It is incredible that since I have been investing in the development of my iPost, not a single member of my family or relations and none of my friends and none among those who claim to know me has asked me for the status update on it. They are totally clueless about the present status and this clearly shows how ignorant they are of my state of mind and stream of consciousness, including those who have slept in the same bed with me. Their intellectual ignorance of my preoccupation is shocking.
They only talk about the critical situation of my current lack of money and debts of owing over N280, 000 which is less than US$500 for the first time since I was born and I am 59, with a debt free duly Incorporated digital media company with a corporate bank account with Access Bank Plc.
As I speak I have become homeless and surviving by the grace of Almighty God through the kindness of few people, including members of my family, confidants and well wishers.
No greatness comes without great trials.
Only key members of the Nigerian tech community and global tech startups community are asking for updates and setting up both physical and virtual meetings for me with funders and investors such as Techstars.
TWAA: The New Global Women’s Networking Platform Lifting Communities across Africa Launches Women in Tech Community
TWAA seeks to create impact in the world of networking, with a focus on tools for community mobilization, content sharing and networking targeting the female economy
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa, August 31, 2022/ -- Built with safe protocols and features to counter cyber bullying; Set to redefine digital networking as we know it and drive intra Africa trade; Women influencers and communities globally are setting up for “early adopters” advantage; Available on web portal, android app and IOS apps for women worldwide.
TWAA - a mentorship and digital community based social media company arising from Africa – launches a “Women in Tech” community on its platform in a bid to connect women led communities with technology. TWAA seeks to create impact in the world of networking, with a focus on tools for community mobilization, content sharing and networking targeting the female economy.
Founded by African media and tech entrepreneur Irene Kiwia, and incubated and invested by leading Pan African venture studio Adanian Labs, TWAA is a platform where women across the world can build groups and manage their communities in a safe space. The platform incorporates multi tools for content creation and sharing; collaboration and co-creation, group management; a marketplace for products and services; group and one-on-one mentorship and much more.
“TWAA is built to give women a relevant platform that addresses critical issues in digital networking including data privacy, a by design shield from cyber bullying, inclusivity, accessibility and an overly simplified personal portal that allows women to build and manage their communities more efficiently and effectively - with mentorship being a key component. TWAA is built by women for women, factoring in varied nuances that are specific to what women find as relevant to how they use and interact with technology,” said Irene Kiwia, TWAA founder.
TWAA has been in beta (https://bit.ly/3Rs5jXf) mode since October 2020 on its web portal, and the android app version went live in May 2021 with the IOS app launching today.
Currently TWAA has over 25,000 members from over 35 countries. It is open to “early adopters” who can benefit from building a solid wave of connections and becoming the platform’s initial set of influencers as the member base grows.
“What’s fascinating about TWAA is the fact that it is built to promote inclusivity with women in mind, giving users an exciting user-friendly experience with features that streamline engagement like never before. For the first time ever I feel like I have a platform that ticks the key things that I needed the most in my personal development journey. It’s absolutely empowering!” said Linda Caroline, a TWAA member and Project Manager at Bureau Veritas.
‘I have been managing multiple women communities in various platforms and it’s always been overwhelming to deliver value because everything is super scattered with a user journey that is tiring to both me as a community manager and my network members. TWAA gives me a one stop platform to onboard my groups and interact with each group seamlessly, because the group management tools factor in everything I need to grow and bring value to my group… from members management, a content portal, a marketplace, a video conferencing tool, to networking tools, and all of this within one click.” Said Jane Thomas, a women empowerment champion in South Africa.
Even though The TWAA platform is still relatively new, the social media world has shown how quickly networking platforms can grow. We have seen newly launched social apps going viral and becoming global sensations virtually overnight, grossing billion dollars in a short time span.
