1 | Page Quarterly Newsletter Jul-Sept 2013 Volume XXVII If a country is to be corruption free and become a nation of beautiful minds, I strongly feel there are three key societal members who can make a difference. They are the father, the mother and the teacher. - Abdul Kalam 2 ALAC Pakistan Contact Us Editor: Maryam J. Mughal Layout By: Ms. Twinkle Peter Inside this Issue TI Pakistan Activities Jul-Sept 2013 Anti-Fraud Hotline 5 8 From the Editor’s Desk To cultivate a better tomorrow, it is imperative for us to mobilize the youth of the country. These future leaders of our country need to be taught the importance of taking the long but righteous road as opposed to taking corrupt short cuts. They need to be taught that their acts do not just end with their personal gain but go a long way in cultivating a mindset that is hard to break at a later stage. This is the mindset that our country is plagued with today – take the culture of breaking lines or traffic lights, for example, which is a norm in the country because it’s considered beneath the person to wait any more than it is absolutely necessary. Such a flagrant disregard for the rules and/or others is one of the major reasons why Pakistan consistently finds itself in the list of the most corrupt countries. In order to fight this, we need to inculcate the importance of following the rules in our young people. Only when they realize that they are not above the law, will they act in a manner befitting a developed and civilized nation. While the older generation, especially those in power, may hang on to the status quo because of vested interests or merely because they are so used to it, the youth may be more open to change and fight for it to become a reality. To meet this end, the youth needs to be taught all these things at an early age and consistently so by their parents and teachers and eventually the society in general. For this reason, Transparency International Pakistan has deemed the education of the youth in anti-corruption as a strategic priority. Even before the youth of the country were made into a formal priority, TI Pakistan had embarked on a mission to educate young people about corruption and its evil effects on society. While children were engaged through TI Pakistan’s Child’s View of Corruption program, the older children were connected through our Youth in Governance (or YinG) program. Through these two programs, TI Pakistan’s journey to educate the young minds of our country to the harmful effects of corruption has been a successful one. We hope to continue these efforts with the help of concerned citizens, teachers and parents who can learn to stop demanding excellence “at any cost” and instead demand a culture of honesty. After all, if society can glorify corruption so easily, working on integrity should be a breeze.
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Quarterly
Newsletter Jul-Sept 2013 Volume XXVII
If a country is to be corruption free and become a nation of beautiful minds, I strongly feel there are three key societal members who can make a difference. They
are the father, the mother and the teacher. - Abdul Kalam
2
ALAC Pakistan
Contact Us
Editor: Maryam J. Mughal Layout By: Ms. Twinkle Peter
Inside this Issue
TI Pakistan Activities
Jul-Sept 2013
Anti-Fraud Hotline
5 8
From the Editor’s Desk
To cultivate a better tomorrow, it is imperative for us to mobilize the youth of the country. These future leaders of our country need to be taught the importance of taking the long but righteous road as opposed to taking corrupt short cuts. They need to be taught that their acts do not just end with their personal gain but go a long way in cultivating a mindset that is hard to break at a later stage. This is the mindset that our country is plagued with today – take the culture of breaking lines or traffic lights, for example, which is a norm in the country because it’s considered beneath the person to wait any more than it is absolutely necessary. Such a flagrant disregard for the rules and/or others is one of the major reasons why Pakistan consistently finds itself in the list of the most corrupt countries. In order to fight this, we need to inculcate the importance of following the rules in our young people. Only when they realize that they are not above the law, will they act in a manner befitting a developed and civilized nation. While the older generation, especially those in power, may hang on to the status quo because of vested interests or merely because they are so used to it, the youth may be more open to change and fight for it to become a reality. To meet this end, the youth needs to be taught all these things at an early age and consistently so by their parents and teachers and eventually the society in general. For this reason, Transparency International Pakistan has deemed the education of the youth in anti-corruption as a strategic priority. Even before the youth of the country were made into a formal priority, TI Pakistan had embarked on a mission to educate young people about corruption and its evil effects on society. While children were engaged through TI Pakistan’s Child’s View of Corruption program, the older children were connected through our Youth in Governance (or YinG) program. Through these two programs, TI Pakistan’s journey to educate the young minds of our country to the harmful effects of corruption has been a successful one. We hope to continue these efforts with the help of concerned citizens, teachers and parents who can learn to stop demanding excellence “at any cost” and instead demand a culture of honesty. After all, if society can glorify corruption so easily, working on integrity should be a breeze.
