Transparency International Canada organised their first stakeholder meeting with Plan Canada, the Canadian branch of an international non-profit organisation helping girls achieve equality. The meeting was focused on creating opportunities to collaborate with the organisation and introduce them to transparency and accountability work being carried out in the Inclusive Service Delivery in Africa project.
Transparency International Rwanda collected data through surveys in several districts to better understand corruption and discrimination in the education and health sectors, and how they affect women, girls and other marginalised groups in Rwanda.
Ligue Congolaise de Lutte contre la Corruption (LICOCO), the Transparency international chapter in the Democratic Republic of Congo, installed a mobile Advocacy and Legal Advice Centre (ALAC) /Centre d’assistance juridique et de l’action citoyenne (CAJAC) in both the municipalities of N'djili and Maluku. At each ALAC, the campaign team offered assistance to vulnerable people wanting to access services, and distributed information about tools for combating corruption-related discrimination. These mobile centres were installed in addition to two centres LICOCO has been running since the inception of the Inclusive Service Delivery Africa (ISDA) programme.
LICOCO also held a training course for 40 education inspectors and 67 health inspectors about corruption in the health sector.
Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII), the Transparency International chapter in Ghana, met with the Ghana Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection (MoGCSP) to formally introduce the Inclusive Service Delivery in Africa project to officials and seek their support. The MoGCSP leadership gave assurance that the Ministry will commit its district offices to offering support for the project’s implementation.
GII also met with the Ghana Internal Audit Agency (IAA) to formally introduce the project to officials and seek their support. The IAA leadership gave assurance that it would support the project, and that they were specifically interested in offering support to research and collaborating on advocacy and policy development. The IAA also guaranteed that they would make their research department, and officer in charge, available to support the project’s research efforts.
A cross section of the ISDA project team participated in the African Anti-Corruption Day on 11 July 2022, which was organised in Zanzibar under the chairmanship of the President of Zanzibar and African Union (AU) leadership. The event was observed under the theme “Strategies and Mechanisms for the Transparent Management of COVID-19 Funds” and presented an opportunity for the ISDA team to start laying a foundation for future advocacy work. Specifically, the Transparency International Secretariat and Transparency International Rwanda representatives held a meeting with the AU to discuss and share an advocacy letter, which includes an urgent call to address corruption in the delivery of basic services.
Transparency International Zimbabwe met with several stakeholders, including local civil society organisations, to plan and map key strategies that can be utilised to respond to corruption within the education and health care sectors.
Transparency International Rwanda met with the Minister of Education to discuss issues that frequently impede inclusive service delivery in the education sector, as well as the cooperation of educational institutes in the Inclusive Service Delivery in Africa project. A stakeholder meeting was also held to encourage participation in project activities, and included representatives from the Ministry of Education, National Union of Disability Organizations of Rwanda, Amahoro Human Respect Organisation, National Examination and School Inspection Authority and, Rwanda Biomedical Centre.
Transparency International Rwanda held a district-level workshop for project stakeholders in the Huye district, which was attended by several local administrative bodies, forums representing vulnerable groups, and district leaders. The main objective of the workshop was to spark discussion about corruption and discrimination vulnerabilities that affect women, girls, or other groups at risk of discrimination from accessing healthcare and education services. Following the workshop, participants committed to working closely with the Inclusive Service Delivery in Africa project team on project implementation.
Transparency International Rwanda also held a large-scale gathering of 600 people to raise citizen’s awareness about service delivery – pointing out that good service delivery is a right, not a favour – and preventing corruption and injustice.
Transparency International Initiative Madagascar begun a two-and-a-half-month project to collect data in both the education and health sector. The health sector research covered several districts and 4075 individuals were surveyed, in addition to interviews with 89 healthcare workers and non-healthcare workers. The results will be used to evaluate access to healthcare, with a focus on public hospitals and primary health care facilities. The education sector research also covered several districts, with 4270 individuals surveyed and 133 education workers interviewed. The findings will help assess levels of corruption in accessing primary education and determine citizens’ perception of corruption and its impact on target groups. Across all districts, household surveys and individual surveys were carried out to detect the main forms of corruption for each sector and to gain a perception of corruption by users of the sector.