“Our mission at TWAA is to give women digital tools that will help them create massive value for themselves and their communities. We built a platform with women in mind considering issues around safety and cyberbullying, where by design the platform counters that. We also understand how important communities are for women and we have ensured that we give them a platform that will enable them to build and manage communities in a manner that drives value. We are launching a Women in Tech community on TWAA to bring key technology stakeholders along with women in technology to bridge accessibility in terms of capacity, knowledge, information, tools and resources. We foresee a community where women who are looking to join the tech space in Africa are interacting, learning and exchanging value and collaborating”.
Here’s what you should know about TWAA, the women's platform that may soon have the female world and female led communities globally interconnected and creating exponential value.
On the TWAA platform, members can create groups and invite their communities to join and participate in mentorship, knowledge sharing, video chats, conversations and other forms of collaboration. Members can see other members, their profiles and connect with each other. Members can also set up groups with the person who creates the group taking over the admin rights to set up group protocols.
Members can also display their products and services on Store - the in-platform marketplace, set up their speaker’s bio on the speakers’ portal and display books in the book store to ensure that they can be accessed across the world.
Members can also interact with the built-in content sharing features including article write-ups, short posts, video posting, photo sharing and podcasts. The content is well segmented to allow members to access video, audio, written and all other content on dedicated portals, with the timeline giving the platform an edge on feature options.
Signing up to TWAA is easy. You can access the platform via wwww.twaa.io or download the app on android play store or IOS app store and set up your profile. The biggest appeal for the platform is that it feels like all of one’s favorite platforms and digital tools are fused into one fabulous portal, allowing for seamless interaction at one place.
TWAA members can sign up as individuals or as an organization – with a different dashboard experience for each. Several organizations are signing on to the platform including Bureau Veritas, a global leading standardization company who were among the first organizations to use the platform to run an internal capacity building program for the women within their organization.
TWAA is also running a campaign to get influencers, content creators, women’s groups, women’s associations and corporates across the world to join the platform and use it as a tool to build a valuable proposition in empowering women across different sectors.
The platform can be used as a forum for a range of topics across various sectors and discourse. Be it fashion, beauty, science and technology, innovation, entrepreneurship or any other type of activism, TWAA provides the relevant tools to connect, mobilize, engage and influence.
Given the current tech landscape, it is exciting to see an African innovation that is scaling globally, and the future looks promising for TWAA as it grows both in its member base and profile, disrupting the way women connect and interact with social platforms.
INDIGENOUS FOR GLOBAL! #AFRIFF 2022 CALL FOR ENTRIES
LAGOS – Monday, 21st March 2022
The Africa International Film Festival (AFRIFF), today announced its Call for Entries for its 11th Edition in November 2022. Speaking at today’s briefing, founder and festival director Ms Chioma Ude said “I am delighted to open our Call for Entries for our 11th anniversary edition, following Amazon’s acquisition of films from AFRIFF’s film catalog last year, we are now strategically positioned to help filmmakers distribute their titles with our landmark partnership with Amazon Prime Video. We also had Byron Allen’s Entertainment Studios pick up 2 movies from the festival. This year, we are already in talks with a multitude of streaming platforms interested in licensing and acquiring films from the festival We are proud to present this year’s programme themed INDIGENOUS FOR GLOBAL, dedicated to the incredible opportunities Amazon Prime video and others offer Nigerian filmmakers going forward, enabling us to dream and continue to innovate and create exciting and vibrant experiences for our Audience”.
Submissions for the 2022 edition of AFRIFF are now officially open and will run till July 30th 2022. General entries will be accepted until July 1st with a late entry deadline set for July 30th, 2022. Filmmakers are encouraged to submit entries early with the regular deadline as late entry submissions will be strictly accepted only via waiver code.
Festival selections include fiction and non-fiction films both domestic and international, features and shorts, impact-driven documentaries and Animation with an emphasis on films that have not been premiered on commercial screens.
ENTRY DETAILS
Early Deadline: July 1st | Final Deadline: July 30 |
Documentary: Documentaries can be short form or feature length, however short docs are accepted as Short films for AFRIFF’s programme.
Animation/Anime: Accepted as short form or feature length.
SUBMISSION GUIDELINES
Only those films produced after January 1st of 2021 are eligible for competition.
