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2019-2021

  • Co-founder E. Gyimah-Boadi retires as executive director but stays on as board chair.
  • Joseph Asunka, who began his career with AB, returns to the network as CEO.
  • Despite a seven-month hiatus due to COVID-19, AB successfully completes Round 8 surveys in 34 countries, including its first survey in Angola.
  • A 20th-anniversary celebration includes awards for top-achieving National Partners
  • An organizational development process lays the foundation for AB’s next generation. Afrobarometer registers as a legal entity headquartered in Accra and inaugurates a Board of Directors, an International Advisory Council, and dedicated capacity building and engagement/resource mobilization units. Its vision: “African societies thrive when African voices count in public policy and development.”
  • The network launches Round 9 surveys.

2016-2018

  • Round 7 surveys cover 34 countries, adding the Gambia but unable to survey Algeria, Burundi, and Egypt.
  • All National Partner field teams switch from pen-and-paper to electronic data capture using tablets.
  • AB passes the quarter-million-interview mark.
  • AB expands presence via social media, infographics, and videos. 

2014-2015

  • Round 6 surveys add Gabon and São Tomé and Príncipe, for a total of 36 countries.

2011-2013

  • In Round 5, coverage surges to 35 countries with the addition of Algeria, Burundi, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Egypt, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Guinea, Mauritius, Morocco, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Togo, and Tunisia.
  • AB adopts year-round “rolling release” of country- and continent-level findings to generate more sustained interest, media coverage, and stakeholder engagement. 
  • The Institute for Development Studies (IDS) at the University of Nairobi in Kenya and the Institute for Justice and Reconciliation (IJR) in South Africa become core partners for East and Southern Africa.
  • Bratton publishes AB’s second book, Voting and Democratic Citizenship in Africa (Lynne Rienner Publishers).

2010

  • Afrobarometer Policy Conference examines “The Use of Empirical Evidence in the Policy Process.”
  • Globalbarometer develops its first global question module on attitudes toward democracy, to be included in Afrobarometer Round 5 questionnaires.

2008-2009

  • Round 4 surveys add Burkina Faso and Liberia, for a total of 20 countries.
  • Gyimah-Boadi becomes executive director.
  • The network adds the Institute for Empirical Research in Political Economy (IREEP) in Benin as its core partner for francophone Africa. MSU and the University become support units.

2007

  • Afrobarometer conference focuses on “The Micro-Foundations of Mass Politics in Africa.”
  • AB establishes its headquarters at CDD-Ghana in Accra.

2005-2006

  • Round 3 surveys cover 18 countries, adding Benin and Madagascar.
  • The network launches its global releases of key findings.
  • AB’s co-founders publish Public Opinion, Democracy, and Market Reform in Africa (Cambridge University Press).

2004

  • AB’s first Summer School inaugurates what will become an annual training ground for both anglophone and francophone researchers from across Africa.
  • Afrobarometer receives “Best Data Set Award 2004” from the American Political Science Association.

2002-2003

  • Round 2 surveys cover 16 countries, adding Cabo Verde, Kenya, Mozambique, and Senegal.

1999-2001

  • Driven by a vision of policy making in which ordinary Africans have a voice, professors Michael Bratton, Robert Mattes, and E. Gyimah-Boadi merge three independent survey research projects to form Afrobarometer (AB). Michigan State University (MSU), the Institute for Democracy in South Africa (Idasa), and the Center for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana) are core partners, and Bratton is executive director.
  • Round 1 surveys cover 12 countries: Botswana, Ghana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mali, Namibia, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
  • Afrobarometer joins other regional barometers to form the Globalbarometer network.

 

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