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This is the World Bank's blog on governance and anti-corruption. It aims at providing a space for debate and knowledge sharing on this critical field of development. | Learn more...

May 2009

Did the financial crisis kill the governance reform agenda?

Submitted by Alfredo on Wed, 2009-05-27 09:36

A few days ago, Dani Rodrik opened an interesting discussion with his post "How the financial crisis has killed the governance reform agenda."  Basically what he says is that "we need to downplay the role of improved governance as a causal mechanism for economic growth." 

His main argument is that the financial crisis in the US did not only undercovered issues of capture and corruption in this country -as Simon Johnson and Dani Kaufmann have argued- but also showed that it is possible to be corrupt and rich at the same time.  Based on this evidence and on his previous belief that the causal relation between governance and growth was never proofed to be strog, he concluded that even though governance reform is a good thing to do, it should not be confused for a growth strategy.

Promoting rural youth engagement through radio and cell phones in Burundi

Submitted by Susana on Tue, 2009-05-26 11:57

For several weeks, local radio waves transmitted an unusual program in Burundi. This time, by combining radio and cell phones, the marginalized youth from rural Burundi received a chance to express their views on a series of issues that affect their daily lives. A rap song, composed with key findings of the study “Voices of the Youth” and the "Governance Survey," served as background of this pioneer and different approach, transmitted by Radio Publique Africaine.

Cell phones and radio were a way of outreaching places where information hardly makes its way, as well as to engage leaders in rural communities in debates about information obtained through studies that are hardly disseminated among the locals.

When blogging becomes an issue: worst places to be a blogger

Submitted by Alfredo on Tue, 2009-05-19 18:29

Blogs have changed the way people put into practice concepts such as voice and freedom of expression.  In a matter of minutes, anyone who has access to a computer with internet connection can create a blog and start posting ideas, experiences, opinions, pictures and videos that will be become available to more than 1.5 billion internet users in the world.

Also, blogs' features enable two-way communication and interaction between users, very different to the "static" dynamic of traditional websites. Most important, people can do all of these things at no cost.

However, the expansion of the blogosphere has also triggered negative reactions, especially in environments where censorship and control of information still prevail. Touching on several of these reactions, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) launched a special report in which it highlights the "10 worst countries to be a blogger."

 

Estimated dollars held in tax havens

11.5 trillion
The maximum amount of dollars held in tax havens, estimated by the OECD. The minimum estimate is 1.7 trillion.
Find out more »

Talking about a revolution: governance, web 2.0 and Digital Bangladesh

Submitted by Tanya on Fri, 2009-05-08 11:54

Around March 4, someone posted on YouTube a thirty to forty minute clip from a meeting between Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and army officials. It showed the confrontation between angry army officials and the PM on her decision to negotiate with the mutineers rather than take military action.

Within hours, the clip had spread to the four corners of the world. Facebook users put the YouTube link in their status, bloggers wrote about the video, related articles were dug up, and TV stations around the world discussed the meeting and its implications on the newly elected PM and the army. (All of these applications are considered a part of Web 2.0, where Web 2.0 refers to a perceived second generation of web development and design that facilitates communication, secure information sharing, interoperability, and collaboration on the World Wide Web).

Problems solved: corruption, lack of transparency and leadership

Submitted by Kathrin on Wed, 2009-05-06 16:55

The global economic crisis revealed large scale fraud in the financial sector and dropped public confidence and trust. This presents a daunting array of challenges to companies and government alike. It is practically impossible for a single stakeholder on their own to effectively address the problems that contributed to this crisis: corruption, greed, lack of transparency and leadership. Hence there is a case for collective action that enables companies to collaborate with competitors and/or stakeholders from the public and civil society sector to create and maintain fair market conditions.

Recognizing this, the World Bank Institute is organizing an Executive Development Program precisely on such joint approaches titled Fighting Corruption through Collective Action in Today’s Competitive Marketplaces. 

How can technology in public procurement bring about improved governance?

Submitted by Kashmira on Mon, 2009-05-04 18:36

-Jointly submitted by Kashmira Daruwalla and Tanya Gupta

Experts have identified procurement as one of the areas most prone to corruption in the public sector.  Corruption in public contracting can take many forms, including bribery, deception (fraud) or simple abuse, affects the efficiency of public spending and donors' resources and creates waste.  Corruption is widespread in public procurement and service delivery programs.  In a study in Uganda, Reinikka and Svensson compared central government data on public grants to schools from a survey of school officials to find what fraction of grants were ultimately received by schools.  They found that schools received only 13 percent of central government spending on the program, over the period 1991–1995.  Most schools received nothing and the evidence suggested that most of the funds leaked out of the public system through procurement fraud.

In a different randomized field experiment in Indonesia, Olken found that 24% of the funds for a road project had been stolen, after comparing reported expenditure and actual expenditure.