The Mexican Fund to preserve natural resources (Fondo Mexicano para la Conservación de la Naturaleza) and Transparencia Mexicana, TI´s national chapter in Mexico, are working together on a project to increase transparency with regards to the environment. This joint effort aims to strengthen citizens’ capacity to be informed on the country’s natural resources in order to participate in the decision-making process that affects the environment. The project, Environmental Transparency, is based on an interactive and dynamic on-line platform that serves to share information on efforts that promote transparency in the decisions that affect Mexican natural resources.

The board of directors of the Centre for Justice in the Americas (CEJA) met in Santiago de Chile in September to discuss corruption in the judicial sector. Transparency International (TI) was invited to participate in the meeting, and asked to share the results of the Global Corruption Report 2007, looking at corruption and the judiciary, and to present, and get feedback on, a diagnostic tool developed by TI to identify corruption problems in judicial systems.

CEJA is an international organisation composed of members from the Organisation of American States, and its objectives are to promote research on judicial systems, advocate for judicial reform and facilitate exchange of experience among key regional actors in the Americas. More information on CEJA at: www.cejamericas.org

Ética y Transparencia, TI’s national chapter in formation in Nicaragua, signed an anti-corruption agreement with the city hall of the municipality of San Marcos Carazo. It aims at increasing accountability and transparency in public administration, and informing and generating knowledge among local authorities and social leaders on anti-corruption tools and mechanisms to fight corruption, as well as evaluation and monitoring indicators. As part of the agreement, local authorities and civil servants also are going to be trained in the issues dealt with by the Inter-American Convention against Corruption (IACAC) upon which the agreement is based.

In early September leaders from civil society and the private sector from different Latin American countries met in Brazil to discuss the role of civil society in public issues. The meeting was convened by the Avina Foundation, an organisation committed to sustainable development in Latin America. TI contributed to the meeting by explaining how TI initiatives help create changes in the public and private spheres and presenting its experience in fighting corruption through coalition building and civil society engagement in the region.

Participants from many different backgrounds agreed on the importance of including politics as one of the four pillars for sustainable development in the region (besides social, economic and environmental pillars) and decided to further cooperate by sharing knowledge and experiences on how civil society helps to create change on political issues in Latin America, as well as to further identify opportunities for collaboration.

From 31 August to 2 September, 26 representatives from TI’s East Asian chapters, chapters in formation, national contacts as well as the host of the meeting TI Mongolia, came together to share experiences and update each other on projects and experience at the 2007 East Asia Regional Meeting in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. The meeting declaration highlighted the importance of youth integrity and embraced a region-wide Youth Integrity Programme that will be led by TI Korea. Chapters agreed to continue strengthening the pillars of the national integrity system (NIS) and underlined the relevance of addressing corruption in the private sector. The meeting also called upon the Governments of Japan and Korea, who have not yet ratified the UN Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) to do so without any further delay.

TI’s national chapter in New Zealand (TI NZ) has called for the government of New Zealand to establish an independent commission to set the rules for election spending. TI NZ was called to give evidence following their written submission on Parliamentary Justice and Electoral Select Committee on Electoral Finance, by the Parliamentary committee looking at the Electoral Finance Bill. The written submission reflected the conclusions of a recent symposium organised by TI NZ and the Institute of Policy Studies at Victoria University of Wellington. It acknowledges that modern politics needs money to function properly, and that partial state-funding can be considered legitimate; that the identity of donors should be made clear to voters; and that consolidation of electoral machinery was a critical aspect of any proposed reforms. The written submission is available at the TI NZ website at www.transparencynz.org.nz/TINZsubmissions.html

In September, TI’s national chapter in Papua New Guinea (TI PNG) signed an agreement with the United States Department of State for funding of a new project titled Youth Democracy Camp. The project aims to implement a democracy and advocacy skills building camp for youth in Papua New Guinea and engage young people to participate in activities of democracy, good governance and transparency advocacy. A total of 50 young people will be selected from around the country to participate in the seven day camp in Eastern Highlands in June 2008. Participants will go through a programme that will look at governance, the causes and consequences of corruption, as well as skills training in how to advocate for greater transparency and democratic rights. The agreement is the first ever to be signed by TIPNG and the US Department of State.

TI’s national chapter in Morocco, Transparency Maroc (TM), and the international organisation Democracy Reporting International (DRI) have assessed selected aspects of the 7 September Parliamentary elections in Morocco, by issuing a preliminary statement with their early findings. This follows up on a comprehensive review of the electoral framework published in January. Overall, the review concludes that the election process was more transparent than in previous elections. However, the extremely low voter turn-out reflects limited confidence in the Parliamentary process. Moreover, the election system appears to combine negative aspects of several election systems. The statement analyses the questions of international observers of the election, the question of vote-buying and other forms of electoral corruption, the electoral system and the question of unequal votes per districts. Final conclusions will be published once the organisations have the opportunity to analyse the detailed voting results due to come out in October.

In September, Transparency International Latvia submitted a proposal to Latvian President Valdis Zatlers on subjects that could be discussed in the context of improving the management of health care. The various subjects included accessibility to health care services, exchange of information and transparency, prevention of corruption, establishment of professional standards of ethics, legal security for doctors and patients and the ability of health care specialists to participate in management of the health care system. TI Latvia also confirmed that it will work with the Presidential and the Ministry of Health to organise a public forum on ways in which the management of health care can be improved.

Transparency International Croatia has organised a rock concert on Cvjetni trg in Zagreb to celebrate the Right to Know Day on 28 September. The well-known Croatian bands Majke and Zabranjeno pušenje attracted thousands people to the concert. The Right to Access Information Act and the Law of Financing Political Parties and Electoral Campaigns have been promoted during the concert where key parts of these laws have been screened on two screens. The results of the surveys conducted by TI Croatia and additional material about the laws have been distributed. The concert is part of the chapter’s "We have the right to know campaign!" which started at the beginning of September and will run until mid October.

In October, TI’s national contact in the FYR of Macedonia, Transparency-Zero corruption, held a press conference to present conclusions of the projects "Monitoring of the Implementation of Declaration on Zero Tolerance to Corruption" and "Improvement of Corporate Governance for Zero Tolerance on Corruption". According to the chapter, Macedonia has begun developing a front against corruption, but there is still lot of work to be done in terms of securing the independence of the investigative and judicial institutions, strengthening of civil society institutions and promoting democracy.

Corruption defeats the very purpose of education. In a corrupt education system, students don't acquire the skills and knowledge that would enable them to contribute meaningfully to their country's economy and society. They learn from an early age that a lack of integrity is an acceptable way of life, allowing these values to become the norm throughout society. A TI working paper on corruption in the education sector has been published in September and describes forms and levels of corruption at schools and universities as well as suggestions on how to prevent it. At the same time, the theme page on education has been restructured and updated. The pages on corruption in education and on anti-corruption education now include many more chapter projects and activities, as well as resources and links.