Films produced before 2021 maybe accepted in the programme if their story speaks to the programme theme or AFRIFF programmers think it suits the programme.
Films of any nationality and language can participate. Non English must be subtitled.
Submissions will only be accepted through AFRIFF’s filmfreeway page.
There are no limits to the number of entries a filmmaker may enter, but these have to be submitted separately.
AFRIFF does not require premiere status; however it will prioritize premiere status for competition and screenings.
Submit Your Film on https://filmfreeway.com/AFRIFF
The 11th Africa International Film Festival will be a hybrid experience. Follow us on all social media platform @AFRIFF
Save the date November 6 –12, 2022.
ABOUT AFRICA INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL (AFRIFF)
The Africa International Film Festival (AFRIFF) conceived by Ms Chioma Ude is a celebration of Cinema and filmmaking talent from Africa and the diaspora. It consistently delivers a rich programme to foster invaluable exchanges of ideas, production connections, and business relationships. It creates an energetic and exciting hub for entertainment industry professionals to make rewarding connections and has gradually gained a reputation for delivering incredible value.
The objectives are to develop the local film industry to a level where the products compete favorably with their contemporaries all over the world; providing a growth opportunity for these film industry professionals to eventually export their products and facilitate access to investors, equipment, and technical skill acquisition through several capacity development opportunities.
Africa International Film festival - AFRIFF Ornife Legacy Place, 8 Professor Gabriel Olusanya Street, 105102, Lekki,
Nollywood is our precious National Treasure. But majority of Nigerians, including the majority of the practitioners in Nollywood don't have this realisation that everyone of the icons in Nollywood is a national treasure; the filmmakers, actors, screenwriters, cinematographers and the other indispensable professionals who have made Nollywood an international phenomenon in filmmaking and in the literary culture of motion picture.
The realisation of the importance and significance of Nollywood is the primary purpose of publishing the NOLLYWOOD MIRROR®Series, the first book series on Nollywood and the Nigerian film industry which has become a vital part of the knowledge base of Nollywood and the history of filmmaking in Nigeria.
Nollywood is the focus of scholarly researches on African studies, film studies, haute couture and the literary culture of the literature of Nollywood screenplays in numerous universities in different parts of the world. The sociocultural, socioeconomic and sociopolitical developments in Nollywood have only been fully realised by film students and scholars and they are increasing the knowledge economy of Nollywood which is more important to nation building than the short term benefits of the film and TV productions, cinemas and OTT platforms combined.
The realisation of Nollywood as a very important national treasure of Nigeria will increase the local and global appreciation of the Nigerian film industry and the greatness of Nigeria in the world.
Google Voice is trending on news that it is now available outside the United States, in 38 languages. Launched in the United States in 2010, Google Voice allows users to redirect calls to their cellphones, landlines, and Gmail from a Web-based application with a familiar interface. Google Voice has no connection fee and customers simply pay for the time they actually use. Domestic and outbound calls to the United States and Canada are currently free. To promote the new international calling, Google is lowering calling rates to more than 150 destinations, in hopes of cutting into the market share of Skype, still the industry leader in computer-based calls.
Video: Sheraton Hotel Guests Stay Free as Industry's Most Recognized Brand Celebrates the Culmination of $6 Billion Global Revitalization
Check-in On Us - Thousands of Rooms on the House at 86 hotels New and Newly Renovated Properties Visit sheraton.com/freenight to Register for Your Chance to Stay for Free on October 23rd
WHITE PLAINS, N.Y., Sept. 30 /PRNewswire/ -- Sheraton Hotels & Resorts wants consumers to see what a difference $6 billion can make so the hotel giant is giving away thousands of free rooms for one night only at 86 hotels throughout North America to celebrate the completion of the brand's multi-billion global revitalization effort. Consumers can visit sheraton.com/freenight on October 6-9 to register for a chance to book a free room on October 23rd at new and newly renovated flagship hotels including the Sheraton Waikiki, Sheraton Boston, Sheraton Kauai, Sheraton Dallas and Sheraton Phoenix Downtown.
