1 | P a g e

Quarterly

Newsletter April-June 2013

Volume XXVI

"The story of Pakistan, its struggle and its achievement, is the very story of great human ideals, struggling to survive in the face of great odds and difficulties."

Muhammad Ali Jinnah’s

2

ALAC Pakistan

Contact Us

Editor: Ms. Maryam Mughal Layout By: Ms. Twinkle Peter

Inside this Issue

TI-Pakistan Activities

April-June 2013

Anti-Fraud Hotline

From the Editor’s Desk

6 8

The great leader of the African-American civil rights movement, Martin Luther King, Jr., once said: “Change does not roll in on the wheels of inevitability, but comes through continuous struggle.” If ever there was a state that has struggled continuously, and that too, in the face of extreme criticism, violence and several other depressing factors, it has to be Pakistan. For this reason, we must celebrate the good where possible. For the first time in the history of Pakistan, a civilian government has completed its full term in office – a major achievement for a country that has usually been ruled by the military for most of its existence. The subsequent polling to elect a new government saw the people of Pakistan come out of their houses and vote with vigor and determination. The bravery of the nation to come out together and vote in record numbers on a day that was threatened by militant outfits – and indeed left over 30 dead – should not be ignored. It should be clear then, if there were any doubt before, that this is a people desperate to work for change.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his party re-enter the Pakistani government at a time where citizens have had enough of standing helplessly by as their (previous) government pillaged them in broad daylight. Before taking office, the new government’s leader had spoken at length about fighting corruption. Recently, he wrote a letter to his cabinet ministers and federal secretaries ordering the cancellation of the contracts of corrupt officials. “To arrive at a corruption-free government, the selection and the appointment process for officers working at integral institutions requires strict scrutiny,” said Sharif. Once again, Pakistan is at a crossroads. We hope that the new government embarks on a successful journey to heal the wounds of the country, those that have been self-inflicted and otherwise. With this, we are pleased to present TI-Pakistan’s newsletter for the second quarter of the year that highlights some of the major anti-corruption activities carried out by us. We hope that this newsletter serves as a useful tool for all stakeholders to enhance partnership to curb corruption.

NICSA

TI-Pakistan Strategy 2015

5

2 | P a g e

CEO along with 23 employees of SRSO (Sindh Rural Support Organization) have been terminated against forcing the villagers to sign falsified documentation indicating reception of payment under USAID project which was not originally not made. The decision was made under the light of complaints that Transparency International Pakistan had been receiving through Anti-Fraud Hotline that alleged mismanagement, theft and corruption in several USAID projects by the organization. The concerned investigation authorities have proposed debarment of SRSO but the final decision is still in pending

Transparency International Pakistan points out elevated Corruption in Humanitarian Assistance!

Anti-Fraud Hotline has completed another successful quarter of operation, and with each progressive quarter, it is becoming bigger and better in experience.

AFH works as a watchdog, collecting substantial amount of complaints pertaining to USAID funded projects in various sectors such as Energy, Health, Agriculture, and Education

Owing to carefully knitted outreach programs and marketing strategy, USAID Anti-Fraud Hotline project implemented by TI-Pakistan, is no longer an unknown entity. AFH’s presence in terms of its main objectives that are to help citizens in reporting fraud, waste, abuse, exploitation and corruption in USAID projects across Pakistan is well known, although room for improvement is never out of the plan. Marketing plan is carefully reviewed on monthly and quarterly basis, which helps delegate the resources according to the trends and analysis.

Qua

rter

ly N

ewsl

ette

r (A

pril-

June

201

3)

3 | P a g e

H O T L I N E

0 8 0 0 – 8 4 7 0 0

Since Jan’13 AFH has catered to over 8,000 calls that resulted in over 600 complaints, of which over 59% originated from Sindh, 15% Baluchistan , 15% Punjab, 7% KPK. Other areas of Pakistan combined to account for 3% of complaints. AFH has deployed multilingual complaint officers that cater to complainants from various linguistic backgrounds calling from every nook and corner. In order to bring the complaint officers up to the par, continuous in-house trainings are conducted.

