BBC News Online asked Africans living on the continent for their thoughts on the UK-sponsored Commission for Africa.
The UK-sponsored Commission for Africa recently met for the first time in Africa.
The commission was set up by UK Prime Minister Tony Blair who has described the situation in Africa as "a scar on the conscience of the world".
At the launch in February Mr Blair said: "Africa is the only continent to have grown poorer in the past 25 years, 44 million children do not go to school, millions as, you know, die through famine, or disease, or conflict, and Africa risks being left even further behind."
One of the commission's objectives is to understand and help fulfil African aspirations for the future by listening to Africans.
BBC News Online asked eight Africans about their views on the commission.
We asked what issues were most important to them and what they would discuss if they were on the commission. We wanted to know what they thought the continent's problems were and how they felt they could be solved.
The reader's panel has been selected from as wide a cross-section of people as possible and may not be representative of wider African public opinion.