The 2008 Ibrahim Index of African Governance published on Monday by the Mo Ibrahim Foundation shows that between 2005 and 2006, Gambia has improved in two out of the five categories of the Ibrahim Index, namely Sustainable Economic Opportunity and Human Development.

The index also reveals that Gambia’s score remained consistent in the category of Safety and Security. “The 16 members of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) demonstrated strong performance in the Ibrahim Index. ECOWAS provides three countries (Cape Verde, Ghana and Senegal) ranked within the top ten of the overall Ibrahim Index.

“With respect to last year, ten members of ECOWAS improved their scores, four saw declining scores, and a further two saw no change. Within ECOWAS, Gambia ranks eight out of 16 countries.

The Ibrahim Index indicates that two thirds of sub-Saharan African countries have improved their governance during the last year with Liberia, the fastest riser, ranking 38thwith a change in score of 10.4 points to give a score this year of 48.7.

Participation and Human Rights, the index further added, is the category with the largest improvements, with 29 countries demonstrating progress. According to the Report, “Many of these have demonstrated improved participation in elections generally deemed free and fair by international observers. However, many issues remain across the continent in this area particularly with regard to women’s rights. A majority of countries also recorded improvements in the categories of Rule of Law, Transparency and Corruption; Human Development; and Sustainable Economic Opportunity between 2005 and 2006”.

Meanwhile, the Ibrahim Index of African Governance is a comprehensive ranking of sub-Saharan African nations according to governance quality. It, among other things, assesses national governance against 57 criteria that capture the quality of services provided to citizens by governments. The focus is on the results that the people of a country experience. These criteria are divided into five categories which together make up the core obligations that governments have to their citizens.