Twelve years ago, Equatorial Guinea made world sports headlines in the Sydney Olympics when Eric Moussambani posted the slowest record for swimming the 100m freestyle at an Olympic competition.

Eric had trained in the pool of a hotel in Malabo, the capital city, because there were no Olympic-size pools in the country.

Now, as the Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) kicked-off this week in Equatorial Guinea, only two years after South Africa became the first African nation to host a major world sporting event, many Equatoguineans feel a surge of pride to co-host star African footballers like Yaya Toure, Didier Drogba, Michael Essien and many others.

But at what cost? One can’t eat pride. Pride can’t pull you out of poverty or illiteracy. Pride alone can’t build basic infrastructure like roads, bridges, reliable electricity and internet. You can’t drink, bathe in, nor cook with pride. Pride is no substitute for basic medical care.

My country’s people understand that, if managed responsibly, oil and gas revenues could prove a blessing for our once-impoverished nation and lift us all out of poverty. But instead, our government is choosing to bet the house on fleeting, high profile events like a football tournament, an $830-million luxury resort to host the 2011 African Union summit, dozens of presidential palaces and monuments exalting the president.

We Africans have seen this before. Our rulers demonstrate through actions their misguided belief that modernization is synonymous with development, that glistening skyscrapers, stadiums and luxury resorts somehow magically dissolve poverty.

They circulate slick press releases touting ribbon-cutting ceremonies for stadiums and monuments. What they fail to mention is that most of their people still lack running water, electricity or functioning hospitals.

Sadly, what is happening in Equatorial Guinea is not new. Yet the widespread poverty and inequality in this small nation of 700 000 people and the missed opportunity by our government to significantly improve the well-being of all people with our natural resources, make it a particularly shameful example of the lack of leadership that has afflicted far too many Africans countries since the end of colonialism.

My country’s government remains tone deaf to the basic needs of its people. Most people lack access to affordable medical care. The general hospitals in the country lack electricity and basic supplies like bandages and antiseptics to care for patients. Unfortunately, the two new modern hospitals built by the government to showcase its petrodollars are unaffordable for ordinary citizens.

If one fielded a football team with 11 randomly selected local children, seven would be from families living below the poverty line, according to World Bank poverty figures. Seven would attend schools lacking electricity. Only three or four would likely complete primary school. And these are the lucky ones, the children who survived the nearly one in eight chance of dying before the age of five.

Even when it comes to sports, our government invests little in its own people. Few local players will experience the thrill of playing in front of home crowds in the new stadiums during the Africa Cup of Nations. The national football authorities decided to heavily recruit foreign players rather than investing in football academies and cultivating home-grown talent. Players from Brazil, Spain and several African countries were granted citizenship and spots on the national team.

Our government officials, however, have invested heavily in themselves. Forbes once estimated President Teodoro Obiang’s wealth to be $600-million, although that is but a guess since the finances of both the government and its officials are kept secret.

President Obiang’s eldest son and heir apparent, Teodorin, has a taste for haute couture, fast cars, luxurious mansions and Michael Jackson memorabilia. Perhaps too much so: he is now under investigation in France and the US for allegedly stealing his government’s money. But his namesake father looks out for him.

Shortly after French police seized 11 of his sports cars in Paris last year, Teodorin was appointed to serve as one of his country’s representatives at Unesco, providing him with diplomatic immunity to continue his playboy lifestyle on the Champs Elysees.

But who looks out for the rest of the children in Equatorial Guinea? It’s hard to imagine that the lives of the children who play barefooted in the slums of Malabo will be improved as a result of the Africa Cup of Nations. Just ask the children of Soweto or Khayelitsha how much their lives and those of their families have improved since the 2010 World Cup.

There is something fundamentally misguided about diverting a country’s finite resources away from fighting poverty and inequality to host a football tournament and for the personal enrichment of the presidential family.

There is something wrong with wasting national resources and revenues with the sole purpose of entertaining outsiders for three fleeting weeks of hollow pride. It can’t be justified.

Unless the government rethinks its priorities, regardless of the new stadiums, hotels and other amenities built to impress foreigners, we will still be coming in last in human development index records, despite the vast resources available in the country.

Tutu Alicante is the executive director of a small human rights organization working to promote human rights, democracy and civic participation in Equatorial Guinea.

