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The Mo Ibrahim foundation has announced the Ibrahim Index of African Governance

The Ibrahim Index of African Governance has been created in recognition of the need for a more objective and quantifiable method of measuring governance in the 48 countries of sub-Saharan Africa. The Ibrahim Index provides both a new definition of governance, as well as a comprehensive set of governance measures. Based on five categories of essential political goods, each country is assessed against 58 individual measures, capturing clear, objective outcomes.

• Safety and Security
• Rule of Law, Transparency and Corruption
• Participation and Human Rights
• Sustainable Economic Development
• Human Development

Dennis Matanda at the Sub-Saharan African roundtable comments on the Mo Ibrahim prize:

In a classic case of “African solutions for African problems,” Mohammed “Mo” Ibrahim, a successful London-based Sudanese entrepreneur and multimillionaire with more than $ 500 million to his name - he owned Celtel in Uganda until last year - is offering present and future African leaders the richest annual prize in the world. Announced on October 25, 2006 in London, the prize challenges African heads of state to govern and lead their people properly, which is where the Professor Rotberg index will come in...I agree that there is need to reward honesty, but to reward an African leader to do his job is like pouring milk on a fire when you can use water!

Continuing our coverage of foundations we now take a look at the Mo Ibrahim Foundation which has announced a $5million prize that:

Recognises former executive Heads of State or Government in sub-Saharan Africa who have dedicated their constitutional tenure of office to surmounting the development challenges of their country, improving the welfare of their people and consolidating the foundations for sustainable development.

KenyanPundit dissects the Mo Ibrahim Prize covered earlier and offers alternative methodologies:

...any organization that is trying to do any serious work around leadership in Africa has make young people the core of any programming. Otherwise you haven’t looked the demographics of Africa yet and seriously thought about the implications. Convincing the Mugabe’s of the world to step down, is only part of the problem – you have to ask who is replacing the old guard? Is there a pipeline? Are the replacements different? Or are they just a younger, hungrier, more cynical version of the same (see Kenya’s parliament today).
I see that your foundation does offer scholarships to rising leaders, that’s a good start. But if the intention is to grow leaders at home, I would offer scholarships to enable students to attend local institutions as well.

'Africa must think big to thrive'-Mo Ibrahim
The Ethiopian Children's Fund
The weakest link for Africa-commodities
An interview with the award winning writer, Sade Adeniran

Mo Ibrahim writes:

Sudan has been an experiment that resonated across Africa: if we, the largest country on the continent, reaching from the Sahara to the Congo, bridging religions, cultures and a multitude of ethnicities, were able to construct a prosperous and peaceful state from our diverse citizenry, so too could the rest of Africa.That we have failed should sound a warning to all Africans. Sudan, at one million square miles, is the continent’s largest country, sharing borders with nine other states. The fault lines that have divided us as a people extend from Eritrea to Nigeria. If Sudan starts to crumble, the shock waves will spread.Khartoum today projects a sense of normality, modernity and relative affluence. This is in sharp contrast to the rest of the country. Lack of investment, underdevelopment and the exclusion of populations on the periphery from the political process has resulted in alienation. It has strengthened local identities.We have not nurtured that sense of brotherhood and unity. Rather, since independence the way Sudan has been governed has undermined any potential for a common Sudanese purpose.

• Blacklooks points us to a Jezebel post on "Charity Porn" a topic we have covered earlier.

• Kim Tan of SpringHill Management argues that “FDI is the key. I’m from Asia, and that’s how Asia has developed, bringing in capital, technology and inspiring young entrepreneurs who build businesses.”-NYTimes
• Mo Ibrahim and others at Zeitgeist discuss technology as an enabler in India and Africa
• Anna Nadgrodkiewicz writes about Senegal's lost "Concrete Generation":

The government seems to be primarily concerned with investing in physical infrastructure of questionable utility to the poor, rather than reforming the country’s institutional infrastructure that would make it easier for the poor to reap the benefits of legal entrepreneurship

Greg Mills of the Brenthurst Foundation on CNN:

via CP-Africa

Tolu Ogunlesi at TEDxEuston:

If there’s one thing TED makes clear, it is the absurdity of trying to fit high-achieving individuals into neat boxes. Listening to all these people speak, one would inevitably realise that if their lives could be captured by one word it would not be a job or profession, or even a singular achievement or series of achievements, but by a “quest” - to defy convention, conquer uncharted territory, and help in bringing transformation to their societies.

For this to be Africa’s decade, massive investments in infrastructure are needed, alongside legal and policy reforms to encourage innovation and entrepreneurship. But, perhaps, most crucial will be the fight against corruption...Undoubtedly, the efficacy of the revolutionary ideas that will solve Africa’s many problems will depend on the success of an accompanying ethical revolution.