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Quarterly Newsletter

Jan-March 2014

Volume XXVIV

Inspiring scenes of people taking the future of their countries into their own hands will ignite greater demands for good governance and political reform elsewhere in the world, including in

Asia and in Africa. -- William Hague

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ALAC Pakistan

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Editor: Maryam J. Mughal Layout: Maryam Khalid Cartoonist: Zahid Gara

Inside this

Issue

TI Pakistan Activities

Jan-March 2014

Anti-Fraud Hotline

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Imagine you are a peon who has worked for a school for 15 years. Now imagine you learn that your monthly earnings of Rs2,000 (for all these years) are just 20% of what is actually due to you. What would you do? Do you take matters into your own hands and face the consequences or do you continue with the less-challenging status quo? Qayyum Gul*, a citizen from Balochistan, went through this very ordeal. He took the matter in his own hands and challenged the authorities. He found that the local police officer was in cahoots with the district education officer and they were taking more than 80% of not only his salary but those of all the other workers in the district as well. Gul’s investigation resulted in him losing his job and the already-meagre salary that he was making to support his family. While he looked for odd jobs in an effort to make ends meet, he decided that he couldn’t let go without a fight. He contacted the legal advice centre at Transparency International (TI) Pakistan and complained against the officers in charge. After contacting the guilty officials, along with a few other higher-ups, TI Pakistan has managed to recover almost 50% of Gul’s lost income. The case workers at TI Pakistan are putting in their best efforts to recover the remaining dues as well. However, the most impressive thing that has come out of this incident is that others like Gul have come forward to challenge this grave unfairness. They, too, want to know why their rightful dues were taken away from them and why was it this easy for the perpetrators to have gotten away with the sham for so long? These complainants have finally learnt the important lesson that TI Pakistan has been preaching since its inception: Citizens need to voice their grievances in order to compel the government to carry out its duties. In a country like Pakistan which has been plagued with corruption since its inception, it is absolutely vital for the common man to stand up for his rights now more than ever. Good governance is vital for any government that wants its people to prosper. As the first woman president of India (2007 – 2012) Pratibha Patil said, “Corruption is the enemy of development, and of good governance. It must be got rid of. Both the government and the people at large must come together to achieve this national objective.”

*Name has been changed for confidentiality purposes

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AFH SYNOPSIS

AFH continues to receive information on alleged corruption in various projects across the country and successfully continues to provide OIG with useful information and insight into alleged corruption cases. State of the art complaint management cell with multilingual complaint officers successfully saw the quarter to its end. AFH continues to highlight corruption in USAID projects after receiving information through various channels such as the hotline, sms, fax, email, hotline itself, website, postal mail and via walk in complainants. Complainants are encouraged in all advertisements to report fraudulent cases to AFH regardless of what, when and where they may occur. AFH reporting has till date caused terminations of various employees from various NGO’s including senior management which consequently resulted in recoveries and collection of U.S taxpayer’s money in millions. The implementation of this project has played a vital role in ensuring that the relief reaches vulnerable and deprived beneficiaries, fulfilling the very core objective of the relief efforts by USAID. AFH department not only manages the complaint cell, but also scans and screens national newspapers for any possible violation of rules in a USAID funded G2G project. One of the primary objectives of the hotline is to spread awareness of AFH so that any citizen of the country can report cases of fraud and corruption in USAID funded environment.

OPERATION AND MARKETING -

AFH has till date received well over 35k calls since the inception. This figure speaks volumes about the successful penetration and awareness that it has created in the country. This unprecedented success can be safely attributed to the marketing strategy that the management of TI-Pakistan has so finely knitted. The marketing strategy ensures maximum exposure of the hotline, which is achieved by utilizing all marketing options available today such as TV, Newspapers, Radio, Billboards and Cable TV a new addition to the marketing arsenal. Following is an image of a scroll add that runs in a stripe format at the bottom of the screen of famous cable channels.

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Highest rated TV channels, Newspapers with maximum nationwide penetration and circulation, Radio channels with highest number of listeners and prime locations across the country for billboard presentation were acquired for the marketing of the hotline since the inception. In this quarter management decided to market hotline’s presence via Cable Tv Network, which has been worthwhile, AFH’s slides with Hotline number and the purpose of the hotline is promoted in Bahawalpur, Multan, Peshawar and Muzzafarabad.

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H O T L I N E

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As part of marketing strategy an SMS number was also introduced on billboards, allowing people to send in complaints or messages via text, and this approach has been pretty successful, as AFH receives a good number of contacts through this medium, and after receiving texts the complaint officers contact the complainants for further information. This service best serves the poor people who do not have enough financial means to contact hotline via their cell phones. AFH’s approach to marketing has been spot on and continuously evolving by the exploitation of other marketing venues.

WORKSHOPS AND SEMINARS – In order to achieve this objective various workshops are conducted at regular intervals throughout the year. In this quarter TI-Pakistan with collaboration of USAID/ OIG conducted 2 workshops, one each on “fraud awareness and prevention” for USAID implementing partners, and “one nation corruption free future generations” for students of various universities in Sindh Province. Another seminar for USAID G2G partners was also arranged in collaboration with NAB, PPRA and Sindh PPRA.