Imagine you had to make one decision that could change your community and livelihood dramatically. Wouldn’t you want to be 100 percent sure your decision created the best opportunities possible for you and your family?

On the flip side, what if that decision involved an investment of millions of dollars? You would want all the information you could find about the possible outcomes and risks of your decision, wouldn’t you?

Today, across the globe, citizens of resource-rich yet poor countries and investors in oil, gas and mining companies have a problem just like this. These odd couples both need to make very important decisions about natural resource projects and the companies that undertake them, but they don’t have enough information to make sure their choices are right.

SEE ALSO: US regulators feel pressure to weaken transparency law… and why you should care

Without the disclosures required by the Cardin-Lugar Amendment (Section 1504 of the Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act), investors cannot put an accurate dollar amount on the risk to their investments caused by things like social or political conflict. In turn, citizens of countries where those investments are taking place don’t have the necessary information to hold their governments accountable for the cash windfalls from those resources, or to make informed decisions about whether natural resource development is the right choice for their communities.

The disclosures mandated by Cardin-Lugar also create broader benefits that local communities, investors, companies and consumers around the world can all share. The stability that happens when a country’s citizens feel they are getting a fair return on their natural resources lowers the risk of investing in companies that operate there. In addition, it also lowers a company’s cost of doing business and, in turn, may lower the costs of some of the commodities on which the entire world depends.

The support of ONE and its members is critical in making the case that these disclosures matter. You’re helping ensure that the world’s choices about natural resource development and investments are fully informed ones.

You can find out more about sustainable and responsible investing at www.calvert.com and follow Paul on Twitter at @paulbugala.

As you know, we have a campaign on transparency in the extractives industry in the works. So what better way start our action than with a little affirmation from some of our Senate champions?

In a letter sent Tuesday to Chairwoman Mary Schapiro of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Senators Ben Cardin, John Kerry, Patrick Leahy, Carl Levin and Charles Schumer expressed their concern over the delay in releasing the rules to implement Section 1504 of the Dodd-Frank Act, also known as the Cardin-Lugar Amendment. They encouraged the Commission to release a rule that clearly reflects the spirit and letter of Cardin-Lugar.

Among the issues they emphasized is the vital importance of ensuring that the new rule applies to all countries and companies with no exceptions. They explained that “any exemptions would not only encourage other countries to enact laws reducing transparency and start a ‘race to the bottom,’ but would also create a dangerous precedent, by making the U.S. lawmaking process subservient to governments around the world, including dictators who do not share our commitment to transparency, good governance, and the rule of law.”

They asserted that “greater transparency will discourage corruption, reduce conflict and enhance stability” and cite language in the recently passed 2012 budget spending bill to reiterate the SEC’s responsibility to “stay the course.“

SEE ALSO: By the numbers — the fight for oil and mining company transparency

The Committee notes that under the Dodd-Frank Act, public companies are required to provide disclosure to the SEC in matters involving conflict minerals, extractive industries, and mining safety matters. The Committee understands that the SEC will be implementing the requirements, as directed, in the coming months.”

Click here to read the full text of their letter and stay tuned as we track developments in the SEC’s decision and alert you to actions you can take to participate in our anti-corruption campaign.

1504 : Section in Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform Act requiring companies to disclose taxes, royalties, and other payments made to the US and foreign governments

1.5 billion: People living on less than $2 a day in “resource-rich” countries

$30 million: Value of Malibu mansion owned by Teodoro Nguema Obiang, son of oil-rich Equatorial Guinea’s dictator

1: Number of white crystal-covered “Bad Tour” gloves in Teodoro’s Michael Jackson memorabilia collection valued at $3 million (See “US vs. One Crystal-Covered ‘Bad Tour’ Glove” court filing.)

270: Days after enactment that Congress required the SEC to issue a final rule (regulation) to implement the law

559: Days since Dodd-Frank enacted into law by President Obama

289: Days that the SEC has been in violation of the law

13: Months after Dodd-Frank that the European Commission issued a legislative proposal that would place a similar requirement on oil and mining companies

0: Host country laws oil companies have been able to cite that would prohibit disclosure of payment information as required by Dodd-Frank

3: Commissioners eligible to vote on the final rule (Chairwoman Schapiro and Commissioner Paredes are recused because of conflicts of interest.)

