28.10.2014 TI PNG Newsletter Jul

News from
Transparency International PNG
April—June
2014
July—September 2014
From the Chairman....
E
very day, all over the
world, ordinary people
bear the cost of
corruption. Corruption affects
people from birth until death. It
is a very real burden, not only do
people pay the costs of corruption directly, but their quality of
life is also affected by less visible forms of corruption.
When powerful groups buy influence over government
decisions or when public funds are diverted into the coffers
of the political elite, ordinary people suffer. When there is
widespread belief that corruption prevails and the powerful
in particular are able to get away with it, people lose faith
in those entrusted with power. In many countries, people no
longer trust their leaders’ management of the public good.
One potential positive result is that people will take a
greater role in monitoring the management of that public
good from now on. It is important for people not to view
themselves as powerless victims of corruption. You can be
part of the solution!
Citizen action can lead to the exposure of corrupt acts, the
sanctioning of corrupt officials and pressure upon reluctant
governments to do more in the fight against corruption.
Lands Department Complaints
Desk to combat corruption
With this growing sense of public responsibility, there is a
massive constituency for people and organizations to help
combat corruption. Together, civil society and organiza- Transparency International PNG is proud of its sector
tions have great potential to sweep out corruption and say partnership with the Department of Lands in establishing a
“no” to impunity.
complaints desk. The Department of Lands and Physical
Planning has become a public sector champion in taking action
In this issue of our update, we have another story from to improve their administration. Given the high number of
Madang province. A Budget Tracking Initiative Training complaints on public administration and land & property, TI
was conducted in August as a follow up activity from an PNG through its Advocacy and Legal Advice Center (ALAC)
Anti-Corruption Information Workshop held in May. The assisted the Department of Lands & Physical Planning in
Budget Training was aimed at helping community leaders setting up their own complaints desk for reporting of corrupt
from districts in Madang province understand basic conduct by employees of the department.
elements of structures, systems and processes of how This initiative taken by the Department of Lands & Physical
public funds are made available, used and reported on. We Planning is one that TIPNG advocates other departments to
also have other interesting updates from other projects. follow in suit. Corruption is everybody’s problem and TIPNG
Contact us if you want more information on any of our through ALAC welcomes every opportunity to work with
projects.
government departments to find solutions.
The Advocacy & Legal Advice Centre is a service to the
We continue to acknowledge the support of many of our general public that provides free legal assistance to victims and
individual and corporate members, donors and partners. We witnesses of corruption. It is an avenue for advocacy and to
are grateful for the on-going support and we are committed educate the public on their rights and responsibilities to counter
corruption. ALAC does not investigate nor does it prosecute
to responding with greater efforts.
because TIPNG does not have the legislative authority to do so.
But what ALAC can do is readily provide legal assistance in
Lawrence Stephens
terms of structuring complaints, referring complainants to the
correct authorities and building bridges with state agencies to
combat corruption.
Since ALAC’s inception in 2010 we have received well over
300 corruption complaints from the general public. ALAC’s
Complaints Database records and categorizes all these
complaints into two (2) key areas: by Client and by complaint.
This means the data entered for each client must be accurate
and concise in order to have precise statistics. For the client
What are we producing?
component the database categorizes data by problem sector,

Civic Education Resource Book for Grade 3 –
type of corrupt conduct, implicated institution and other
12 teachers with interactive exercises
relevant fields.
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40 student reader with short stories explaining
The ALAC statistics are a reflection of public distrust in state
key concepts
agencies and this should prompt the public sector to take strict
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Picture story books/Big Books targeting those
measures to crack down on systematic corruption and promote
with low literacy
greater efficiency in their services.
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Background reading/Information book for
teachers
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Book of Corruption fighting heroes
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Book of 40 Civic Education Teaching Posters
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Social Media links for students and Android
phone applications
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Website for teachers –
www.tcsbcetipng.wix.com/sbce
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DVD of Civic Education videos, presentations
and sample lessons
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Training for all secondary social science
teachers and limited training for grades 6 – 8
teachers
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Distribution of and linkage with other agency
materials (UNDP)
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A baseline survey on public knowledge of
governance process
Above: Minister for Lands & Physical Planning, Hon. Benny Allen
School Based Civic Education Project
What is the School Based Civic Education
Project? In 2008/9, TI PNG had a pilot civic education
project for school. We have expanded and currently revising
the materials to take it to all upper primary schools and
secondary schools in PNG.
What is Civic Education? Civic Education is teaching
citizens about their rights. Civic duties are your
responsibilities to your society and country. Civic education
courses explain the concept of rights, give their legal
concepts and show how they should work in everyday life.
Civic education is very much about participation.
Why Civic Education for the youth? For youth to
be able to make the best contribution to the country, they
need to understand how governance processes and our laws
are supposed to work. Youth need to understand concepts
like human rights, democracy, rule of law and advocacy,
and to apply these in their communities.
TI PNG believes there are inadequate materials in schools
for teachers to teach civics.
Project objectives: Students to be better able to:

