Landeanalyse på engelsk: Togo

Kilde: Ulandssekretariatet, april 2010

Political situation
Togo - a small country squeezed in between Ghana and Benin with a coastline of only 45 km – has approximately 6.6 million inhabitants (UN 2009).
Togo got independence from French colonial rule in 1960. Togo has been dominated by a military dictatorship under president Eyadéma Gnassingbé from a military coup in 1967 until his death in 2005. At the beginning of the 90s international pressure forced the regime to allow political parties and a certain degree of freedom of the press. In 2005 his son, Faure Gnassingbé, was installed as president by the military. After international condemnation and pressure Faure Gnassingbé stood down and called for presidential elections two months later. He won the elections with 60% of the votes. The elections sparked off violent demonstrations and 500 people were killed, and thousands fled the country to Ghana and Benin, where many of them are still living.
In August 2006 Togo’s political parties agreed to form a transitional government of national unity intended to draw a line under years of violence and instability and herald parliamentary elections in 2007.
The legislative elections held on October 14, 2007 in which all opposition parties participated, were declared free and fair by international and national election observers. The RPT (The Rally of the Togolese People led by Faure Gnassingbé) won a majority with 50 seats. The UFC (The Union of Forces for Change) took 27 seats, with the CAR (The Action Committee for Renewal) receiving the remaining 4. RPT members were elected to all the internal leadership positions within the National Assembly. The opposition was excluded from the new government.
On March 4 2010 presidential elections were again held in Togo. This time there were 7 candidates including Faure Gnassingbé and the main opposition leader Jean-Pierre Fabre (UFC). There was also for the first time a woman candidate.
The main themes of the elections were peace, democracy, re-unification of Togo, national reconciliation, development and reconstruction of the country. The campaign had actually taken place in a rather peaceful way and candidates had been able to campaign side by side.
The elections were carried out without any major incidents. Faure Gnassingbé, whose main election message was ”the urgent need for a profound transformation of the society” won the election with 1.2 million votes. His main challenger, Jean-Pierre Fabre, got nearly 700,000 votes. Under the Togolese constitution, there are no limits on the number of times one can run for president. A two-term limit was removed from the Constitution in 2002.
Due to the political situation in Togo in the 90s the EU and international organisations stopped all development assistance to the country, and Togo has never benefited from debt relief as most countries in the region. The human rights situation was characterized as extremely bad  some years ago and there were reports of gross human rights abuses, liquidations by security forces, disappearances, random arrests, torture, etc. With the improved situation these latest years, the EU has now resumed its cooperation with the country.

Economic situation
The many years of military dictatorship and unrest and the international boycott have caused a terrible economic deterioration of the country. Togo is now among the world’s poorest countries with a GNI per capita of 400 USD (World Bank 2008). It is ranked 159 out of 182 countries on the UNDP Human Development Index. Life expectancy at birth is 62.2. Adult literacy is 53.2%. Since the school year 2008-2009 primary education is free for all children.
It is estimated that 61.7% of Togolese are living below the poverty line. The situation is even more difficult in rural areas where the incidence of poverty is 74.3%.
The growth rate has been extremely low (around 2 to 2.5%) these last years. Togo is heavily dependent on both commerce and subsistence agriculture which provides employment for 65% of the labour force. Some basic food still has to be imported. Togo’s main exports are cocoa, phosphates, coffee and coton. Togo is the 4th largest producer of phosphates in the world. Production has, however, been declining due to lack of funds for new investments. Also in Togo China has become an important trading partner.
Togo serves as a regional commercial and trade centre in West Africa. It continues to expand its duty-free export-processing zone (EPZ), which was launched in 1989. The EPZ has attracted enterprises (investments) from France, Italy, Scandinavia, the US, India, and China among other countries. It has created jobs for thousands of Togolese. However, the unstable political situation in the country among other factors such as poor infrastructure is making Togo unattractive for Foreign Direct Investment (FDI). For instance, the Doing Business (2008) report of the World Bank ranks Togo 156th most attractive place for doing business out of 178 countries.
Together with the World Bank and the IMF the government elaborated a Poverty Reduction Programme in 2008 focusing on education, health, nutrition, social protection, community development and job creation. The three strategic objectives of the PRP are:

• Strategic objective 1: Enhancement of political and economic governance;
• Strategic objective 2: Consolidation of the economic revival and promotion of sustainable development;
• Strategic objective 3: Development of the social sectors, human resources, and employment.

