Participación Ciudadana, TI’s national chapter in formation in the Dominican Republic, organised the first symposium on “Judiciary, Local Governments and Civil Society towards the citizen’s access to justice”. The main subject of the conference was the project “Casas Comunitarias de Justicia” (Community Houses of Justice) carried out by Participación Ciudadana, and financed by USAID. The objective of the project was to inform citizens about their legal and civil rights and to increase the population’s access to justice. The discussion was based on how to implement this idea, taking into account the informal justice mechanisms often applied in rural areas. The participating institutions signed a commitment to establish an inter-institutional working group that would elaborate a basic concept on how to monitor the activities developed by these Community Houses of Justice.

Following the launch of the CRINIS project at the Organisation of American States General Assembly in Panama on 3 June, Transparency International organised a series of meetings to critically discuss concepts, methodology and opportunities for advocacy work related to the project. CRINIS is a tool for measurement and advocacy on accountability, transparency and oversight in party and campaign finance law and practice. The project has initially been implemented in eight Latin American countries.
In the course of the meetings, participants from civil society organisations from Africa, Europe and Asia developed suggestions on how to improve the methodology for replicating CRINIS as a measurement and advocacy tool in other countries. Donor agencies and development banks stressed that signatory states of the United Nations Convention against Corruption have committed to guarantee transparency on party and campaign funding and measurement. To learn more about CRINIS visit: :www.transparency.org/regional_pages/americas/crinis

Transparency International (TI) India signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Coal India Ltd last month to put in place transparent mechanisms in procurement and contracting. Coal India Ltd has agreed to adopt Integrity Pacts in all of its procurement activities. The Integrity Pact is a tool developed by TI to ensure that all procurement activities between a company or governmental body and its suppliers are handled in a fair, transparent and corruption-free manner. Coal India Ltd is the second public sector enterprise after India’s Oil and Natural Gas Commission (ONGC) to adopt such a pact. The implementation of the MoU will start in October.

On 19 June South Africa joined the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development Anti-Bribery Convention (OECD). South Africa is the 37th signatory of the Convention, but the first African country. Coinciding with this event was the organisation of a workshop on poverty and inequality in relation to the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) under the theme: “Is Africa on Track? Is South Africa on Track?” in Johannesburg, South Africa. The timing of the workshop was relevant as it is the midway point in the run up to the MDG’s 2015 timeline and provides a good opportunity to reflect on the progress made to-date, as well as what is still missing. The workshop was organised by the South African civil society coalition (SANGOCO), including TI South Africa, Action Aid, African Monitor and the National Development Agency. For more information, see: www.sangoco.org.za/site/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=326&Itemid=81

Transparency Deutschland, TI’s national chapter in Germany, issued a press release together with six other German civil society organisations – BUND, Campact, foodwatch, Germanwatch, LobbyControl and Mehr Demokratie – welcoming the decision of the German Constitutional Court to confirm the "Parliamentarians' Law" and the respective code of conduct. This law requires parliamentarians to report on additional sources of income, especially with regard to activities in relationship with the mandate for which the parliamentarian was elected. Additional professional activities are considered to be secondary employment, which must be disclosed to the President of the German parliament and made public. This income is not published in exact numbers but presented in three monthly ranges starting at €1,000. TI and the other civil society organisations are asking for more detailed information on the parliamentarians' income.

The third of three seminars organised by TI Ireland in a series for development agencies focussed on strengthening accountability in partner countries and opportunities for civil society to contribute to the promotion of public participation in decision making. The seminars looked into opportunities for civil society in promoting good governance in international development. The July session was led by Kulan Amin, TI’s Programme Manager Poverty and Development, and drew from TI’s recently published policy paper on Poverty, Aid and Corruption.

TI UK organised a meeting at the end of June on repatriating looted assets. The meeting was based on the UK government’s interim progress report on the implementation of its 2006/07 Action Plan for Combating International Corruption, which reports some progress in the UK on the repatriation and/or freezing of financial assets looted by corrupt foreign politicians and officials. The event looked specifically into the following areas: the implementation of the recommendations of the 2005 Commonwealth Expert Group on Asset Repatriation, especially on issues such as immunity for politicians from criminal prosecution; the practical difficulties of tracing and repatriating assets, especially when multiple jurisdictions are involved; strengthening mutual legal assistance; and the challenges of repatriating assets to high risk environments. Invited speakers included the Legal and Constitutional Affairs Division of the Commonwealth Secretariat, as well as representatives from the law firms Baker & McKenzie and Kendall Freeman.

In July, Transparency International’s national chapter in Bulgaria and the European Institute organised a discussion on the recent European Commission progress report and Bulgaria’s progress with regard to corruption, together with the head of the European Commission representation to Bulgaria. The discussion concluded that Bulgaria has taken positive steps in the fight against corruption and organised crime but that progress is not sufficient. According to the deputy chair of TI Bulgaria’s Board of Directors, Dimitur Kyumyurdzhiev, the political will to deal with corruption is still lacking in the country.

TI launched a new programme in July called “Africa Education Watch” aiming at improving transparency and accountability in the use of resources for primary education. It will be implemented by TI national chapters in Ghana, Madagascar, Morocco, Niger, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Uganda. Through a set of diagnostic measures, national chapters will assess waste, leakages and corruption in the use of resources for primary education. The project will assess the extent to which local accountability structures and instruments such as school management committees, public display of financial information and others, contribute to reducing leakages and corruption. The diagnostic phase will be followed by advocacy campaigns at national and regional level. The project is funded by the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. For more information, please write to dbaesler@transparency.org

The Water Integrity Network (WIN) has launched its redesigned website. The new and more accessible website can be found at www.waterintegritynetwork.net. The site will promote anti-corruption activities and coalition-building at the local, regional and global levels. The website is designed to further WIN’s central objective of fighting corruption in the water and sanitation sector through open knowledge-sharing among members. The new website offers anti-corruption news, tools as well as networking and discussion forums.
WIN is a coalition with 170 members in 53 countries, hosted by TI. The Network was founded by the International Water and Sanitation Centre (IRC), Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI), Swedish Water House (SWH), Transparency International (TI) and Water and Sanitation Programme (WSP).