Delivering public interest goods in Africa. Stopgap measures, state reform, and commons

Given the polysemy of the concept of “commons,” we use the concept of “public interest goods,” the content of which varies according to historical situations. In Africa, different institutions (modes of governance) deliver public goods and services, each according to its own rules and practical norms: the state, development aid, associations, municipalities, chieftaincies, religious structures, sponsors, and the private sector. The poor quality of services delivered by the state, for which many nevertheless have the highest expectations, generates various forms of stopgap delivery, in particular from the associational mode of governance (which includes some commons). However voluntary organizations are most often very dependent on external aid, and their activities generally disappear when the aid ends. Any lasting reform of public services therefore involves relying on innovative actors within governmental bodies (bureaucratic mode of governance), while forging collaborations with innovative actors within the voluntary sector and municipalities in particular, but possibly with other modes of governance, with a view to reducing aid dependency.