Integrity Action

Working Paper Number 2

The Fix-Rate
A Key Metric for Transparency and Accountability
The Fix-Rate
A Key Metric for Transparency and Accountability

Contents
Page 2 Introduction

Page 5 1. Testing the Approach: The Fix-Rate in Practice

Page 14 2. Bringing the Citizen in: Community Integrity Building

Page 21 3. Whats Innovative About Community Integrity Building?

Page 24 Conclusion

102
 The Fix-Rate
A Key Metric for Transparency and Accountability

The Fix-Rate
A Key Metric for Transparency and Accountability

Fredrik Galtung

There is no commonly agreed unit of measurement for transparency and

accountability work. Many organisations actively work around the world to
promote these principles, but there has been no effective way of knowing
if that work produces results. Integrity Action has developed an approach
that achieves results that can be measured through a fix-rate. The fix-rate
measures the incidence with which transparency and accountability problems
are resolved to the satisfaction of key stakeholders. Integrity Actions Community
Integrity Building approach has delivered a fix-rate of up to 80 percent in terms
of improving the quality of roads, schools and public services for thousands of
people. This working paper makes the case for the fix-rate as a key metric for
work in this field and it outlines some of the implications of this approach for
other transparency and accountability work.

1
The Fix-Rate
A Key Metric for Transparency and Accountability

Introduction1
The transparency and accountability movement took off in the early 1990s
to become a diverse and highly innovative global movement of NGOs,
governments, inter-governmental organisations, businesses and policy
thinkers by the 2000s.

1
Acknowledgements: This paper is the result of a collective effort and would not have been achieved without the hard work, inspiration and ideas of my
closest colleagues, in particular Harutyun Aleksanyan, Mira Almukarker, Edward Irby, Emmanuelle Kunigk, Siobhan OShea, Patrick Rafolisy, Hadeel
Qazzaz, Joy Saunders, Claire Schouten, Begaim Usubalieva, Lilia Utiusheva, and former colleagues Nick Duncan and Martin Tisn. On the ground, the
work relies significantly on our partners, who are listed in Box 1. DFID (through the Governance and Transparency Fund), the Ford Foundation, Open
Society Foundations, NORAD, and the World Bank (through a Development Grant Facility) supported the work described in this paper financially. Lorraine
Kingsley did invaluable fieldwork to collect case study evidence. For their feedback on this paper I am also grateful for comments and suggestions from
Alan Barlow, Alan Doig, Nilima Gulrajani, Gordon Johnson, Samandar Mahmodi, Ornit Shani, and Yama Torabi.

