XXVVXVI, JULY 2018

Transparent Elections for

Democracy

"Always vote for principle, though you may vote alone, and you may cherish the sweetest reflection

that your vote is never lost”- John Adams

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4-C Mezzanine, Khayaban-e-Itehad

Phase VII, DHA Karachi. Phone: 92-21-35390408

Fax: 92-21-35390410

XXVVXVI, JULY 2018

Editorial

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Importance of Free and Fair Elections in a Democracy.

The end of this quarter marks the successful completion of the second quarter of Anti-Fraud Hotline eighth year.

Transparency International Pakistan organized a debate competition to promote the project titled “Promoting Democratic Values Amongst Youth”

“Organizing free and fair elections is more important than the result itself”- Fatos Nano

TI Pakistan’s Activities:

TI Pakistan organized a free legal advice camp (Mobile ALAC) in district Pishin and District Bhawalnagar.

TI Pakistan conducted Citizen Report Card Study on Education services provided by the provincial government in district Swat and Lower Dir.

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Pakistan will mark its second

successful transition of democratic

government on 25th July 2018, as

she heads towards her 15th General

Election. For Pakistan to be a truly

democratic country, it is

fundamental that the citizens have

the right and freedom to choose

their representatives in a free and

fair manner.

The electoral process can be made

free and fair by granting civil

liberties to the citizens to cast their

vote. Voter turnout in 2013 General

elections was around 55% which

ranked Pakistan amongst the

bottom four countries in terms of

voter turnout. More importantly,

women and minorities in rural

areas are largely marginalized or

express their views freely, they

become disenfranchised as their

rights and interests are disregarded.

Citizens will not be able to elect the

leaders of their choice if opposition

is suppressed and unions are not

formed. Thus, without transparent

electoral process their grievances

will go unheard.

Importance of Free and Fair Elections in Democracy

Editor: Ms. Tooba Waseem. Cartoonist: Mr. Zahid Gara

manipulated by political parties into casting vote. The voter turnout of women in 2013 was 40% of the overall votes, which though unprecedented but is still significantly less. For democracy to survive it is crucial that the will of people prevails. But with less voter turnout, how can the country’s citizens execute their will? Women from rural areas are discouraged from participating in electoral process due to patriarchal mindset. The men in rural districts sign an agreement to not let women vote which restrict women’s liberty to cast vote, and thus they lose an opportunity to practice their legal right in a democratic state. Civil liberties, therefore, become important as they are cardinal means to encourage participation in electoral process and ensure.

that democracy prevails.

Free and fair elections are important to lay down the necessary foundation of good governance. Pre-poll rigging and manipulation in electoral process result in lack of transparency and biasness. Thus, the right and deserving candidates lose their vote while the corrupt ones thrive. Thus, good governance can prevail when democracy is sustained through well-functioning institutions that work within their constitutional domains to make the electoral process transparent and fair.

To conclude, free and fair elections are fundamental because citizens raise their voice with a vote. If general public is discouraged to participate in elections or cannot express their views freely, they

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With the end of this quarter, Anti-

Fraud Hotline has successfully

completed the second quarter of its

eighth year. AFH has thus far

played a pivotal role in ensuring

transparency and prevention of

corruption in the utilization of the

USAID funds. The activities of

AFH consequently help facilitate

the distressed and deprived

citizens, by ensuring that relief and

development resources reach the

intended beneficiaries.

In the reporting quarter, AFH

received over 2916 calls, and as a

result 87 complaints were

registered. Since its inception in

January 2011, AFH has effectively

handled over 99,326 calls which

have resulted in the successful

formulation of around 8200

complaints. The remaining number

of calls included inquiries about

USAID projects and activities in

Pakistan, complaint status

requests, complainants calling to

update complaints, calls that are

for general information and wrong

numbers etc.

For quality assurance, the

complainant is quizzed through a

rigorous process regarding the

allegations he/she has made in the

complaint. The complainant may

be called a number of times to get

further information or documents

to back up the allegations as it is in

hotline’s best interests to provide

OIG with information that is

accurate. During the reporting

period the highest number of

complaints involved

programmatic issues in service

delivery.

