Tag Archives | civil society

Fiji: Participatory democracy in action – a constitution of the people

“For the first time, everyone will have a voice”. Fiji’s Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama’s plan to involve everyone in the formulation of Fiji’s fourth constitution has been translated into action. Consultations with political parties, non-governmental organisations and citizens are taking place all over Fiji to draft a new constitution by 2013. Transparency International Fiji has […]

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Open Government Partnership: From Commitment to Action…?

Under the Open Government Partnership  governments commit to transparency, and using technology to fight corruption. The Partnership creates a potentially unique opportunity for civil society to push for government accountability and empower citizens in the fight against corruption. Gathered at a scenic Adriatic coast in Dubrovnik, European civil society organisations were supposed to discuss their […]

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TI Portugal Summer School: A lesson on integrity

You might have seen Portugal on the news recently. Just over a week ago, an estimated million people (in a country of roughly 10 million) took to the streets protesting new austerity measures announced by Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho. Talk of instability in the governing coalition amid increased public anger damaged the country’s reputation […]

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On the frontline against corruption in Europe

Last Friday, Cobus de Swardt, Managing Director of the global Transparency International Secretariat in Berlin, was visiting Brussels for an interview in the Euronews show “On the Frontline” (OTFL) for a special edition titled “Is there a corruption crisis in Europe?” which aired yesterday. The discussions around this show started already back in August when OTFL […]

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Why we need a global convention against corruption

Governmental and UN representatives responsible for enforcement of the 2003 UN Convention against Corruption met in Vienna two months ago to discuss the process for reviewing implementation of anti-corruption measures. Below is an excerpt of a speech that Ifthekar Zaman, Executive Director of TI Bangladesh, gave. Like many other TI Chapters around the world we […]

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Civil Society in Libya – between high hopes and frustration

Sixteen months after the February 17th revolution the country is preparing for its next historical step: The upcoming elections for a new parliament! Although they have just been postponed from June 19th to take place on July 7th 2012, these elections will be the first free elections for the people of Libya after the 42 […]

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Open Government Partnership: From openness to transparency?

Spanish version / ver en español The following is adapted from a speech by Elisabeth Ungar, Member of Transparency International’s Board of Directors and Executive Director of Transparencia por Colombia, at the Open Government Partnership‘s annual meeting in Brasilia on 15 April 2012. The full speech is available here. I hope that the Open Government […]

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The people speak out ahead of Russian election

Ahead of the presidential elections taking place in Russia this Sunday we interviewed  Elena Panfilova, Board Member of Transparency International and Director of our Russian Chapter. Where is the greatest change needed in Russia today? Russia needs competition to return to all spheres of public life; particularly in politics, in the economy and in the […]

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A year in the life of the Egyptian civil society

By Engi M. El Haddad What a year… what turmoil of emotions … what renewed determination. At first it was elation. At long last we saw it happen. We saw our people stand up for their rights. After decades of being disparaged, harassed and made fun of, Egyptian civil society – small groups working on issues […]

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Russian civil society: profiles of activists

This past December, Russians took to the streets to protest parliamentary elections widely seen as tilted in favour of the ruling United Russia party. As we reported on our blog, Transparency International’s Russian chapter was active in monitoring electoral improprieties and continues to work with other civil society organisations to support Russian citizens trying to […]

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