The African Report on Child Wellbeing 2018: Progress in the child-friendliness of African governments

This report tracks governments’ performance in improving the condition and wellbeing of children, and examines how countries are doing, for example, vis-à-vis their neighbours and over the years. We did this using the Child-Friendliness Index (CFI), a rights-based statistical methodology that ACPF developed and recently revised to measure, monitor and promote government performance in realising the rights and wellbeing of children.

This report draws attention to the fact that although many African governments have become child-friendly over the last ten years, there are equally many that are locked in the “less” or “least child-friendly” categories for many years now. Millions of children are therefore not benefitting from the legal protection they deserve and from the quality education, health and nutrition and minimum levels of social protection they very much need. It also draws attention to the widespread prevalence of disturbing levels of undernutrition and poor quality of education – the two major threats to the wellbeing of Africa’s children. The report therefore concludes with one exceptionally important and alarming message, namely that Africa is on the verge of a serious human development crisis with grave consequences for the social and economic wellbeing of its people and for the future of the continent.