Measuring African progress

* MO IBRAHIM | Thursday October 7, 2010 00:00

Seventeen African countries marked their 50th year of independence. We marked 10 years of pursuing the Millennium Development Goals. These events present a great opportunity to take stock of the continent, where we are and where we are going to.

The picture is largely optimistic. Since independence, the continent has undergone significant transformations.Almost every country in Africa has now instituted multiparty democracy.  We are now witnessing a significant growth of the African middle class, set to drive economic development and also demand political change where appropriate. The telecoms revolution, in which I have played some role, has already transformed the continent, allowing us to advance in leaps and bounds. Africa's average growth, after the recent crisis, is now almost five times the Euro zone average growth, according to IMF latest update on World Economic Outlooks. At the beginning of this new century, dynamics and drive are in Africa.

These changes, however uplifting, are not the only story. We continue to lag behind in many key areas. Although we can blame many factors for this, none is more central than the lack of high quality governance in Africa. We are the richest continent, with the youngest population, we are home to vast swathes of natural resources and yet these are not yet translated into improved life quality for all citizens. Harnessing our potential for the benefit of all is the governance challenge in Africa.

This is why I launched my Foundation in 2006 - to tackle this crucial challenge of governance and leadership in Africa. One of our core contributions to governance progress is the Ibrahim Index of African Governance. We are  striving towards creating the strongest, most comprehensive index that shows, with facts and figures, not supposition or emotion, where each country stands. In this way, we will support informed and results-orientated debate about the successes and failures of our countries so that we can ensure our future progress.

The Index is a comprehensive assessment of governance quality in Africa, across 88 criteria that are grouped into four main categories: Safety and Rule of Law; Participation and Human Rights; Sustainable Economic Opportunity; and Human Development. These four together constitute the cornerstone of a government's obligations to its citizens.

As one would expect, results vary significantly across countries. However there are important global trends that are cause for hope as well as concern. For a majority of countries, progress in economic and human development is significant. Improvements in these categories have been recorded in over 40 out of 53 African states.

On economic management, on the provision of health, on welfare, improved governance is making a substantial impact on quality of life of hundreds of millions of people. Not only has there been overall progress in each of these important areas but, importantly, no country across the whole continent has seen its performance decline significantly.

These are more than just numbers. I have seen firsthand how critical these improvements are to the daily lives and hopes of Africans for their families. Educational opportunities have supported the rise of the African middle class, the professional cadre of young people who are now willing and able to contribute to Africa's future prosperity.

Provision of health services means that millions are now receiving the HIV treatment they need, and that millions of preventable deaths have been avoided. Improvements in economic management mean that trade, and regional trade, can increase, stimulating economic growth and providing millions with the opportunities to lift themselves out of poverty.

However this progress is not reflected in the other two pillars of the Index. Declines appear in what could be termed the political side of governance, namely rights, safety, and rule of law. These issues too are about people's lives. We are all too familiar with the drastic consequences of corruption, dysfunctional legal systems, and insecure and unsafe environments.

We cannot afford to ignore or even to rationalise away this decline as the cost of making progress on economic and development issues. This is a false choice. Experience shows that when political governance and economic management diverge, overall development becomes unsustainable.

This year the index presents us all with a reminder of the progress that has been made and the work that is still to be done.

In this milestone year for Africa, and as we move forward in this century, all of us, business leaders, politicians, members of civil society must reassert our commitment to improving governance. We must encourage our leaders to continue the progress on economic growth, particularly through regional integration, and human development.At the same time we must also demand that the progress we have seen in political rights is not lost.

*Mo Ibrahim is Founder and Chair of the Mo Ibrahim Foundation