Context
Transnational Organised Crime (TOC) is a serious threat to international peace, good governance, and development, and is on the rise globally, including across Africa. In 2009, the World Bank estimated the value of revenue adding to organised crime in Africa to be of EUR 1.15 trillion, while this figure had risen to EUR 2.9 trillion, by 2011, a 50 % rate of growth per year.
Organised crime has extensive effects on society: it is an obstacle to reducing poverty, while distorting local economies, hindering trade and diverting resources that could be dedicated to improving basic services. TOC undermines development efforts and impedes aid effectiveness, posing a serious threat to Africa's peace and stability, and a threat to human security, democratic governance and human rights.
Overall objective
ENACT aims to mitigate the impact of TOC on governance, development, security and the rule of law in Africa.
Specific objectives
- To improve the evidence-based knowledge and analysis of TOC in Africa, and its impact on governance, development, security and the rule of law.
- To build on an improved evidence-base knowledge by strengthening the awareness, technical and strategic capacity of relevant African stakeholders - policymakers, practitioners, civil society organisations - to prevent and respond to TOC and its effect on governance, development, security and the rule of law.
Concrete activities
- Regional capacity-building and stakeholder workshops to prevent and combat TOC and countering the financing of terrorism (CFT).
- womENACTion bootcamp for women analysts across Africa, fellowship programme, and expert working group to produce research focusing on a number of TOC-related gender dimension.
- Establishment of an analytical unit in Namibia and Senegal by INTERPOL, bringing the total to 10 units.
- ENACT CSO capacity building course on organised crime, criminal actors, markets and flows, and responses to organised crime.
- 7 new research reports published, a further 8 are expected to be published by December 2025
- 2025 iteration of the Organised Crime in Africa Index, due in November 2025
- Project duration
- 1 Feb 2024 - 31 Jan 2026
- Project locations
- AlgeriaAngolaBeninBotswanaBurkina FasoBurundiCameroonCabo VerdeChadComorosCôte d’IvoireDemocratic Republic of the CongoDjiboutiEgyptEquatorial GuineaEritreaEswatiniEthiopiaGabonGhanaGuineaGuinea-BissauKenyaLebanonLesothoLiberiaLibyaMadagascarMalawiMaliMauritaniaMauritiusMoroccoMozambiqueNamibiaNigerNigeriaRwandaSão Tomé and PríncipeSenegalSeychellesSierra LeoneSomaliaSouth AfricaSouth SudanSudanTanzaniaThe GambiaTogoTunisiaUgandaZambiaZimbabwe
- Overall budget
- €6 000 000
- Threat area
- Fight against Organised Crime
Results
- Improved data and analysis are available to African stakeholders, as well as to international donors and other relevant actors on the evolution, facilitating environment and impact of TOC in Africa at both continental and sub-regional levels.
- Improved capacity of relevant African key stakeholders to research, collect and interpret data on crime and elaborate more efficient and effective responses to TOC and its effects on governance, development, security and the rule of law in line with international standards and provisions on human rights.
- Enhanced cooperation at sub-regional, cross-regional, continental and international levels.
Achievements
- Established four Regional Organised Crime Observatories (ROCOs), which serve as hubs for research and engagement in Pretoria, Dakar, Nairobi, and Addis Ababa, and an additional satellite hub operates from Abuja.
- Published 116 publicly available research papers, policy briefs, and analytical reports to date – many translated into French and Portuguese – as a recognised body of knowledge of TOC in Africa.
- Produced over 319 unique short web pieces which provide insight on trends and emerging developments in TOC across the regions.
- Established ENACT’s Africa Organised Crime Index, now in its third edition, as a key reference on TOC in Africa, with growing engagement from partners across the continent due to its comparative and longitudinal insights.
- Established 7 criminal intelligence analytical units in partnership with national police in Uganda, Congo, Malawi, Gabon, Tanzania and Ivory Coast specially trained and equipped to conduct criminal analytical intelligence tasks. New co-funded units have been opened in Togo, Namibia and Senegal.
- Under the womENACTion initiative, established an active 200-member virtual platform for women officers from 35 Anglo and Francophone countries.
- Facilitated three transregional cooperation agreements. Provided technical support to operationalisation of agreements in Central, East and Southern Africa, as well as national counter-TOC strategies in several countries.
- Provided secretariat and implementation support to the East and Southern Africa Commission on Drugs led by the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime.
Factsheet_ENACT