To view the Multimedia News Release, go to: http://www.prnewswire.com/mnr/sheraton/40288/
70,000 New Guestrooms, 300 New Lobbies and 100,000 New Beds Part of Multi-Billion Makeover
As part of a three-year global overhaul, Sheraton has invested more than $4 billion in new hotels, renovations and signature brand initiatives in North America and another $2 billion in new hotels overseas. Highlights include:
-- 70,000 new or newly renovated guestrooms -- 50,000 in North America alone -- More than 300 new lobbies featuring the brand's innovative Link@Sheraton(SM) experienced with Microsoft® -- More than 100,000 brand new Sheraton Sweet Sleeper all-white, high thread count beds in 211 hotels and 83,000 guestrooms worldwide
-- 98 renovated properties, nearly half of Sheraton's North American portfolio, including high profile gateway properties like the Sheraton Denver, Sheraton Boston, Sheraton Seattle Hotel & Towers and Sheraton Montreal and Sheraton Waikiki.
Global Powerhouse Boasts Highest Brand Awareness in the Industry
As Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc's (NYSE:HOT) largest and most global brand, Sheraton boasts more than 400 hotels in 70 countries with a global brand awareness among business travelers at 92%, the highest global awareness of any hotel brand in the world. Making up more than 44% of Starwood's total rooms, Sheraton is a key focus for Starwood, especially as the company aggressively prepares to own the upswing as the economy recovers. As yesterday's staycations, canceled meetings and postponed business trips become tomorrow's pent up demand, travelers will return to the road and find the newest portfolio in the Sheraton brand's history. In fact, 60% of Starwood properties - including all nine brands - will be brand new or freshly renovated by the end of 2009.
"We have spent the last few years renovating and rebuilding one of the hotel industry's most iconic brands and as the economy begins to recover Sheraton is in an enviable position, poised to come out of the gate fast and leverage our new flagship hotels, renovated properties and signature brand offerings," said Frits van Paasschen, Starwood CEO. "When travelers return to the road en masse, Sheraton will be ready."
Revitalization Plan already Bearing Fruit as Guest Satisfaction Scores Reach Historic Highs
Sheraton Hotel's efforts to revitalize the brand kicked off in 2007, and as the impact of these efforts take hold in hotels worldwide, the brand is beginning to reap rewards and measurable success, including:
-- Sheraton Guest Satisfaction scores are the highest in its history, with overall satisfaction at 8.12 out of 10, year-to-date, surpassing the brand's own goal. Likelihood to return to the brand has increased from 7.89 to 8.78 and Meeting Planner Satisfaction scores are also at an all time high. -- Sheraton has opened 57 new hotels worldwide since 2007 with 10 more slated to open by the end of the year -- more than any other Starwood brand -- In addition, Sheraton has removed more than 38 hotels worldwide including 24 in North America that could not meet the brand's new standards. 4 more will exit the brand by the end of the year.
-- Over the next three months, Sheraton will mark the completion of a $500 million investment in renovations to existing properties, including multi-million dollar efforts at the Sheraton Denver, Sheraton Dallas and Sheraton Montreal, as well as the highly-anticipated November opening of Sheraton Puerto Rico Convention Center Hotel & Casino, a $210 million, 503-room property that will be the first new full-service hotel and casino built in San Juan in more than 10 years.
Seeing is Believing -- Thousands of Travel Pros to Attend Sheraton Open House Events
In addition to giving away thousands of room nights to showcase its recently renovated and new properties, the brand will host a three-day open house for meeting planners, corporate travel buyers, social event planners and other travel influencers, September 29-October 1. The event will spotlight a selection of Sheraton Hotels "best in class" hotels, including: Le Centre Sheraton in Montreal, Sheraton Chicago Hotel & Towers, Sheraton Birmingham Hotel, Sheraton Dallas Hotel, Sheraton Denver Hotel, Sheraton Phoenix Downtown Hotel, Sheraton Seattle Hotel & Towers and Sheraton Waikiki Hotel.
