Governance and accountability in Africa
From Bamako, the HAKILI Institute for Governance and Accountability in Africa produces legal analysis, studies and measurement indices that bring to light the gap between the commitments made by public authorities and what they actually deliver, so that citizens, institutions and partners have the evidence they need to hold power to account.
Measuring
The HAKILI indices turn legal commitments into measurable quantities. Each instrument rests on an explicit methodology, sourced indicators and reproducible scoring, so that comparisons can be put to the institutions being assessed.
Measuring the capacity of political systems to withstand democratic erosion, especially when it operates through law rather than by force.
Assessing both the transparency of the budget information published by African states and the responsiveness of their public finances.
Assessing, from an African perspective, the transparency and sincerity of the commitments made by developed countries in their relations with African states.
Tracking, year after year, how the commitments set out in Law No. 2025-042 on the National Charter for Peace and Reconciliation are actually implemented.
Programmes
While each of the four programmes of the 2026-2029 plan meets distinct needs, they all follow the same approach, which is to establish the rule, observe how it is applied and then make the gaps public.
Making the law readable and open to debate
This programme covers the analysis of and commentary on applicable law, in particular the law of extractive industries, public finance law and institutional law, so that practitioners, administrations and citizens have a reliable…
Documenting how institutions actually work
The Institute’s studies document how the institutions in charge of public resources actually operate, whether revenue authorities, mining administrations or oversight bodies, by systematically comparing what the texts provide…
Measuring to compare over time and across countries
The Institute builds measurement instruments with explicit methodologies, which make it possible to track over time and compare across countries democratic resilience, budget transparency, the sincerity of international…
Putting findings up for public discussion
Findings are published in open access and brought into public debate through conferences, seminars and presentations, so that they can inform public decision-making and feed the dialogue between institutions, researchers and…
Management
Executive Director
A doctor of law specialising in the regulation of extractive industries, Dr Soumaila LAH is a lecturer-researcher and a consultant in governance and public policy reform. His work covers African mining and petroleum law, technology transfer and local content in extractive industries, public finance governance, security sector reform and the Women, Peace and Security agenda.
The author of a doctoral thesis on the regulation of extractive industries in Mali, he led the 2023 mid-term evaluation of the action plan of Mali’s National Security Sector Reform Strategy and teaches tax law at bachelor’s and master’s level.
Public administrations, civil society organisations, universities, development partners and the media can call on the Institute for a study, the analysis of a legal text, the roll-out of an index in a given country or the organisation of a public presentation of findings.