On this page you can find information about Transparency International's current projects contributing to the fight against corruption in the Africa and Middle East region.

Transparency and Integrity in Service Delivery in Africa (TISDA)

Poor governance and corruption are both a cause of poverty and a barrier to overcoming it. Where transparency and accountability mechanisms are weak or lacking, poor people's needs are marginalized and development outcomes suffer.

The TISDA programme – implemented over a period of 3 years (July 2008 to June 2011) with support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and a total budget of USD $6,869,633 – supports African civil society in working with citizens to demand transparent and accountable financial management in the education, health and water sectors as a key prerequisite to improved basic service delivery and to ending the diversion of funds by private interests.

To support this participatory research and advocacy, the TISDA program includes a strong capacity building element built around horizontal knowledge exchange, peer learning, and tailored capacity building support to individual TI chapters. It will be implemented by TI chapters in Cameroon, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, Uganda, and Zambia.

Africa Education Watch (AEW)

Although a fundamental human right, education can be often a luxury only enjoyed by the privileged. When knowledge and diplomas are up for sale to the highest bidder or funds meant for schools are misappropriated, children are denied the path to a better future and are taught to be corrupt from the classroom.

The Education Watch Program aims to improve transparency and accountability in the use of primary education resources in seven African countries: Morocco, Senegal, Niger, Madagascar, Sierra Leone, Ghana and Uganda. It will assess waste, leakages and corruption in the education sector, and strengthen demand for policy reforms and improved service delivery.

The program consists of three components: national assessments (consisting of a financial desk-study, a user survey and provider interviews, as well as regional comparison); national coalitions, forming alliances and partnerships for national educational campaigns; and thirdly a strong advocacy campaign based on policy recommendations that will have emerged from the assessment reports.

The project is funded by the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. Implementation began in July 2007 and will last until June 2010.

Promoting Transparency and Enhancing Integrity in the Arab region

Through well-crafted strategic statements, research and advocacy, the Promoting Transparency and Enhancing Integrity in the Arab region program seeks to combine sophisticated research (including the National Integrity System reports & an analysis of the implementation of UNCAC), strategic anti-corruption advocacy, follow-up activities, and tools for measuring, monitoring, and reporting on anti-corruption efforts in the Middle East and North Africa to support reform efforts in Egypt and the broader Arab world.

Overall, the program seeks to ensure that the studies are used to actively contribute to the strengthening of anti-corruption systems, in addition to serving as important academic research.

The program takes place over 3 years (October 2007 to September 2010) with the generous support of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) totalling USD $2,287,581. Four countries are involved in the implementation of the program: Lebanon, Palestine, Morocco, and Egypt.

Further information regarding this programme can be found by clicking the project name on the menu to the left, or by clicking here.

Transparency International Mediterranean Advocacy and Legal Advice Centres Programme (TIM ALAC)

The Transparency International Mediterranean Advocacy and Legal Advice Centres Programme programme aims to address public apathy and address the need stemming from the lack of mechanisms for victims and witnesses of corruption to report complaints by establishing three Advocacy and Legal Advice Centres (ALAC) in Morocco, Lebanon and Palestine in 2008 and potentially two additional centres in Jordan and Egypt in 2009.

The ALACs, through their unique way of empowering citizens by providing them with simple yet credible means to become themselves ”agents of change”, are effective tools to encourage civil society in their daily fight against corruption, and in the long run bring about systemic change. Together with high profile media and outreach campaigns, the ALACs will assist in improving the national integrity of all of the countries included in the project.

The project is planned for a period of 30 months (August 2008 to December 2010). It is funded by the United Kingdom Department for International Development (DFID) for a budget of GBP 1,020,040.