Program for Anticorruption Practitioners 2009-2010
Supported financially by LGI - Local Government Initiative of the Open Society Institute in the frame of the Regional Program "Working Together".
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PAP main objective is to develop, in the training/educational organizations in different countries, competent experts/facilitators able to support mayors and public leaders elaborate and implement in their local governments, through participatory planning processes, curing and preventing corruption strategies.
PAP has three main components:
- Knowledge Building Component
- Skills Building Component
- In-country applications - elaboration and implementation of anticorruption strategies at local level
PAP II - 2010
The third component, in-country application of the anticorruption approach, is implemented through the following activities in the period February 2010 - January 2011.
Financial and Professional Support for AP Teams Projects Implementation
Financial Support
3 LGI Grants were provided to the 3 best AP teams' projects.
Professional Support
FPDL/WBI Tutors provide professional support through monitoring and consulting to the 3 AP Teams were selected to receive LGI grants, before and during the key events of their projects, based on their Work Plan.
Provide Opportunities for Networking and Knowledge Sharing
Mid-term Video Conference - May 2010
The video-conference is organized using WBI technology and is attended by AP Teams that implement in-country projects from Croatia, Georgia, Poland, Romania (supported through LGI grants or other sources of funding), in order to measure progress, exchange experiences and discuss solutions to overcome challenges.
Final International Meeting - November 2010
The Meeting will be attended by
- AP Teams, who conducted in 2010 anticorruption interventions, coming together with the Local Governments leaders with whom they have worked
- other practitioners who proved to be active in this field
- interested international organizations. The objective will be to exchange and learn from each other experiences, disseminate best practices, plan the next steps in order to disseminate the approach and expand AP network members.
Use of the Internet Technology
The internet is used to
- Keep all practitioners teams informed about each other work and progress
- Review/improve the manual Restore the Health of Your Organization both volumes, turning them into an "open source" .
Operate and Maintain the Regional Support Center in order to Strengthen and Expand Anticorruption Practitioners Network
Develop new projects to disseminate the anticorruption approach
- FPDL developed successfully a new project to continue to work with Craiova local government, supported financially by EU "Transition Facility 2007"
- Chronos Info together with Center for Development Excellency (CEDEX/CIR) received Balcan Trust for Democracy grant for the implementation of a project aimed to train anticorruption practitioners.
Disseminate results
Ana Vasilache was invited by TIRI - PIEN to present the anticorruption approach, FPDL work in Romania and the efforts made through PAP to build Anticorruption Practitioners capacity in the Curriculum Development Workshop for CEE/SEE on May 18, 2010.
PAP I - 2009
The first two components have been implemented:
Knowledge Building Component
The objective was to deepen practitioners understanding and improve their knowledge in the field of curing and preventing corruption in Local Governments organizations.
The Knowledge Building Component was organized in 4 learning modules:
- Module 1: Understanding Corruption in Organizations
- Module 2: Understanding Organizations
- Module 3: Understanding Local Governments Organizations
- Module 4: Understanding Change Management in Organizations
After studying the readings provided for each module, participants, working in teams of 2 persons, elaborated papers, in which they applied the theoretical concepts to specific situation, proving their level of knowledge and understanding. The Papers were evaluated by Tutors (Ronald MacLean Abaroa, Ana Vasilache and Nicole Rata), who assessed the:
- Level of knowledge
- Level of understanding concepts when applying them to analyze specific situations
- Level of logic in the flow of ideas
- Level of clarity and concision in expressing ideas
Each paper received maximum 100 points, divided among the 4 criteria (max 25 points/criteria). The best teams were selected to be supported financially to attend the Skills Building component, organized June 22-July 2, 2009 in Istanbul; the selection took into account:
- Respecting the deadlines for Papers submission
- The number of total points gained by the team
- Their organization capacity to support the anticorruption approach dissemination and application in-country
MODULE 1 - Understanding Corruption in Organizations (March 2-15, 2009)
Readings
- Multimedia Interactive Learning Course - MILC (2009)
- Corrupt Cities, by Robert Klitgaard, Ronald Maclean Abaroa, Lindsey Parris, (2000)
- Corruption Analytics, by Ronald MacLean Abaroa
Paper 1: Analyzing own organization vulnerability to corruption
Module 1 task was to elaborate a Paper in which to apply the concepts used in La Paz, by analyzing and identifying their own organization vulnerability to corruption and propose solutions to prevent it. The Paper had three main parts:
- Organization main activities
- Diagnosis of the organization/activities vulnerability to corruption
- Proposed Solutions to lower vulnerability and prevent corruption
Teams were encouraged to make a proper analysis of their organization shortcomings. The Papers were kept confidential. The Paper should have maximum 12,000 characters.
MODULE 2 - Understanding Organizations (March 16- April 5, 2009)
Readings
Understanding Organizations, by Charles Handy (4th edition, 2005)
Paper 2: Analyzing own organization
Teams were encouraged to read the book having in mind their own organization and during reading to jot down aspects that relate to it. In their Paper they were asked to write an analysis of their organization by applying the concepts included in the book. The Paper should have maximum 12.000 characters and the following structure:
- Background
- Analysis - identifying organization strengths and weaknesses
- Conclusions & Recommendations
They were encouraged to make a proper analysis of their organization shortcomings, as well as strengths. The Papers were kept confidential.
