The GDLN Newsletter: Voices Against Corruption

In This Issue:

Don’t Miss These! Important Announcements about the upcoming GDLN World Forum, the GDLN Video competition and proposed changes to the quarterly reporting system for GDLN Affiliates.

Stamping out Corruption: Achieving One End with Many Means.GDLN Affiliates work with clients to promote better governance around the world. Access to information, whistleblowing and leadership training were on the GDLN calendar recently, as people from the Pacific to the Caribbean find more innovative ways to fight corruption.

Development as Accountability. Emerging roles for information and communication technologies in the fight against corruption. Eduardo Flores-Trejo, Director of Panama’s Transparency and Accountability Program for the United States Agency of International Development (USAID), shares his experience using GDLN to fight corruption.

The Pen is Mightier than the Sword (As Long As You Know How to Use It). Sri Lankan journalists take an accelerated course in economics and development through GDLN. Taking part in sessions on topics ranging from trade reforms to the impact of conflict on poverty, twenty journalists acquire the knowledge needed to wield their pens with skill in the battle for sustainable development.

News from the GDLN Family. GDLN Affiliates have been very busy this past quarter participating in regional meetings, workshops and conferences. Learn about these events, the latest client survey results, a new online collaborative space for Network members and more in this section of the Newsletter.

What’s on in Your Regions. Check out upcoming regional meetings and conferences.

At a Center Near You. Find out about exciting activities in your region.

Note from the Editor. From using GDLN to develop national whistleblowing policies to journalists learning about economics and development issues, clients and participants alike are harnessing the power of the tools and services offered by GDLN Affiliates to fight corruption. This edition of the GDLN Newsletter highlights the unique role that Affiliates are increasingly playing in this area. Web-based discussions, videoconferencing and blended learning techniques are just some of the GDLN media that are well suited to promoting greater transparency, accountability and openness in societies. In this edition’s feature interview, Eduardo Flores-Trejo of the United States Agency for International Development demonstrates how donor agencies, developing countries and international partners are beginning to view such media as crucial for boosting efforts to curb corruption and counter poor governance. Arguing that “knowledge sharing is a vital element in the fight against corruption”, he underscores the value of information and communication technologies. And, as always, there are the regular news updates and announcements, including information on the first ever GDLN World Forum to be held from October 10 –11 in Washington, DC.

Don’t Miss These! Important Announcements

GDLN World Forum, October 10 –11, 2006 in Washington DC. For the first time ever, the World Bank's GDLN teams will host a World Forum to bring together some 150 members of the GDLN community, including directors and staff of GDLN Affiliates, and donors and partners of the Network. The Forum reflects the desire of Affiliates to share their experiences from a global perspective. It will enable participants to learn more about each other, to explore joint business opportunities, and to arrive at a common understanding of how to take the GDLN way of working to the ‘next level of innovation’. Participants at this unique Forum will take away a clear sense for the exciting and powerful community that is GDLN, as well as concrete knowledge about how to scale up development projects and programs. For more information contact gdlnworldforum@worldbank.org.

Celebrating Achievements: GDLN Video Competition. To celebrate achievements in our community and recognize the work done by many Affiliates, the GDLN Secretariat invites you to enter a three-minute video clip about the impact of GDLN on development in the first GDLN Video Competition. This is a great opportunity to showcase GDLN work to colleagues, clients, and representatives of major donors and development agencies attending the World Forum in October. Videos will be shown to all Forum participants, and will be judged by an international panel. Exciting prizes will be awarded in a number of categories, with entrants receiving recognition awards at the Forum’s final session. Please note that you do not need to attend the Forum to enter and be eligible for prizes. Entry is open to anyone submitting a video about the development impact of GDLN by September 22, 2006. Collaboration with people from other Affiliates, clients, participants or partners is also permitted and videos do not have to be in English. For more information or to enter the competition contact Elena Rose immediately (erose@worldbank.org).

We need your input for a better GDLN quarterly reporting questionnaire! By now all Affiliates should have received the announcement about proposed changes to the quarterly reporting system, along with an annual report on data collected in 2005. After careful consideration with GDLN Regional Teams at the World Bank and helpful feedback from a number of Affiliates, the GDLN Secretariat is simplifying the questionnaire by reducing the existing 35 performance indicators to just 12! However, to make these reforms successful we need your input by the end of August on how the new questionnaire should look. To view the proposed questionnaire simply visit What’s New on the GDLN website, or enter the GDLN Global Community Space www.gdlncommunity.org where a discussion is already underway about this proposal. Contact Elena Rose for more information (erose@worldbank.org).

