World Bank Warns of Urgent Need to Improve Service Delivery in Africa

The World Bank’s 2025 Country Policy and Institutional Assessment (CPIA) for Sub-Saharan Africa, released today, has spotlighted an urgent call for governments across the region to enhance the delivery of essential public services. The report reveals that although the average CPIA score for 2024 remained stable at 3.1 out of 6, progress in institutional reform and service delivery remains uneven and insufficient to meet the growing demands of citizens.

Amid rising public dissatisfaction, especially among Africa’s youth, the report emphasizes that governments must act decisively to build institutional resilience, strengthen governance, and deliver quality public services to secure inclusive and sustainable growth across the continent.

CPIA: A Critical Tool for Reform and Investment

The CPIA is the World Bank’s annual diagnostic of the quality of policy and institutional frameworks in IDA-eligible countries—those qualifying for concessional financing from the World Bank’s International Development Association. The report evaluates governance, economic management, structural policies, and policies for social inclusion and equity, providing both a policy reform guide and an indicator for allocating development financing.

Though some nations demonstrated meaningful progress, especially in areas like fiscal discipline, digital innovation, and trade facilitation, these improvements were largely concentrated in countries that already scored well. Weak governance and lagging institutional capacity in lower-performing nations diluted regional gains, leaving the overall average unchanged.

Public Discontent on the Rise in 2024

The 2024 CPIA report comes at a time when trust in governments is visibly eroding across Sub-Saharan Africa. Last year saw an uptick in youth-led protests, declining political support for incumbents, and rising frustrations with poor service delivery, especially in urban and conflict-prone areas.

"Confidence in a government's ability to efficiently transform public resources into essential services is fundamental to fostering a shared purpose with citizens and improving trust," said Andrew Dabalen, World Bank Chief Economist for Africa. “Populations across Africa are clearly asking for more from their leaders to enable them to realize their aspirations.”

Surveys conducted across the continent in 2024 confirmed a growing perception that governments are failing to deliver basic services, particularly in infrastructure, health, education, and security—sectors essential for economic mobility and human well-being.

Critical Shortfalls in Key Public Services

The CPIA 2024 report outlines serious gaps in public service provision that continue to undermine development:

• Infrastructure Services: Chronic underinvestment in transport, energy, and sanitation continues to hinder access, raise costs, and stifle productivity.

• Human Capital: Inadequate education and poor health systems are limiting the capacity of young people to contribute to the workforce, perpetuating cycles of poverty and underemployment.

• Security: Conflict-related casualties have tripled over the past decade, highlighting a deterioration in public safety and the capacity of governments to uphold basic law and order.

• Administrative Efficiency: Weak administrative systems remain a barrier to private sector development. Businesses face significant challenges in accessing location permits, credit, and digital services.

These persistent challenges have far-reaching consequences not only for economic growth, but also for state legitimacy and social cohesion, particularly in fragile and conflict-affected areas.

Positive Trends: Fiscal Prudence and Digital Innovations

Despite widespread challenges, the CPIA report identifies encouraging reform efforts in several countries:

• Improved fiscal management: Many governments have cut fuel subsidies, curbed public wage bills, and made strides toward debt consolidation.

• Digital governance and financial innovation: Several states are leveraging technology to improve financial sector regulation, digitize public administration, and promote inclusion.

• Social protection and gender reforms: Noteworthy progress has been made in empowering adolescent girls, expanding legal protections, and building more inclusive safety nets for vulnerable populations.

These reforms, if scaled up and sustained, offer pathways for resilient growth, but experts caution that they must be accompanied by deeper governance improvements.

“While some countries have made commendable strides in fiscal prudence and digital transformation, issues of weak governance, limited transparency, and insufficient implementation capacity continue to undermine efforts to deliver essential services,” said Nicholas Woolley, lead author of the CPIA Africa report. “This is not just about economic growth—it’s about demonstrating that governments can work for people and shape a better path forward.”

Recommendations for Action

The World Bank urges governments and development partners to focus on:

1. Strengthening public financial management, especially in countries with weak budget execution.

2. Improving governance and transparency, particularly in procurement, auditing, and the judiciary.

3. Enhancing the capacity of public institutions to implement policies effectively.

4. Prioritizing investments in human capital and basic infrastructure that deliver tangible results for citizens.

5. Engaging youth and civil society to rebuild trust and accountability.

The report also calls on international development actors to align their support with these reform priorities, ensuring that aid financing drives structural change rather than short-term fixes.

A Pivotal Moment for Africa

As Sub-Saharan Africa faces the twin challenges of a growing, youthful population and intensifying climate and economic shocks, the urgency to deliver transparent, inclusive, and responsive governance has never been greater. The CPIA report serves as both a warning and a roadmap—highlighting gaps, but also pointing toward the tools and reforms that can drive transformation.

“Citizens across Africa are demanding better,” Dabalen said. “Governments now have a chance—and a responsibility—to deliver.”