Workshop 1

Transparency International Pakistan and USAID/ OIG jointly held a workshop on the “Fraud Awareness and Prevention” at Avari Hotel, Karachi on the 28th of January 2014. Workshop was a part of the series of awareness raising strategy under Anti-Fraud Hotline, to spread awareness among the implementing partners of USAID projects across Pakistan. The workshop was attended by over 100 participants representing various NGO’s, currently funded by USAID on a various developmental projects across Pakistan. The seminar was designed to be interactive with a question and answer session at the end of each presentation by the guest speakers, which provided the participants with great opportunity to ask questions to clarify their concerns and to get more information pertaining to their projects. The guest panel Participants enjoying the group discussions

AFH continues to provide OIG with insight on the running projects and corruption that is reported from across the country, which leaves OIG with sufficient leads on which they could base their investigations, ultimately leading to the recovery of U.S taxpayers money, which is the core objective of the project.

Approximately well over 200 participants from various fields participated in these events, which proved to be very useful and informative in imparting knowledge regarding USAID, its operation, function and the role TI-Pakistan plays in collaboration with USAID on fighting corruption in the country.

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Seminar

Transparency International Pakistan with the collaboration of USAID/ OIG conducted a seminar on fraud awareness and prevention in Marriot Hotel, Karachi on the 13th of March 2014. The seminar was intended to spread awareness regarding the detrimental role that corruption has played in severely impacting the economy and developmental progress of the country among the recipients of USAID funds in carrying out G2G projects. The workshop was also aimed to educate the participants on how to detect potential corruption in a G2G environment and what preventive measures can be utilized in order to curb this menace effectively. Representatives from PPRA and SPPRA were invited to help participants better understand Government financial and procurement rules. The seminar was designed to be interactive with a question and answer session at the end of each presentation by the guest speakers, which provided the participants with great opportunity to ask questions to clarify their concerns and to get more information pertaining to their projects.

The guest panel Seminar participants

Workshop 2

Transparency International with the collaboration of USAID/ OIG conducted a workshop on the topic entitled “One Nation Corruption Free Future Generation”. The workshop was arranged in Regent Plaza Hotel, Karachi on the 19th of March 2014. The purpose of the workshop was to impart to the participants the detriments of corruption in our society and how youth can contribute in helping curb corruption for the betterment of the country to ensure one nation corruption free future generations. Transparency International Pakistan invited students and faculty members from 22 Universities and Colleges from Sindh to take part in the workshop as the workshop was aimed at educating the youth, and out of the total 19 educational institutes participated with approximately 80 participants which were mostly students.

Evaluation Panel The participants

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Legal Advice Centre

In this quarter, the Advocacy and Legal Advice Centre (ALAC) recorded 209 new clients and complaints. The total number of male clients in this quarter was 167, while the number of calls that originated from female clients was at 17, while the rest did not disclose their gender in their confidential letters. Out of these, 155 were turned into cases where 42 of them were successful. Among them, one story stood out for us.

A phone call was received at TI Pakistan’s legal advice centre, and a worried complainant informed us that his daughter’s school had been shut for almost a month with no hope of it restarting until the next academic year. The school – Govt. Girls Secondary School, in Punjab’s Layya district – was a girls school. The complainant reported that the school administration had informed the parents that due to all the teachers being on leave at the same time and so they had to wait until the next session would start. Normally the final exams are conducted in March, and the next academic year starts from April or May. This meant that if the students waited for the next academic session, they would waste a whole year as final exams only take place once every year. It was a very alarming situation. The students and their parents were worried and they started voicing their complaint. They went to government officials and political leaders of their area with their problem but no one took it seriously. The school remained closed, and no teacher was arranged.

At the ALAC, on the other hand, we received five more calls communicating the same problem and requesting us to intervene. After discussing the best route to handle this case, the complaint officers at the ALAC registered the complaints and decided to talk to the executive district officer (EDO) of Education in the district. The EDO was a lady named Tahira. She knew about TI Pakistan and its cause against corruption.

Source: http://www.dawn.com/news/1046903/ghost-schools-cause-leakage-of-billions-report

The whole matter was discussed with her and it was urged that the issue pertaining to the future of the girls’ education should be addressed on priority without any further delay. She assured us that immediate action will be taken on the matter. Soon the villagers were informed accordingly and we asked them to follow up the matter with EDO Education. After two days, we received calls from the complainants informing us that the school was functional again and a teacher had been arranged. ALAC wrote a letter of thanks the EDO, appreciating her efforts in the performance of her official duty.

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During the session it was stressed that their role was an important part of society. They were activity based sessions, and women from semi-urban areas participated with great enthusiasm. The training session was conducted by Ms. Saima Batool who is also the Chief Executive of SDO. In the first activity titled "Potential provoking three step game", various simple questions were presented to the participants, and they were asked to move three steps ahead if they had affirmative responses.