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AFH SYNOPSIS United States Agency for International Development (USAID) under Kerry Lugar bill has injected funds worth Millions in order to help stabilize the economy of Pakistan, some major sectors include Education, Health, Energy, Agriculture etc. and AFH acts as an oversight mechanism that due to its massive advertising and marketing collects complaints from every part of the country regarding corruption, misappropriation and embezzlement of USAID funds
All complaints are investigated by investigators of the OIG headquarters in Washington D.C. AFH like always due to its memorandums of understanding signed with external entities, carried out complaint referral service on a good will basis including UNWFP, UNOPS, UNCEF, UNDP, BISP, Save the Children, Mercy Corp, The World Bank, Awaz Foundation, FAO and NRSP.
Transparency International Pakistan has been utilizing all the available marketing and advertising options available including TV, Social Media, Newspapers, Billboards, Radio etc. and has developed a holistic outreach program which includes conduction of regular workshops to equip USAID implementing partners with tools to identify, obstruct and report events of corruption which will alternately discourage the negative elements practicing corruption for optimal results. It is due to this comprehensive marketing approach that AFH is now known across the country as people from every part of the country call to inform AFH regarding any corruption that they identify as happening in USAID funded projects.
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The hotline provides the citizens of Pakistan to choose a language of their preference in order to report any instance of corruption, and in order to cater to diversified complainants with varying languages AFH has deployed multilingual complaint officers that cater to complainants in their own language. AFH facilitates complainants with several options to report their complaints such as phone, conventional mail, a web-based interface, and email. Complaints received via hotline are transferred to OIG for review and investigation. Moreover, the reporting system forms an integral part of the Anti-Fraud Hotline Project, where the complaints are scanned for accuracy.
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As part of the AFH outreach program “Fraud Awareness and Prevention” workshop was conducted on the 1st of July 2013, in Serena Hotel Islamabad. The purpose of the workshop was to train and educate implementing partners of USAID on how to detect; report fraud and corruption in USAID funded projects. During the same quarter TI Pakistan was invited by USAID to participate in a Gender integration training workshop for implementing partners in Islamabad on the 27th of September 2013. The workshop was conducted due to a recent launch of USAID’s new global Gender Policy with updated guidelines for integrating gender.
AFH has received over three thousand calls in the given quarter that resulted in the registration of over 250 complaints from across the country with the following concentration of complaints from each province. Sindh 122 (48%), Punjab 60 (24%), Baluchistan 27 (11%), Khyberpakhtunkhwa 28 (11%) and Azad Kashmir, FATA, Federal Government and Gilgit/Baltistan accounted for a total of 15 complaints (6%).
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The trust between TI Pakistan, citizens of Pakistan and USAID has flourished and strengthened, which resulted in increased level of assurance and confidence between the two countries.
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In this quarter, the ALAC researched and organized seminars to spread awareness amongst women about the Right To Information Act. This was done in light of KPK’s involvement in bringing rule of law to their region. Other seminars were also carried out which focused on raising the awareness of an individual in order to equip them to stand against corruption.
In this quarter, we communicated our message at the grass root level through seminars and leaflet distribution. This was done mostly with the help of our partner NGOs in the Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces.
Our main source of publicity is carried out through TV advertisements. The advertisement is a text-based shaped in an ‘L’ which appears in the middle of a popular talk show at a prime time in the evening. The advert – which displays ALAC’s hotline number for victims of corruption – is typically shown 3 to 6 times in the duration of the hour-long show.
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Partnerships
ALAC is in contact with its partners necessary to take its message against corruption at the grass root level. In this quarter we worked with the Women Empowerment Organization (WEO) and the Patient Welfare Society, Bakhar-Punjab.
For the first time, we also worked with the Huqooq-ul-Ebad Development Foundation which is operating in Punjab’s district of Gujrat. It is an ancient district located between two famous rivers, the Jhelum and the Chenab. The Gujrat district is spread over an area of 3,192 square kilometres, and is divided into three tehsils, Gujrat, Kharian, and Sarai Alamgir. The total population of the district is 2,948,008 (2011), and population density 642/km2 (1,660/sq mi). This organization will help us to establish our presence in the district, and to deliver our message to the people of this district.
These pillars have different indicators like resources, independence, transparency, accountability, integrity and their contribution based on laws and practices. Moreover, there is a proper scoring mechanism that has been followed throughout the research to understand what is being assessed under each indicator of each pillar. TI Pakistan foresees NICSA as an instrument to eliminate corruption by engaging all stakeholders through a programme which is holistic, inclusive, participative and progressive. By the end of this year 2013, TI Pakistan will be launching this report and make recommendations and suggestions on the weakness identified while doing research on various pillars.
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Awareness raising and advocacy for change
The newly elected government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) introduced a Right to Information Ordinance (RTIO), which makes it binding upon the government to set up an independent information commission and makes obstruction in access to any record a penal offence punishable by up to two years imprisonment. For the first time in the country, the law provides protection to “whistle-blowers”, stating that no one may be subject to any legal, administrative or employment-related sanction, regardless of any breach of a legal obligation, for releasing information on wrongdoings, or which would disclose a serious threat to health, safety or the environment, as long as they acted in good faith.
