International donors led a generous outpouring of support, pledging more than US$ 6 billion toward relief and reconstruction efforts in Pakistan alone.

Disaster situations such as this - with immense pressure to respond quickly, combined with large and rapid influxes of aid money - increase the risk of corruption in assistance and reconstruction efforts. It may take the form of diversion of relief supplies from affected communities, inequitable distribution of aid, or corruption in the procurement of infrastructure.

Conscious of these concerns from their involvement in Indian Ocean tsunami - related assistance projects, Transparency International and its national chapters saw the need to act quickly to ensure transparency following the earthquake in Pakistan and hurricane in Guatemala to minimise the risk of corruption and ensure that desperately needed aid reached its intended beneficiaries.

In Pakistan, TI and its national chapter convened a workshop to support transparency measures and curb the risk of corruption, mismanagement and waste in the country’s reconstruction efforts. Held in Islamabad on 7-8 February 2006, the event was opened by H.E. Shaukat Aziz, Prime Minister of Pakistan. It brought together participants from key government agencies, donors and civil society, as well as international experts in disaster relief. The discussions built on lessons learned from previous natural disasters - including the tsunami and the Gujarat earthquake. It followed an April 2005 regional meeting on corruption prevention in tsunami relief organised by TI with the Asian Development Bank and OECD's Anti-Corruption Initiative for Asia and the Pacific.

The workshop produced concrete recommendations for a framework of good practice and stakeholder responsibilities. The recommendations focused on the importance of participatory decision making, transparency and monitoring of aid flows, monitoring and evaluation of procurement and service delivery, and effective enforcement and complaint-handling mechanisms.

In Guatemala, Acción Ciudadana, a Transparency International national chapter in formation, signed with the Guatemalan government the Integrity and Access to Information Governmental Agreement on the National Reconstruction Programme Execution. This measure assures that the government will provide easier, broader and unrestricted access to public information. Accountability actions are being promoted to contribute to transparency in the use of resources in the reconstruction following Hurricane Stan.

Acción Ciudadana will develop a social audit on the reconstruction, with the goal of an independent transparency evaluation on expenditures and public investment. The main strategy will be to build the capacity of society to monitor reconstruction through departmental networks and social municipal audit commissions led by the affected communities.

For further details on the work of TI Pakistan on disaster relief and reconstruction please contact Syed Adil Gilani, TI Pakistan at: adil.gilani@gmail.com or Nikola Sandoval at the TI Secretariat: nsandoval@transparency.org

For further information on the work of the national chapter in formation in Guatemala, please go to: www.accionciudadana.org.gt