$50 million: Estimated amount Exxon says that it would cost to comply with law, even though it provides no backing data for the estimate and presumably already collects and tracks payment information

$41 billion: Exxon’s 2011 profits — a 35 percent increase over 2010

$100,000: Cost Barrick Gold, world’s largest gold producer, says it would cost them to comply

$1.2 trillion: Approximate combined assets under management of investors who have told SEC to issue a strong final rule

3: Companies and industry associations (Shell, Exxon and API) who say that payment disclosure “could allow terrorists” to target a project

2: Nigerian oil workers unions who say it would actually make them safer

5: Companies who met SEC Commissioner Gallagher on December 2, 2011, to lobby for a weak final rule—Shell, Exxon, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, and Occidental

15: Oil and mining companies who “support” the voluntary Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) program who are also members of American Petroleum Institute (API). API has threatened to sue the SEC to keep payment info secret.

5: Companies on the EITI board who are also API members

11: Luxury sports cars worth at least $5 million belonging to Teodoro seized by French police in Paris as part of an investigation into possible corruption

20: Days after auto seizure that President Obiang scored his son a UNESCO envoy post in Paris

$5,000: Teodoro’s reported monthly government salary as Equatorial Guinea’s minister of agriculture

2010: Year Equatorial Guinea was expelled from EITI for failing to meet its minimum transparency requirements

5: Companies producing oil and gas in Equatorial Guinea who will be covered by Dodd-Frank (Exxon, Marathon, Hess, Noble, and Mitsui produce the vast majority of oil and gas in Equatorial Guinea. The first four are members of the American Petroleum Institute. API sent a letter to the SEC on January 19 saying it would be unlawful to issue a final rule to implement the Dodd-Frank provision.)

No data: Percent of Equatorial Guinea’s population living below the poverty line. An estimated 60 percent lived on less than $1 a day according to a 2006 UN report.

700,000: Population in Equatorial Guinea still in the dark about the country’s finances and waiting for full implementation of Dodd-Frank Section 1504

Ian Gary is the Senior Policy Manager for Extractive Industries at Oxfam America and the author of Oxfam America report Ghana’s Big Test: Oil’s Challenge to Democratic Development. He has been quoted in major media outlets, has testified twice before the US Congress, and has given presentations at the World Bank, the UN, and other venues.

We had a great event for ONE members in Chicago yesterday. A group of all ages and backgrounds gathered at Robert Morris University downtown to hear what ONE is all about, learn of our objectives for the new year, see living proof of smart, effective foreign aid, and find ways to get more involved in their communities.

In fact, almost all of our attendees took several important actions during the hour-long meeting. They wrote letters to the US Securities and Exchange Commission in support of greater transparency, and encouraged the Commission to pass a strong rule requiring companies to disclose payments made to foreign governments for access to their natural resources.

SEE ALSO: US regulators feel pressure to weaken transparency law… and why you should care

In addition, Chicago ONE members participated in a photo petition to urge elected officials to support life-saving, smart, development policies that save lives (pictures on the ONE Great Lakes Region Facebook page). We also wrote cards for Senator Mark Kirk, who is recovering from a stroke, to wish him well.

As we enter an important year for ONE in Chicago, especially with the G8 being in town in May, I am inspired by the active members we have in the city, the support they continue to give ONE, and their readiness to be advocates for the world’s poorest people.

The ANC is credited with being the first inclusive African liberation movement, uniting South Africans from diverse ethnic and economic groups. The ANC led the opposition to apartheid, the state-enforced racial segregation that persisted in South Africa from 1948 to 1994.

The government’s ban on organized opposition meant the ANC was soon classified as a terrorist organization, and many top ANC leaders spent decades in South Africa’s prisons. Most notably, Nelson Mandela served 27 years in prison before leading negotiations that led South Africa to a multi-racial democracy.

In 1994, the first multi-racial elections brought an end to apartheid and elected Mandela as South Africa’s first black president. During his term, the ANC-led government committed itself to reforming the country by focusing on social issues that were neglected during the apartheid era, such as unemployment, housing shortages, and crime.

There have been four democratic elections in South Africa since 1994, and each victorious candidate has been a member of the ANC. This is both an indication of the ANC’s dominance in South Africa, and the reason why the weekend’s celebrations were met with criticism that the ANC has not done enough to keep the promises made in 1994 to combat ongoing problems of poverty, inequality and unemployment.

Some observers of this weekend’s celebrations are concerned that the ANC is losing its inclusive, non-tribal and non-racial ethos, enriching the few, mostly politically connected, rather than the poor majority.

