Africa’s think tank community is operating in a changing environment. Funding is becoming more uncertain, political pressures are affecting the space in which policy research is conducted, and new technologies, particularly artificial intelligence, are changing how research and communication are produced.
The On Think Tanks State of the Sector Report 2026 offers an interesting picture of this transition. Based on responses from 299 think tanks in 94 countries, the report looks at how organisations are responding to changes in funding, political pressure and technology. For Africa, the findings are particularly relevant because many think tanks continue to depend heavily on international and project-based funding.
Funding is becoming a question of sustainability
The funding environment remains one of the biggest concerns for think tanks globally. The report finds that 63.5% of organisations identified lack of funding as a challenge during the previous 12 months, while 67.9% expect it to remain a challenge over the next year. At the same time, 36.5% reported an actual decline in funding.
For sub-Saharan Africa, however, the picture is more nuanced.
The report records that 46% of African organisations surveyed reported an increase in funding, making sub Saharan Africa the region where reported increases were higher than reported declines. This should not be interpreted as evidence that the funding problem has disappeared. The report itself cautions that these regional differences are descriptive and not statistically significant.
The bigger issue for African think tanks is the structure of funding.
Sub Saharan African think tanks are highly dependent on project grants. Ninety percent of organisations in the regional sample reported using project grants. The region also has the highest level of international funding exposure in the report, with 83.3% receiving international funding. At the same time, African organisations make use of other sources, including consulting, services, membership fees and investments or rent.
This matters because project funding can make it difficult for organisations to plan beyond individual projects, invest in staff and build financial reserves. Across the sector, only 12% of organisations said covering indirect costs was easy or very easy, while about two in five had less than three months of operating reserves or no reserves at all.
For many African think tanks, therefore, the question is not simply “How much funding is available?” It is also “What kind of funding is available?”
Longer term and more flexible support can give institutions room to develop research agendas, retain staff and respond to emerging policy questions rather than constantly moving from one short term project to another.
Political pressure is part of the operating environment
Funding is only one part of the challenge.
The report finds that a difficult political context was reported by just over four in ten think tanks globally. Importantly, this challenge is not limited to countries where civic space is formally restricted. It appears across different civic space environments.
In sub Saharan Africa, 42.9% of organisations reported a difficult political context as a challenge during the previous year. This places political context among the significant pressures affecting the sector.
The nature of that pressure can vary from country to country. In more restricted environments, the report points to regulation as a major constraint, including registration requirements, foreign funding rules and reporting obligations. Government distrust of think tanks also becomes more prominent in some restricted civic spaces.
For African research organisations, maintaining credibility and independence therefore requires more than producing good research. It also requires building relationships, communicating evidence carefully and understanding the political and institutional environment in which research is used.
This is particularly important at a time when evidence itself can become contested. A think tank may produce a technically strong study, but its influence depends partly on whether policymakers, journalists, civil society and the public are willing to engage with the evidence.
The skills challenge is also a major concern
There is another pressure that receives less attention than funding: people.
The report identifies skilled staff shortages as the second most frequently reported challenge after funding. In sub Saharan Africa, 56% of organisations reported a shortage of skilled staff. African think tanks also identified a relatively broad range of areas where they need stronger capacity.
Fundraising was the most frequently identified priority, at 84%, followed by communication and marketing at 70%, strategic planning at 66%, innovation and adaptability at 72%, and research capacity at 58%.
This tells an important story. The future of African think tanks is not only about finding more money. It is also about developing institutions capable of using available resources effectively.
Research skills remain important, but so are communication, fundraising, digital tools, organisational management and the ability to translate research into forms that different audiences can understand.
AI is changing the equation
Perhaps the most striking development in the report is the speed at which artificial intelligence has entered the think tank sector.
Globally, 83.9% of think tanks reported using AI in their work in 2026, compared with 71% in 2025 and 57% in 2024. The report describes AI as a “leveller” because adoption is now widespread across different organisational sizes, regions and income groups.
The change is particularly visible in Africa.
AI adoption among sub Saharan African think tanks increased from 56.8% in 2025 to 84% in 2026. This is one of the clearest examples in the report of how quickly African organisations are adapting to technological change.
The technology is being used mainly for practical tasks. Across the sector, communications and research are the two most common areas of AI use. Grammar and writing assistants are the most widely used tools, followed by meeting and note taking assistants. In sub Saharan Africa, 70% of organisations reported using grammar and writing tools, 68% used note taking or meeting assistants, and 50% used chatbots.
This is important because AI is no longer simply a conversation about the future. For many African think tanks, it is already part of everyday organisational work.
But adoption also creates new questions. How should organisations disclose the use of AI? What should researchers allow AI to do? How can organisations protect research quality and credibility? And where should human judgement remain essential?
The report suggests that the challenge is increasingly less about access to AI tools and more about building trust around their use, including ethical guidance, internal policies and disclosure standards.
From survival to adaptation
Taken together, the findings present a more complicated picture of Africa’s think tank sector.
There are real pressures. International funding remains important. Project funding dominates. Political conditions can make research and engagement more difficult. Many organisations have limited reserves, while shortages of skilled staff remain significant.
Yet the same data also shows adaptation.
African think tanks are diversifying their income sources, developing new skills, using digital communication and rapidly adopting AI. They are also operating in a context where demand for locally produced knowledge remains important.
The report’s broader conclusion is useful here: organisational resilience is shaped not only by the amount of money an institution receives, but also by its funding structure, financial reserves, people systems and ability to adapt to new tools.
For Africa, this means the next phase may require a shift in thinking. Sustainability cannot depend entirely on winning the next project. Research institutions need stronger internal systems, diversified income, investment in people and the capacity to work across traditional and digital platforms.
AI will not solve the funding problem, nor will technology remove political pressure. But it is changing the cost and speed of some aspects of research and communication. The organisations that understand both the opportunities and the limits of these technologies will be better positioned to use them responsibly.
Ultimately, Africa needs think tanks that can do more than produce reports. They need to remain credible institutions that can listen, research, explain and engage, even when funding is uncertain, politics is complicated and technology is changing faster than organisational systems can keep up.
Abdi Omar Bile is a communications and policy research professional with over 15 years of experience in journalism, communication, and research. He serves as Head of Communications at SIDRA Institute.
