Reports
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The Electoral Promises and Government Performance Nexus
Tracking the Gap Between Electoral Promises and Government Delivery Over the past months, we’ve been sharing country‑level insights on how African governments are performing against their commitments. Today, we’re excited to introduce a new addition to this growing body of work: The Electoral Promises and Government Performance Nexus. This report takes a comparative look at
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2025 Citizen Pulse: Views, Priorities, and Expectations of the Government in Zimbabwe
2025 Citizen Pulse: Views, Priorities, and Expectations of the Government in Zimbabwe The report captures how Zimbabweans perceive the performance of their government and what they expect from elected officials since the 2023 Harmonised Elections. The findings are drawn from a comprehensive survey of 2,006 citizens, representing all ten provinces. The findings reveal a country
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Settling In Amid Fiscal Challenges: An Assessment of the Government of Botswana’s First Year in Office
Settling In Amid Fiscal Challenges: An Assessment of the Government of Botswana’s First Year in Office This report analyses the Government of Botswana’s performance from November 2024 to November 2025, following the historic victory of the Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC) that ended 58 years of Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) rule. Using the Botswana Citizens
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South African Voices: Citizens’ Perceptions and Expectations 2025 Survey Report
South African Voices: Citizens’ Perceptions and Expectations 2025 Survey Report South Africa’s 2025 CPE Survey shows widespread frustration with governance, service delivery and economic conditions a year into the GNU, with most citizens rating both local and national performance as low and identifying corruption as the biggest barrier to progress. Yet the findings also reveal
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AJIS Volume 5
This volume of the African Journal of Inclusive Societies brings together a rigorous, multi-disciplinary examination of the politics of belonging in contemporary Africa, interrogating how inclusion and exclusion are actively produced, contested, and sustained. Moving beyond normative commitments to inclusion embedded in policy and development rhetoric, the contributions critically analyse the “implementation gap” between citizen
Books
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Shifts in the Land and Agrarian Question in Africa
Preface – by Brian Kagoro The book offers a powerful and unflinching analysis of Africa’s agrarian crisis, framing land as both a site of global power struggle and internal elite exploitation resulting in dispossession, dehumanisation, and conflict at colonial-era levels. The poor remain trapped between predatory land deals and corrupt national systems, leading to dispossession,
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Book chapter – Women and Finance in Africa: Inclusion and Transformation
Women and Finance in Africa: Inclusion and Transformation This volume presents a collection of cases that examine the status of financial inclusion for women across a variety of states in the African continent. The book uses a qualitative research method and presents both primary to secondary data to narrate the impact of gender-responsive budgeting on
Policy Briefs
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Corruption, Price Instability And Unemployment- A Collection of Policy Brief Publications From The Policy Advocacy Lab
SIVIO Institute began the Policy Advocacy Labs (PAL) experiment in 2020. This a collective learning process that takes ordinary citizens through several steps to identify an issue or problems and craft potential policy solutions for that problem. We did this to broaden the level of participation of Zimbabweans in the policy-making process. Our desired outcome
Deep Dives
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Africa’s Path – New Insight
Africa stands at a crossroads—rich in potential, yet navigating complex global and domestic challenges. The latest Insight from Dr Murisa offers a timely and thought-provoking analysis of the continent’s evolving trajectory. From shifting geopolitical alliances to the urgent need for economic resilience and inclusive governance, this piece unpacks the forces shaping Africa’s future. Key Themes
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New insight: AI in Africa: Do we understand its potential (for democracy and economic growth)?
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is often hailed as a game-changer — a force capable of reshaping how societies function, how decisions are made, and even how economies grow. But how much of this transformation is Africa truly prepared for? In this new insight, we take a grounded, non-expert look at AI’s unfolding role in Africa’s democratic
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INSIGHT: Gangsterism: A New Form of Power. Can the accountability movement respond?
Our latest article Gangsterism: A New Form of Power explores the growing influence of gangsterism in global and local governance. It highlights how criminal networks, from Albanian mafias to corrupt government officials, are driven by greed and power, disregarding laws and ethical standards. The author argues that this phenomenon is not just about crime but
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The NGO of the Future
The sudden closure of USAID has sent shockwaves through Africa’s social service sector, forcing many NGOs to either shut down or drastically cut back their programs. This report delves into the profound implications of this funding crisis, highlighting the immediate challenges faced by these organisations. It explores the ripple effects on communities that rely heavily
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African Philanthropy: Kicking Away the Scaffold
As the field of ‘African philanthropy’ grows, there is an emerging divergence of what the term actually means. There are three notable tendencies in trying to answer this question; first, there is a school of thought which states that African philanthropy is about the growth of a new set of resources (financial and otherwise) that
Blogs
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Reflections from the Malawi–Zimbabwe Community Foundations Convening
Reflections from the Malawi–Zimbabwe Community Foundations Convening 18 – 19 February 2026 Nolwazi Ndlovu and Eddah Jowah There is something deeply inspiring about bringing people together across borders, especially people who are doing the slow, often invisible work of building Community Foundations (CFs) from the ground up. The Community Foundations of Malawi and Zimbabwe Convening held in Lilongwe in February was
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The Big Bet: Rediscovering the Middle
In 2026, the big bet is on rediscovering the middle — not as a political position, but as a way of thinking rooted in compromise, consensus‑building, and Ubuntu. In a world marked by polarisation, elite capture, collapsing multilateralism, and widening inequality, the middle offers a path out of destructive “us vs. them” politics. It calls…
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Stories from the We Are One Fund
Stories from the We Are One Fund The We Are One Fund is a homegrown lifeline created to keep Zimbabwe’s gender‑based violence response standing strong at a time when international support is shrinking. It brings together frontline organisations—legal advocates, shelters, girl‑empowerment initiatives, and emergency medical responders—whose stories in this documentary series reveal both the scale
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2025 Annual Report
The year 2025 marked a defining chapter in the evolution of SIVIO Institute (SI)—a period characterised by bold action, fresh imagination, and a renewed commitment to placing citizens at the centre of socio-economic and policy transformation. We built upon previous success and continued to promote inclusive development by coupling rigorous multi-disciplinary research with practical tools
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Policy Dialogue on Taxation in the Informal Economy
Policy Dialogue on Taxation in the Informal Economy On 9 October 2025, our country researcher Matron Muchena joined the policy dialogue on taxation organised by the Vendors Initiative for Social and Economic Transformation (VISET). One important reflection came from the Director of the Ministry of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare. She reminded us that the ongoing formalisation strategy now submitted