Archive | People power RSS feed for this section

Haiti: trying to stay engaged amid corruption and poverty

It is hard to imagine that Haitians will actually go to polls on 27 December to vote in the second round of the presidential and municipal elections. There has been so much talk of electoral fraud, violence and intimidation from the first round in October, ordinary people just don’t know what to believe. On 17 […]

Read full story Comments { 1 }

Cuando la transparencia manda

¿Cuál es el verdadero poder del acceso a la información? Recientemente en el Salvador las autoridades confirmaron que la ciudadanía tiene derecho a pedir información sobre el patrimonio de los servidores públicos. El caso es una poderosa contribución al debate sobre si la transparencia es una herramienta efectiva para la rendición de cuentas y la […]

Read full story Comments { 2 }

When transparency rules

What is the real power of “access to information”? Recently in El Salvador the authorities confirmed that citizens have the right to ask for information on the assets of public officials. What happened next is a powerful contribution to the debate around the effectiveness of transparency tools for accountability and citizen mobilisation. Since the ruling […]

Read full story Comments { 0 }

Anti-Corruption Cards: Cambodia’s new craze

Transparency International Cambodia recently launched its Anti-Corruption Cards that offer shopping discounts to citizens who sign up to the Declaration Against Corruption.   So far more than 8,000 people in the capital Phnom Penh and provinces have received their cards, entitling them to savings of up to 60 per cent at a variety of shops […]

Read full story Comments { 0 }

FIFA reform: suggestions for fair and transparent finances

The resignation of Sepp Blatter as FIFA President on 2 June was swiftly followed by a commitment to immediate governance reform, led by independent chair of FIFA’s audit and compliance committee Domenico Scala. Central to Scala’s mandate will be a review of financial transparency, as well as the proportional representation of influence within FIFA. This […]

Read full story Comments { 1 }

Advocating for FIFA reform – a sponsor´s perspective

There’s so much that’s good about sport. Next to family, I see sport and music as the two most important cultural influences on children. But the difference between the two is that the love of sport, the love of a team, the enjoyment to be derived from it can be shared between generations. It’s very […]

Read full story Comments { 0 }

Know your contractors: transparent ownership reduces corruption

Procurement is at the heart of the work that the World Bank and other international development banks do. Countries borrow from these multilateral organisations to develop the public works and services their citizens need: such as healthcare, education, sanitation and infrastructure. Through public procurement, countries use the borrowed funds to acquire expertise, labour and supplies […]

Read full story Comments { 8 }

Bribery: ‘redesign public services to cut risk’

Paying bribes to access basic services is rife worldwide: our research shows that globally, it affects the lives of more than one in four people. Bribery that takes place between citizens and officials is illegal and bad for society. It’s an unjust cost for taxpayers to bear, denying people their right to access necessities such […]

Read full story Comments { 2 }

Measuring development: why statistics matter

Co-written by Tom Wheeler, Conflict and Security Advisor for Saferworld Last week in New York the United Nations Statistical Commission met to discuss what indicators it can use to measure the new set of development targets that the UN will adopt in September to follow up on the Millennium Development Goals. This is important because […]

Read full story Comments { 0 }

The power of a question in El Salvador

Transparency laws mean nothing if they are not applied, and it sometimes takes brave citizens and active civil society organisations to make sure that they are. In El Salvador, the anti-corruption legal advice centre operated by FUNDE, our chapter in the country, is just over a year-and-a-half old and has already made a name for […]

Read full story Comments { 0 }