Sheraton Hotels & Resorts, like all brands within Starwood's robust portfolio, is proud to offer the Starwood Preferred Guest® program, which made headlines when it launched in 1999 with a breakthrough policy of no blackout dates on Free Night Awards. SPG® offers members the ability to redeem awards at more resorts, more luxury properties, more European hotels and more golf properties than any other hotel program.
About Sheraton Hotels & Resorts
Sheraton helps guests make connections at more than 400 hotels in 75 countries around the world. It is owned by and is the largest and most global brand of Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc., one of the leading hotel and leisure companies in the world with 960 properties in 97 countries and 145,000 employees at its owned and managed properties. Starwood Hotels is a fully integrated owner, operator and franchisor of hotels, resorts and residences with the following internationally renowned brands: St. Regis®, The Luxury Collection®, W®, Westin®, Le Meridien®, Sheraton®, Four Points® by Sheraton, and the recently launched Aloft®, and Element SM. Starwood Hotels also owns Starwood Vacation Ownership, Inc., one of the premier developers and operators of high quality vacation interval ownership resorts. For more information, please visit www.starwoodhotels.com.
UNICEF and UN Inter-Agency Panel Release New Figures
NEW YORK, Sept. 10 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- UNICEF today released new figures that show the rate of deaths of children under five years of age continued to decline in 2008.
The data shows a 28 percent decline in the under-five mortality rate, from 90 deaths per 1000 live births in 1990, to 65 deaths per 1000 live births in 2008. According to these estimates, the absolute number of child deaths in 2008 declined to an estimated 8.8 million from 12.5 million in 1990; the base line year for the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
"Compared to 1990, 10,000 fewer children are dying every day," said UNICEF Executive Director Ann M. Veneman. "While progress is being made, it is unacceptable that each year 8.8 million children die before their fifth birthday."
The new estimates are the result of collection and analysis of a range of data sources by demographers and health experts from UNICEF, the World Health Organization, the World Bank and the United Nations Population Division, guided by technical advisors from a number of major academic institutions.
The data shows global under-five mortality has decreased steadily over the past two decades, and that the rate of the decline in the under-five mortality rates has increased since the 1990s. The average rate of decline from 2000 to 2008 is 2.3 percent, compared to a 1.4 percent average decline from 1990 to 2000.
"Statistics tend to be clinical and antiseptic, however the practical, real world implications of this development cannot be ignored," said Caryl Stern, President and CEO, U.S. Fund for UNICEF. "These new numbers illustrate that 1500 more kids a day are waking up to see the sunrise, play with their friends and make their mothers smile."
Public health experts attribute the continuing decline to increased use of key health interventions, such as immunizations, including measles vaccinations, the use of insecticide-treated bednets to prevent malaria and Vitamin A supplementation. Where these interventions have increased, positive results have followed.
Progress has been seen in every part of the world, and even in some of the least-developed countries. A key example is Malawi, one of ten high under-five mortality countries that is now on track to meet the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) of a two-thirds reduction in under-five mortality between 1990 and 2015.
Estimates show that under-five mortality in Malawi has fallen from 225 deaths per 1000 live births in 1990, to 100 per thousand in 2008. In 2000, only 3 percent of children under five slept under a mosquito net - a key means of preventing malaria, whereas by 2006 this had risen to 25 percent. Malawi has focused its limited resources on improvements in health and health systems and the use of the most effective interventions, with the result that significant numbers of children's lives have been saved.
"We know what interventions work and we need to scale up those interventions and make sure they are available wherever they are needed," Stern added. "Reaching zero preventable deaths is not a dream, we can achieve this, but momentum shouldn't just be sustained, it has to be accelerated!"
The new data also shows that seven of the 67 high mortality countries (those with under-five mortality rates of 40 per thousand live births or higher) have consistently achieved annual rates of reduction of under-five mortality of 4.5 percent or higher. These are Nepal, Bangladesh, Eritrea, Lao People's Democratic Republic, Mongolia, Bolivia and Malawi.
