The Mo Ibrahim Foundation is committed to supporting great African leadership that will improve the economic and social prospects of the people of Africa

Development cannot be achieved without good governance. Good governance ensures that all of a country's resources are harnessed effectively and fairly to translate into improved quality of life for its people. Every arena, from healthcare to environmental stewardship, from education to human and political rights, is affected by the quality and nature of governance. While there have been improvements in many African countries recently, weaknesses in governance and leadership capacity are central to the issues currently facing the continent.

The Mo Ibrahim Foundation is committed to supporting great African leadership that will improve the economic and social prospects of the people of Africa.

The Foundation has been established to:

Stimulate debate on governance across sub-Saharan African and the world

Through its Board of Directors, and by engaging in a range of events, the Foundation brings together the academic, business and development worlds to stimulate debate about standards of governance.

The Foundation brings together members of civil society to share their views on the governance challenges in their respective countries.

Through a partnership with the School of Oriental and African Studies in London, the Foundation is supporting African academics to build their skills and talents.

Through this partnership, the Foundation will also make freely available a series of lectures on governance in Africa by experts in the field.

Through the Ibrahim Index and the communication of its annual results across the continent, the Foundation aims to facilitate a continuous conversation about the state of governance in Africa.

Provide criteria by which citizens can hold their governments to account

Through the Ibrahim Index the Foundation is initiating an open dialogue on the measurement of governance and therefore on the criteria by which citizens can hold their governments to account. Defining governance in this way, as a set of services, or public goods, that governments are obliged to deliver, highlights the responsibilities of governments towards their citizens.  The data from the Ibrahim Index, together with their own experiences, enables citizens to pinpoint failures in governance and demand reform.

Transferring the compilation of the Ibrahim Index to African academic institutions will further the dialogue between governments and their citizens on improving governance.

Since the Ibrahim Index is a living tool which takes into account feedback [link: 8] from stakeholders and changes in the governance context in sub-Saharan Africa, these criteria will be constantly adapting to the needs of citizens.

Recognise achievement in African leadership, and provide a practical way by which African leaders can build positive legacies after office.

By awarding the largest prize in the world the Foundation focuses attention to those who have demonstrated excellence in African leadership.

By honouring their work through a high-profile ceremony that showcases the best of Africa the Foundation helps highlight the good news from the continent.

The Ibrahim Prize ensures that great African leaders are given the means to continue in their role as public servants after they have left office.

Providing Ibrahim Laureates with access to funding for civil society initiatives ensures that Africa's best statesmen can continue to support the continent's development after office.

Support aspiring leaders for the continent

The Foundation is funding scholarships to enable aspiring leaders from the African continent to access greater education and opportunities.

By transferring the compilation of the Ibrahim Index to African academic institutions the Foundation is supporting the development of cutting edge academic work into the measurement of governance in Africa.

Through residential schools across the continent, the Foundation is bringing together a range of stakeholders to support them to improve the quality of governance in their countries.

The Foundation is engaged in a long-term mission to improve the quality of governance on the African continent. It does not align itself with current administrations or opposition groups, nor campaign for or against individuals or parties. Nor does the Foundation see its role as commentating on short-term electoral and other crises despite their often damaging impact. There are many other organisations with better knowledge and capabilities who serve this function well.

The Foundation, by the nature of its mission, is required to remain ideologically and personally neutral.  But in the long run, the Ibrahim Index will reflect the crises and failures of leadership across all countries and it is through this tool, and a country's change in score over time, that the Foundation shines a strong light on bad, as well as good, governance and leadership.

The Mo Ibrahim Foundation is funded exclusively by Dr Mo Ibrahim and does not take any money from other sources so that its integrity and independence cannot be influenced.  The Foundation's activities and expenditures are governed by its Board of Directors.

The Foundation restricts its activities to sub-Saharan Africa as its funding is derived from past commercial success in sub-Saharan Africa and so the Foundation aims to support the further development of the region. 

In addition, few would doubt that sub-Saharan Africa faces a number of unique challenges regarding leadership and governance, and that - for a range of complex reasons - the peoples of the region have not always been well served by their leaders in the past.

The Ibrahim Index and the Ibrahim Prize are the first of their kind. An African institution is now pioneering methods of assessing governance and recognising positive leadership in a way that the world can emulate. In response to the complex challenges of leadership and governance facing the continent, Africa is taking the lead in tackling these issues.