'What works and why in community-based anti-corruption programs'

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What works and why in community-based anti-corruption programs3.2 Community-led programs: Empowering communities to fightcorruptionThis section outlines four ‘community-led’ programs that are tackling corruption. Often community-ledprograms are conflated with community-based programs, however there are important distinctions.Community-led, or sometimes referred to as ‘community-driven’ programs give community membersdirect control and responsibility over all aspects of decision-making within the program. This meansthe community controls the strategy and implementation of the activities at all stages, most commonlythrough a consultation and decision-making process that works towards consensus. This sets up adifferent dynamic to other anti-corruption programs that might be located in a community setting, butare managed and directed by an outside organisation, or a small group of people who may not be ableto represent the whole community.In each of these case studies the priority of the program is to bolster community’s own efforts to tacklecorruption. The implementing organisation is aiding and facilitating the process that the communitywants to adopt._________________________________________________________________________________CASESTUDY ONEBox 3.1 Committee of Concerned Citizens – BangladeshTransparency International (TI) Bangladesh is a leading organisation in the movement againstcorruption in Bangladesh. TI-Bangladesh maintains a strong grassroots focus, aiming to catalyse andstrengthen anti-corruption participatory social movements from local platforms. One of the successfulways that TI-Bangladesh has engaged with communities is through the Committees of ConcernedCitizens.Committees of Concerned Citizen (Triple Cs) are local voluntary watchdog committees, engaging withcommunities to both bolster communities’ efforts to eradicate and prevent corruption and providecitizens with anti-corruption information and advice. Triple Cs respond to corruption concerns raisedby communities members and undertake collective monitoring activities. They also publicly report oncorruption problems and evidence of corruption obtained from monitoring exercises.Committees have 9-21 appointed members with an elected convenor (for a maximum of twosuccessive one year terms). All members are volunteers and come from a variety of professionalgroups including teachers, lawyers, journalists, physicians, business people, NGO workers, retiredgovernment officials, public representatives and community activists. Membership in the Triple C isgranted on the basis of personal credibility and ability to lead, motivate and support citizens in thecommunity struggle against corruption. Special care is taken that Triple Cs are non-partisan. Triple Cmembers cannot be office-bearers of a political party, and must ensure that any partisan politicalposition does not affect the nature of their role and participation in the Triple C.Committees receive initial financial support from TI-Bangladesh, with arrangements that each Triple Cwill grow and evolve to self-reliance on financial support from their community. This includes sourcingoffice space, which may be donated from local businesses, or premises within an education institution.Ongoing training, technical assistance and logistic support is provided by TI- Bangladesh throughlocally based staff. Triple Cs may also ‘opt-in’ to TI-Bangladesh’s national anti-corruption campaigns.Attached to each Triple C is a Volunteer Youth Group. Youth Groups, together with Advice andInformation Desks 2 , are the engine room of Triple C’s community activities. Made up of members 15-30 years old, Youth Groups help organise local events, such as open assemblies with Triple Cmembers, public meetings with local journalists and community representatives, mothers meetings atschools, workshops and trainings. They assist in collecting responses to Triple C Report CardSurveys, and undertake sub-programs of their own such as study groups, publication of magazines,2 Case study nine- 14 -
What works and why in community-based anti-corruption programsand debate and essay competitions. Also linked to each Triple C are Volunteer Street Theatre groups,communicating messages of anti-corruption awareness. The activities of both the Youth Groups andStreet Theatre Groups are usually held on weekends and holidays, fitting with the overall volunteeraspect of the Triple C program.TI-Bangladesh receives many requests and expressions of interest from people wanting to form aTriple C. In the first instance communities commence a group known as ‘Friends of TI-Bangladesh’.This allows interested people to first form a relationship with TI-Bangladesh, with the aim that groupswill be nurtured and strengthened before being launched as a Triple C. Both ‘Friends of TI-Bangladesh’ and Triple Cs can access ongoing technical assistance and training.Communities’ response to Triple Cs has been overwhelmingly positive. This is because Triple Cs andtheir associated groups and advice services offer a direct way for people to voice complaints, raiseconcerns, make suggestions and get active in anti-corruption campaigns. The impact on localcorruption problems has also been successful. After documenting corruption problems in localhospitals, schools, transport or public services, Committees present recommendations to localgovernment, with practical resolutions to curb and cut corruption. Problems that affect people in theirdaily lives – such as petty corruption by hospital registrars, or black market profiteering in train ticketsales – have been addressed by simple and realistic solutionsKey Strengths● The Committees of Concerned Citizens offer a direct way for people to make their voice heard onlocal corruption issues.● Committees of Concerned Citizens are established on the request of local citizens; they aredriven and managed by local advocates. They can join local coalitions and campaigns, and work at amicro level that is often not feasible for a larger national organisation to reach.● Committees of Concerned Citizens receive technical assistance, logistical support and thebacking of the national Transparency International Chapter.● Committees can opt-in to Transparency International Bangladesh campaigns, or maintain aspecific local approach. TI-Bangladesh also has a representative of the Triple C membership on theAdvisory Committee to the TI-Bangladesh Board of Trustees. This committee advises the TI-Bangladesh board in realising their goals.Key Challenges● Committees of Concerned Citizens require ongoing logistical and training support, which can beresource intensive for the local Transparency International Chapter. Managing the numerousrelationships between Committees and Transparency International Bangladesh is also resourceintensive.● As committees become more independent, levels of activity can vary from district to district.For the program to be sustainable in the long-term Committees of Concern Citizens must establishfinancial and resource support from their local community.● There are challenges in ensuring that the needs of minority or marginalised groups arerepresented on committees.● The positive results of community-based initiatives such as these cannot be sustained withoutpolitical will at the national level, and independent and effective functioning of the key institutions ofnational integrity system. In other words Committees of Concern Citizens cannot succeed in fightingcorruption alone, but must be part of a comprehensive anti-corruption strategy.Transparency International Bangladesh_________________________________________________________________________________- 15 -
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