Identify the functions and processes of civil
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society and state institutions and the way they
contribute to national integrity
Apply the skills of citizenship which model and
promote democratic governance in their own
community
Transparency International (PNG) Inc. is part of the global civil society organisation leading the fight against
corruption. There are over 100 TI chapters worldwide and an International Secretariat in Berlin, Germany. We
raise awareness on the damaging effects of corruption to empower people to make an active choice against it.
We work with our partners in government, business and civil society to develop and strategize ways to tackle
corruption.
We are a global movement sharing one vision:
A world in which government, politics, businesses and the daily lives are free from corruption.
cutting the ribbon to symbolize the launch of the complaints desk
Below: Secretary for Lands, Romilly Kila Pat giving the Minister and
other delegates a tour of the complaints office and how complaints
will be processed
Budget Tracking Training for Madang citizens
Informed. Engaged.
Empowered.
Make a difference.
Take the first step today!
Sign up to be a member of TI PNG and support the fight against corruption!
No one can fight corruption on their own. Combating corruption requires a unified
effort of individuals, businesses, churches and governments. Corruption can be
rooted when people join together to change the system that facilitates it.
The Budget Tracking Initiative training was a follow
up action from an Anti-Corruption Information
Workshop held with the Bugati Coalition Against
Corruption of Rai Coast District in Madang Province.
The purpose of the Budget Tracking Initiative Training
was to equip Local Level Government and Community
Leaders to understand the basic elements of, structures,
systems and processes of how development grants are
made available, used and reported on.
Fifty-two people attended the training: seven women
and 45 men. All of them came from different local
level governments and wards in Madang province.
Most of the participants were members of community
based organizations from districts in Madang province.
The learning outcomes of the training were for the
participants to:
 Understand priority needs
 Understand and be able to use the appropriate laws
and budget information to access the funds the funds
for development projects at the Local Government
Level
 Understand, develop and review ward plans
 Understand key concepts of monitoring and use of
report cards to monitor government activities in the
Provincial and Local Level Governments.
The training was done in partnership with the
Consultative Implementation and Monitoring Council
(CIMC).
Your support gives us the mandate to represent you in ensuring that good
governance prevails at all levels of society. Your support gives us a voice to
speak out against all forms of corruption.
YOU are at the heart of everything we do.
Create change with us!
Complete the membership form below.
Leaders need to be more open and transparent about their work
Open Parliament Project statistics shows that citizens want to know what their MPs are doing
Since the launch of the Open Parliament Project website
and SMS mechanism in June 2014, current statistics
show that citizens want to know what their Members of
Parliament are doing.
The Open Parliament website has registered more than
14,000 hits from viewers in 77 different countries. The
number of hits on the website is increasing steadily
daily. On average, 500 people visit the website everyday
of which 70% are new visitors and 32% are returning
visitors. Hits by country show more visits from Papua
New Guinea, followed by Australia and the United
States of America. Our SMS database received more
than 10,000 texts from around the country within a
month. The highest number of text received in a single
day was 2,000.
As corruption remains notoriously difficult to investigate
and prosecute, public institutions including the
Government need to open up and be more transparent
about their work.
Open Parliament Project is a partnership between
Transparency International (PNG), and European Union
to support the Speakers vision to “restore, reform and
modernize” parliament and to promote parliamentary
democracy and integrity.
The aim of the project is to provide citizens with access
to information about the parliamentary process and the
good work of the Members of parliament to empower
our people. Access to information will generate interest
among citizenry, promotes transparency, accountability
The information requested through the SMS services are and best parliamentary practices.
within the limits of 160 characters which includes.
The objective of the project is to:

MP portfolio or position
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Office Phone or mobile
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Encourage and help members of parliament
to share information with the public about
themselves and the good work they do.
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Enable the public to have a better
understanding of the roles and
responsibilities of their elected
representatives

Provide a platform for the MPs to
communicate with the public

Increase public awareness of the functions of
the parliament, its committees and
proceeding’s.
Email
Whether or not DSIP funds are acquitted
Top three projects initiated
From the Call Back requests, most users wanted their
member of parliament to publish their District Service
Improvement Program acquittal report. A bulk of these
requests came in from rural areas of the country.
Through these statistics from the Open Parliament
website hits, SMS and call back service, TI PNG
believes that more needs to be done in strengthening and
resourcing the current integrity institutions that ensure
transparency and accountability of public funds and the
work of Members of Parliament.
TI PNG projects for 2014
YACA Song Contest Winners to be announced soon!
Thank you to all the young
people who sent in their entries
for the Youth Against
Corruption Association Song
Contest. We received an
overwhelming number of entries
nationwide, and from it we see
some real talent out there.
The winners will be announced in the first
wee on November 2014.
Thank you also to Keynote Music House ands CHM
Group for their support in donating prizes!
Thank you
to our
sponsors!
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Open Parliament Project
School Based Civic Education
Advocacy & Legal Advice Centre
Climate Governance & Finance Integrity
Youth Against Corruption Association
Mike Manning Youth Democracy Camp
Sir Anthony Siaguru Walk Against Corruption
Strengthening Anti Corruption Linkages & Networks
Community Coalition Against Corruption
For more information on any of our projects, call us
today!
For more information on how to become a member or on
any of our programs, contact the TIPNG
Public Relations Officer
Ms Yvonne Ngutlick
or send an email to [email protected]
TRANSPARENCY INTERNATIONAL (PNG) INC.
2nd level IPA Haus, Konedobu
PO. Box 591 PORT MORESBY, NCD
Phone: 320 2182/2188 Fax: 320 2189
Visit us on
www.transparencypng.org.pg

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