In the view of some critics, ANC leaders are increasingly chosen by a small group of people, selected for how best they can capture competing interests. Opposition parties are either poorly organized or racially homogeneous and have little chance to secure broad support, so the ANC will likely remain unchallenged for some time.

Without real opposition, change must come from within. ANC party conferences in June and December are an opportunity for the ANC to return to its roots and maintain South Africa as a global example for genuine democracy, equitable economic development and peaceful racial integration.

The Africa Youth Trust (AYT) is the last of our five finalists to reveal before we announce the winner of the 2011 ONE Africa Award!

AYT was founded by a group of five young people in 2005, all working in different sectors, but with a common interest to profile the youth agenda. They recognized that scattered initiatives, which they were all individually involved in, were not going to be powerful enough to bring about change. With this understanding, they combined their efforts, and today their model promotes partnerships between the younger and older generation with a focus on economic empowerment and governance. Three of the original founders are still involved with AYT today.

AYT staff and network members

The bulk of their programs are carried out by young people and builds in a research component in order to assess change and impact, capacity building for sustainability, as well as an advocacy component, driven by youth and targeting policy-makers. They have produced a guide to youth action against corruption and have used this guide to train 96 young people to date. AYT is also involved in employment training as a way to engage young people in entrepreneurship. African youth are very active users of Twitter and Facebook, and especially in Kenya, and this medium has allowed AYT to more effectively engage young people and encourage discourse.

At the onset of AYT’s activities, they found that many in the youth population were involved in corrupt activities without realizing they were complicit in corruption, simply because of their lack of knowledge. In order to address this, they collaborated with the Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission to train youth about what corruption meant and organized them to monitor and report acts of corruption.

With the support of a USAID-funded program, AYT also organized young people to conduct audits of Constituency Development Funds, which are designed to channel resources to youth programs. These funds have been notorious for the misappropriation of funds, but with the AYT’s organizing capacity, young people started to ask questions about the funds that were meant to aid their development and monitor their disbursement.

Beneficiaries of AYT’s empowerment program

While there are other youth organizations in Kenya, very few are engaged in the promotion of an inter-generational discussion that allows a platform for young people to engage in policy. The culture of civil society in Kenya is known to be primarily confrontational, a defensive reaction to the previous governments hostility to civil society. But since 2002, the new government has been much more receptive to civil society. So rather than become a watchdog of the Kenyan government, AYT’s approach has been to promote dialogue between policy makers and young people. Their non-confrontational approach is really one of the key strategies that have enabled them to be successful. In adopting such an approach they are also cautious to safe guard against becoming “yes-men” and instead demonstrate value to the government by proposing alternatives to perceived systemic problems that promote corruption.

The Africa Youth Trust has been doing amazing work! We commend their efforts and congratulate them for joining the list of 2011 ONE Africa Award finalists!

Neither is my queasiness about donors not being held to account for their failure to meet previous commitments, nor about the fact that the aid effectiveness agenda remains somewhat poorly linked to evidence about development outcomes. Nor is it about the fact that there’s little honest discussion of the risks that are involved when investing in development, particularly in places with challenging governance environments. The queasiness comes from the fact that there remains a sense that “we” -– aid industry insiders, with money and power -– know best; as if having money and power necessarily means that one has relevant expertise. However, an antidote to my queasiness may be at hand.

Discussions at Busan briefly highlighted the Open Government Partnership (OGP) and its role in pushing forward greater transparency and accountability among both developed and developing countries. At a joint Busan event with Tony Blair’s Africa Governance Initiative, USAID played the opening video from the OGP event in September. By making the link between OGP and the aid effectiveness agenda -– a link noted by Owen Barder, too -– USAID made clear that making development cooperation more effective is not just about providing better services and vaccinating more children, but is also about providing people in developing countries with the information that they need to make good choices and to hold their governments to account.

So, while I left Busan feeling queasy, I also have a sense of optimism. Beyond aid, through open governance, there is the promise of open development -– a democratic development where people, not “experts,” have the power. As Rakesh Rajani puts it, “The purpose of development should not be to create and apply expert solutions, but rather to help enrich the conditions in which people can do more of what they already do well — by making it easier for people to get, compare and share information; to learn from each other and outsiders about how they have made things work; to search, experiment with and craft solutions; and to team up to get things done” (World Bank, Open Development report, September 2011).

