Giving Compass' Take:

• Thomas Reuters Foundation reports on comments from Sudanese billionaire and philanthropist Mo Ibrahim on how Africa must confront issues of youth unemployment, starting with more birth control access to slow a rising population.

• There are several other issues addressed in this piece, but the main upshot is to expand opportunities for young people in Africa, so that they don't succumb to the despair and destruction seen in so many countries.

• Here's more on how we can invest in African youth leadership and development.

African countries must cut their booming birth rate and provide secure jobs for young people or risk a rise in conflict and militant groups, Sudanese billionaire philanthropist Mo Ibrahim warned on Monday.

Leaders across the continent need to tackle a "taboo" against birth control and ensure their youth have prospects, he said as he launched his foundation's annual index showing the state of governance across 54 African countries.

"We see the risks — we can see the rise in armed groups (like) Boko Haram and al Shabaab," he said, referring to Islamist militants in northern Nigeria and Somalia.

"It isn't a coincidence, it's linked to dissatisfaction arising from a number of factors, most importantly lack of hope when young people can't see a future," he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation in London.

The index report found governance is slowly improving on average across Africa.

However, it warned the economic growth of the last decade was "mainly jobless," while many children and young people were missing out on quality education even as the continent's population increased sharply.

Read the full article about tackling the perceived birth control taboo in Africa by Sonia Elks at Thomas Reuters Foundation.