is used to refer to a situation where a group of people interact in a way that advances the interests of all those involved. They act as a community. It is a multidimensional concept involving a number of elements, including trust, equity, beliefs, acceptance of diversity, perceptions of fairness and respect. Accordingly, this report does not purport to provide a comprehensive assessment of the state of social cohesion in Eastern Africa. Instead, using a combination of qualitative and quantitative data from a wide range of sources, the report presents a broad “social audit” of the state of social cohesion and development in the region.
The primary finding is that social cohesion in Eastern Africa has shown resilience in the face of numerous challenges since the beginning of the twenty-first century. Nearly all countries have notably improved their Human Development Index since 1990, with some countries achieving particularly rapid progress in education and health indicators. The report also shows that there has been promising improvements in poverty reduction, with Ethiopia, Uganda and Rwanda achieving the fastest progress.
Despite this positive picture, the report highlights a number of outstanding challenges for social cohesion. An estimated 237 million people from East African are still living in poverty. Beyond open conflict in South Sudan and Somalia, parts of the region are still afflicted by low-intensity conflicts and social disorder. The capacity of law and order institutions to manage such tensions is often stretched. A number of communities in the region are still faced with sporadic humanitarian crises while others remain vulnerable to natural disasters. The report also highlights both the weak performance of the labour market and rising inequality as significant threats to greater social cohesion.
Demographic pressures are putting a strain on scarce resources, which further tests cohesion. While it is one of the least urbanized regions in the world, Eastern Africa is also one of the fastest urbanizing. The resulting social pressures are leading to some worrying trends. For instance, levels of substance abuse are high. Alcohol abuse is nearly double the African average in five countries across the region. In six countries for which there is data, between one third and one half of all women report that they have suffered gender-based violence.
Persistent problems in the efficiency of service delivery can compound social malaise, undermining the quality of education and health provision. These inefficiencies convey a perception that governments could do more. For instance, in a recent Afrobarometer poll (Afrobarometer, 2015) (Burundi, Kenya, Madagascar, Uganda and the United Republic of Tanzania), a majority of the respondents felt that their government’s efforts to improve the living standards of the poor, create jobs and reduce inequality were insufficient.
Despite these threats to social cohesion, there are many signs of resilience. Trust provides a foundation for building cohesive societies, and some countries in the region display exceptionally high levels of trust. Contrary to popular perception, our social audit also reveals notable resilience to divisions along ethnic, religious and cultural lines. For example, the United Republic of Tanzania has attempted to overcome these differences by adopting Kiswahili as a national language. Rwanda has improved service delivery through the rolling out of Imihigo – a home-grown governance arrangement based on a traditional form of performance contract.
The report concludes by observing that while there is a lot of information available pertinent to the state of social development and cohesion, much of it is currently scattered. Monitoring both qualitative and quantitative indicators more closely (perhaps through a regular regional report under the aegis of bodies such as the East African Community or the Intergovernmental Authority on Development) is recommended. The forthcoming African Social Development Index by the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), which has a particular focus on sub-national inequities, is an example of a useful tool for monitoring cohesion.
Finally, the report shows how a lack of social cohesion can rapidly endanger regional stability. Yet the focus of most regional integration programmes in Eastern Africa has been the advancement of physical and economic integration, with trade and market access being high in the priority list. Because of the trans-frontier nature of many social problems, increasingly the challenges need to be tackled at the regional level. In this context, the report argues in favour of establishing a “regional solidarity fund” to tackle social inequalities and inequities head-on.
Over the past decade and a half, Eastern Africa has emphatically demonstrated that it is capable of achieving great things in terms of improving some dimensions of social cohesion. It now needs to extend that progress to other areas to create a more cohesive and prosperous future.
[1] The Eastern Africa region is defined as including 14 countries: Burundi, the Comoros, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Madagascar, Rwanda, Seychelles, Somalia, South Sudan, Uganda and United Republic of Tanzania.
