West Africa Sustainable Development Governance Indices (2026): Education Finance Transparency and Climate Governance Assessment of the 15 ECOWAS Member States and their 209 First-Level Subnational Governments

The West Africa Sustainable Development Governance Indices (2026) is the inaugural research data collection published by the Cité Internationale Universitaire de Paris – Fondation Lucien Paye (CIUP–FLP). The repository contains two complementary regional governance datasets developed to support evidence-based policymaking, comparative public sector analysis, and sustainable development across West Africa.

The collection comprises:

• West Africa Education Spending Index (WAESI) 2026, developed by the West Africa Education Spending Observatory (WAESO), which assesses education finance transparency and governance across the fifteen Member States of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and their 209 first-level subnational governments.
• West Africa Climate Governance Index (WACGI) 2026, developed by the West Africa Climate Governance Observatory (WACGO), which evaluates climate governance performance using a multidimensional framework covering climate policy, institutional capacity, climate finance, transparency, participation, implementation, and climate risk governance.

Together, these datasets provide harmonized governance indicators, rankings, composite scores, methodological documentation, and supporting metadata for all ECOWAS Member States and their first-level subnational governments. The datasets are intended to support governments, researchers, universities, international organizations, development partners, and civil society organizations in strengthening public sector governance, transparency, accountability, and evidence-based decision-making.

The assessments were developed through systematic reviews of publicly available government documents, legislation, policy frameworks, budget reports, international databases, and peer-reviewed literature, complemented by AI-assisted evidence synthesis and expert analytical review.

These datasets contribute to monitoring progress towards the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)—particularly SDG 4 (Quality Education), SDG 13 (Climate Action), SDG 16 (Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions), and SDG 17 (Partnerships for the Goals)—as well as the aspirations of the African Union Agenda 2063.

The repository forms the first release in a planned series of annual governance observatories that will benchmark progress across strategic sectors of sustainable development in West Africa.