Ligue Congolaise de Lutte contre la Corruption (LICOCO), the Transparency international chapter in the Democratic Republic of Congo, installed a mobile Advocacy and Legal Advice Centre (ALAC) / Centre d’assistance juridique et de l’action citoyenne (CAJAC) at a market in the commune of Matete, to encourage the involvement of citizens in efforts to fight corruption and discrimination. The ALAC campaign team offered assistance to vulnerable people wanting to access services, and distributed information about tools for combating corruption-related discrimination.
Transparency International Zimbabwe held a joint capacity building workshop in partnership with the Zimbabwe AIDS Network and the National Association of Non-Governmental Organisations (NANGO), to discuss challenges in the Zimbabwean health sector. The meeting was conducted as a side event during NANGO’s Directors Summer Retreat, which brings together sector leaders to share ideas on national development. Transparency International Zimbabwe took advantage of the presence of several civil society organisations to create a platform to engage with state anti-corruption agencies and find ways to strengthen the health sector of Zimbabwe.
Over a month-long period, 11 district-level Inclusive Service Delivery Africa (ISDA) inception meetings were held by the Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII), the local chapter of Transparency International in Ghana. These meetings sought to formally introduce the ISDA project to key stakeholders at the local level and further seek their support for the successful implementation of the project. This gave the project team the opportunity to present an overview of the project’s structure, targeted areas and expected outcomes. Stakeholders included the District Leadership of Ghana Education Service, the Internal Audit Agency, the Ministry of Education, and the Ministry of Gender.
Over a three-month period, GII also facilitated the formation of 11 Social Auditing Clubs (SACs) across the Greater Accra, Central and Upper East regions. The SACs are made up of 13 volunteers who are representatives from recognised groups at the local level, with at least 40% female representative. The SACs also have at least one member living with a disability.
The primary mandate of SAC members is to spearhead developmental agendas and inclusive governance through grassroots participation in decision-making; the monitoring of local project implementation and service delivery with regards to education and health; and promoting transparency and accountability that leads to efficient use of public resources in local governance.
Representatives from the Transparency International Secretariat and all national chapters involved in the Inclusive Service Delivery in Africa project attended a four-day project inception meeting in Accra, Ghana. This provided an opportunity for all stakeholders to coordinate and align project priorities.
Ligue Congolaise de Lutte contre la Corruption (LICOCO), the Transparency international chapter in the Democratic Republic of Congo, held two capacity building workshops for 92 nurses. Modules covered during the workshop included the professional values of nurses; discrimination in health care settings; the practice of corruption in the health sector; and the anti-corruption policy and positive values of a nurse.
LICOCO, together with the General Health Inspectorate, also formed a group of nurse managers so that they, in turn, can train nurses on the fight against corruption and discrimination in the hospital environment. There were 85 attendees at this training session.
A separate training for 20 doctors was also held about fighting corrupting and discrimination in the hospital environment.
Ligue Congolaise de Lutte contre la Corruption (LICOCO), the Transparency international chapter in the Democratic Republic of Congo, installed a mobile Advocacy and Legal Advice Centre (ALAC) / Centre d’assistance juridique et de l’action citoyenne (CAJAC) at a market in the town of Kimbanseke. The ALAC campaign team offered assistance to vulnerable people wanting to access services, and distributed information about tools for combating corruption-related discrimination.
During the International Anti-Corruption Conference (IACC), which took place in Washington, D.C., Inclusive Service Delivery Africa representatives contributed to conversations and established connections for advocacy. The Ghana Integrity Initiative, Transparency International Initiative Madagascar, and Transparency International Zimbabwe participated in sessions that stressed the need to recognise unique corruption challenges faced by women in order to develop appropriate responses; highlighted how marginalised groups (including women) are particularly affected by corruption in land and service delivery; and discussed responses in the context of corruption in education and health.
