African social media usage is growing rapidly, with Facebook usage in Africa doubling between 2012 and 2015. While many African government finance ministries now have a Facebook presence, engagement generally remains low. Ministries most commonly post about budgets and ministerial speeches. However, they rarely discuss important topics like service delivery, procurement, or anti-corruption efforts. Expanding use of social media by ministries faces challenges like governments' sensitivity to criticism and low citizen participation. Overall, African government use of Facebook for public engagement remains at an early stage.

1. African Finance
Ministries, Social
Media and Public
Financial
Management

2. We are David Fellows
and John Leonardo
You can contactus at team@pfmconnect.com
Hello!

3. African social media
usage is rocketing ahead

4. Facebook usage in Africa
doubled in 2.5 years to 30
June 2015
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
Millions
African Facebook users 31 Dec 2012
and 30 June 2015
African Facebook users

5. Facebook’s African growth to
continue
Facebook is planning to increase its presence in
Africa

6. “
“The AMOS-6 satellite ..will
launch in 2016 (and)..cover large
parts of West, East and
Southern Africa”: Mark
Zuckerberg 6 October 2015.

7. Facebook penetration:
Finance ministries active on
Facebook (N.B. Liberia data unavailable)
0 20 40 60 80
Angola
Egypt
Ethopia
Ghana
Rwanda
Senegal
Somalia
South Africa
Uganda
Zambia
Facebook penetration
31 Dec 2012
Facebook Users as
Proportion of Internet
Users (%)
Proportion of Population
using Internet (%)

8. Finance ministry website traffic
statistics are currently very low
(N.B. Liberia, Somalia and Zambia data unavailable)
Country
Estimated Annual Visits (Sept
2015) to Population (2014 Est.)
Angola 0.0041%
Egypt 0.0010%
Ethiopia 0.0000%
Ghana 0.0005%
Rwanda 0.0034%
Senegal 0.0007%
South Africa 0.0035%
Uganda 0.0003%

9. Finance ministries Facebook
likes (N.B. Data unavailable for Liberia and Somalia)
0.00% 2.00% 4.00% 6.00% 8.00%
Angola
Egypt
Ethiopia
Ghana
Rwanda
Senegal
South Africa
Uganda
Zambia
Finance ministry likes (Sept
2015) as % of Facebook users
(Dec 2012)
Finance ministry likes
as % of Facebook users

10. Twitter use is relatively limited
◉Finance ministries in Egypt, Rwanda, Senegal
and South Africa are active on Twitter
◉Ghana’s Minister of Finance is also active in a
personal capacity

11. Facebook currently generates
limited traffic to finance
ministry websites
◉Egypt was the only country of the eleven surveyed where social
media generated any meaningful volume of visits to its finance
ministry website (11%).
◉Elsewhere the proportion was generally negligible

12. Ministerial speeches
Text from ministerial
speeches is often
included in Facebook
postings.
What topics frequently feature
in finance ministries’ Facebook
postings?
Budgets
Ministries regularly
provide details of
budget spending
proposals.

13. Topics addressed in some
finance ministry Facebook
postings
Angola
• Impact of falling oil prices
on economic management
• PFM reform intentions
Egypt
• Training courses
• Video clips on a range
of topics
Liberia
• Open Budget Initiative
• Corruption and tax fraud
prosecutions
South Africa
• Requests for ideas for
inclusion in forthcoming
budget
Uganda
• Corruption and tax
fraud prosecutions
Zambia
• Corruption and tax fraud
prosecutions
• PFM reform intentions

14. What finance ministries are
rarely discussing
◉Service delivery commitmentsand standards
◉ Budget managementinitiatives
◉Procurement process development
◉Anti-corruptionactivities
◉Audit findings

15. Challenges facing finance
ministries in their Facebook
activity
◉Governments’ sensitivity to public criticism
◉Low level of public participation

16. Conclusion: African finance
ministries’ Facebook
experience is at an early stage

17. Potential collaborators in
finance ministries’ future
social media activities
◉Developmentpartners
◉Private sector investors

18. We are PFMConnect
You can find us at http://www.pfmconnect.com,
http://blog-pfmconnect.com&
https://www.facebook.com/Improvingpublicfin
ancialmanagement/
Thanks!