Fiscal consolidation remains a pressing governance challenge in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), where persistent deficit bias and rising public debt threaten macroeconomic stability. Several countries have created independent fiscal oversight bodies, but their effectiveness in the region remains uncertain. Using a panel of 46 SSA countries from 2000–2024, we exploit staggered IFI adoption in Uganda, Kenya, Nigeria, and South Africa. Because only four countries are treated, the estimates require cautious interpretation. Across the preferred Callaway–Sant’Anna specification and robustness checks using the cyclically adjusted primary balance, fiscal-rule and sovereign-wealth-fund controls, and an IFI-strength measure, we find no statistically detectable improvement in primary balances after adoption. Weak institutional complementarity is one plausible explanation: reputational and accountability channels may be muted where media independence, legislative responsiveness, and civil-society engagement are limited. Limited statistical power and measurement constraints provide additional explanations. Fiscal outcomes are more consistently associated with commodity cycles, electoral pressures, and IMF-programme participation. The results suggest that IFIs are more likely to contribute to fiscal discipline when embedded in a broader accountability environment.
This study examines teachers’ ICT competencies in ICT-integrated education in Ghana, focusing on the implementation ecology shaping everyday school practice in a semi-urban context. Specifically, moving beyond individual-level explanations, this study conceptualizes ICT competency development as an outcome of interrelated infrastructure, training and institutional arrangements across school and municipal levels. Using an exploratory mixed-methods design, the study draws on a baseline survey of 213 teachers across 16 public schools, complemented by semi-structured interviews and observations during two initial training sessions in Koforidua, Ghana. The findings indicate that teachers generally reported limited ICT competencies despite positive beliefs toward ICT use. Key impediments include insufficient and dysfunctional ICT materials, limited opportunities for sustained hands-on professional learning, and institutional disparities, particularly between the Ghanaian Education Service and the Ghanaian Technical and Vocational Education and Training Service, which illustrated uneven access to ICT resources within the study setting. This study shows that policy-practice gaps stem from uneven implementation conditions rather than individual deficits alone. The findings offer insights for comparable resource-constrained settings and point to context-responsive policy design, including regular baseline assessments of teachers’ ICT competencies, more practice-oriented professional learning arrangements, and stronger coordination mechanisms linking national policy design to school- and municipal-level implementation.
This study investigates the impact of gender diversity among loan officers on the credit risk of Microfinance Institutions (MFIs), through the lens of relational lending and the ‘Wonder Woman’ hypothesis. Using data from the World Bank's MIX Market database, we analyse panel data of 999 unique MFIs across 96 countries from 2010 to 2018. The data were analysed using various panel regression techniques and endogeneity-corrected approaches. The findings indicate a significant negative relationship between the proportion of female loan officers and MFI credit risk, supporting the ‘Wonder Woman’ hypothesis. Additionally, we examine the role of female borrowers in mediating this relationship and find that a higher presence of female loan officers is associated with a greater proportion of female borrowers, which in turn contributes to reduced credit risk. The study concludes with practical implications for academics, practitioners, and policymakers.
This study examines the associations between family support, community participation, and violent offending behaviour in urban Ghana. Although previous research highlights the importance of family and community structures in crime prevention, limited evidence has examined their combined influence within a unified sociological framework in African urban settings. Guided by Social Disorganisation Theory, the study employed a quantitative cross-sectional design involving 400 inmates convicted of violent offences in selected Ghanaian prisons. Data were collected using structured questionnaires and analysed using multiple linear regression. The findings indicate that family support, sense of belonging, community participation, and access to social services were significantly associated with lower levels of violent offending behaviour. Family support emerged as the strongest correlate, highlighting the importance of informal social control in shaping behavioural outcomes. Peer support showed a negative but statistically non-significant association with violent offending behaviour. Given the cross-sectional design, the findings should be interpreted as statistical associations rather than causal relationships. The study extends the application of Social Disorganisation Theory to an African urban context and underscores the potential value of strengthening family systems, community engagement, and social support services as complementary strategies for violence prevention and the promotion of public safety.
Sub Saharan Africa faces a deepening fiscal growth dilemma. Public debt has risen sharply, while weak revenue mobilization, rising debt service costs and persistent governance constraints limit governments’ ability to convert borrowing into productive investment. Although public borrowing can finance infrastructure, human capital and crisis response, its growth benefits depend on the fiscal and institutional systems through which resources are mobilized, allocated and monitored. This study examines the relationship between fiscal policy composition, institutional quality and GDP per capita growth in 42 Sub Saharan African countries over 2000–2024. The findings show that public debt is negatively associated with growth, while the nonlinear specification confirms that the growth penalty intensifies at higher debt levels, consistent with debt overhang arguments. Revenue mobilization becomes growth enhancing once endogeneity is addressed, whereas government expenditure is negatively associated with growth in the dynamic specification, reflecting expenditure-composition and efficiency constraints. Institutional quality emerges as one of the most consistent growth-enhancing factors. The study concludes that debt sustainability in Sub-Saharan Africa should be assessed through fiscal and institutional conditions, not debt ratios alone.
