African social development index: a tool to assess human exclusion in Africa: tool brief and initial findings

Abstract

The Index aims at assessing the level of human exclusion in six key dimensions of well-being, including survival, health, education, employment, means of subsistence and decent life. The focus is on the impact that a range of contextual factors and policy interventions can have on reducing the gap between the haves and the have-not on the continent. The potential of the tool is considerable insofar as it can be applied at both national and sub-national levels to measure the levels and drivers of human exclusion over time. In addition, it allows countries to capture the differences across gender and location, helping to improve social policy targeting.