More African governments than ever before are delivering social assistance to the poor and to vulnerable populations. Coverage is still quite limited, but the number of programmes has been rising rapidly in the last decade with the trend across Africa towards broadening and deepening social assistance. The State of Social Assistance in Africa report maps and analyzes the recent growth across three foundational dimensions of social assistance: legal frameworks, institutions and financing. Drawing on quantitative data contained on our data platform, national laws as well as national and regional policy documents, the report aims at improving understanding about state-run social assistance systems in Africa to inform policy and practice. The country profiles section gives information about contemporary social assistance systems across the continent. The report makes a case for strengthening the national architecture for social assistance in Africa, as a pathway to the reduction of vulnerability and poverty, while also promoting social inclusion. The Data Platform accompanying the report can be found at https://social-assistance.univen.ac.za/.