Activites leading up to the International Anti-Corruption day - 9th December

[Daniel George]

Greetings all!

A collaborated effort from various organizations are being coordinated in an event in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea named "The 20 days Human Rights Activism". This event aims to mark several International days as listed below;

- Universal Children's Day (November 20th)
- International Day of Ending Violence Against Women Day (25th November)
- World's AIDS Day (01st December)
- International Day for People with Disabilities (3rd December)
- International Volunteer Day (5th December)
- International Anti-Corruption Day (9th December)

The various organisations are tasked to formulate activities leading up to the marking of their respective International day, thus, in our case the 9th December.

Might I suggest an event (if you don't have anything else planned yet!) that we could host simultaneously within our respective countries on the 9th December.

 For instance, a respective national corruption debate. How we do this is coordinate through our own youth networks the selection of candidates (using some form of criterion or activity- maybe other debates!) in the schools or communities.

We then organize for the final selected candidates brought to our own respective countries main centres on the 9th December organize for a radio coverage on the debate over the same corruption topic.

A suggested topic for the debate could be...."The main cause for poverty today is corruption!"

Comments and suggestions anyone?

Best regards,

Danny 

[Daniel George]

Tropical greetings from Papua New Guinea!

A collaborated effort has been made by active and advocative orgnisations to mark the several international days. Transprency International has also moved on its orginal plans to mark the International Anti-Corruption day with provincial youth/school debate.

Our target youth groups are from the Secondary schools; Schools who have also participated in the National Youth Demcracy Camp. This is an effort to provide an ongoing assessment on whether the advocacy method we implement are effective and if not, how we can better them

Our topics thus far are (and we welcome any topic suggestions that anyone may want to make!)

1. Should leadership be based on relationship?
2. Do women make better leaders than men?
3. Will corruption ever be reduced?

We aim to have the radio coverage of the event to encompass a larger audience and moreover further capacitate youth public oration.

But more importantly, youth will be empowered to voice their concerns and break the silence "culture" that corruption within PNG mainly thrives through. The students will learn to be confident and contirbute effectively in reducing corruption at all levels.

Best regards,

Danny George
Transprarency International PNG Inc

[Daniel George]

United Nations International Anti-Corruption Day

The 20 day Human Rights Activism committee is a cluster of members aimed at observing the various UN International Human Rights days that fall between the 20 November – 10 December and are relevant to their entity’s core objectives and missions. The 20 days of Human Rights also included the designated International Anti Corruption Day which was successfully commemorated on the 9^th December 2010 by Transparency International PNG Inc (TIPNG). TIPNG was able to secure a funding a grant of 2,000 Euros from the TI-Secretariat in Berlin earmarked for the launch of the Global Corruption Barometer.

Final Activities Brief

TIPNG held a number of activities leading up to and around the International Anti-Corruption Day. These included a radio interview, float parade, a public exhibition the launch of the 2009 Global Corruption Barometer Launch and the awarding of the 2010 Siaguru Integrity Award.

TIPNG staff were assisted by volunteering members of the Youth Against Corruption Association (YACA). They (youth) successfully administered the Vehicle Float parade through the city and assisted in all other activities which resulted in the whole event concluding on a high note.

Preliminary Plans

TIPNG initially planned an inter-school debate as well as a fundraising dinner to have been jointly hosted with the Business Against Corruption Alliance (BACA).

The concept of the local school debate was aimed at sustaining TIPNG’s efforts to involve youth in the fight against corruption and to educate them on corruptions’ ill effects on society as a whole. TIPNG therefore focused on utilizing the already established youth networks through the Youth Democracy Camp project and YACA as these were youth members of the local society identified as being committed to minimizing corruption.

The purpose of the fundraising dinner was primarily to support future anti-corruption activities as well as a promotional drive for the newly founded initiative BACA.  By way of background, the Business Against Corruption Alliance was launch in 2009 and is a joint initiative of TIPNG and the Port Moresby Chamber of Commerce & Industries focusing on conducting anti-corruption awareness and advocacy within the business community and private sector. The aim of BACA is to simply reduce corruption in business.

Activity funds were to be provided through the 20 Days of Activism Program by the Department for Community Development (DfCD). This however did not eventuate for various reasons and a board decision was made to not only abandon the plans but also refocus the next activity’s design to allow the greater public more access to civic information and further conduct anti corruption awareness.

With the grant’s objective to launch the 2010 Global Corruption Barometer (GCB) and after much deliberation within the organization, the new activity plan was to establish an informative anti-corruption drive culminating in the official GCB launch by the 9^th December.

 

 

INFORMATIVE ANTI-CORRUPTION DRIVE (8^th December)

-          Radio interview on GCB launch

-          Public TIPNG Exhibition with Corruption Drama

-          Vehicle Float Parade

 

TIPNG chose to set up the exhibition in the city’s main shopping district that is frequented by the majority of the public. This resulted in the more than 500 people accessing valuable information through posters, brochures and flyers on the anti-corruption work of TIPNG.

The exhibit was also successful in creating further awareness through a drama performance by the Wai-Soma Theatre group. This later spurred many informative discussions held with the public present which in effect empowered 5 individuals requesting information packages that they could use to conduct awareness within their communities once they returned home.

The wider community throughout the city was kept abreast of the international anti-corruption day program and in particular, information on the Global Corruption Barometer through a radio interview on the day. The media session was held on the later part of the morning and attended to by the ALAC TIPNG program Manager which also proded a number of inquisitive callers.

Furthermore, the float parade housed a vehicle decorated with banners transporting more than 15 students whose travel route channeled throughout the main city streets. The volunteer youths hailed from the Gordon and Jubillee Catholic Secondary schools who have been active institutions engaged with YACA. This attracted some members of the public to make their way to the exhibition resulting in the float being an effective promotional approach.

GLOBAL CORRUPTION BAROMETER LAUNCH & SIAGURU INTEGRITY AWARD (9^th December)

Discounting the minor setbacks (i.e. venue availability, festive season), the Global Corruption Barometer Launch was soundly attended by very notable guests and the media - who in turn covered the story during their respective evening news bulletin. Key note speakers during the launch included the Country Resident Representative of UNDP David McLachlan-Karr, former Chief Ombudsman Ila Geno and founding member of Transparency International PNG Richard Kassman and current TIPNG Chairman Lawrence Stephens giving those present various perspectives of the report and importantly appreciating that such informative data is being made available for public consumption.

The Waiso-Ma Theatre group performed again at the launch and received great reviews from the audience appraising that the medium was effective in delivering the anti-corruption message.

In the closing of the launch, TIPNG elected to also present the 2010 Siaguru Integrity Award to Mr Simon Eyork for his efforts in whistle blowing on acts of bribery by government officials processing fund allocations to public schools. This final activity was not only an effort to give public recognition to notable corruption fighters but also as an encouragement to the wider public to become more vocal and dynamic in the fight against corruption.