Casablanca think tank launches a new African Social Progress Index

The African Social Progress Index has just been launched in Casablanca with a clear ambition: to measure the continent’s development using indicators built from African realities, rather than external models.

A tool designed in Africa, for Africa

Based in Casa Finance City, the Observatoire Social is a non-partisan think-and-do tank driving this initiative. Its founder and executive president, Oumaima Mhijir, has been defending one core idea: it is time to stop “measuring Africa through other people’s lenses”.

The African Social Progress Index (ASPI) is meant to be a homegrown reference framework. It is designed as an evolving tool, shaped by the contributions of researchers, statisticians, public institutions and grassroots actors from across the continent.

For Moroccans living abroad, the African Social Progress Index could quickly become a useful reference to understand, with more accurate data, how social conditions are changing in countries where they invest, travel or consider returning.

Why create the African Social Progress Index?

The Observatoire Social starts from a strong demographic reality. By 2050, Africa will account for one in four people on the planet and remain the youngest population in the world. Yet many existing indicators still fail to capture its economic and social specificities.

The labour market is a striking example. According to the International Labour Organization, 83% of jobs in Africa, and more than 86% in sub-Saharan Africa, are in what is commonly called the informal economy. However, this “informal” sector represents a major share of real economic activity on the continent.

From the perspective of the this case, applying indicators designed for highly formalised labour markets creates a structural bias. It can underestimate resilience, entrepreneurial creativity or employment patterns that are widespread in many African countries, including Morocco.

Work, finance and land: realities that need better metrics

The challenge goes well beyond the labour market. The Observatoire Social also points to gaps in how financial inclusion is measured. Looking only at whether people have a bank account does not reflect new practices, such as mobile money or community-based finance, even though sub-Saharan Africa is home to more than two-thirds of the world’s mobile money users.

Land management offers another telling example. In Rwanda, more than ten million plots were officially registered in less than five years, notably by relying on community recognition of boundaries. For the Observatoire Social, such innovations show that indicators must take into account procedures adapted to local realities.

This type of experience is also relevant for Moroccans abroad who follow family property or land projects back home. Understanding how African countries document, secure and value land can influence decisions about investment, inheritance or long-term settlement.

Why this matters to Moroccans abroad

Even though the this issue is first and foremost an analytical tool, its future uses can be quite concrete for the Moroccan diaspora. In the coming years, it could help:

• compare social trajectories between Morocco and other African countries where Moroccan communities live;
• inform responsible investment choices by identifying countries or regions making progress in jobs, inclusion and basic services;
• track how public policies evolve and what impact they have on the daily lives of families who stayed in Morocco.

The the story is conceived as an open, long-term project that will grow as contributions come in. Launching it from Casablanca underlines Morocco’s growing role in producing ideas and data on African development, for decision-makers on the continent and for its diasporas.

Over time, the the development could become a key benchmark for anyone wishing to follow social progress in Africa in a more nuanced way, beyond global rankings that often overlook realities on the ground.

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