The impact of civil society and governance on poverty: Are there differences between the North and East Africa region?

Abstract

This article attempts to study the impact of civil society and governance on poverty. In this work, we have tried to answer the following questions: what is the effect of civil society and governance on poverty in the region of North and East Africa? In this framework, the basic assumption was the existence of a direct and indirect effect of civil society and the quality of governance in reducing poverty. The study of this hypothesis was formulated in a static model applied to data available on the region of North and East Africa between 1996-2016. The results of our regressions show that civil society, has a positive effect in reducing poverty in East Africa, but negative in North Africa and the political and legal indicators, has a positive effect on poverty in the East African countries and administrative indicators, has a positive effect in North Africa. This result implies that civil society and governance quality factors play an important role in reducing poverty in East Africa as North Africa. The relationship between civil society, governance and poverty varies according to the stage of development. But notes significant differences between the region of North Africa and East. This supports our contention that civil society and governance has more impact on poverty in the East African region, the poorest than in the rich region of North Africa. For example, the relationship between civil society and poverty is positive and significant for East Africa, is negative and significant in North Africa. The relationship between governance (policy and legal indicators) and poverty is positive and significant for East Africa, but in North Africa only administrative indicators have a positive effect on poverty. This supports our claim that governance has more impact on poverty than civil society