No shelter
More info Following a devastating cyclone, Khadija thought she was one of the lucky few when the government selected her to receive a storm-resistant new house. But then the construction began.
Hunger Money
More info When drought ravaged Zimbabwe's Hurungwe region in 2011, families were left destitute. Help should have come from a state scheme, but community members were telling a very different story.
Parents’ nightmare
More info Nyasha* was only nine years old when she was raped on her way to school in Zimbabwe.
Emergency Help
More info Kamal’s* anxiety increased with the heat of the day. His 11-year-old daughter had injured her head and urgently needed medical attention. He faced a heavy dilemma: pay an illegal backhander, or risk the health of his child.
Pension Scam
More info “If I were to go to the office, they demand one month’s salary as bribe … it’s like a mafia there.”
Fighting back
More info When a school in rural Honduras closed because the teacher had been unjustly transferred, a group of parents refused to be silenced.
We want justice
More info Coming from one of the most remote corners of the world, the people of Manus Province seem an unlikely match for the might of logging companies. But they’re not alone.
Finding the way home
More info Back in the 1970s, Ziad had a home and a livelihood. Then the civil war came.
Balancing the budget
More info Government cars were frequently misused for private journeys, or by friends and relatives. Some were reportedly even being sent abroad.
Drug deal
More info While examining public spending on healthcare in Kosovo, our local chapter uncovers an alarming 15,000 per cent increase in the costs of a basic medicine. See what happened next.
Fair trade
More info His shop was bulldozed shortly thereafter, with the local authorities and police watching on
Cheat sheets
More info For years teachers at a senior high school in Ghana reportedly demanded bribes of around US$35 from students in exchange for helping them pass their final exams.
Student protest
More info When three students enrolled on a higher education course in Fiji, they hoped it would improve their career chances.
Healthcare under threat
More info At a rural emergency clinic eight nurses received an unexpected pay cut. When they protested, their bosses threatened to close down the centre.
Restoring hope
More info Fadzai’s aunt managed to save enough money to buy the child a school uniform. Little did she know at the time, that was the start of her troubles.
Land battle
More info When Isabella* holds the title to the land she lives on, it’s more than just a piece of paper – she’s holding answers. She has the proof of ownership in her hands.
Police crackdown
More info Carmela was sleeping at home when she was woken by banging. Rushing upstairs, she found her son being beaten by cops, who later dragged him off to their local headquarters. The 50-year-old mother knew his freedom would come at a hefty price.
Health problem
More info Blind in one eye, and visually impaired in the other, Little Ayan* urgently needed an operation to correct her vision. But without money or connections, her family could do little to help.
If not us, then who?
More info When a group of students in Indonesia suspected corruption in the financial management of their school, they refused to stay silent.
Keeping schools clean
More info The head teacher and governing body chair of a school in Soweto, South Africa were accused of stealing public funds. With the help of local authorities, we took action.
Corruption derailed
More info When a new city mayor took office in 2010, he contacted the team to ask for their help in rooting out corruption in the transport office.
Citizenship matters
More info Being documented means our communities now have access to the same assistance as urban residents
Informed, empowered
More info In the rural district of Bihar, India, Altaf and his family are legally entitled to the land they’ve lived on for so long, but there’s a catch – they need to obtain a land entitlement certificate. And that's not so easy.
Honesty Test
More info As the driving lesson drew to a close, he pulled the car to a halt and waited for final feedback from his teacher. What came next was not what he had expected.
Bribery Behind Bars
More info A young woman waiting in line claimed she was asked to pay to have her boyfriend relocated out of his cell – where he is allegedly sexually abused by his six fellow inmates on a daily basis.
Mafia land grab
More info "He was greeted with a wall that had been erected around the site, watched over by armed guards"
Gold mine
More info When a gold-mining cooperative had to renew a certificate, its president had other ideas and re-registered the mine under his own name.
Surviving the floods
More info The Pakistan floods of 2011 claimed more than 400 lives, and destroyed the homes of more than 200,000 people. One of them was Kareem.
Water Crisis
More info For many of the impoverished communities in South Africa who lack basic sanitation in their homes, accessing clean water for survival is a daily battle.
Running on empty
More info Acción Ciudadana received around 25 phone calls from citizens living near the Mexican border who suspected that some truck drivers were smuggling cheap petrol into Guatemala from Mexico
Dream job
More info Far away from home after responding to a recruitment advertisement, Leeroy soon learned that he was expected to work for food and accommodation rather than a salary
The price of justice
More info Your shop has been burgled. You go straight to the police, but as soon as you start explaining what’s happened, the on-duty officer stops you. He can’t write anything down, he says, until he’s been paid.
