SHARING KNOWLEDGE ASIA PACIFIC REGIONAL PROGRAMME MEETING SPECIAL EDITION
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22ND MAY 2014
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ISSUE 03
NATIONAL INTEGRITY SYSTEM REPORT LAUNCHED IN KATHMANDU Transparency International released the National Integrity System report, the first comprehensive study on transparency and corruption prevention in the region, in Kathmandu on Wednesday. Governments in corruption-stricken South Asia must allow anti-corruption agencies to investigate and prosecute corruption independently, is one of the main findings of the report. The report has analysed how well 70 national institutions in Bangladesh, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka fight corruption. In sharing the key findings of the report Transparency International’s Asia-Pacific Director Srirak Plipat said that political interference on corruption cases and investigation has been wide spread in South Asia, making a major obstacle in brining perpetrators into justice system.
In all six countries, corruption fighters in government and ordinary people alike who want to report, expose, investigate or prosecute corruption face legal barriers, political opposition and harassment that allow bribery, secret dealings and the abuse of power to go unchecked, the report warned. While hardly an official speech delivered across the region fails to mention corruption, it is still on the rise in South Asia. All six score under 40 out of 100 on the Corruption Perceptions Index, a sign of rampant public sector corruption.
This corruption threatens to jeopardize fragile political and economic advances made in the region. Despite economic growth averaging 6 per cent a year over the past 20 years, 31 per cent live on less than $1.25 a day, according to the World Bank. Corruption in public bodies that should provide basic services to the poor means that economic growth is only enjoyed by the few.
EXISTING POLITICAL WILL FOR WHOSE BENEFIT? Definition of political will should be narrated for the benefit of the people. But in South Asian democracies our rulers manipulate this political will to fulfil their own agenda: a unanimous conclusion of all the speakers at the Open Forum which presented the findings of the South Asia National Integrity Study (NIS) to a large stakeholder group in Kathmandu, which took place after the launch of the NIS study of Nepal and the South Asia regional report. The presenters, who represented Nepal (Surya Nath Upadhayay – Former Chief of the Anti-Corruption Commission, Tharanath Dhal – Right to Information Activist), Sri Lanka (Prof. Arjuna Parakrama – Governance Expert South Asia) and India (Subash Chandra Agrawal – Right to Information Activist) amplified the findings of the regional report with examples from their countries. Tackling corruption at the higher level is an uphill task. If corruption to be fought effectively it should focus on shifting mind-sets in every society. Changing attitudes of communities at grassroots contribute to both creating a generation of change agents as well as creating a demand base for good governance. Till this happens laws will be passed, conventions will be ratified, commissions be created but all these mechanism will be manipulated for the benefit of the present day skewed political will of our rulers. The open forum attended by donors, journalists, anti-corruption fighters, students and chapters in the Asia Pacific region was moderated by Dr. Sumaiya Khair, the Deputy Executive Director of Transparency International Bangladesh. @T_Coombes Only 20% in #SouthAsia think their govt is beating #corruption, down from 40% in 2011. find out why; http://www.transparency.org/news/pressrelease/ behind_south_asias_rampant_corruption
Best lessons learnt I am going to develop a leadership development plan in order to develop critical development areas, creating visioning and planning.
THIS IS A FUND RAISING YEAR CLOSING REMARKS OF THE RPM BY SRIRAK
To share some reflections we have seen that ALAC has opened up doors subsequently to engage people. Over the last five years TI has transferred substantially by having leadership as well as effective high profile level advocacy work to become a bottom up movement in the region. In the process we managed to engage people, particularly the poor and the marginalized. This is the most significant contribution of the ALACs and this is where we are quite keen to put more investment in the region and at the same time take stock, learn and share what the chapters have done. We commit to continue with this work. The integrity in the public sector in the region remains a challenge. Average score of CPI in our region remain lower than 40 out of 100. This reflects the gravity of the issue. Procurement has been coming back every time we have conversations. Though there are many issues to tackle we cannot move to the next interesting thing until we address the on-going issues. Along with ALACs youth work has been growing in our region substantially and at present 14 chapters are working on this compared to three years ago. It is very critical that we all have the ownership of the regional program. By the end of the day regional programs is a collection of thinking of national chapters together. This is a fund raising year for us. Us means both APD and chapters. We know many of you are making shifts and changes and we are looking at how we can support you. We are now knocking at the doors and I met 16 donors in one week in late April. That gives a good picture of reality of what is happening and a sense of where we can actually find money relatively easy and where finding money would be much harder. I have shared with many of you that ALAC seems to be one of the difficult projects to find money regionally somehow while youth, NIS seems to be relatively easier. Majority of traditional donors of TI, bilateral agencies can support at the national level rather than regional level. It reminds us that we need to work together and adapt our strategy accordingly. What we are hearing from this morning is that what and how APD can play a bigger role to help chapters to fundraise at the national level, at the same time not dropping completely what we need to do at the regional level. This means we will put more investment to develop templates, programs, concept notes, making it easier for chapters to fund raise.
