IAPS: A New Casablanca-Based Initiative to Measure Africa’s Social Progress

The Casablanca-based Observatoire Social has launched the African Social Progress Index (IAPS), a new framework intended to provide a broader reading of social progress across the continent while inviting African institutions and experts to help shape its development.

Presented as an initiative designed “in Africa, for Africa,” the index seeks to examine whether conventional statistical approaches fully capture the economic and social realities experienced by African populations. Rather than presenting the IAPS as a definitive replacement for existing systems, the think & do tank describes it as an evolving framework that will depend on contributions from researchers, statisticians, public institutions and actors working on the ground.

The initiative is being developed by the Observatoire Social, a non-partisan organization based at Casa Finance City in Casablanca. Its founder and executive president, Oumaima Mhijir, has outlined the rationale behind the project in a recent contribution arguing for measurement tools that better reflect the continent’s specific circumstances.

Informality challenges conventional indicators

One of the issues highlighted by the initiative concerns employment. Data cited by the Observatoire Social from the International Labour Organization indicate that around 83% of employment in Africa and more than 86% in sub-Saharan Africa falls within what is generally classified as the informal economy.

For the organization, the scale of informal activity raises questions about the ability of conventional indicators to capture the full contribution of work and economic activity outside formally registered structures.

Financial inclusion provides another example. Traditional measurements often focus on whether individuals possess a bank account, while financial practices in many African markets have expanded through mobile technologies.

Sub-Saharan Africa accounted for more than two-thirds of the global value of mobile-money transactions in 2025, with transactions reaching around $1.4 trillion, according to the figures cited by the Observatoire Social. The organization argues that such developments require statistical approaches capable of recognizing financial inclusion beyond traditional banking channels.

Land registration offers another perspective

Land management is also cited as an area where conventional statistical categories may not fully reflect local realities.

In Rwanda, more than 10 million parcels were reportedly registered in less than five years, with community-based recognition of boundaries playing a role in the process. For the Observatoire Social, the example illustrates how local institutional and community mechanisms can influence development outcomes without necessarily fitting neatly into standard statistical classifications.

The organization’s argument is therefore not that existing indicators are deliberately misleading, but that some aspects of African social and economic life may remain insufficiently visible when measurement systems rely heavily on categories developed for different contexts.

An evolving model rather than a fixed ranking

The IAPS is rooted in the capabilities approach associated with economist Amartya Sen, which focuses on people’s real opportunities and ability to achieve outcomes they value.

The framework also draws on work examining development through African perspectives, including that of Malawian economist Thandika Mkandawire. According to the Observatoire Social, this intellectual foundation could help the index incorporate dimensions such as dominant forms of economic activity, customary land systems and community-based mechanisms of inclusion.

The organization stresses that the objective is not to discard existing methodologies. Instead, it wants to develop a statistical architecture that can complement established approaches while taking greater account of the continent’s diversity.

A continental call for participation

The next stage of the IAPS project is intended to rely on broad consultation. The Observatoire Social is inviting African researchers and statisticians, universities, research centers, national statistical institutes and pan-African institutions to participate in the initiative.

The proposed consultation also extends to central banks, regulators, telecommunications companies, fintech firms and mobile-money operators. Public institutions, local authorities, customary authorities, women's organizations, cooperatives, popular-economy actors and civil-society associations are likewise being encouraged to contribute.

Among the institutions identified as potential contributors are the Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA), the African Economic Research Consortium, African statistical schools, STATAFRIC, the Pan-African Institute for Statistics of the African Union and the African Centre for Statistics of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa.

Complementing Africa’s statistical architecture

The Observatoire Social says the IAPS is not intended to compete with the African Charter on Statistics. Instead, it aims to extend the broader objective of strengthening statistical capacity into the specific field of social progress measurement.

The project therefore remains open to data, field experience, methodological criticism and new research. Its proposed architecture is expected to evolve as more African stakeholders contribute evidence and perspectives.

At the center of the initiative is a broader question about how social progress is defined and measured. For its promoters, improving the quality of measurement is closely connected to the ability of African institutions and societies to identify their own priorities and assess progress using indicators that reflect their lived realities.