Archive | People power RSS feed for this section

Middle East and North Africa: a region in turmoil

Three out of the bottom 10 countries on Transparency International’s 2014 Corruption Perceptions Index are from the Middle East and North Africa. Two of these three are in the midst of gruesome civil wars where lives are being lost daily. Iraq and Libya tell a story of a region in turmoil plagued with geopolitical insecurity, […]

Read full story Comments { 7 }

Corruption in the Americas: the Good, the Bad and the Ugly?

The 2014 Corruption Perceptions Index does not show significant movement in the scores of the countries in the Americas. For the more cynical among us, this is a good sign as there is always the possibility of worsening. But the reality is that stagnation is not good news. Each year that passes without things improving, […]

Read full story Comments { 16 }

Asia Pacific: growing economies, growing corruption

The 2014 Corruption Perceptions Index scores of countries from Asia Pacific, the world’s fastest growing region, are a resounding message to leaders that, despite many public declarations and commitments, not enough is being done to fight corruption. Out of the 27 Asia Pacific countries in the index, which account for nearly 61 per cent of […]

Read full story Comments { 15 }

Challenging corruption in Afghanistan

Two years ago all the major donors to Afghanistan met in Tokyo to map a way forward for the war-torn country. Then president Hamid Karzai promised if the money kept coming in he would ensure it would not be lost to corruption. At the time Transparency International recommended a raft of measures aimed at curbing […]

Read full story Comments { 3 }

Public procurement: guide to help citizens get value for their taxes

Every year an average US$9.5 trillion of public money is spent by governments on procuring goods and services, ranging from equipment for public hospitals and textbooks for schools, to large-scale construction projects, such as building roads, bridges and airports. With so much money at stake, the contracting process, referred to as public procurement, presents a […]

Read full story Comments { 0 }

Vicious cycle of money, power and influence leaves the rest of us behind

We live in a world where 1 billion people live in extreme poverty, with less than US$1.25/day. This is the same world where the market for super yachts is booming. The 85 richest people in the world have the same wealth as the poorest 3.5 billion. The gulf between the haves and the have nots […]

Read full story Comments { 6 }

Can big data solve the world’s problems, including corruption?

Governments, academics and tech gurus over the last couple of years have been transfixed with the prospect that better and bigger data can help us solve the world’s more entrenched problems – including corruption and poverty. The United Nations has also caught on to this trend and yesterday released a report, compiled by experts, which […]

Read full story Comments { 3 }

A Critical Pivot towards Anti-corruption for the OGP Initiative

Since its inception in 2011, the Open Government Partnership (OGP) has sought to advance a vision of the world where governments are transparent, accountable, and inclusive. It is catching on. The OGP started with just eight countries and now has 65 who have agreed to share that vision and introduce practical ways to make it […]

Read full story Comments { 2 }

Speaking up for Greek whistleblowers

A passionate antiquities specialist, K. blew the whistle on malpractice he witnessed on a restoration site. The result? He was called to account and has continued to suffer retaliation since. Sophia Ioannou explains what happened – and why urgent action is needed to protect K. and others who speak up against corruption. K.’s story It […]

Read full story Comments { 4 }

El lavado de dinero: un tema clave que no puede dejarse sólo a los expertos

A partir de mañana (Oct. 22) un grupo de representantes de gobiernos y expertos que pertenecen al Grupo de Acción Financiera (GAFI) – la Organización líder en materia de políticas contra el lavado de dinero a nivel global – se encontrará en París. La agenda  incluye la adopción de un documento sobre un tema de […]

Read full story Comments { 2 }