Programme Approach

Active Citizenry

Building the data tools and community capacity that make accountability possible — so continental commitments are visible, trackable, and demandable at the subnational level.

The approach

Commitments are only as strong as the communities that can demand them.

Policy advocacy and health financing work inside institutions. Active citizenry ensures that civil society organisations, community leaders, and ordinary citizens have the data and tools to hold institutions to account between major continental decision moments — not just during AU summits.

We invest in three things: open data infrastructure that shows what has been committed where, tracking tools that measure domestication progress, and the civil society networks that deploy both.

How it works

Three elements.

Data infrastructure, tracking tools, and the networks that put both to use.

Renaissance Vault of Continental Maps

An open data atlas with twenty indicator layers across all 55 African Union member states — from gender parity indices to health budget allocations to trade corridor access.

  • Twenty thematic indicator layers, updated after each major AU data release
  • Downloadable by country and indicator for use in parliamentary briefs and civil society reports
  • Designed for use without technical data skills — civil society organisations and journalists included

GEYSI Toolkit Domestication Tracking

A tracking layer for civil society organisations and parliamentary actors to monitor how commitments from the Gender Equality and Youth Social Inclusion framework are being translated into national action.

  • Country-level domestication scorecards updated at each AU review cycle
  • Pre-formatted evidence packages ready for parliamentary committee submissions
  • Shared across civil society networks to coordinate advocacy without duplicating research effort

Civil Society Network Support

Sustaining the national civil society networks that carry accountability work between the high-profile moments of continental summits and AU Assembly sessions.

  • Coordination support for civil society coalitions in target countries across all three pillars
  • Capacity building on using continental data and legal frameworks in domestic advocacy
  • Regional convenings that connect civil society actors across country boundaries on shared legislative priorities

Renaissance Vault — Continental Maps

The Vault is publicly accessible — a free resource for civil society organisations, researchers, parliamentarians, and journalists across Africa.

Explore the Vault →
Gender parity indices — all 55 AU member states
Domestic health budget allocations — Abuja Declaration tracking
Immunisation coverage — subnational disaggregation
Trade corridor access — African Continental Free Trade Area implementation
Maputo Protocol domestication — country-level status
Pillar application

Applied across all three pillars.

The data and tools differ by pillar — the goal of enabling community-level accountability is constant.

Gender Equality

GEYSI tracking for civil society

Civil society organisations use the GEYSI Toolkit to track Maputo Protocol domestication and prepare submissions for national parliamentary gender committees.

Health Equity

Health budget visibility

Renaissance Vault health budget layers enable community health advocates to compare domestic allocations against Abuja Declaration commitments at the country level.

Socio-Economic Justice

Trade and fiscal data access

Open data on trade corridor access and public expenditure supports civil society arguments on economic inclusion and African Continental Free Trade Area benefit distribution.

See the full programme approach

Health financing works alongside policy advocacy and active citizenry across all three thematic pillars.

Programme Approach → Health Equity pillar