Stamping out Corruption: Achieving One End with Many Means
GDLN Affiliates work with clients to promote better governance around the world

Speaking recently at the World Bank, Bambang Harymurti, Corporate Editor-in-Chief of the Tempo Group in Indonesia told audiences that: “One of the most potent policy tools to prevent corruption is to promote transparency and accountability.” While Mr. Harymurti was talking in this context about press freedom, his words ring true across all sectors and highlight a key objective for many developing countries and their international partners. The growing understanding that there can be no sustainable development where corruption is rife, and of the heavy toll it takes on the poor and on the effectiveness of development aid has spurred the international community to place good governance front and center of the development agenda. As countries, organizations and individuals rise to this challenge they are combining innovation, creativity and an ever expanding arsenal of technological tools to weed out corruption. From measures to improve public access to information, to developing government policies that encourage whistleblowing, GDLN Affiliates and their partners worldwide are finding more and more diverse ways to promote greater transparency and accountability, ensuring better development returns.

Your life, your right to know. Access to information is a human right: the right to know who is making the decisions that shape your life, livelihood and future. The desire to improve public access and use it as a tool to hold governments accountable for their actions has spurred people in Bolivia, the Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua to take part in an ongoing regional dialogue on “Access to Information, Transparency and Inclusive Governance”. During four videoconferences held between March 1 and June 7, 2006, GDLN Affiliates played host to key stakeholders, including: parties involved in the development of legislation on access to information; representatives from the Executive, Legislature and the Judiciary; mass media; civil society leaders and specialists on information access, governance and empowerment. This series marked the second phase in a process that began over a year ago to help countries in the region design and ensure effective implementation of access to information laws. The dialogue also aims to promote domestic and regional debate about the types of enforcement and monitoring measures needed to overcome obstacles that often arise once legislation is adopted. The World Bank, together with GDLN and the Carter Center organized this activity, with financing from the Government of the Netherlands. For more information please contact Marcos Mendiburu (mmendiburu@worldbank.org).

Blowing the whistle on corruption. Blowing the whistle on an act of corruption or wrongdoing is a courageous step, but it can also be one that puts you in a very vulnerable position. With the help of the Hills Governance Program at the Asian Institute of Management and the GDLN Center in Manila, the Filipino Congress is formulating a government policy to create a safer and more supportive environment for whistleblowers. During a one-day planning workshop on May 19, 2006, 70 participants came together at the GDLN Center to further understanding and support for the use of whistleblowing as an anticorruption measure. The group included participants and speakers from the national Ombudsman’s office, as well as other major stakeholders from the media, the judiciary, labour unions, corporations, NGOs, Congress, the public sector and academia. Participants discussed current research on the existing culture and practice of whistleblowing in the Philippines, learnt about pending bills from a Congresswoman, and linked up with two international experts via videoconference to hear about other countries’ experiences. They saw how the UK uses whistleblowing as an anticorruption tool and what the essential elements of a whistleblowing policy are in Australia. The workshop was part of a World Bank-funded research project supporting policy formulation and constituency building for whistleblowing in the Philippines. The Hills Center has since been invited to join the Filipino Congress’ Technical Working Group on Whistleblowing, which will formulate a comprehensive national policy to encourage and protect whistleblowers. For information please contact Cristina Alarilla (malarilla@aim.edu).

Investing in leadership in the Pacific. Bridging geographic distances in the Pacific is no small challenge, but increasingly local leaders are finding reasons to connect with one another to explore common governance concerns. After the success of the first Pacific Leaders’ Virtual Forum in 2005, GDLN Affiliates are conducting the second phase of regional dialogues throughout 2006 and into 2007. This time they are shifting the focus to governance and anticorruption. In addition to the three countries involved in the 2005 dialogue (Australia, Fiji and Papua New Guinea), organizers are also broadening their horizons to include participants from Samoa, Timor Leste and New Zealand. With the sessions on corporate governance reforms drawing to a close in early July, August will see some 100 participants from diverse sectors taking an in-depth look at understanding and designing appropriate anticorruption strategies, and at leadership and ethics. This ongoing format for engagement and learning enables organizers to review participant feedback as they progress, and improve the design of future sessions accordingly. Indeed, it was at the suggestion of the University of the South Pacific in Fiji that the sessions on leadership and ethics were incorporated. It also allows the organizers to bring in other interested countries like Hawaii, as they work together to overcome the region’s infrastructure challenges and establish reliable virtual connections. The success and high demand for the sessions on corporate governance and entrepreneurship has inspired organizers in Australia to establish a Virtual Forum on Entrepreneurs in the region. The Forum is funded by the Australian Government's Agency for International Development, and organized in collaboration with the GDLN Center at the Australian National University in Canberra. Elizabeth Ingram is the information contact for this event (liz.ingram@anu.edu.au).