In collaboration with Women Development Organization (WEO), ALAC holds a workshop focusing women of the KPK to introduce the Right to Information ordinance in a simple language. The workshop was conducted in Peshawar, which is the capital of KPK. The enthusiastic participation of the women shows that they also need change, and want to be more politically aware about their rights. We have planned to conduct more sessions in other parts of the province so that people can learn how they can most benefit from the law.
Workshops Workshop on “Right to Information (RTI) ACT 2013” in District Peshawar on 11, Sep 2013
The session was arranged by the Women Empowerment Organization in collaboration with Transparency International Pakistan on 11th September, 2013. It took place in Peshawar University’s Bio-Tech Hall
A detailed presentation was given on the RTI Act 2013. More than 50 female participants attended the session which included Professor, Director and WEO student volunteers.
The topics that were covered in the session were: Right to Information Act 2013 Objectives of this Act Record that can be disclosed Organizations you can request information from How to make an RTI request When you can receive Information Independent information commission-KP The Commission
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All participants gave good feedback and most of them expressed their willingness to work with TI Pakistan.
The session was arranged by the Huqooq-ul-Ebad Development Foundation – Gujrat in collaboration with Transparency International Pakistan. The program was held at Al-Aziz Hall Gujrat on 14-09-2013, timing 1130 to 1430 hours. A total of 35 participants from general public attended the program with zeal and zest.
Awareness session on “Citizen Awareness against Combatting Corruption” was held on September 14, 2013 in Gujrat district.
The speakers were: Mr. Syed Muhammad Ashfaq,
President/CEO, Huqooq-ul-Ebad Development Foundation, Gujrat-Pakistan.
Mr. Muhammad Akram Bhatti, President, Activist District Gujrat
S. Naveed-ul-Hussain, General Secretary, Electronic Media Association, Distt, Gujrat.
Mr. Aamir Siddique Warya (Advocate) Lahore High Court, Gujrat.
Mr. Zeeshan Ahmed, HR Coordinator, HEDF, Gujrat
Syed Muhammad Ashfaq gave an introduction of “Transparency International Pakistan” and overview of the background of corruption and bribery. He also highlighted, in detailed, the objectives of the program for raising citizen awareness among the general public about the prevailing corruption in Pakistan. He said that corruption is a “poison” which squanders government resources, deters investment and is detrimental to economic growth and political development.
Muhammad Akram Bhatti appreciated Transparency International Pakistan and Huqooq-ul-Ebad Development Foundation’s efforts in organizing such an event in Gujrat. This seminar helped the marginalized people of the district by introducing them to ALAC’s helpline for a redressal against corruption related complaints. Syed Naveed-ul-Hussain, said in his address that the access to justice and the rule of law are not determined by corruption. Ch. Aamir Siddique Warya said that we can fight against corruption by giving awareness to the general public as well as officials through their stakeholders
Mr.Zeeshan Ahmed, said that the basic causes of corruption are (a) inept and corrupt leadership (b) weakening of state institutions (i.e., legislature, executive, judiciary and bureaucracy (c) political instability (d) political interference and abuse of power (e) weak and inefficient governments, lack of transparency and (f) disregard of the rule of law etc. He further added that information is fundamental to make informed decisions therefore access to information shall be made available to every citizen.
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TI Pakistan organized a workshop on “Fraud Prevention and Awareness” on 1st July 2013 at Lahore.
The US Embassy’s Economic Officers Mr. Matan Meyer (Second Secretary) and Mr. Richard A. Bakewell along with Economic Specialist Mr. Fahd Zaidi from the US Consulate General Karachi visited the offices of TI Pakistan on 11th July, 2013.
A workshop on “Right to Information (RTI) ACT 2013” in District Peshawar was organized by TI Pakistan on 11, Sep 2013.
TI Pakistan conducted a workshop on “Citizen Awareness against Combatting Corruption” on September 14, 2013 at Gujrat district.
Mr. Fawad, Mr. Ali, Ms. Maryam A. and Ms. Twinkle attended Gender integration training workshop held at Islamabad on the 27th of September 2013.
Contact Us
5-C, 2nd Floor, Khayaban-e-Ittehad, Phase VII, D.H.A. Karachi 92 21 3 5390408/9 Fax: 92 21 3 5390410 www.transparency.org.pk [email protected]
@
Transparency International Pakistan Activities July ~ Sept 2013
www.facebook.com/ TransparencyInternational.Pakistan
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Transparency International Pakistan
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