TI has released the 16th annual index, which ranks 183 countries according to perceived levels of corruption. The 2011 CPI is an aggregate indicator that combines different sources of information about corruption and scores countries on a scale from 10 (very clean) to 0 (highly corrupt). The CPI is determined by expert assessments and opinion surveys which include questions about the bribery of public officials, kickbacks in public procurement, embezzlement of public funds and questions that probe the strength and effectiveness of public- sector anti-corruption efforts.

Public outcry at corruption, impunity and economic instability sent shock waves around the world in 2011. Protests in many countries quickly spread to unite people from all parts of society. Their backgrounds may be diverse, but their message is the same: more transparency and accountability is needed from our leaders. According to Huguette Labelle, chair of TI, “This year we have seen corruption on protesters’ banners be they rich or poor. Whether in a Europe hit by debt crisis or an Arab world starting a new political era, leaders must heed the demands for better government.”

No region or country in the world is immune to the damages of public-sector corruption and the vast majority of the 183 countries and territories assessed score below five on a scale of 0 to 10.

Key Findings

Overall, two-thirds of the 182 countries scored this year were given scores less than 5, which mean they are considered significantly corrupt. New Zealand, Denmark and Finland top the list with scores of 9.5 and 9.4 respectively, while North Korea and Somalia are tied at the bottom with a score of 1.0.

African states that performed comparatively well include Botswana with a score of 6.1, Cape Verde with 5.5 and Rwanda with 5.0. All three appear among the 50 “cleanest” countries. These three countries have consistently improved in the CPI rankings since 2008.

“Arab Spring” countries performed worse than in 2010 and all rank in the lower half of the index with scores below 4. Tunisia dropped from 4.3 to 3.8, Egypt from 3.1 to 2.9 and Libya from 2.2 to 2.0. South Africa has dropped consistently in the CPI rankings from a score of 4.9 in 2008 to 4.1 in 2011.

The rankings show that public sector governance that puts the interests of its citizens first is the most crucial aspect in countering perceptions of corruption. Governments must respond accordingly by increasing transparency in service delivery and resource allocation. For their part, citizens need to engage with their governments and continue demanding better performance from their leaders.

The Fourth High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness isn’t even finished yet, but we can already log big wins for transparent and accountable aid. In Secretary Clinton’s keynote address at the forum in South Korea, she officially announced that the United States would be signing the International Aid Transparency Initiative (IATI), something that ONE has been pushing hard on in advance of Busan. As ONE’s Executive Director, Sheila Nix said:

“Secretary Clinton’s announcement that the United States will join the International Aid Transparency Initiative (IATI) reinforces America’s leadership in making foreign assistance more transparent and accountable. Being open and clear about how the U.S. is spending foreign aid—where and on what—will help make aid more efficient and accountable to US taxpayers and will maximize resources to help those living on less than $1.25 lift themselves out of poverty.”

The US announcement followed on from another big announcement by Canada on Monday that they would also be joining IATI. The addition of these two major donors will bring the total number of IATI signatories to 26 and increase IATI’s coverage of aid to over 75 percent of global ODA flows.

This is great news for ONE members who supported the Make Aid Transparent campaign. On Wednesday at the forum the Executive Director of Publish What You Fund (PWYF), Karin Christiansen, presented the Make Aid Transparent petition during a high-level panel on transparency and accountability. Exactly 63,905 people signed the petition from more than 180 countries, underscoring global public support for aid transparency.

ONE’s Alan Hudson and Sara Messer present the Make Aid Transparent petition to UK Secretary of State for International Development Andrew Mitchell, along with Karin Christiansen of PWYF and partners.

But more and better information is useless if people can’t access or understand it to make aid more efficient and hold governments to account. In order to improve accessibility and make aid info more user-friendly, the Open Aid Partnership was officially launched during the High Level Forum. The Open Aid Partnership is an initiative started by the World Bank Institute and other partner countries to provide visual mappings of aid projects, allowing for better donor coordination and targeting of aid. It also provides the technology for citizens to give feedback on development projects through mobile texting and online submissions, allowing for real-time monitoring and accountability! ONE supports the Open Aid Partnership and calls on more countries to sign up and provide their aid data. For donors that are already signatory to IATI, this is the next step to put transparency into action and turn aid information into development results.