Articles
New Tactics in Fight Against Corruption Include Crowdsourcing, Mobile Games and SMS
Transparency International has awarded grants to its chapters implementing new solutions in their anti-corruption activism – from playing a game to learn about corruption to sending a SMS to report an incident. The projects emphasize increasing public awareness and in most cases rely on individuals taking initiative.
In November 2012, Transparency International Zimbabwe launched a SMS mobile and web based platform that allows users to report corrupt activities such as bribery or cheating in real time. In a country where Internet penetration is less than 12 percent but mobile phones are widely used, the SMS platform supported by basic phones makes the tool accessible to most Zimbabweans. According to kubatana.net, messages are forwarded to the Advocacy and Legal Advice Centre, a public service initiative providing free legal aid services to victims and witnesses of corruption. The Centre will analyze the data and “take appropriate steps to assist clients.”
Transparency International Macedonia actually started their citizen-reported corruption database in July 2011. Last year they partnered with Ushahidi to create a visualization of corruption in Macedonia. Citizen reporting has resulted in 121 investigations in which 37 of the allegations have been verified to date. In the analysis of their anti-corruption work they emphasize the importance of processing the reports with due diligence, displaying the information, through Ushahidi, as accurately as possible, and safeguarding the identities of the people reporting.
Read the full article by Jessica McKenzie as it was originally published on TechPresident , April 9, 2013