Mo Ibrahim Index: Gambia ranks 19th

The Gambia, according to the 2009 Ibrahim Index of Governance, published today by the Mo Ibrahim Foundation, an organisation committed to supporting great African leadership, ranks 19^th out of 53 African countries.

The Ibrahim Index is Africa’s leading assessment of governance, established to inform and empower the continent’s citizens. The Ibrahim Index measures the delivery of public goods and services to citizens by government and non-state actors across 84 indicators of governance. Those governance indicators are grouped in four overall categories: Safety and Security, Participation and Human Rights, Sustainable Economic Opportunity, and Human Development. All 53 of Africa’s countries are then ranked according to their total scores across the categories. The 2009 Ibrahim Index of African Governance shows that half of Africa’s 10 best performing countries are in Southern Africa.

Gambia’s performance in the 2009 Ibrahim Index of African Governance

In 2007/08 Gambia scored 55.1 out of 100, and was ranked 19th out of 53 African countries. Within the West African region, Gambia was ranked sixth. Gambia scored above the West African regional average which was 51.7. Gambia also scored above the overall continental average which was 51.2. At category level, Gambia scored just above the continental average in the Safety and Rule of Law, Participation and Human Rights, and Sustainable Economic Opportunity categories. But in Human Development Gambia's score was much higher than the continental average, which was 53.8.

Category	2007/2008 Score (out of 100)	Overall Rank (out of 53)	Regional Rank (out of 16)
Safety and Rule of Law	57.7	24	8
Participation and Human Rights	49.8	27	11
Sustainable Economic Opportunity	48.5	23	5
Human Development	64.6	13	4
2009 IIAG	55.1	19	6

Across the Index:

· Mauritius tops the 2009 Ibrahim Index with a total score of 82.8, ranking first in all four main categories. Cape Verde is ranked second with a total score of 78.0. Seychelles is ranked third with a total score of 77.1, followed by Botswana with a total score of 73.6. South Africa is ranked fifth with a total score of 69.4.

· Somalia is the worst governed country on the continent, with a total score of 15.2. In 52^nd place, Chad has a total score of 29.9, while Zimbabwe is third from bottom in 51^st place with a total score of 31.3.

· Southern Africa is the continent’s best performing region, with an average score of 58.1, followed closely by North Africa with an average score of 57.7. West Africa is ranked third with an average score of 51.7, followed by East Africa with a score of 46.9. Central Africa is the worst performing region, with an average score of 40.2.

· Central Africa is the worst performing region across all four categories. All seven Central African countries are ranked outside the top 20 in the 2009 Ibrahim Index, with all of them except Gabon performing below the average for the continent.

Reflecting important structural and methodological improvements to the Ibrahim Index over the last year, the 2009 Ibrahim Index includes a new framework for assessing governance, and improvements to make the index more reflective of current governance realities. For the first time, in 2009 the Ibrahim Index covers all 53 countries in Africa. It also includes data from 2008, making it more current than any other assessment of African governance.

The full Board of the Mo Ibrahim Foundation convened in Cape Town this morning for the launch of the third iteration of the Ibrahim Index. Mo Ibrahim, the founder and Chairman of the Foundation, says:

“The 2009 Ibrahim Index gives us the clearest – and most current – snapshot of governance performance on the continent we have ever had. With Southern Africa outperforming North Africa, we can see a picture emerging that fundamentally challenges our perceptions about Africa. Our objective is to generate debate about what we can expect our governments to deliver in our name.”

The Mo Ibrahim Foundation is supported by a research team at the Foundation, headed by Dr Hania Farhan, a Technical Committee of representatives from key African institutions, and Dr Daniel Kaufmann of the Brookings Institution, who co-produces the Worldwide Governance Indicators. The Foundation also draws on the expertise of an Advisory Committee of academics drawn from institutions across Africa.

The Ibrahim Index of African Governance was created in recognition of the need for a robust, comprehensive and quantifiable tool for citizens and civil society to track government performance in Africa. The development of the Ibrahim Index reflects the Foundation’s long-term commitment to support African ownership of the governance debate, to develop capacity in African institutions, and to improve the quality, reliability, and availability of data about Africa.