All complaints are investigated by investigators of the OIG headquarters in Washington D.C. AFH like always carried out complaint referral services on a good will basis to external entities including UNWFP, UNOPS, UNICEF, UNDP, BISP, Save the Children, Mercy Corp, The World Bank, Awaz Foundation, FAO and NRSP.

The hotline enables communication in English, Urdu, Pashto, Sindhi and Balochi via 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 to determine their accuracy.

Qua

rter

ly N

ewsl

ette

r (A

pril-

June

201

3)

4 | P a g e

The trust between TI-Pakistan, citizens of Pakistan and USAID has flourished and strengthened.

Although a comprehensive marketing strategy is in place, but still AFH observed a decreased level of calls resulting in lower number of complaints primarily due to the election season, as people were busy in election activities. This was specially observed in the rural areas, that NGO’s under the supervision of regional influential people were helping general public to gain their confidence by delivering services and goods as part of their election campaign. After the election season the calls have started to improve consequently giving rise to an improved number of complaints.

Jhang Mor Muzaffargarh

College Chowk DG

Eid Gah Pull Ryk 2

Qua

rter

ly N

ewsl

ette

r (A

pril-

June

201

3)

5 | P a g e

Qua

rter

ly N

ewsl

ette

r (A

pril-

June

201

3)

Transparency International Pakistan is in the process of developing its strategy to support its mission to "make Pakistan a better country to live in". The aim of this strategic exercise is to focus our work for the next three years and to maximize our contribution to the fight against corruption in Pakistan.

Transparency International Pakistan Strategy 2015

TI-Pakistan has engaged the consulting firm, Grant Thornton, to assist in formulating the Strategy more comprehensively and professionally. So far several group and one-on-one meetings have taken place between the TI-Pakistan Working Group and key representatives of Grant Thornton.

In 2003 Transparency International Pakistan conducted a research on National Integrity System Assessments (NICSA) to undertake a review and assessment of the cause, nature, extent and impact of corruption from a broad perspective. After 10 years, it was decided to streamline this study with more updated and detailed information as the previous one was outdated. Since 2012, research is being done on NICSA which is a tool that evaluates 13 pillars based on political-institution, social-political and socio-economic foundations that makes an overall national integrity system of a country.

National Integrity System

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.

6 | P a g e

0

100

200

Unknown Male Female

11

175

12

Gender

ALAC’s sixth year started with a vision to sustain the future of the project. To meet this end, new marketing material in the form of a documentary and a booklet were produced. These will be uploaded on our website soon.

In the April to June 2013 quarter, the ALAC recorded 198 new clients, a 13% increase from last quarter. The numbers of complaints generated by these clients were 254 (as opposed to the 217 generated in the previous quarter). The reason for the disparity between the number of clients and the complaints is simply because a client has made more than one complaint. Out of the complaints registered, 108 of them have been turned into cases, (which has been an almost 30% increase than last year’s 75 cases). In these instances, ALAC has given legal advice to clients or written to the concerned authorities to resolve these matters.

TI Pakistan is proud to say that in this quarter there were three successful cases and 37 partially successful ones. We deem a case to be successful when the client’s problem is solved with the concerned authority fixing the issue or a court order demanding the same. A case is considered partially-successful when:

The client wanted advice and we gave that to him verbally – via the phone/email etc., but do not know for certain if the client will follow that advice.

A higher authority directs the accused authority to rectify the client’s grievance. These are mostly situations where there is nothing more that the ALAC can do for the client.

Qua

rter

ly N

ewsl

ette

r (A

pril-

June

201

3)

Activities

To bring transparency and accountability in the public services and to fight corruption, ALAC has been working on the general awareness of the public on corruption as its advocacy plan. The general public does not know the vast, and sometimes complicated, definitions of corruption. They have misconceptions and ill-informed interpretations of it. More than ever before, it has become imperative that the correct picture of corruption is promoted to the general public, so that they can actively participate in rooting out this menace from society.