This quarter, AFH handled 2916 calls, and as a result 87 complaints were

registered. Since its inception, AFH has effectively handled

over 99,326 calls

Since its inception the hotline continues to provide OIG with useful information and insight into alleged

corruption cases in various projects across the country and these investigations have thus far lead to recoveries of

funds worth Millions of U.S $ and terminations of corrupt employees of various organizations. Due to this

resounding success in achieving Hotline’s objective, an agreement was signed between USAID and TI Pakistan in

September 2017 to extend the project for another two year

The AFH complaint management cell employs multilingual trained complaint management officers, who receive

complaints through toll free hotline, sms, whatsapp, email, website, and walk in complainants. After a careful

revision and assessment the complaints are reported to OIG, who is the only agency authorized to view the

complaints, and this ensures integrity of the complainant’s information. The integrity of the information provided

by complainants is protected by using state of the art technical solutions, such as security of the website,

redundancy of the information in case of an unforeseen technical issue and application of industry standard

security and encryption protocols.

AFH does not only focus on reporting complaints regarding corruption but also works towards spreading

awareness regarding corruption hazards and fraud prevention among USAID implementing partners, sub-

grantees and G2G partners. Apart from reporting complaints AFH also scans and monitors local newspapers for

the violation of PPRA rules in USAID funded projects.

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Anti Fraud Hotline Workshops

MAY 08, 2018

The workshop was organized on May 8th,

2018 at Pearl Continental Hotel, Peshawar.

Transparency International Pakistan in collaboration with USAID/OIG successfully conducted a workshop on “Fraud Awareness and Prevention” for USAID Implementing Partners on May 08, 2018 at Pearl Continental Hotel, Peshawar.

The prime objective of the workshop was to raise awareness and understanding on fraud and corruption among the implementing partners of USAID funded projects. The workshop provides the participants from various organizations the opportunity to discuss their concerns with representatives of USAID, OIG, NAB and TI Pakistan. This enables active engagement of participants and helps address various concerns and challenges faced by the implementing organizations. The participants develop pivotal understanding in identifying fraud and corruption, thereby practice preventive measures to help address the issues, as well as awareness of Anti-Fraud Hotline to report instances of corruption in USAID funded project.

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Fraud awareness

and prevention

workshop

July 12, 2016:

The workshop was aimed at

transferring of knowledge

to Sub Grantees of USAID

Implementing partners. The

workshop provided the

participants with an

opportunity to discuss the

issues faced in the

implementation of their

projects, by interacting with

representatives from USAID

OIG, NAB and TI-Pakistan.

July 14, 2016

The workshop was

organized under USAID

Anti-Fraud Hotline’s

awareness and outreach

campaign. It was primarily

designed to raise awareness

regarding corruption in

USAID projects, and how to

detect, identify and prevent

it in the projects undertaken

by OTI implementing

partners.

In this quarter, TI Pakistan continued

promoting the project titled “Promoting

Democratic Values Amongst Youth”. The

project aims to give voice to young people

and the vulnerable communities in Sindh

province, bringing about a more open,

transparent and a democratic society that

supports the core democratic values namely

Transparency, Accountability and Integrity.

Youth in Pakistan are aware of and

surrounded by corrupt practices from a very

early age, and how young people are taught

to respond to corrupt practices, lack of

transparency, accountability and integrity

plays a vital role in determining their future

behavior and the democratic culture of the

society as a whole. With a large and growing

percentage of the population in Pakistan

under the age of 30, engaging young people

around the democratic values and processes

is essential for long-term democratic stability

and anti-corruption efforts in Pakistan.

In this quarter, TI Pakistan organized a debate

competition on “Can Citizens Hold Government

Accountable”. The debate competition was held

at Sindh Agriculture University Tandojam,

under the aegis of Youth Integrity Club

established by TI Pakistan. Student teams from

Sindh Agriculture University Tandojam,

Mehran University of Engineering and

Technology, Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto

Institute of Science and Technology Hyderabad

and surrounding colleges of Tandojam

participated in the competition. Students

debated on how they can play an active role in

the fight against corruption and hold

government accountable. Cash prize and

certificates were distributed among the top 3

debaters, and gifts and certificates were also

provided to other participants.

