Monrovia — The 2008 Ibrahim Index of African Governance published yesterday by the Mo Ibrahim Foundation shows that Liberia's overall performance has improved more than any other country in sub-Saharan Africa.

The report placed on the organization's website Monday, said between 2005 and 2006, Liberia jumped six places to rank 38th out of sub-Saharan Africa's 48 countries with a total score of 48.7 out of 100.

According to the Ibrahim Index's comprehensive measures of governance performance, Liberia has improved in four out of five categories: Safety and Security; Participation and Human Rights; Sustainable Economic Opportunity; and Human Development.

However, the report revealed that Liberia's score fell slightly in the category of rule of law, transparency and corruption.

According to the report, the most notable improvement was in participation and human rights, where Liberia's score rose by 48.9 points.

The 16 members of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) demonstrated strong performance in the 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. Only three members of the Community (Gambia, Guinea and Mauritania) fell in both rank and score this year. Within ECOWAS, Liberia ranked 13th out of the 16 members.

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

The Ibrahim Index of African Governance is a comprehensive ranking of sub-Saharan African nations according to governance quality.

The Ibrahim Index 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 which governments have to their citizens.

The Ibrahim Index of African Governance was created in recognition of the need for a comprehensive and quantifiable method of measuring governance performance in sub-Saharan Africa, and has been designed to provide tool for civil society and citizens to hold governments accountable and stimulate debate on governance, particularly by providing information about leadership performance.