The fragility of freedom and how to preserve it was one of the themes explored at the 10th anniversary meeting of the Community of Democracies (CoD), a global coalition of democratic countries, meeting July 2-4 in Krakow, Poland.

In a Voice of America interview, Susan Page, NDI regional director for Southern and East Africa programs, discussed the incoming administration’’s potential response to ongoing crises in Zimbabwe, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and other sub-Saharan countries. Sharing insight from her recent trip to Zimbabwe, Page described the immediate humanitarian challenges in the country as well as the stalemate over the highly anticipated power-sharing agreement between President Robert Mugabe’’s ZANU-PF party and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).

Decades-long misuse and mismanagement of oil and mining revenues have fueled devastating spirals of corruption, conflict and poverty in many resource-rich countries. Some international efforts, such as the Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative (EITI) and the Publish What You Pay (PWYP) Campaign, are focusing on these problems through partnerships between industry, government and civil society. But many legislatures, particularly in Africa, are not addressing this critical area - despite the lawmaking and oversight responsibilities that make them uniquely placed to do so.

Many African countries have received billons of dollars in revenues from oil and other natural resources over the last 25 years.  Yet, the per capita income of most of these countries remains at less than $3 a day.

In many cases, the lack of accountability and transparency in the management of revenue exacerbates poor governance and often fuels cycles of corruption, conflict and poverty.