Through mass mobilization, further progress can be made to resolve major issues. In Punjab, Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkwa and Balochistan provinces a number of kutcheries (communal gatherings), corner meetings and training workshops have taken place. In these gatherings, the people were told about the menace of corruption, how corrupt practices were affecting them and the future of their children and what to do about it. They were also enlightened with information gathered from our previous campaigns, specifically those related to ‘FIR awareness’ and ‘Ghost Schools’

7 | P a g e

Qua

rter

ly N

ewsl

ette

r (A

pril-

June

201

3)

In this quarter, three seminars were organized by the ALAC. The details of some events are as follows:

Sudhar Development Organization, Burewala (Punjab) This one day seminar was held in Mohsinwal, district of Khanewal in Punjab on 18th June, 2013. Nearly 55 women participated in this seminar. After giving an overview of the subject of corruption, one of the speakers, Ms. Farah Imran stressed that information was power and that “where information is not freely accessible, corruption can thrive and basic rights might not be realized.”

Another corner meeting targeted on building awareness on anti-corruption was carried out on 21st June, 2013. This session was attended by 58 women in Chichawatni, district of Sahiwal. The subject of anti-corruption was discussed at length and then the speakers spoke about their points of view. Ms. Bushra Bano brought up the topic of elections. She said, “Political corruption isn’t just about election rigging. It can lead politicians in office to steer away from good government. Their decisions can benefit those who fund them. The public interest comes second.

Political corruption can divert scarce resources from poor and disadvantaged people.” Leaflets and brochures on anti-corruption were also distributed among them and refreshment was provided. Patient Welfare Society, Bhakkar (Punjab) A one-day seminar was held in Tehsil Council Hall, Bhakkar on 18th June 2013. Nearly 80 people participated in this event; due to cultural restrictions, the participants were mostly male. The seminar started with a recitation from the Holy Quran. Shaikh Imtiaz Ahmed, senior vice president of Patient Welfare Society introduced Transparency International Pakistan and spoke in detail about how it worked. He spoke about TI Pakistan’s different projects and outreach programmes that are used to combat corruption and then spoke about the ALAC in detail.

One of the most interesting points in the seminar was raised by advocate Latif Rashid. In his opinion, most of the corruption he had seen had occurred in jails. He said that there were prisoners that were only there because they didn’t have enough money to post bail or were too poor to pay a nominal fine and had been imprisoned for years. He appealed to TI Pakistan to facilitate such prisoners and help free those that were going through this ordeal all over the country.

Leaflets and brochures on anti-corruption were also distributed among the participants and refreshment was provided.

8 | P a g e

Mr. Ruksahana Nanayakara (Regional Coordinator) and Ms. Sulakshana De Mel (South Asia Regional Coordinator) TI- Berlin, visited TI-Pakistan office on 1st April 2013.

Mr. Sohail Muzaffar signed MOU between TI-Pakistan and Sui Southern Gas Company Limited on 1st April 2013 at Islamabad.

Mr. Saad Rashid and Mr. Ruksahana Nanayakara signed MOU between TI-Pakistan and Oil and Gas Development Company Limited on 3rd April 2013 at Karachi.

Mr. Saad Rashid and Mr. Ruksahana Nanayakara signed MOU between TI-Pakistan and Printing Corporation of Pakistan on 4th April 2013 at Karachi.

Mr. Saad Rashid, Mr. Syed Fawad and Dr. Munir Ahmed visited Phnom Penh Cambodia to attend the TIAP Regional Programme Meeting and the NICSA workshop from 12th June to 16th June 2013

TI- Pakistan conducted a workshop on “The Role of Women against corruption” at Mohsinwal, District Khanewal on 18th June 2013 and at Chichawatni, District Sahiwal on 21st June 2013

A workshop on “Citizen Awareness Against Corruption” was organized by TI-Pakistan at Tehsil Council Hall – Bakhar, Punjab on 18th June 2013.

Mr. Saad Rashid and Ms. Maryam Javed visited Swiss Development Cooperation (SDC) and Norwegian Embassy in Islamabad, to make a presentation on the ALAC on 27th June 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 tip.newsletter@gmail.com

@

Transparency International Pakistan Activities April ~ June 2013

www.facebook.com/ TransparencyInternational.Pakistan

Qua

rter

ly N

ewsl

ette

r (A

pril-

June

201

3)

Transparency International Pakistan