A recent ACEIR review of research on African inequality motivates that acquiring an understanding of inequality dynamics “is key to sustainable anti-poverty policy that leverages the maximum anti-poverty benefit out of economic growth and making growth more inclusive”.

This undertaking – of contributing to the empirical evidence base to enhance our understanding of African inequalities – shapes this research theme on the interactions of inequalities, multidimensional poverty, and growth; and the implications of these for policies on inclusive development in Africa.

Similar to ACEIR’s other research themes, gender inequality dynamics cut across the projects and studies that fall within this theme.

Projects and studies 

African inequality diagnostics 

Measuring, tracking, and analysing inequality in Africa are critical components of understanding the global inequality picture. Such research is also crucial for policy interventions and civil society action to reduce inequality. But it is a complex undertaking that requires consideration of the varying nature, levels, and shifts in inequality between African countries as well as within countries. Challenges of reliable and comparable country data for different time periods add to the complexity. ACEIR contributes to this field of enquiry via an international project to develop inequality diagnostic tools and provide capacity building. The main objective of this project is to summarise existing knowledge on the inequality trends in different African countries by using available national survey data; and to take stock of future data needs to help inform policies to overcome inequality. Read more

Impact of taxation and social spending on inequality and poverty

This project undertook a series of tax and expenditure benefit incidence exercises in partnership with the Commitment to Equity (CEQ) Institute, Tulane University. Studies using the CEQ methodology have been completed in a wide array of low and middle-income countries in all regions of the world and have been shown to be excellent tools for policy engagement about poverty and inequality. The ACEIR studies focused on Ghana, Kenya, and South Africa. Read more

The Maputo Protocol: Assessing the impact of continental agreements on gender rights in Africa

The Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa (commonly, the Maputo Protocol on Women’s Rights) is a legal mandate of the African Union to enable gender equality initiatives on the continent. The goal of gender equality depends on the protocol’s translation into national legislation and operationalisation for effective implementation. Twenty years after the protocol was adopted, ACEIR researchers surveyed the degree of implementation of the protocol into national laws in African countries by describing the progress in providing comprehensive legal protection to women and girls on the continent. Read more

Inequality in sub-Saharan Africa: A review

This review was not meant to be exhaustive, but rather an exercise in connecting the dots in the collective understanding of the nature of African inequality, and the direction in which inequality research on (and in) Africa is moving. It also took a step towards sensibly splicing African inequality dynamics into the discussion of global inequality. Read more