Sub-Saharan Africa

“Without good governance, Africa will go nowhere.”  This is the vision behind the Mo Ibrahim Foundation, a $400 million African initiative that aims building a better Africa by supporting civil society and democratic African leaders in the promotion of good governance.  While some of the Foundation’s approaches are traditional among governance practitioners, others are less common, such as a monetary prize for sub-Saharan African leaders committed to good governance and democracy.

On the civil society front, the Mo Ibrahim Foundation launched this week the second round of the Ibrahim Index of African Governance, a governance assessment and ranking of 48 sub-Saharan African countries according to five general criteria: (i) safety and security, (ii) rule of law, transparency and corruption, (iii) participation and human rights, (iv) sustainable economic opportunity, and (v) human development.  As other governance indicators, the Ibrahim Index’s goal is to assist citizens in holding their governments accountable and to highlight areas requiring a better performance.