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Youth Leadership & Integrity Workshop: In this quarter, TI Pakistan organized two (2) training workshops on Citizens Constitutional Rights & Sindh Transparency and Right to Information Act 2017. The workshops were held on Tuesday April 24, 2018 at Indus Hotel Hyderabad and on Tuesday May 8, 2018 at SRSO hall Sukkur respectively. The primary goal of the workshop was to help enhance the capacity and understanding of young people on how they can use the Right to Information Law to raise their voice, exercise their democratic rights and responsibilities, and engage with government and other local stakeholders to hold them accountable. The participants were informed about the history of Access to Information Laws in Pakistan and the world best practices. They discussed in detail different clauses of Sindh Transparency and Right to Information Act 2017 and learnt how to write RTI application. Around 120 participants participated in both workshops. Youth Dialogue with Policy Makers: In this quarter, Transparency International Pakistan organized a fascinating discussion on the role of ethics in politics and how can the youth influence, create, or change public policy decisions on April 18th 2018 at Greenwich University campus. Around 200 students attended the event including students from other universities. The event was followed by refreshments and informal conversation between students and the guest speakers. TI Pakistan was able to invite three highly influential personalities to offer their respective views on the complex yet intriguing relationship between ethics and politics. The panel included Munawar Mirza, a respectable journalist, Dr. Arif Alvi, politician from Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, Saleem Zia, politician from Pakistan Muslim League - Nawaz, and Samir Mir Shaikh, a politician from Pakistan Peoples Party. Focused Group Discussion: In this quarter, TI Pakistan conducted a Focused Group Discussion and Survey in the Districts Thatta and Sujawal, Sindh from May 2-4, 2018. The idea of the Focused Group Discussion is to increase an understanding of integrity, transparency, accountability and good governance in selected villages across Sindh province. The aim is to empower villagers to demand their rights and hold government accountable. TI Pakistan is currently evaluating the results and in coming month we will disseminate findings among relevant stakeholders.

Youth leadership

and integr ity

workshops

24th APRIL, 2018

TI-P organized its first

training workshop on

Tuesday April 24, 2018 at

Indus Hotel, Hyderabad.

April 24, 2018

TI-P organized its second

training workshop on

Tuesday May 8, 2018 at

SRSO Hall, Sukkur.

April 24, 2018

TI-P organized a seminar on

Youth Dialogue with Policy

Makers on April 18, 2018 at

Greenwich University

Campus, Karachi.

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Glimpses from ALAC Activities

In this quarter, on April 23, 2018,

TI Pakistan organized a free legal

advice camp (Mobile ALAC) in

district Pishin. Two lawyers in the

Mobile Camp provided free legal

advice to the victims of

corruption. Majority of the

complaints were about shortage of

water supply, problems in getting

CNIC cards, and administrative

issues of the government

departments. A total of 46 initial

contacts were received which

were all males.

On 29 April, 2018 TI Pakistan in

collaboration with SAIBAN

organized an awareness seminar

on United against Corruption in

Tehsil Chishtian of district

Bahawalnagar. The program was

organized in the Town Municipal

Hall and attended by a large number

of people. TI Pakistan representative

informed the audience about the

activities of Transparency

International Pakistan the adverse

effects of corruption and the role of

RTI laws and social accountability.

Mr. Tahir shah who represented

SAIBAN, gave a detail overview

how corruption affected the lives of

the people of Bahawalnagar. In the

end, the Chairman from Local

government informed the

participants about the performance

Citizens Voice Against Corruption

of his team during his tenure. The

program also received media

coverage by local and national

news channels.

Moreover, TI Pakistan in

collaboration with SAIBAN

organized a free legal advice camp

(Mobile ALAC) for the citizens of

Bahawalnagar and nearby villages.

A large number of people came

and registered their complaints.

Two lawyers gave them legal

advice. The founder of SAIBAN

Mr. Tahir Shah informed TI

Pakistan that his organization

would keep complaints in future

and forward them to TI Pakistan.

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Citizen’s Report Card Study

Transparency International

Pakistan conducted a Citizen

Report Card Study on Education in

district Swat and Lower Dir. The

data was collected from 11th May

to 14th May 2018 and TI Pakistan

representative monitored the data

collection process along with the

partner NGO, Movement for Rural

Peshawar

Development Organization. Experienced enumerators which were properly briefed about the scope and objectives of the survey collected data from 200 respondents from each of the two districts. The survey form has 30 questions which covered education services provided by

the provincial government in primary and secondary schools. The result of the CRC will be published in a separate report compiled after analyzing the data.