Cape Verde tops Ibrahim 2010 Index
Cape Verde has emerged at the top of the 2010 Ibrahim Index, the annual governance index developed by the Mo Ibrahim Foundation. Cape Verde was the best-performing country in the continent in all four categories of the index of safety and rule of law,
participation and human rights, sustainable economic opportunity and human development. The Ibrahim Index of African Governance also showed that while overall governance performance in Africa is being driven by gains in economic and human development, it is also undermined by democratic recession. Guinea emerged as the worst-performing country in the overall governance quality for 2010.
The Republic of Cape Verde is an African country that consists of nine inhabited and several uninhabited volcanic islands off the western coast of Africa. Most are rugged and mountainous; three (Sal, Maio, and Boa Vista) are flat, desert islands with sand beaches. Praia, the capital, is on the island of Santiago, and Cape Verde’s major shipping port, Mindelo, is on the island of São Vicente. Cape Verde enjoys a stable, democratic government with an elected president as head of state, a prime minister nominated by the National Assembly (the national legislative body) as head of government, and elected members of a unicameral National Assembly. The judicial system is comprised of numerous courts, culminating in a Supreme Court.
Two languages are spoken widely in Cape Verde: Portuguese (the official language, spoken by many but not all Cape Verdeans), and Cape Verdean Crioulo (a mixture of Portuguese and African languages spoken almost universally). While the tourist industry brings ever-growing numbers of visitors, facilities on many islands remain limited. Sal and Boa Vista have the most developed tourist infrastructure. The previously uninhabited islands were discovered and colonized by the Portuguese in the 15th Century and became an important location in the Atlantic slave trade due to their geographically advantageous position. The islands’ prosperity often attracted pirates including Sir Francis Drake, who twice sacked the (then) capital, Ribeira Grande, in the 1580s. The islands were also visited by Charles Darwin’s expedition in 1832. The decline in the slave trade in the 19th century resulted in an economic crisis. With few natural resources and without strong sustainable investment from the Portuguese, the people grew increasingly discontent with the colonial masters, who nevertheless refused to provide the local authorities with more autonomy. This discontent festered and culminated in 1975 when a movement led by Amílcar Cabral achieved independence for the archipelago.
The country has an estimated population (most of it of Creole ethnicity) of about 500,000, with its capital city (Praia), accounting for a quarter of its citizens. Nearly 38% of the population lives in rural areas according to the 2010 Cape Verdean census, about 20% live below the poverty threshold, and there is a literacy rate of around 85%. Politically, the country is a very stable democracy, with notable economic growth and improvements of living conditions, despite its lack of natural resources, and has garnered International recognition from other countries and international organizations, which often provide development aid. Since 2007, Cape Verde has been classified as a developing nation. Tough economic times during the last decades of its colonization and the first years of Cape Verde’s independence led many to migrate to Europe, the Americas and other African countries. This migration phenomenon was so significant that the number of Cape Verdeans and their descendants living abroad currently exceeds the population of Cape Verde itself. Historically the influx of remittances from these immigrant communities to their families has provided a substantial contribution to help strengthen the country’s economy. Currently, the Cape Verde’s economy is mostly service-oriented with a growing focus on tourism and foreign investment, which benefits from the islands’ warm climate throughout the year, diverse landscape, welcoming people and cultural richness, especially in music. The Cape Verde archipelago is located in the Atlantic Ocean, approximately 570 kilometres (350 mi) off the coast of West Africa, near Mauritania and Senegal, and is part of the Micronesia ecoregion. It is a horseshoe-shaped cluster of ten islands (nine inhabited) and eight islets that constitute an area of 4033 km². Most of the population is of Creole ethnicity, mixed from black African and European descent. The European men who colonized Cape Verde did not usually bring wives or families with them; hence they tended to marry the local females as well as female African slaves who were brought to the islands. A genetic study revealed that the ancestry of the population in Cape Verde is 57% African and 43% European.
The Ibrahim Index of African Governance is a homegrown set of parameters for measuring development on the continent. Produced in association with Harvard University, while academic and technical assistance was subsequently provided by a range of African academics and research bodies, the Ibrahim index is the first alternative to the Human Development Index which is issued by the United Nations and traditionally used by multi-lateral agencies worldwide. The HDI has been criticized as being euro-centric and flawed in its application to Africa. Funded and led by the Mo Ibrahim Foundation, the Ibrahim Index uses several different indicators to compile an overall ranking of countries, which can be used for civil society in African countries to hold their governments to account. Since 2009, the index has been applied throughout the continent. Prior to that time, it was limited to Sub-Saharan Africa, omitting the northern African countries of Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya and Egypt. The index was designed to compare increases or declines in governance year on year in order to show that Africa is not always badly governed and also as a tool for citizens to accurately monitor how well their government is doing. The first rating was released in 2007.
Famous Cape Verdeans include Jazz Singer and actress Lena Horne (1917-2010), Lisa Nicole Lopes (1971 – 2002) of girl band TLC, Dana Mohler-Faria president of Bridgewater State University, Amber Rose, US-based Model and Socialite and Carmen Souza UK-based singer
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