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Governing development: global performance indicators and gender policy change in Sub-Saharan Africa

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Abstract

Past decades have witnessed an upsurge in the use of global performance indicators (GPIs) to influence state behaviour. Within international development, the millennium development goals (MDGs) introduced an era of indicator-based governance, which now continues with the sustainable development goals (SDGs). The article provides a theoretical and empirical account of the workings and effectiveness of GPI-based development governance. Focusing on MDG 3, which concerned gender equality, the article presents the results of (1) a mapping of GPI adjustment in 15 Sub-Saharan African countries from 2000 to 2015, and (2) a study of the causal mechanisms of gender policy change in Kenya and Ethiopia. The findings demonstrate that MDG 3 was effective in influencing domestic policy commitments but struggled to generate further behavioural change, highlighting the risks of superficial GPI adjustment. The case studies show that domestic change was primarily driven by the donors’ economic conditionality and social influence strategies, leveraged through MDG performance assessments. The reason why material and social pressure was unable to close the gap between commitments and implementation efforts rests with its reliance on incentives as a source of change. These findings have implications for GPI-based governance, SDG implementation and gender equality change.

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Notes

  1. Hopf (2010) proposes the logic of habit as a fifth model of individual action, which is is considered less relevant here given its scope conditions.

  2. See Beach and Pedersen (2013: 99‒100).

  3. See the list of countries and PRSPs in Table A6 (Online Appendix I).

  4. See the list of coded variables in Table A7 (Online Appendix I).

  5. PRSPs are national frameworks for development and poverty reduction prepared by lower-income countries through a participatory process involving external development partners and domestic stakeholders (see IMF 2018).

  6. See the list of countries and characteristics in Table A8 (Online Appendix I).

  7. The full titles of all PRSPs are listed in Online Appendix II.

  8. See the general interview themes and the full list of interview respondents in Online Appendix II.

  9. Two interviews were not digitally recorded.

  10. The donor consultative group provided a forum for policy dialogue between the Kenyan government and its development partners (see World Bank 2005: 1).

  11. NGOs wrote and disseminated shadow MDG reports in the early phase of MDG implementation but later provided input on the government’s MDG reports (Interview 4).

  12. As made clear in the operationalisations of the causal mechanisms (see specifically Tables A3 and A4, Online Appendix I), rational learning should lead state actors to show GPI commitment and make efforts to adopt and implement GPI-aligned policies, reflected in the association of policy goals with budgets/monitoring targets, since policies require implementation to solve domestic problems. Persuasion is expected to lead state actors to become increasingly convinced of GPI appropriateness and salience and progressively drive change, reflected in efforts to adopt and implement GPI policies.

  13. The UN country team in Ethiopia is composed of representatives of 26 UN funds, programmes and specialised agencies and the Bretton Woods Institutions.

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Acknowledgements

I thank Jonas Tallberg, Faradj Koliev, Kristina Jönsson, Jeffrey T. Checkel, Judith Kelley, Beth Simmons, Bradley C. Parks, Takaaki Masaki, Alexandra Segerberg and three anonymous reviewers for valuable comments on earlier drafts of this article.

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  1. Department of Political Science, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden

    Helena Hede Skagerlind

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Hede Skagerlind, H. Governing development: global performance indicators and gender policy change in Sub-Saharan Africa. J Int Relat Dev 24, 726–752 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41268-021-00210-6

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