What NGOs Can Do Against Corruption
by Susan Coté-Freeman
March, 1999
Last March in India, a couple of civil rights NGOs frustrated by thirty years of broken promises on the part of the Indian government, took it in their own hands to establish the People’s Ombudsman Commission. TI India and Lok Sevak Sangh, two of the major Indian NGOs, resorted to this drastic and unprecedented move in response to the Indian government’s long-standing lack of political will to establish effective institutions vested with the power to investigate charges of corruption against elected public officials.
This might be one of the more radical examples of the power that NGOs can wield in the fight against corruption, but it does illustrate how solutions to a global problem are emerging at the local and national levels.
TI India is one of the 70 or so chapters which make up Transparency International’s worldwide coalition dedicated to fighting corruption. These often small but committed NGOs lie at the heart of TI’s global fight for accountability, transparency and good government. Created by civic-minded fellow citizens, TI national chapters bring together a wide range of people from the public sector, the private sector and civil society. The strategies they devise are as varied in their approach and scope as the problems they attempt to solve, but all share an emphasis on prevention and systemic reforms. Rather than exposing individual cases and pointing the finger at villains, TI’s work focuses on root and branch reforms.
When asked why local chapters and their work on the ground play such a large role in TI’s global strategy, TI’s Chairman, Peter Eigen, is quick to reply that the experience of the last six years has pointed to one very important realisation. In order to be meaningful and hold promise of real change, the debate on corruption must be held internally, within the community in which it is taking place. If it is driven by the outside, this debate will have less impact and is less likely to lead to lasting change.
TI has directed a lot of its efforts at the international level in order to convince initially sceptical international financial institutions that corruption was a problem which had to be tackled and this relentless work is beginning to bear fruit. But corruption can also be addressed effectively through grass-roots initiatives. Informed home-grown strategies hold the best chance of success, states Eigen adamantly.
It is with this staunch endorsement that Transparency International’s national chapters work towards developing tailor-made anti-corruption tools and strategies. Whether it is street theatre performances and drama groups travelling throughout rural Uganda, lecture series in the United Kingdom, anti-corruption days in Morocco or pledge campaigns inciting politicians to commit themselves to anti-corruption platforms at election time, the work undertaken by TI national chapters aims at creating public awareness of corruption and increasing the accountability of public of governments.
Last February, the newly formed TI Bulgaria, embarked on a privatisation monitoring exercise similar to the one conducted by TI Panama in 1996. Prompted by the Bulgarian chapter, the Bulgarian Privatisation Agency agreed to the Chapter’s involvement as an observer of the privatisation process of the Bulgarian Telecommunication Company. We formed an expert group whose role it is, says Ognyan Minchev, to evaluate whether the privatisation process is in conformity with the law and to assess the transparency of the procedures. The expert group, bound by a pledge of confidentiality, was provided with all the information dealing with the privatisation process. It was also given the opportunity to sit as observers on most meetings with participating companies and to meet these companies and discuss their perception of the process before and after the final adjudication. The chapter was also present at the submission and opening of the bids and is now observing discussions between the Privatisation Agency and the winning bidder.
Minchev explains that there is a lot at stake in what is seen as a flagship privatisation. This is the biggest privatisation exercise within the framework of Bulgarian economic structural reforms. If it is done according to the rules, it will point to the success of reforms and the potential for integration in the international economic structures. The publication of the expert group’s final report evaluating the process and its adherence to legal requirements will go a long way in informing the public about the government’s impartiality in choosing a buyer for the phone company.
It is precisely the availability of public information of this nature which provides concerned citizens with the precious ammunition required to support their demands for more transparency and government accountability. Experts agree that the lack of public information fosters systemic corruption. Citizens who can’t substantiate claims of inefficiency and corruption in the delivery of public services are in a weakened position to express their dissatisfaction and demand better response from their public institutions. In the developing world, where public services often enjoy a monopoly, hard data on the quantity and quality of services can lead to improvement of services, just as competition does in a free market place.
Earlier this year, representatives from ten TI national chapters travelled to Bangalore, India to attend a training seminar at the Public Affairs Centre where they were to learn about the Report Card Methodology. Pioneered by the Centre, the Report Card approach is based on market research techniques which are commonly used in the private sector and applies them to the public sector. The purpose of Report Card is to study user perception of various public services such as water, electricity and garbage clearance through surveys, focus groups, mini-case studies and to record the results in the form of a score card. The Report Card can then be disseminated and reforms sought where they are needed.
K. Gopakumar of the Public affairs Centre adds that the findings and information provided by the Report Cards have largely succeeded in catalysing citizens in taking proactive and creative steps. Rather than existing as passive recipients of inefficient and unresponsive services, more and more of them are today organising to involve as active partners and participants.
In a similar fashion, TI’s national chapter in Bangladesh conducted a nation-wide household survey in 1997 which revealed alarming levels of corruption in many sectors including the police, health clinics and schools, which operated only if individuals paid bribes. TI Bangladesh has chosen to use the data provided by the survey to publicise people’s shared concerns about corruption in the hope of generating the sort of public outrage that will lead to change.
The success and impact of these particular initiatives is indeed heartening but one cannot forget that in many countries our chapters and other like-minded NGOs may be frail and have very little experience in working with governments and governments very little experience in working with civil society. Not all efforts to curb corruption will succeed, in the short term anyhow, but in spite of the many hurdles, TI national chapters have on their side the strength of a broad, non-partisan base that shares a very deep dedication to the ideal of fair and honest government.
Susan Coté-Freeman is the officer in charge of media and public relations in the TI office in London.