Impressive gains have also been made in countries that are not fully on track to meet the Millennium goal. Niger, Mozambique and Ethiopia have all reduced under-five mortality by more than 100 per 1000 live births since 1990.
While progress has been made in many countries, the global rate of improvement is still insufficient to reach the MDG, and Africa and Asia combined still account for 93 percent of all under-five deaths that occur each year in the developing world.
"A handful of countries with large populations bear a disproportionate burden of under-five deaths, with 40 percent of the world's under-five deaths occurring in just three countries: India, Nigeria, and the Democratic Republic of Congo," said Veneman. "Unless mortality in these countries can be significantly reduced, the MDG targets will not be met."
In some countries, progress is slow or non-existent. In South Africa the under-five mortality rate has actually gone up since 1990. The health of the child is inextricably linked to the health of the mother and South Africa has the highest number of women living with HIV in the world. Recent commitments by the government to scale up interventions to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV/AIDS should help improve the situation.
The survey data incorporated in these estimates generally reflects mortality over the preceding three to five years. This means that major improvements in provision of nets for malaria prevention, of vaccines against meningitis (HiB) and of vitamin A supplementation, improved prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV and of pediatric HIV, and further progress on protecting against measles and tetanus may not yet be fully reflected in the data.
Progress can be accelerated even in the poorest environments, through integrated, evidence-driven, community-based health programs that focus on addressing the major causes of death -- pneumonia, diarrhea, newborn disorders, malaria, HIV and under-nutrition.
The two leading causes of under-five mortality are pneumonia and diarrhea. New tools, such as vaccines against pneumococcal pneumonia and rotaviral diarrhea, could provide additional momentum.
"Achieving the Millennium Development Goal target of a two-thirds reduction in under-five mortality by 2015 will require a strong sense of urgency with targeted resources for greater progress," said Veneman.
About UNICEF
UNICEF has saved more children's lives than any other humanitarian organization in the world. Working in over 150 countries, UNICEF provides children with health care, clean water, nutrition, education, emergency relief, and more. The U.S. Fund for UNICEF supports UNICEF's work through fundraising, advocacy, and education in the United States.
UNICEF is at the forefront of efforts to reduce child mortality worldwide. There has been substantial progress--the annual number of under-five deaths dropped from 13 million in 1990 to 8.8 million in 2008. But still, 24,000 children die each day from preventable causes. Our mission is to do whatever it takes to make that number zero by giving children the essentials for a safe and healthy childhood. For more information, visit www.unicefusa.org.
Source: U.S. Fund for UNICEF
CONTACT: Richard Alleyne, +1-212-880-9177, ralleyne@unicefusa.org, or Lauren Monahan, +1-212-880-9136, lmonahan@unicefusa.org, both of U.S. Fund for UNICEF
Unregulated Money in Politics Is Greatest Corruption Threat Globally, Study Finds
Iraq and Somalia Included For First Time in New Report Assessing Anti-Corruption Mechanisms and Government Accountability in 57 Countries
WASHINGTON, Feb. 18 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Regardless of income levels, the #1 corruption threat facing a majority of countries is the unregulated flow of money into the political process, a new report finds. The report, a major investigative study of 57 countries, was released today by Global Integrity, an award-winning international nonprofit organization that tracks governance and corruption trends globally.
"For the third straight year, poor transparency around the financing of political parties and candidates was the weakest element of most countries' anti-corruption frameworks," said Global Integrity's Managing Director, Nathaniel Heller. "If we're serious about rolling back corruption and abuse of power in both the developed and developing worlds, more effective safeguards to curb the influence of money in politics are desperately needed. The Rod Blagojevichs of the world are just the tip of the iceberg."
The Global Integrity Report: 2008 covers developed countries such as Canada, Japan and Italy as well as dozens of the world's emerging markets and developing nations, from Argentina and China to the West Bank and Iraq. Rather than measure perceptions of corruption, the report assesses the accountability mechanisms and transparency measures in place (or not) to prevent corruption through more than 300 "Integrity Indicators." Gaps in those safeguards suggest where corruption is more likely to occur.