MODULE 3: Understanding Local Governments Organizations (April 6-26, 2009)
Readings
- Banishing Bureaucracy: The five Strategies for Reinventing Government, by David Osborne and Peter Palstrick (1998)
- The Reinventor's Field book, by David Osborne and Peter Palstrick (2000)
Paper 3: Analyzing a Local Government Organization
The teams' task was to identify a Local Government partner and collect information about it's functioning, having in mind the concepts included in the books. They had to elaborate a paper, no longer than 15.000 characters having the following structure:
- Background: Local Government short description
- Data collection process
- Local Government activities/functions analysis
- Conclusions and Recommendations
Papers were displayed on the PAP Website Forum, in order to facilitate experience exchange among teams.
MODULE 4: Understanding Change Management in Organizations (April 27-May 17, 2009)
Readings
- Our Ice is Melting (2006) by John P. Kotter (2006)
- Leading Change, by John P. Kotter (1996)
- Restore the Health of Your Organization by Fred Fisher, Ana Vasilache, Nicole Rata
Paper 4: Reinventing Local Governments in order to Cure and Prevent Corruption
Teams had to write a Paper of maximum 12.000 characters, in the form of a Memo provided to the Mayor of the Local Government analyzed previously, to propose a one year intervention process aimed at reinventing the organization in order to cure and prevent corruption. The teams assumed that the Mayor was concerned about the organization vulnerability to corruption and asked for their support to initiate and implement the change process. In this paper teams were encouraged to use all the other modules concepts. The Papers were displayed on the PAP Website Forum, in order to facilitate experience exchange among teams.
Skills Building Component
The objective was to make Anticorruption Practitioners gain, through their full participation in the learning event new perspectives and ways of beings, new skills and self confidence, as consultants, facilitators and trainers, in order to be able to initiate, design and conduct Interventions in local government organizations, to cure and prevent corruption.
The Skills Building Component was designed and conducted by a team of 4 persons:
- Ana Vasilache and Nicole Rata, FPDL, Romania
- Dan Mocanu, Aperio Executive Ciaching, Romania
- Ronald MacLean Abaroa, WBI (attended the program from June 27-July 1, 2009)
The Skills Building Component had three main parts:
- Part 1: June 23-26, participants gained new perspectives, ways of being, knowledge and skills in the three roles they will play working with mayors and local governments: trainers, consultants and facilitators
- Part 2: June 28-30, participants prepared for the Pilot Workshop in teams, having the responsibility to design and facilitate 1 of the 6 sessions. When not in the role of facilitators, participants played roles of public officials invited to attend the Pilot Workshop. Feedback sessions were conducted after each Pilot Workshop session, to learn from experience
- Part 3: July 1, participants synthesized main lessons learned and elaborated first draft of their Action Plans, building bridges between the class room and the reality back home
The dynamic of participation in the Knowledge and Skills Building Components looks as follows:
Teams elaborated and presented the first draft of their Action Plans during the Skills Building component. They refined them and developed projects till end of October 15, 2009, based on the Call for Proposals issued by FPDL. The projects had to be implemented in the period January-November 15, 2010 and had to focus on supporting a mayor and his/her public managers initiate and implement a participatory strategic planning process in their local government, aimed at:
- Identifying their organization vulnerable to corruption activities and/or services
- Identifying the root causes of these activities and/or services vulnerability to corruption
- Elaborating strategies that address the root causes and in the same time strengthen the organization integrity and increase its efficiency, accountability and transparency.
All Projects have been evaluated in a participatory system, both by FPDL/WBI Tutors and peer-to-peer: the final evaluation results were composed by the average of Tutors evaluation summed up with the average of peers' evaluation. Teams were not allowed to evaluate own project. The evaluation criteria were divided into sections and subsections. For each subsection have been defined the maximum scores representing "I fully agree with the statement". The scores could be lowered by the evaluator till a minimum of 1 representing "I totally disagree with the statement". In between, the scores represented mid-positions between the extremes.
The evaluation process implied the following activities and deadlines:
- October 15, 2009: deadline for receiving applications
- October 20, 2009: AP Teams received the applications and the evaluation forms. They evaluated all projects excepting their own project
- November 15, 2009: AP Teams sent the completed evaluation forms to FPDL
- November 25, 2009: FPDL/WBI Tutors finalized the evaluation and sent them to LGI for final approval
- November 27-29, 2009: The Follow-up Meeting was organized for AP Teams in Istanbul in the weekend of November 27-29, 2009.
In December 2010 the three projects receiving LGI grants were announced:
- Croatia: Chronos Info (www.chronos.hr) - Anton Barisic director, Petra Padjen and Ivana Puksec program managers, the AP working with two Croatian local governments: Zabok and Vrbovac
- Georgia: Civitas Georgica (www.civitas.ge) - Giorgi Meshkidze director and Helen Romelashvili program manager, the AP team working with Lanchkhuti local government
- Poland: School of Public Administration Byalostok - Patrycja Suwaj, professor, Piotr Sitek, professor with Pryzm Association (www.pryzmat.org.pl) - Jaroslaw Ruszewski, director, the AP team working with Sukolka local government