Do Think Tanks (Still) Matter for Africa’s Development? An Overview of the History, Roles, and Challenges

17 January 2025

A new research paper by the Brenthurst Foundation has shown that while Africa has a proud history of think tanks, many of these institutions face serious challenges that undermine their ability to play a unique role in Africa’s development. This blog post will give a short overview of the paper by discussing its key findings and recommendations with the aim of providing some constructive guidance to think tanks across the African continent.

Overview of the Role and Challenges of Think Tanks 

While the traditional think tank model originated in the Anglo-American context, these institutions have spread to different countries around the world and adapted their work to the specific contexts in which they found themselves. While much of the historical development of the think tank sector can be attributed to Western institutions, sub-Saharan Africa has a profound history in this sector and boasts many credible think tanks doing important work across different thematic areas. For example, institutions such as the South African Institute of International Affairs have been in existence on the continent since the early part of the twentieth century. 

Nevertheless, the great expansion of think tanks in Africa did not begin until the late 1980s and early 1990s, and the historical development of these institutions has been periodic and uneven. This is demonstrated by the fact that only four countries (South Africa, Kenya, Nigeria, and Ghana) currently host more than 10 think tanks respectively. Part of the reason it took some time for the think tank landscape to develop in Africa is due to the way many post-colonial governments consolidated governing power after independence and marginalised these and other knowledge-based institutions from the policy process. 

While the political environment has become somewhat more accommodating for African think tanks since independence, many are struggling with a general lack of institutional capacity and funding, which risks undermining their continued existence and expansion. This blog post will focus on those challenges of specific relevance of African think tanks, bearing in mind that these institutions are not immune from the general challenges which affect think tanks irrespective of their geography or focus area, e.g., growing misinformation, increasing competition, damaging ethical scandals.

Review of the Central Challenges in the African Think Tank Landscape

This section will discuss some of the central challenges African think tanks face that undermine their growth, influence and long-term sustainability. 

The first challenge facing think tanks in Africa is the desperate need to secure reliable funding from a wide range of sources to retain their organisational independence and consistently produce high-quality work. In this regard, research by the Centre for Global Development has shown that funders have also acknowledged how the traditional project-focused and sector-oriented funding model in Sub-Saharan Africa has indirectly undermined the capacity of institutions in the region. In addition, it is important to note that both the amount and type (or modality) of funding available present a challenge to African think tanks. 

The second challenge has to do with the interface between think tank researchers and policymakers. Apart from those generic challenges such as divergent rationales, timelines, and incentives, there are also country-specific challenges which undermine collaboration between research and policymaking circles in African countries. For example, research by the German Development Institute on South Africa found that the legacy of the country’s difficult past continues to manifest itself in prevailing mistrust between stakeholders, a deeply unequal education system, and a structurally underfunded research sector. All these factors undermine the potential contributions knowledge-based institutions, such as think tanks, could make to the policymaking process. 

The third challenge faced by African think tanks is the reliable measurement of their influence and impact with limited resources. Producing an accurate and consistent measurement of impact is difficult for think tanks due to the complexity of the attribution problem, the intangible nature of many think tank activities, and the significant organisational resources required to design and implement monitoring and evaluation systems. For African think tanks, the challenge is to find a more nuanced conception of impact that can still be measured within resource constraints without inadvertently neglecting those activities that produce (actual) impact.

The fourth challenge is the inability of African think tanks to hire and retain talented staff, which has damaging knock-on effects on the quality of research outputs and, by extension, the long-term sustainability of the sector. Due to funding challenges, most African think tanks are unable to offer competitive long-term employment packages to local staff, who are then attracted by international organisations that can often provide better remuneration, research opportunities, and operating environments. This is a shared frustration of many African think tanks, as human capital is the primary asset on which these institutions rely to produce high-quality research and maintain their credibility as a source of policy advice. 

The fifth and final challenge concerns the additional demands placed on African think tanks by the often difficult contexts in which they operate. To understand how knowledge is produced and used in the political arena, it is important for African think tanks to understand the particularities of their respective policymaking regimes and socio-economic circumstances. For example, because many African governments are suspicious or outright hostile to independent civil society institutions, it is important for think tanks to develop careful communication strategies which frame policy advice as constructive support rather than a challenge to authority. For reasons of context, it is especially important for African think tanks to understand how their external dependence on other parts of the domestic policy landscape (government, media, civil society, academia) may help or hinder their work. 

 Recommendations and Considerations for African Think Tanks

This section will put forward a few key policy recommendations and research areas for African think tanks to consider, given the challenges discussed above. These points should be understood more as suggestions for further avenues of exploration rather than well-defined prescriptions for reform. 

First, African think tanks need to explore alternative funding models and partnerships if they are to maintain their operations and protect themselves from overdependence on either national governments or foreign donors. Many African think tanks remain heavily dependent on short-term, project-based international funding, which can undermine their ability to invest in core activities, maintain research independence, and secure financial stability. Suppose the sector’s sustainability is to be improved. In that case, funders, policymakers, and think tanks themselves will have to invest in more flexible and sustainable funding models that allow think tanks to invest in their long-term core capacities. To do this, they will need to look at ways of creating additional funding streams through, for instance, monetising research products, offering educational courses, hosting exclusive subscriber events, and building new funding partnerships with the private and philanthropic sectors. 

Second, African think tanks need to invest in human capital development programmes for young people. The connection between issues of human capital and the employment of young think tank staff is echoed by the On Think Tanks State Report 2024, which found that “think tanks with less securing funding face difficulties in retaining more experienced staff; but also that the same less well-provisioned organisations depend to a large degree on younger think-tankers with shorter-term contracts.” For example, African think tanks can engage with local universities to identify bright young students with strong research potential and a passion for improving society. These young people can then be offered opportunities to contribute to the work of think tanks through attending meetings, assisting research, and participating in internship programmes.

Third, African think tanks need to highlight the comparative advantages of being locally based organisations. Because the comparative advantage of African think tanks stems from their embeddedness in the local context, they need to do more to highlight and strengthen their niche role as well-placed partners who can produce policy advice that is both informed by evidence and politically realistic. 

Fourth, African think tanks need to leverage their underutilised role as knowledge brokers to foster greater collaboration in the policy process. To this end, think tanks can map out communities in policy or thematic areas and create spaces and opportunities for other think tanks, universities, and other like-minded non-profit organisations to engage and collaborate. An example of such an initiative is the African Policy Circle, which is a network of think tanks and other advocacy organisations working to develop common policy recommendations on critical issues for African development. 

Fifth, African think tanks need to reconsider how they measure and communicate their impact to policymakers, funders and the public. In seeking to measure and communicate their impact, African think tanks need to be realistic about the added value that an extensive monitoring and evaluation approach can offer, considering resource constraints. In addition, more attention needs to be paid to tailoring and diversifying means of communication to convey the same policy message to different audience segments better. 

Ultimately, suppose the real challenges threatening the sustainability of the think tank industry in Africa are not addressed. In that case, there is a real risk that many of these organisations will simply fold or drift into irrelevance at a time when thought leadership is more crucial than ever for Africa’s development. However, many of the challenges facing African think tanks paradoxically provide several promising opportunities for innovation, and it is in this optimistic spirit that these institutions should embrace the necessary reforms. 


Adrian Joseph is a former Machel-Mandela Fellow at the Brenthurst Foundation, a think tank based in Johannesburg, South Africa, focused on strengthening Africa’s economic performance.