Transparency International (TI) held its Annual Membership Meeting (AMM) on 13 and 14 November in Guatemala City, bringing together 230 participants from nearly 100 countries. Over one and half days, the TI movement discussed key issues policy development in TI, the communication challenges in TI, and preventing corruption in development aid and humanitarian assistance. The morning of 13 November was dedicated to small group discussions on TI’s strategy for the future, as a key step in the 2010 Strategic Review currently underway.

At the formal Annual Membership Meeting on 14 November, TI chapters elected Nancy Boswell (President of TI USA) and Devendra Raj Panday (a democracy activist and former Finance Minister of Nepal, who formerly served on TI’s Advisory Council and as Chair of TI Nepal) to the TI Board of Directors. The terms will run for three years. The formal AMM also approved a plan to update TI’s governance instruments, which includes: changing the Charter provisions on casual vacancies on the Board; clarifying the conflict of interest policy; and amending the national chapter accreditation policy.

The difficulties faced by some people in getting to Transparency International’s (TI) Annual Membership Meeting (AMM) and IACC in Guatemala is a testament to their dedication to the anti-corruption movement. You think you had it bad? Missed planes, delays, lost luggage… Read about the journey of delegates from Liberia and Palestine.

G. Jasper Cummeh, III, the Director of the Centre for Transparency and Accountability in Liberia (TI’s contact group in Liberia), changed planes five times and covered half the globe to get to the TI AMM and IACC in Guatemala. He travelled from Monrovia to Dakar, Dakar to Brussels, Brussels to London, London to Chicago, Chicago to Houston, and finally Houston to Guatemala City. In addition to losing his baggage in Brussels, he had to sleep overnight in the Houston airport terminal to wait for his last connecting flight.

Delegates from Palestine also had to deal with five different countries to get to Guatemala. The difficulties of Dr. Azmi Shuaibi of TI Palestine and Mr. Abdelrahman Abu Arafeh of the Arab Thought Forum (a coalition member of TI Palestine) began even before they stepped foot on the plane. They first had to travel to Tel Aviv, Israel to reach the closest embassy of Guatemala. They then had to deal with the Foreign Ministry of Guatemala to allow the Israeli embassy to grant the visas as the applicants were not Israeli. When it was time to leave for Guatemala City, Dr. Shuaibi and Mr..Arafeh had to travel to Jordan by land to catch their first flight, as it was not possible to fly out of the Palestinian Authority. They flew to Paris, then from Paris to Mexico City, then Mexico City to Guatemala City.

Transparency International (TI) is seeking to expand its network of Advocacy and Legal Advice Centres (ALAC) in Europe and Central Asia as well as outside of the region. The ALACs offer a grassroots solution to addressing corruption where it occurs by providing advocacy and advice directly to people who have experienced corruption in their daily lives.

With the aim of expansion in mind, TI held a workshop in Baku, Azerbaijan from 1- 4 December to provide an introduction to the objectives and functioning of ALACs to 19 national chapters from around the world. Chapters who are already operating ALACs shared their experiences and lessons learned and the ALAC in Azerbaijan provided workshop participants with a tour of the centre and organised a meeting between participants and ALAC employees as well as some past users of the centre.

Participants left the workshop enthusiastic about opportunities to open up ALACs in their home countries. For more information on this workshop or the ALAC programme, please contact Ben Elers at belers@transparency.org.

Transparency International’s Forest Integrity Network (FIN) held an internet-based workshop on corruption, business, and the forest sector from 1 to 8 November. Thirty-six participants representing five continents registered to use the workshop forum, and around 50 more browsed the forum as guests. Publishing companies Time, Inc. and Axel Springer posted links to their work on responsible purchasing of forest products, as did the worldwide package manufacturer Tetra Pak. Susan Coté-Freeman of TI-USA and the TI Secretariat posted information on the Business Principles for Countering Bribery. For information on the outcome of the workshop, please contact Andrea Figari at afigari@transparency.org .

Transparencia Venezuela (TI’s national chapter in Venezuela) organised a conference called Expo Transparencia, which focused on technologies for efficient and transparent municipal government. The conference, held in September 2006, united mayors from all municipalities of the country, as well as foreign mayors, academics, experts, and private firms to exchange experiences with an eye to reproducing successful outcomes.

Over the course of the three-day conference, 37 examples of best practice were presented. These examples provided information on new technologies and applications developed to improve transparency in local government in areas such as: Government budget, public contracting, procedures and norms, access to information, civil society participation, systems of control and accountability, public services, electronic government and public management.

Additionally, the expo featured 35 exhibits from private companies, public institutions and universities, which presented their products and services, including a series of technological hardware and software programs for monitoring the performance of mayors, as well as new tools and systems for improving public management. The most discussed product at the conference was electronic government – an online tool that enables a stronger link between government and citizens. For more information (in Spanish) please visit: www.transparencia.org.ve/evento_2006.php

In November the TI secretariat programme manager for access to information, Andrea Figari, was elected to the Steering Committee of the international Freedom of Information (FOI) Advocates Network. Formed in 2002 to facilitate the exchange information and cooperation on common projects between civil society organisations, the network comprises over 80 member organisations throughout the world, including several TI national chapters. This forum for collaboration helps civil society organisations with campaigning, advocacy, and fundraising, and works to form coalitions to deal with FOI issues at both the regional and global level. For more information, visit www.foiadvocates.net , or contact Andrea Figari at afigari@transparency.org .

Following her participation at the 12th International Anti-Corruption Conference (IACC) in Guatemala in November, TI Chair Huguette Labelle took the opportunity to visit three more Latin American countries: Panamá, Perú and Chile. In Panama, she met with TI Panama and the Foundation for the Development of Civil Freedom, as well as the President of Panana, Martín Torrijos. She applauded his signature of the Declaration for a Corruption-Free region at the IACC in Guatemala but encouraged him to confront problems such as the lack of transparency in the financing of the electoral campaigns. Huguette Labelle also took the time to discuss transparency in public contracting with the Authorities of the Panama Canal.

Huguette Labelle then travelled to Perú and met with Proética (TI’s chapter in Peru), the National Confederation of Private Enterprises (CONFIEP) and Dr. Magallanes, the winner of the 2006 Integrity Award. In Chile, Huguette visited a school where a Pilot Project in reducing corruption in education by Chile Transparente, (TI’s chapter in Chile) has been launched and met with the President of the Supreme Court about judicial corruption.

She also attended a reception hosted by the President of the Republic, in the National Palace la Moneda, which included a ceremony to increase information on the United Nations Convention against Corruption.

The 12th International Anti-Corruption Conference (IACC) in Guatemala featured a workshop on the business of corruption in sports. Led by Sylvia Schenk- a lawyer, a former Olympic athlete and a member of TI Germany - the workshop featured presentations by Anne Schwoebel (TI Switzerland Managing Director), Henri Roemer (Advisor to Union of European Football Associations’ (UEFA) Executive Committee) and Jens Andersen (Director of Play the Game). Participants stressed the social and economic importance of sports and the necessity to tackle the many forms corruption takes in sports, notably money laundering and trafficking of young athletes. The workshop raised great interest and paved the way for greater cooperation between Play the Game, Transparency International, and UEFA.