×

Our award-winning reporting has moved

Context provides news and analysis on three of the world’s most critical issues:

climate change, the impact of technology on society, and inclusive economies.

What does success look like in the fight against corruption?

by Graham Gordon | Thomson Reuters Foundation
Tuesday, 24 April 2012 14:35 GMT

* Any views expressed in this opinion piece are those of the author and not of Thomson Reuters Foundation.

By Graham Gordon

The big question in all of our work is how do we know that what we are doing makes any difference? How can we tell if we were successful? Questions I posed this week in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico at the High-Level Dialogue on Anti-Corruption.

When asked what was needed to make the fight against corruption successful, many speakers focused on the need for effective rule of law, strong business leadership and clear systems, training, procedures and structures. And progress reported on specific initiatives such as the Construction Sector Transparency Initiative (CoST).

The meeting was organised by Mexico, as G20 president, joining with groups such as the B20, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and World Economic Forum to focus on the role of business and transparency.

Don’t get me wrong. Policies, systems and processes are important. They give the necessary framework and the political leadership to fight corruption. CEO and board leadership determines the values and direction of a company. The UK’s Bribery Act has caused ripples throughout the world and change in company practice. The UN Convention Against Corruption and the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention provide guiding international norms.

Tearfund even lobbied for the Bribery Act to be passed - and we have been calling for legally binding transparency rules in the EU for extractive companies. However, I return again to the question of success. Just how do we recognise it?

From a profit perspective, the business case for anti-corruption can easily argue that success can be seen in terms of less money being lost due to corruption or of business expansion. In terms of justice and the rule of law, trials and convictions give some indication of success. According to Gabriaela Ramos, OECD Chief of Staff, 290 businesses and individuals have been tried under the OECD ant-bribery rules with 54 convictions. The UK Anti-Bribery Act has its first successful conviction and we hope for more. This should be celebrated.

But what concerns Tearfund, as a development agency is how these measures bring concrete changes to people’s lives. Effective laws, policies and procedures are vital, but how do they affect the mother in a small town in the Peruvian rainforest who is faced with the choice of paying for “free” medical treatment or being refused attention?

For this, we often need to look beyond business and government initiatives at national level, to innovative actions by civil society.

One example is ipaidabribe.com where over 15,000 citizens in India have used the website to report paying bribes over the past two years. In one case a transport commissioner of Karnataka, who used the website to identify procedures most prone to corruption, cautioned 20 senior officers and introduced new procedures - reducing the incidences of bribes. As a result, citizens benefitted from more money and had greater confidence in public servants.

Another example is the work of Tearfund partner Christian Council of Tanzania who have set up village development committees to monitor government spending. In Magole Secondary School the development committee stopped a plan to steal 10 million Tanzanian Shillings ($US 6370) destined for school buildings. The result - more classrooms built for the children.

Many of the most successful initiatives bringing practical changes have involved partnerships between governments and civil society. But there is a noticeable absence of business involvement.

In my intervention at the end of the day as we were approaching tequila hour, I left business with one simple challenge: The need for business to support civil society initiatives at local level; engage with civil society in a new way, not as trouble-makers or people to speak to in order to avoid future conflicts, but as partners who can help expose corruption and ensure better value and better quality services for all.

It seems simple doesn’t it..? But it involves new ways of operating and different kinds of risks. In five years time will we be able to hear of stories from business where success in anti-corruption initiatives means better schools, hospitals and social services?

Graham Gordon is a Senior Policy Officer on Governance and Corruption at Tearfund.

-->