Drastic measures
More info Elderly Alma went to court to claim ownership of a small slice of land excluded from her title. On checking over the documentation, she noticed a significant misprint.
Future of hope
More info Bright and studious, Balkissa dreams of studying medicine after she’s finished school. But the future hasn’t always looked like this.
Justice can’t wait
More info The court proceedings dragged on without an outcome for 11 years, putting Neven under great personal and financial strain
Working together
More info I had given up hope of ever being a house-owner because I cannot afford the informal rates being charged
Protecting public money
More info Much-needed public funds for health, education and other essential services were being lost.
Ghost Politics
More info Eager for change, residents in a Guatemalan town voted in a local politician promising big things. But a year into his leadership, nothing had changed. It was time for the community to take action.
Who is to blame?
More info After a fatal fire at a nursery, despair turned to anger. Reports emerged that the state-funded nursery was privately run by the wives of two local officials, and had passed safety tests despite allegedly not meeting the criteria.
The road to safety
More info A series of advertising billboards were putting drivers' safety at risk along one particular stretch of road. Ten people had died there in a year.
Right to be involved
More info The lush rainforest of Central Kalimantan gets destroyed by reckless loggers. No-one was warned but villagers now have to live with its dire consequences.
Thousands speak out
More info When we held a mobile advice centre in India, we expected a few hundred people. By the end of the day, the total was in the thousands. Among them was 65 year old Ruti.
Slum Evictions
More info Slums. Overcrowded, unsanitary and dangerous. A Moroccan family found themselves homeless when a new national programme to improve the lives of slum dwellers demanded illegal fees of them that they were not able to pay.
Bomb disposal
More info Suspicions were raised when a job advertisement for a position at the centre contained a most unusual prerequisite: a degree in Music
School sting
More info Simon Eyork did not set out to become a whistleblower. He set out to build a proper school. But in the course of trying to obtain funding, he helped a sting operation in the dead of night.
Unfair dismissal
More info To his surprise, the request was abruptly refused. Despite having submitted the official fees, Patrick was told that he would have to pay more if he wanted to see his application progress.
Paradise’s Dark Side
More info It’s not an image you’ll find in the tourist brochures: amid the luxury hotels of Maldives’s paradise islands, an estimated 200,000 migrant workers toil under sub-human conditions.
Secret Diaries
More info From deceased employees on the active payroll, to “ghost employees” hired to receive a salary they later transferred to their employer, the journalists claimed that millions of dollars were being systematically rerouted from public funds into private bank accounts.
Hidden costs
More info With clear evidence of a massive waste of public funds, a whistleblower arranges a meeting with an employee of Transparency International in a deserted shopping mall car park.
Processing complaints
More info Residents feared that releasing waste water into the bay as planned could entice sharks into the busy shallow waters, where children often swim.
Stealing Futures
More info Peter* was looking forward to collecting his four children's report cards at the end of the school year, but there were some crippling costs involved. If he didn't cough up, his children's futures could be at risk.
Captive mothers
More info They were told nurses in a local hospital were charging women US $5 every time that they screamed while giving birth.
Police whistleblowers
More info When two respected police officers found evidence that traffic offences were being wiped and interfered with, they did what their job demanded of them.
A stronger voice
More info Forest protection programmes potentially lifts people out of poverty while saving trees from destruction. Yet when we visited one community in Vietnam, we found many families had no idea they could benefit.
Power of the crowd
More info After a bribe is refused, a maternal health clinic in India is threatened with closure until the community stands up to be counted.
Seeds of change
More info At the foothills of the Himalayas lies the rural district of Jhanjharpur, a fertile region for agriculture. Yet with little money for equipment, life is a daily struggle for small-scale farmers.
Island Support
More info When 35-year-old Benjamin* made the long trek into town to collect his reforestation grant, missing money and dishonest officials were the last things on his mind.
Corruption Clinic
More info Established to increase health access for Zimbabwe’s poor and vulnerable, clinics like these are supposed to offer a range of free services to children and the elderly; and affordable treatment for others. But the reality can look different.
Birth rights
More info When government officials put their own interests above the health of rural expectant mothers, the results can be deadly.
The drought industry
More info Piauí is one of Brazil’s poorest and driest states. Drought has reached emergency levels in 199 of the 224 districts. The exploitation of water shortage here is not only a lucrative business but a wielder of power.
Except where otherwise noted, this work is licensed under CC BY-ND 4.0