Across Africa, many national and subnational governments and civil society stakeholders seek solutions to ongoing challenges through public procurement reforms. Public procurement is no longer seen as just a means of acquiring goods and services, it’s becoming a strategic tool for driving economic growth, fostering innovation, and ensuring socially inclusive development across the continent.

A major focus of our work is helping governments design and strengthen electronic government procurement (e-GP) systems, which includes data, governance, skills and change management needed to make digital reform stick. Our guidance provides 8 lessons for this process.

Our other priorities for the continent are helping reformers make procurement more accessible to women, young people, people with disabilities and smaller businesses, while supporting the use of procurement to advance sustainability and development goals.

More than 50 countries and cities, from Argentina to Zambia, are pursuing open contracting reforms. It takes hard work, political will, technical skills, and sustained engagement. Explore stories from around the continent that show how open contracting is changing lives — from value for money to value for many.