Global Integrity's new Grand Corruption Watch List, introduced as part of the 2008 report, includes Angola, Belarus, Cambodia, China, Georgia, Iraq, Montenegro, Morocco, Nicaragua, Serbia, Somalia, the West Bank, and Yemen, all countries viewed at serious risk for high-level corruption. The Watch List identifies countries where the lack of effective conflicts of interest regulations, unregulated flows of money into the political process, and poor oversight over large state-owned enterprises combine to pose a systemic risk of large-scale theft of public resources. "Watch List countries are unfortunately characterized by a toxic mix of corruption risk factors that should be cause for alarm," said Heller.
Other major findings of the report include the following:
-- The most significant anti-corruption failure in much of the Arab world is poor access to government information. While the countries in the Middle East and North Africa assessed in the 2008 Report struggle to match global medians on many factors, their comprehensive lack of effective access to government information is virtually double those countries' deficit on any other issue assessed by Global Integrity.
-- Several key countries experienced gains or backsliding since 2007. Important anti-corruption improvements were noted in Bangladesh and Nigeria; in China, a more positive assessment was linked to the introduction of a new regulation granting citizens access to government information. Noticeable decliners included Bosnia and Herzegovina and Ecuador; Georgia also slipped for the second straight year and continues to struggle consolidating democratic gains since the 2003 Rose Revolution.
-- Corruption and transparency challenges appear to be worsening on the Horn of Africa, threatening to exacerbate tensions in an already-fragile security situation. Drops in performance in Kenya and Ethiopia, combined with Somalia's ignominious honor of boasting the worst-ever overall Global Integrity country score, do not bode well for establishing the kinds of checks and balances in all three countries that could promote good governance and improve stability.
"The country assessments that comprise the Report offer among the most detailed, evidence-based evaluations of anti-corruption mechanisms available anywhere in the world," said Global Integrity's International Director, Marianne Camerer. "They provide policymakers, investors, and citizens alike with the information to understand the governance challenges unique to each country and to take action."
The report is the product of months of on-the-ground reporting and data gathering by a team of more than 260 in-country journalists and researchers who prepared more than a million words of text and 20,000 data points for their respective countries. The 2008 report covers the following diverse countries:
Albania Angola Argentina Azerbaijan Bangladesh Belarus Bosnia and Herzegovina Bulgaria Cambodia Cameroon Canada Chile China Colombia D.R. Congo Ecuador Egypt Ethiopia Fiji Georgia Ghana Guatemala Hungary India Indonesia Iraq Italy Japan Jordan Kazakhstan Kenya Kuwait Kyrgyz Republic Lithuania Macedonia (FYROM) Moldova Montenegro Morocco Nepal Nicaragua Nigeria Pakistan Philippines Poland Romania Russia Serbia Solomon Islands Somalia South Africa Tanzania Tunisia Turkey Uganda West Bank Yemen Zimbabwe
To access the Global Integrity Report: 2008, please visit http://report.globalintegrity.org/.
The Global Integrity Report: 2008 was generously supported by the Australian Agency for International Development, the Canadian International Development Agency, the Legatum Institute, and the World Bank.
Global Integrity is a leading international non-profit organization that tracks governance and corruption trends around the world. Working with a network of several hundred in-country journalists and researchers in 92 countries, we aim to shape and inform the debate around governance and anti-corruption reforms through in-depth diagnostic tools at the national, sub-national, and sector levels. Our information is regularly used by aid donors, civil society advocates, and governments alike to press for governance reforms in both the developed and developing world. For more information about the organization, visit http://www.globalintegrity.org/.
Source: Global Integrity
CONTACT: Nathaniel Heller, +1-202-449-4100, nathaniel.heller@globalintegrity.org, or Jonathan Werve, +1-202-449-8123, jonathan.werve@globalintegrity.org, both of Global Integrity
Web Site: http://report.globalintegrity.org/
Releases displayed in Africa/Lagos time 19 Feb 2009
