Measuring Social Progress in Africa

Eremiye NEHEMIAH

Master's thesis

Abstract:

Globally, social progress of countries is being measured through the Global Social Progress Index (SPI). However, social progress being a complex phenomenon can be interpreted differently by different societies. This necessitate the need to measure social progress of African countries, capturing the reality of social progress in Africa by employing indicators that are representative of the African society and contextually relevant to the geographic region. The study borrowed largely the standard methodology of the global Social Progress Index, and the principal result of the study is the construction of a Social Progress Index for Africa (SPI-Africa). Through the measurement of the social progress in Africa, the study addressed the issue of possibility of Western bias in measurements against Africa by comparing African countries among themselves based on African standards and not global standards. Various insights and conclusions were drawn from the study, and the results showed that Africa is progressing socially but at a slow rate. Also, the study showed that the variability of results in global SPI is smaller than in the African SPI, suggesting that comparing African countries using the global standards of the global SPI can lead to the false conclusion that "Africa is the same" in terms of their level of social progress. However, the Africa Social Progress Index clearly demonstrates that there is a wide range of performance of African countries in social progress when measured against African standards. This led to the conclusion that there is a possibility of unfairness in the measurement of Africa's social progress by the global SPI.

Abstract:

Globally, social progress of countries is being measured through the Global Social Progress Index (SPI). However, social progress being a complex phenomenon can be interpreted differently by different societies. This necessitate the need to measure social progress of African countries, capturing the reality of social progress in Africa by employing indicators that are representative of the African society and contextually relevant to the geographic region. The study borrowed largely the standard methodology of the global Social Progress Index, and the principal result of the study is the construction of a Social Progress Index for Africa (SPI-Africa). Through the measurement of the social progress in Africa, the study addressed the issue of possibility of Western bias in measurements against Africa by comparing African countries among themselves based on African standards and not global standards. Various insights and conclusions were drawn from the study, and the results showed that Africa is progressing socially but at a slow rate. Also, the study showed that the variability of results in global SPI is smaller than in the African SPI, suggesting that comparing African countries using the global standards of the global SPI can lead to the false conclusion that "Africa is the same" in terms of their level of social progress. However, the Africa Social Progress Index clearly demonstrates that there is a wide range of performance of African countries in social progress when measured against African standards. This led to the conclusion that there is a possibility of unfairness in the measurement of Africa's social progress by the global SPI.

Keywords

Social Progress, Africa, Western Bias, Composite Index

Language used: English

Date on which the thesis was submitted / produced: 31. 5. 2023

Thesis defence

• Supervisor: doc. Ing. Mgr. Jaromír Harmáček, Ph.D.

Palacký University Olomouc

Faculty of Science

Master programme / field:
Global Development Policy / Global Development Policy