Africa Programme

Our policy research focuses on issues affecting individual states of Africa, and their regional and international relations.

Our Africa programme is a world-leading centre for independent policy research with a global reputation for influential and reliable analysis. We provide thought leadership on African politics and socio-economic change.

Activities

Conducting policy research;
Publishing and widely disseminating freely available analysis;
Convening outcome-orientated debates with world-renowned experts on issues pertinent to African states’ national, regional and international politics;
Providing media comment to support informed reporting by international news agencies.

Research focus

We provide expert, country-specific policy research focused in the following areas:

Elections and Political Systems;
Foreign Relations and Africa’s Agency in the International System;
Inclusive Economic Growth, Governance and Technology;
Peace and Security;
Sustainable Resource Governance.

International cooperation is needed to deliver civilian protection, scale up humanitarian assistance, leverage the influence of regional actors, and give Sudanese civilians a role in the peace process.

The contestation over gold – and its connection to transnational networks – is becoming a major driver of Ethiopia’s complex conflicts.

A general view of the opening ceremony of the 2024 Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) on 5 September 2024 in Beijing, China.

Chinese engagement with Africa is on an uptick after a period of decline.

Despite legislative efforts and cooperation with the EU, migration through Niger and Libya to Europe has grown significantly in recent years. This paper examines the transnational drivers of this phenomenon, including insecurity in Libya and the mobility economy in Niger.

Exploitation and abuse of Nigerians and other people moving have become a profitable revenue source for armed groups in Libya. Tackling this situation will require both a transnational approach and policy tools beyond those traditionally associated with conflict response.

Latest content

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Protesters make signs with their arms in front of Kenya police officers during a demonstration against tax hikes.

Efforts to co-opt opposition and externalize blame are familiar tools in Kenyan politics, but may be ill-equipped to address the demands of a new youth protest phenomenon and the realities of Kenya’s fiscal struggles.

In this episode, recorded to mark the African Union’s African Anti-Corruption Day, the panel discusses Chatham House’s Social Norms and Accountable Governance (SNAG) research project supported by the MacArthur Foundation.

New foreign minister Ronald Lamola is a rising political force. He will likely focus more on foreign relations serving domestic economic issues, taking a lower profile than his predecessor.

Latest projects

The project seeks context-specific solutions to address collective problems like corruption, through an evidence-based understanding of the drivers that sustain these problems.

The number and intensity of armed conflicts has reduced in sub-Saharan Africa, but a threat from armed non-state actors remains, and an increase in organized crime and trafficking undermines institutions and stability.

This five-year policy-focused research programme seeks to respond to the challenges of long-term cross-border conflicts by exploring the drivers behind them.

Research and networks of governmental and non-governmental actors help to support a deeper understanding of the changing dynamics of African political economies and international relations.

The Africa Programme analyses developments during and between election cycles, and sets out the wider context, trends and influences behind the headlines.

Economic trajectories of states and regions are diverging, but all countries in Africa face the challenge of how to foster inclusive and sustainable growth, while also managing the impact of environmental change.

Since 2003, the Chatham House Africa Programme has informed thinking and decision-making on the role and governance of extractive resource industries in Africa.

To mark the centenary of Chatham House in 2020, and ahead of the 20th anniversary of the Africa Programme in 2022, we are examining the institute’s research and engagement with African citizens, institutions and states over the past 100 years, and the facilitating role of the institute as a platform for African leadership in international relations.

For several years the Africa Programme, in collaboration with a network of other European and African institutes, has been working to explore EU-Africa relations and understand the different issues affecting their relationship, such as migration to Europe, trade and investment opportunities and defence and security collaboration.

The Africa Programme is now examining increasingly complex maritime security challenges in the Gulf of Guinea.

The UK maintains strong and historic relationships with many African states, and the continent is an important part of UK trade, security, and development policy.

Programme team

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Dr Alex Vines OBE

Research Director; Director, Africa Programme

Tighisti Amare

Deputy Director, Africa Programme

Ahmed Soliman

Senior Research Fellow, Africa Programme

Christopher Vandome

Senior Research Fellow, Africa Programme

Contact

For information on supporting the Africa Programme, please contact Rebecca Dugard.

Funding

The Africa programme funds its activities through a combination of project grants from international organizations, government departments and private foundations; event sponsorship; fellowship support; and discretionary donations from corporate sponsors.

All research programmes and staff adhere to the Chatham House Principles for Independent Research and Convening. For further information on Chatham House’s overall funding, please visit the Our funding pages.

The Africa programme would like to thank the following organizations for their current support of our work:

Agility
Airtel
Anglo American
Barclays Private Bank
BHP
BP
Brenthurst Foundation
British International Investment
Chevron
De Beers
DP World
ENI
Equinor
ExxonMobil
Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office
Globeleq
Government of the United States of America
Hanns-Seidel-Stiftung
Helios
Investec
Konrad Adenauer Stiftung
MacArthur Foundation
Mitsubishi Corporation
Mitsui
National Endowment for Democracy
Open Society Foundations
Rio Tinto
Robert Bosch Stiftung
Shell International
Standard Bank Group
Standard Chartered Bank
The World Bank
TotalEnergies
Tullow Oil
UNDP
Vodafone Group

Value for programme supporters

The Africa Programme offers the opportunity to support leading independent research addressing Africa’s challenges and potential, involving senior government officials, business and civil society representatives, regional specialists and other experts.

The Africa Programme is among the most influential policy research programmes in the world focused on the politics of African states and their international relations.

Most Africa-related research conducted elsewhere is led by developmental concerns. While development is an important component of the work of the Africa Programme, it is our political and sub-regional focus that makes us special. The Africa Programme works to ensure decision-makers and opinion-formers have more nuanced and differentiated views of the politics of specific African countries, rather than of Africa as a whole. We firmly believe this is essential to sound decision-making, and that this is what makes the unique role of the Africa Programme so important.

The value we provide to programme supporters is as follows:

An independent source of expertise on African countries: As a charity, and unlike political risk consultancies, we are not driven by the need to generate repeat business, and so provide an essential check on the information consultancies provide. Corporate supporters receive privileged access to this expertise.

We are actively concerned with improving the quality of information upon which senior policy-makers internationally base their priorities and decision-making. Through its convening power, briefings and public reporting, the Africa Programme makes an important contribution to containing and resolving conflicts.

Private investment in African states is essential for governments seeking to improve the lives of their citizens, as it is to rich countries concerned to reduce the threats that stem from poverty and alienation. Investment can only succeed in the long term when it takes place in an environment of transparency, accountability and the rule of law. The Africa Programme works to support such an environment, and exposes instances where governments, businesses and others fail to support it, or where behaviour could be improved. By doing so in a non-confrontational or alarmist way, we believe governments and businesses are more likely to recognize their own self-interest in reform. Supporters of the Africa Programme benefit by publicly contributing to such an aim and demonstrating a mature engagement with the challenges of doing business in such environments.

African states should and will play an increasingly active and influential role in global politics, and it is in the interests of responsible decision-makers to stay informed and seek to engage with these states. By providing a platform for African leaders and others to communicate with an international audience, the Africa Programme supports this agenda. This is in the interests of corporate supporters in promoting global stability and growth opportunities for all.