Development as Accountability
Emerging roles for information and communication technologies in the fight against corruption

Eduardo Flores-Trejo, Director of Panama’s Transparency and Accountability Program for the United States Agency of International Development (USAID), spoke to us about his experience using GDLN to fight corruption. He also shared his thoughts on how GDLN-type tools can be harnessed for the development agenda to promote greater transparency and accountability.

GDLN: You recently collaborated with GDLN to organize a transnational event in Latin America and the Caribbean on prosecuting corruption. Can you tell us about this event and your experience with GDLN?

Eduardo: To date, our collaboration with GDLN consists primarily of this one very productive activity on “Latin American Experiences in the Investigation of Corruption Cases that Transcend Borders”. Together with GDLN Affiliates and 20 different entities in nine countries, our program [Panama’s Transparency and Accountability Program for USAID] organized this virtual encounter of Chief Public Prosecutors. The three-hour videoconference was aimed primarily at Attorney Generals in Central America, and was also moderated by them in their respective countries. We had six Central American Attorney Generals and 390 participants in nine viewing sites (El Salvador, Ecuador, Guatemala, Chile, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, and the US) following the event simultaneously. Some of the represented groups included: law enforcement officials, judges, civil society, journalists and members of anticorruption commissions. This was the first time ever that the Chief Public Prosecutors of Central America met specifically to discuss regional and domestic actions against transnational corruption. The event showcased three illustrative cases to disseminate successful experiences in the prosecution of high-level corruption across borders, and promote regional assistance in this area.

On another occasion, our program was the local organizer in Panama of a multi-country debate on best practices in the implementation of freedom of information legislation in the Americas. The event was organized by Sí Se Puede, an Ecuadorian-based anticorruption project and one of the GDLN Affiliates in Ecuador.

GDLN: Were there any concrete outcomes from the first event you mentioned, and how did participants respond to it?

Eduardo: Some 65 percent of the participants who rated the session said it was excellent and a further 33 percent said it was very good. Importantly, 71 percent expressed their interest in adopting immediate measures within their organizations based on the best practices showcased and what they had learnt. One of the participants, the Chief Public Prosecutor of Panama, went on to present a proposal to her Central American counterparts, who then agreed to attend a workshop on “Identification and Adoption of Effective Strategies for the Criminal Prosecution of Corruption”. This workshop will be held in Panama City on August 24–25, 2006, with the objective of devising concrete actions based on the proposals set forth during their virtual GDLN encounter.

GDLN: How did using GDLN in this context make a difference?

Eduardo: In addition to bringing people in via videoconference through GDLN, the activity was shown online through the World Bank’s videoconferencing website and made available there for a few weeks afterwards. This really increased the number of stakeholders that were able to watch the proceedings.

GDLN: The former Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia said that “development as accountability” could be a rallying cry for the World Bank. How important is it that the international community mainstreams issues of corruption and transparency in the development agenda?

Eduardo: Incorporating accountability and anticorruption considerations into any type of development strategy is of the utmost relevance, because the pervasive effects of corruption are felt across all sectors in the development agenda, be it health, agriculture, education, environment, democracy or governance. Through its Accountability and Anticorruption Project (click here to learn more about this project), USAID has recently begun mainstreaming anticorruption and accountability objectives, messages and activities in its programs in the Americas.

GDLN: How important is the role of knowledge sharing and learning in the fight against corruption? What role do you see for using information and communications technologies together with distance learning methods to build collaboration between people of different countries on this issue?

Eduardo: Knowledge sharing is a vital element in the fight against corruption. The lack of coordinated efforts to share experiences condemns countries to commit the same mistakes time and again in the design and execution of anticorruption strategies. This has certainly been the case more than once in the Americas. The tools and services that GDLN Affiliates offer can contribute significantly to enriching the exchange of experiences and setting the foundations for collaborative bonds among the different parties involved in the fight against corruption in government and civil society.

In the future, we will be looking to expand our joint activities with GDLN through a project on updating auditing practices in Central America and the Caribbean to promote greater government accountability. Our objectives in pursuing this include: setting up more effective and integrated controls over public revenues and expenditures to prevent acts of corruption; providing participants with useful exposure to modern auditing techniques in areas such as performance auditing or cost-effective auditing; and disseminating best practice knowledge on government auditing standards and risk analysis methodologies. Another area in which GDLN may be extremely useful is in encouraging the exchange of knowledge and experiences among the anticorruption commissions recently created in many countries in Latin America, as their predecessors have had somewhat limited results and have often been quite quickly dissolved.

GDLN: Many argue that to effect real systemic change and achieve lasting impact, anticorruption activities must go beyond merely delivering training to ordinary officials or employees, and focus instead on finding ways to hold high-level officials accountable for serious acts of corruption. What is your perspective on this?