For me the Asia Pacific regional meeting is the first one I attended. I learnt couple of things. National chapters including Nepal and other countries in the region are doing very impactful programs, projects and initiatives, which could be scaled up to the international level. -Tur-Od Lakhagvajav, Executive Director, TI Mongolia
STRATEGIC PRIORITIES FOR 2014-15
DEFINING LONG TERM STRATEGY FOR THE REGION
The Asia Pacific Chapters discussed the best ways to build on the successes of the Asia Pacific Programme over the past three years. In this final year the chapters agreed to step up advocacy work based on NIS recommendations, and consolidate outreach to youth as agents of change in the region. The ALACs will have a greater strategic focus on reaching the most vulnerable communities, such as women and will engage in strategic litigation where relevant. Finally the main push for 2014 will be on the APD programme and chapters’ sustainability, as we collaborate on fundraising efforts over the next months.
Private Sector Programme 1. Explore possible public-private partnership 2. Tap in to the existing international and regional frameworks, partners and actors 3. Conduct regional studies on busines integrity and revist the business pillar of the NIS so that it provides more useful information
LOOKING AHEAD AT THE IMMEDIATE FUTURE Two key priorities among others:
Institutional network strenthening programme 1. Continue to focus on supporting chapters in capacity development. 2. Make the best use of existing funds in the last year of the programme by raising national funds to participate and contribute to regional, cross-regional and other thematic initiatives, tapping into javailable chapter expertise People’s engagement programme 1. Connect ALACs with other programmes of chapters 2. Focus on knowledge sharing between chapters
Youth 1. Develop fundraising templates 2. Share information on on-going work in roder to avoid reinventing the wheel 3. Facilitate youth parliaments Public Sector Integrity Programme 1. Develop common indicators for common assessments to monitor and assess progress at national level 2. Replicate successful solutions from other chapters People's engagement programme 1. Continue to grow ALAC activities in the region 2. Share and exchange knowledge about successful tools between chapters on how to engage people 3. Lean from others beyond TI movement in engaging people Institutional Network Strengthening Programme 1. Support new chapters on operational capacity 2. Build capacity on income diversification Climate Finance Governance 1. Link land grabbing to climate governance projects 2. Explore possiblites in linking the programme with business integirty issues as they overlap
Best lessons learnt We learnt a lot from other chapters especially on youth integrity education because in China we are focusing on the same. - Liao Shuxia, TI China
We will discuss with our board members and professors in different universities to promote youth integrity education
We shared our experiences, we learnt from other people. We discussed together how we should go forward from what we have learnt so far. We can make a difference by working together. - Saad Rashid, Executive Director, TI Pakistan
I will develop methodologies and systems so that we can fight corruption more rigorously than we are doing at present.
Best
I learnt a lot about issues relating to NIS last three days. In Vietnam we are in the process of finalizing this big assessment and thinking of how to launch the report. - Dao Thi Nga, Executive Director, Towards Transparency Vietnam
Lesson
s
The first thing I will do is to share the things that I have learnt with my staff.
It’s a good opportunity for a chapter like us to know what others are doing. It’s going to help us in the implementation of our programs. - Ashutosh Mishra, Executive Director, TI India
I would like to list the priorities of the chapter, things to do. One is strengthening the chapter and sharing the knowledge I learnt here.
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