The 14th IACC conference in Bangkok, Thailand

In a republic with 235 million inhabitants, 17,508 islands, 742 different languages and dialects, about 300 ethnic groups and approximately as many people under the age of 15 as the entire population of France, Transparency International (TI) Indonesia are rapidly reinvigorating the fight against corruption by empowering Indonesia’s youth to take their issue to scale. Read more »

How do you think the technologically-literate people empower the fight against corruption? You may think they’ll use the most advanced gizmos to track or spy on the corrupters. Or at least, developing high-tech methods to catch the grafters red-handed.

But just like how the smartest guys are the ones who can simplify things for people, so are the techies. They make technology easier to be used by everyone, even with their limited access to the wired world, people can participate in ensuring social accountability. Read more »

Corruption is often written off as a victimless crime—a white-collar offense whose consequences are hardly felt by those outside the halls of corporate and government power.

It wasn’t until I witnessed the crippling consequences of corruption firsthand that I realized that those who suffer most from corruption are those who have the least. Read more »

Looking back at Bangkok

Last November, the 14^th International Anti-Corruption Conference took place in Bangkok. It brought together civil society, the private and public sectors, academics and about 130 journalists from 123 countries to discuss the challenges facing the world today. Read more »

This post has been crossposted from World Resources Institute blog. By Manish Bapna and Jacob Werksman.

An update from the International Anti-Corruption Conference.

At the start of the international climate conference in Cancun, the international anti-corruption movement is weighing into the debate on how to shape a new global treaty and deliver effective climate financing to developing countries.

Issues of transparency and accountability have long been a source of contention, and a barrier to progress, in the UN-led climate negotiations. Disagreement between developed and developing countries over how to make actions and policies taken by countries robust and comparable has undermined the trust essential for effective global cooperation to halt rising temperatures. More recently, the issue of climate financing has become a bone of contention, with developing countries questioning whether the money pledged by industrialized countries is new, or simply diverted development aid.

Last month in Bangkok, Transparency International organized the 14th International Anti-Corruption Conference (IACC), which focused in part on the the transparency and corruption challenges associated with climate policy, climate finance for mitigation and adaptation, and carbon markets. WRI prepared the IACC background document on climate change and corruption and has been advising Transparency International on the 2010 Global Corruption Report, which also take climate change and corruption as its theme.

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