Training workshop on Women Empowerment and Leadership for Social Change in District Vehari: Two training sessions in collaboration with Sudhar Development Organization (SDO) were organized in district Vehari. The aim of the sessions is to make women realize their potential in bringing social change and justice to a corrupt society.

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affirmative responses. The objective of this session was to make them realize the facts of their lives which are usually ignored. The following interesting result were revealed through this exercise: Only 30% of the participants had seen books in their homes during their childhood; 100% women faced strong opposition against their professional work from their close relations; 100% women observed corruption events involving their close relations in their lives; 60% of the women feel shy or reluctant when they face public places like banks, shopping malls or while present at their workplaces. The next session of "Cards and Sentence Game" was facilitated by Lubna Ehtesham. The purpose of this session was to highlight the meanings of some jargons which are not completely understood in everyday parlance. All the participants were divided into three groups. They were given cards and different words like dishonesty, corruption, bribery and asked them to write down a sentence explaining the background and meanings of that particular word. The exercise concluded that lots of words were not clear, e.g., misguiding someone is also a sort of corruption, using delaying tactics to prevent somebody from his/her rights is also a kind of corruption. The last session was conducted by Saima Batool which was an interactive one. All the participants were asked to introduce themselves and their best traits within a limited time. Most of them could not talk about themselves or their unique characteristics. “This is a direct result of the deprivation that women face every day. They are just not confident enough to talk about themselves. This is why we need to keep pushing them to reach their potential so that social change can take place,” said Batool.

Advocacy

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Seminar on Citizen Police Coordination in District Toba Tek Singh: Transparency International (TI) Pakistan arranged a programme in coordination with Social Welfare Society at Education House Junior, Pirmahal regarding citizen-police coordination. Mr. Nasir Mehmood Saleemi introduced the role and activities of TI Pakistan. He also informed the people about the office numbers and toll-free complaint numbers. Next, Rana Imran Hafeez Munj, President Pirmahal Bar Association, differentiated between the rule of law and the role of law. He also explained that these seminars are very useful for the awareness of citizens about the irregularities of the different departments. He stressed on lodging a “fair” FIR – something that is usually the major cause of injustice.

Another issue related to property is the rights of women. Due to a lack of awareness, majority of the women in villages and small towns withdraw from their share in property due to social pressures. Although Islam clearly mentions women's rights in property, yet most women are deprived of these rights. The session was attended by 25 women out of a total of 100 participants.

Seminar on Property Rights and Procedures in District Bakhar: In collaboration with the Patient Welfare Society (PWS) District Bakhar, ALAC held a seminar focusing property rights and procedures. Mr. Rao Yaqoob introduced Transparency International Pakistan and its ALAC center. Muhammad Farooq Gujar, principal of the Govt. College Darya Khan, gave a multimedia presentation informing the participants about the complete procedure of how a property is transferred, and with what ratio govt. taxes and duties are collected. Mr. Aftab Ahmed Glu mentioned that the Punjab govt. has passed a law to give punishment to anyone who knowingly deprived someone of his her property. They were also told about a complaint cell formed by the govt. who takes complaints related to property only.

Rescue & Safety Officer Punjab Emergency Service Rescue 1122 Mr. M. Basharat Hameed thanked TI Pakistan for conducting this seminar with the collaboration of the Social Welfare Society Pir Mahal and also thanked the participants, including the honorable guests, to attend this seminar. He told the participants that the Punjab Emergency Service Rescue 1122 had worked in this district and the tehsils for five years in case of any major emergency or disaster. He told the participants about the types of emergencies in which they can call “Rescue 1122” and also briefed the citizen liaison with the rescue as well as the Police department. After all the speakers were done, an interactive question and answer session was held with the participants.

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Meeting with Mr. Daniel Altman (OIG) & Ms. Lisa (OIG Legal Counsel): 21st January 2014.

AFH Workshop: 28th January 2014 at Avari Hotel, Karachi.

Meeting with Mr. Khalid Saleem, Mr. Mark Parkison & Ms. Laura Rousseau, (USAID) with Mr. Saad Rashid and Mr. Fawad Syed: 29th January 2014.

Mr. Saad Rashid & Ms. Maryam Mughal: Meeting in Islamabad: 10th – 13th February, 2014.

Mr. Saad Rashid: Meeting in Lahore: 13th – 15th February, 2014.

Mr. Fawad Syed meeting in Islamabad: 23rd - 24th February, 2014.

Mr. Khalid Saleem, USAID & Mr. Daniel Altman, OIG meeting with Mr. Saad Rashid, Mr. Fawad Syed: 12th March 2014.

Government to Government (G to G) Seminar: 13th March 2014 at Marriott Hotel, Karachi.

Contact Us

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92 21 3 5390408/9 Fax: 92 21 3 5390410

www.transparency.org.pk tip.newsletter@gmail.com

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www.facebook.com/ TransparencyInternational.Pakistan

Transparency International Pakistan

Transparency International Pakistan Activities

January ~ March 2014

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