Eduardo: The long term impact of training may be jeopardised if it is not aimed at advancing policy outcomes. That is, the contents and parameters of training activities should always be designed bearing in mind the strategic outcomes desired. Take for instance the design and implementation of a training program for government audit institutions. There would be no use offering the latest training course on computer assisted audit techniques if the institution doesn’t have the necessary software and hardware. It may even be counterproductive to begin a training course with the participants' full understanding that they won't be able to use their newly acquired skills in the field. In other cases, regulatory changes would have to take place prior to (or simultaneously with) offering a training course, such as updating a country's government audit standards. It is irrelevant to train participants on audit techniques that cannot be implemented because of legal obstacles. In all of these examples full commitment and support is needed from the highest ranked officials in government institutions, and this should be reflected through resource contributions. Such commitment offers better assurances on the sustainability of the activity and its effectiveness. In sum, to ensure that anticorruption activities achieve lasting impact, their implementation should be guided by a causal relationship between the nature of the activity, the strategic outcomes desired and a sustainable approach. In other words, “investments” should be made when the political environment or the activity’s context favors its sustainability and enhances opportunities for it to have a real impact.

The Pen is Mightier than the Sword (As Long As You Know How to Use It)
Sri Lankan journalists take an accelerated course in economics and development through GDLN.

For decades now the term “free press” has been a catchphrase in the battle for better governance and civic empowerment. Yet we sometimes forget that this freedom is not an end in itself, but rather a necessary means of creating a media capable of fulfilling two critical roles in a democratic society: the primary information intermediary between government and its citizens, and the watchdog over the exercise of power. From February 27 to April 24, 2006, 20 Sri Lankan journalists attended a World Bank Institute (WBI) course on Economics and Development Journalism at the GDLN Center in Colombo to acquire the knowledge needed to wield their pens with skill. In a country where violent conflicts, poverty and natural disasters make living precarious and often limit opportunities for learning, informed reporting is both a challenge and a necessity. Carrying the pen into battle for sustainable development is no small task for Sri Lankan journalists who need to understand development concepts, identify key issues and actors, and translate these complexities into a newsworthy story for the public. Over the course of eight modules, participants were faced with this challenge as they learnt about topics ranging from poverty reduction strategies to trade reforms, participatory public expenditure and using the media to enhance the public voice of the poor.

Working together, the GDLN Center in Colombo and the WBI team attracted participants from a range of different media institutions. They included Agence France Presse, local television networks, online news agencies, the country’s leading newspapers and Sri Lanka’s College of Journalism. Organizers consulted with Sri Lankan journalists via videoconference beforehand to assess specific needs, and even incorporated a module on trade at the request of one journalist trying to understand the impact of World Trade Organization reforms on the Sri Lankan business environment. Another module, which looked at the impacts of conflict on poverty, polled participants beforehand to elicit their views about the linkages between these two topics. At the end of this session participants then evaluated how their initial views corresponded with what they had learnt about this relationship and the empirical data presented. They also practiced “plain language” statements to develop their ability to communicate these complex issues to a generalist audience in a way that would stimulate public debate. “It gave me a new understanding of the relationship between poverty and conflict, and the capacity to really identify broader global and regional issues,” said Sunil Kaunanayake, a columnist for the Sunday Times in Sri Lanka.

Through a combination of videoconferencing and face-to-face sessions, participants absorbed the information contained in presentations from international experts, interventions from professional journalists and a range of eLearning support materials. Going forward, the WBI team plans to adapt the blend of different delivery modes and the course content to fit specific local needs. “What makes this course so attractive is that specific topics can really be tailored to respond to country demands and the challenges that local journalists are facing on the ground,” commented a member of WBI’s Media, Information Access and Governance Program. The program representative pointed to Nigeria as one example of where there is both a demand for this type of learning and a specific need for information on oil related issues.

Having received demands from Sri Lankan journalists for additional training on issues like freedom of speech and investigative journalism, the GDLN Center and the WBI team are already conducting consultations with participants to develop future courses. Equipped with greater knowledge about Sri Lanka’s development process and the role the media can play in it, these journalists are now better placed to conduct informed analyses of local issues and to stimulate Sri Lankan citizens to participate in influencing their country’s development trajectory. For more information please contact Sahr Kpundeh (skpundeh1@worldbank.org).

Visit the GDLN Center in Sri Lanka at http://www.dlcsrilanka.org/.

Contribute to the GDLN Newsletter! Please share your feedback, suggestions for stories, photos, upcoming GDLN activities, and any other news with Elena Rose (erose@worldbank.org).

General questions? Email us at gdln@worldbank.org, or visit us at www.gdln.org.

Global Development Learning Network/World Bank Institute
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