Governance, peace, and security perception index: Methodological aspects and application in the WAEMU member states

Abstract

By developing a methodology to measure citizens' perceptions of governance, peace, and security, AFRISTAT has provided authorities at various levels with a policymaking tool. The governance, peace, and security perceptions index and its components are measured at the sub-regional level and are based on population groups. The methodology is based on the method that has been adopted to calculate the Global Governance Index and was applied to data from a household survey by using the governance, peace, and security module. Applying the data from the Integrated Regional Survey on Employment and the Informal Sector of the eight WAEMU member states made it possible to present perceptions of citizens, aged 18 and above, on 'human rights and participation,' 'rule of law,' and 'peace and security.' The results indicate that individuals aged 18 and above in the WAEMU member states have good perceptions of governance, peace, and security with a perception index of 0.701. The perception of the rule of law is low (0.524), which is reflected in the low perception of the judicial system and the absence of corruption.