Prof. Robert Kappel and Prof. Helmut Reisen take a close look at the verdict of the Compact with Africa (CwA) in its third year. The CwA initiative, launched in 2017, is the first comprehensive initiative between the G20 and Africa. Currently twelve African states participate in the CwA: Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d�Ivoire, Egypt, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guinea, Morocco, Rwanda, Senegal, Togo, and Tunisia. The study outlines the architecture of the CwA and puts the country selection as well as the use of governance indicators into perspective. Empirical findings from three compact countries (Ethiopia, Ghana and Senegal) are used in order to analyse whether the CwA is on track to achieve its aims after the initiative�s first two years. However, �G20 Compact with Africa: The Audacity of Hope� does not stop there, but also looks at the broader context: the controversial role of private foreign capital for sustainable transformation and the drivers of structural transformation.
The authors eventually come to the conclusion that the CwA does not only empirically not match its own expectations (and attract substantial Foreign Direct Investments), but � and even more importantly � largely fails to address the pressing issues of how to achieve inclusive growth and how to eradicate poverty on the African continent. They conclude that the CwA currently being implemented represents a departure from the objectives set out in the MDGs and SDGs.