Blog Contest: How Can Africa’s Youth Speak Up Against Corruption?

The World Bank recognizes corruption as a serious problem. When it occurs, it not only undermines development progress. It has real costs for people across society.

Corruption has a disproportionate impact on the poor and most vulnerable, increasing costs and reducing access to public services, including health, education, and justice. A situation in which bribes are solicited can impact people in multiple ways. For poor or vulnerable individuals, they may need to hand over a higher percentage of their income to pay them. For businesses, bribes increase the cost of doing business with impacts both on their economic growth and the job opportunities they may offer; and young people, most of the time, pay a higher price.

On top of this, the world has faced multiple overlapping crises in recent years, requiring considerable sustained emergency responses by governments. In these situations, not only can corruption degrade the quality of help received by people, but also undermine the trust in government with detrimental effects for society in the long run. 

The challenges may seem daunting, but around the world, in every region and country, people can and do stand up for accountability, transparency, good governance, and justice, and say ‘No!’ to corruption. 

We’ve launched a blog contest to gather views from African youth on the challenge of corruption and how we can work toward a common solution. Based on the situation in your country, we want to hear your answer to this question: 

How can young people in Africa work with their governments, academia, and civil society organizations to speak up against corruption and counter the negative impacts corruption has on society?

More details on the competition and how to enter can be found here. The deadline for submissions is May 20, 2023.  

From the submissions we receive, we will select two winners, who will have the opportunity to attend the World Bank’s next International Corruption Hunters Alliance (ICHA) forum, held in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire from June 14-16, 2023. Other top blogs will be gathered and promoted during and after the ICHA 2023 forum. 

By bringing together anticorruption stakeholders from around the world under the theme of “Collective Action in an Era of Crises,” the ICHA 2023 forum aims to share knowledge and experience on the challenges, risks, as well as opportunities for advancing anticorruption efforts at all levels. It is also an opportunity to forge a greater coalition of voices - especially from young people - who can speak up for accountability in society. 

To take on corruption, youth everywhere will need to be involved. We look forward to reading your views on the role you play in speaking out against corruption!