The implementation of the programme could eventually lead to a debt reduction plan.
Togo is a member of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), founded in 1975 with the overall objective of ensuring economic integration of the sub-region through the establishment of customs union and a common market for member countries. Indeed, the ECOWAS development fund has its headquarters in Lomé. Togo is also a member of the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU), which brings together eight West African countries using a single currency, the CFA franc. The eight countries are Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d'Ivoire, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Niger, Senegal, and Togo. These are all former colonies of France. The West African Development Bank (BOAD), which is associated with WAEMU, is based in Lomé, Togo.
Employment and labour market situation
The employment situation in Togo is increasingly precarious. It is characterized by a sharp contraction of the job market, the increasingly informal nature of employment, and an unemployment rate (including underemployment) estimated at over 30% in 2006. Men and women are affected by unemployment and underemployment to different degrees: 34.9% for men, versus 31.2% for women.
This translates into explosive growth of the informal sector, which, if you include the agricultural sector, employs more than 90% of the economically active population. Against that backdrop, the young lack any sense of a future and only weak mechanisms exist to support and facilitate job and income-generating initiatives.
Thus the government’s key objective is to create the legal, institutional and economic conditions for employment generation and higher incomes. Thus, raising the quantity and quality of job opportunities for the Togolese in the different branches of the economy by ensuring training and sufficient resources, and the promotion and development of labour intensive sectors with real potential for growth constitute an important part of the government’s poverty reduction strategy.
The labour market in Togo displays gender disparities in terms of employment prospects and the sectors where men and women are likely to be employed. Women are mainly employed in subsistence agriculture and in informal and unprotected employment. Women remain severely underrepresented in formal employment in both the private and public sectors of the labour market. Men are often found in the formal sector. In the informal sector men are more likely than women to be employers.
With the support of the ILO a tripartite structure was established in 2006 where social affairs and labour market issues are debated. It does, however, seem extremely difficult for the unions to get any real influence on the government’s policies.
In the Report on Togo, The Society, the Economy and the Labour Market, September 2009 by the Labour Research & Policy Institute, Ghana it is written: ”The challenge for the Togolese authorities is clear: how to improve working and living conditions of the people of Togo and to reduce poverty particularly among those who are in the informal economy. These are critical issues that should receive the attention of policy makers and civil society.
There is a general feeling among informal economy operators that government does not recognize them and their contributions to the Togolese economy. However, the government has introduced some measures intended to reduce poverty and improve the living conditions of operators in the informal economy. For example, the PRSP intends to promote decent work through:

• Self-employment  by enhancing access of women, young people and vulnerable groups to better quality jobs, and ultimately improve informal sector activities; and

• Strengthening micro-credit and micro insurance schemes, in order to transform them into genuine financing system for the informal sector and income generating activities. 

The focus on employment generation, women and young people is a step in the right direction. Employment creation is the most sustainable way to deal with poverty which most afflicts women and young people.”

The Informal economy in Togo
The importance of the informal economy is reflected in its overall contributions to national output and the economy as well as employment generation. The sector contributes between 25% to 50% to GDP and accounts for over 70% of non-agricultural employment. When agriculture is included in the definition of the sector, the informal sector employs more than 90% of the total workforce. The most important activity is trade (48.5 %), followed by services 28.5 % and manufacturing (23%). Street vendors account for 75% of the trade component.
In the urban agglomerations, employment in the informal sector (i.e. non-agricultural employment) accounted for over 87% of the total workforce in 2000. Employment in the informal sector increases by more than 3% annually. The trend of growth is expected to be maintained given the continuous influx of rural youth into urban areas in search of non-existent formal jobs. Presently, it is estimated that over 90% of all newly created employment is in the informal sector.
One major challenge facing the informal economy in Togo has to do with absence of social protection. While social security arrangement in Togo is supposed to cover all workers including those in the informal economy, the legal and institutional framework for delivery tends to preclude operators in the informal economy. Even though the informal sector operators form more than two-thirds of the Togolese workforce, they are not covered by the national social security system.