As 2020 draws to a close, pandemic fatigue has clashed with a second global surge in COVID-19 cases. A new round of full or partial lockdowns has spread across Asia, Europe, and North America, hampering economic recovery and reversing progress made earlier in the year. Businesses around the world face an urgent challenge, both to reassure their employees and customers that their health and safety are top priorities and prove that they are trustworthy members of society. Chronic Discontent Even though businesses of all sizes are playing a crucial role in keeping countries afloat—and will be the engine that restarts economic growth when the pandemic is… Read More
Photo Credit: CIPE On the latest edition of CIPE’s Democracy that Delivers podcast, Shruti Shah, President and CEO of the Coalition for Integrity, discusses the growing demand for ethics & accountability around the world, and the role of the Coalition as they execute their mission. Shah illustrates her lifelong commitment to fighting corruption, and elaborates… Read More
Photo Credit: Thailand’s Collective Action Coalition against Corruption (CAC) Bureaucratic red tape and arbitrary decision-making around public services are key conditions that nurture a culture of corruption. Complicated and unclear processes accommodate corrupt practices by creating uncertainties that justify both the demand and supply side of bribery. To effectively mitigate corruption risks, it is essential… Read More
Photo Credit: SaBigFive via Wikispaces Every safari fan knows what the Big Five are – the five large animals that can be found in parts of Africa such as Kenya’s Maasai Mara National Reserve: the lion, rhino, leopard, Cape buffalo, and elephant. These are interesting times to watch Kenya, and not just because the rainy… Read More
Photo Credit: Peter Linke (via Flickr) There is an ongoing debate regarding ‘pay by results’ in the international aid community. The pay by results (PbR) model is one in which aid recipient governments only receive donor funds upon achieving an agreed upon outcome – number of schools built, children inoculated, etc. For example, if the… Read More
Photo Credit: Henri Pitkänen (via Flickr) A new bookcase spurred me to go through all of my old grad school books, including those from a class on international corruption. I immediately noticed a trend among these books: all of them focused on the role of the government, rather than the private sector, in creating, sustaining,… Read More