2
 The Fix-Rate
A Key Metric for Transparency and Accountability

In its many manifestations, the movement now reaches a score between 38 and 41 in 2012 included Bulgaria,
into almost every country. One of its interesting features Burkina Faso, China, Liberia, and Tunisia. Sharing
is how rapidly it became a global movement. Reformers roughly the same score belies tremendous differences
and activists are working to achieve change in advanced in the dollar value, types, entrenchment, human cost,
industrialised nations, as well as in middle and low- prevalence of street-level corruption and the economic
income countries. The organisations working in this field impact of corruption in these countries. Weather forecasts
address topics that include anti-corruption, access to and electoral opinion polls can also be given within wide
information, judicial and corporate accountability, aid, confidence margins, but they have the merit of measuring
construction, budget and natural resource transparency something specific: the probability of heavy rain showers,
and accountability for public service delivery, tax justice, light snow or clear skies, or the likelihood that a certain
illicit financial flows, and the arms trade. candidate will win an election. With the CPI we have no
idea what types of corruption are being assessed.
What unites this heterogeneous movement is a
commitment to holding public officials and institutions Many people in the transparency and accountability field
accountable and a consensus that three of the core pillars are aware of the shortcomings of the CPI. An alternative
of accountability in the liberal, democratic state fair could have been to develop a more objective or precise
elections, an independent judiciary, and a free media measure of corruption. But despite numerous efforts over
have in many instances disappointed public expectations the past twenty years, researchers and activists have failed
and failed to do their job. No one suggests that we jettison to develop a methodology for measuring the incidence
these key levers of public accountability, but there is a of corruption in institutions and services that is robust,
widespread consensus that they need strengthening and replicable and scalable. Public perceptions and self-
that other tools and approaches must complement them. reporting of bribe payments or extortion demands remain
the most common proxies. Such surveys, however, are
In the public imagination and in many governments one not sufficiently robust to be a basis for perfecting policy.
key metric to gage performance in the transparency and Despite its weaknesses, the CPI therefore remains the
accountability sector has dominated both public and Key Performance Indicator of many anti-corruption
policy discussions: Transparency Internationals Corruption agencies and continues to be cited in news articles
Perceptions Index (CPI). The CPI was first published in on an almost daily basis3.
1995 and over the years it has become one of the most
influential indices for governance and development. It has The existence of right to information legislation or whistle-
been incorporated into many government plans and is a blower protection laws and the relative openness and
Key Performance Indicator for numerous anti-corruption accessibility of public budgets are undoubtedly important,
agencies, who have been given the mandate to raise their but they mean little if they do not ultimately make peoples
countrys score within a certain timeframe. lives better. Integrity Action has developed a simple
approach - the fix-rate - as a key metric for transparency
The CPI ranks countries on a scale of zero to one and accountability work. The fix-rate measures the
hundred, where zero represents complete corruption and incidence with which transparency and accountability
one hundred an absence of corruption. I have argued related problems are resolved to the satisfaction of
elsewhere2 that while the CPI had an instrumental role as key stakeholders. Regular citizens, business people,
a heuristic device in the early phases of this movement politicians, public officials, journalists, and NGOs can
when the main agendas were awareness raising and be among those who identify the problems. An equally
advocacy for more effective legal norms, it has largely diverse range of individuals and institutions can be
been unhelpful as a measurement tool for assessing involved in the resolution of these problems. This indicator
policy implementation and corruption trends. Even at a 90 can provide a benchmark for those committed to reform
percent confidence interval 31 countries have estimates that actually tracks progress.
that vary by more than +/- 20 percent of the score value,
with a number of countries reaching a variance above Integrity Action was founded in 2003 with a mission
+/- 50 percent. Such a high variance could represent a to empower citizens to act with and demand integrity,
difference of opinion about countries that are not widely actively taking part in building institutions to promote a
known. It may also indicate that different phenomena state that is open, accountable and responsive to their
are being assessed. After all, corruption manifests itself needs and expectations4. Over the last five years we
differently across the world: for example, countries with

Fredrik Galtung, Measuring the Immeasurable: Boundaries and Functions of (Macro) Corruption Indicators, in Charles Sampford et al. eds., Measuring
2

Corruption, Ashgate, Aldershot, 2006: pp 101-130.

3
Turkeys Prime Ministry Inspection Board is one of dozens of examples around the world: In a report from 2009 it sought, by the end of 2012, to have
achieved at least 20% improvement of Turkeys score in the Corruption Perception Index revealed by Transparency International every year. The report
also sought to achieve improvements on its Global Integrity scores.
The organisation was founded as Tiri: Making Integrity Work and was re-branded as Integrity Action in October 2012.
4

3
The Fix-Rate
A Key Metric for Transparency and Accountability

have tested variations on a core methodology called and mismanagement by even four percent this would
Community Integrity Building to test what works in order represent a threefold net return on investment, making this
to fix transparency and accountability related problems in approach in principle self-funding.
several countries in Africa, Asia, the Former Soviet Union,
and the Middle East. We reached a milestone in the past The adoption of the fix-rate as a key metric of the
year because data we collected with our partners shows transparency and accountability movement can help to
that the approach achieved a consistent fix-rate above 50 drive innovation, efficiency gains and help to highlight
percent for problems of infrastructure identified by local what works. If the fix represents the cure, the Community
community members and that a fix-rate of 30 percent Integrity Building approach is a type of treatment. Different
could be achieved for public services like water, sanitation treatments may cure a patient more or less successfully,
and social welfare. and while we now have confidence that Community
Integrity Building works, it is not designed for every ailment
The fix-rate focuses on measuring outputs, like the or for every context. A fix could also be achieved with
resolution of citizen complaints, or improvements in other methods, especially in settings where people who
public service delivery based on problems identified are generally trusted, principled and competent manage
by the stakeholders of this service. Inputs, in turn, are public programmes.
activities or policy changes, like public hearings, social
audits, information portals, integrity pacts, or access to Using the fix-rate as a key unit of measurement makes
information laws. The fix-rate assesses whether these it possible to compare the effectiveness of different
inputs empower citizens and public office holders, treatments of intervention, and to assess whether the
individually or collectively, to achieve a specific fix, and treatment is long lasting. In countries and government
therefore an improved outcome that is in the public sectors where corruption and maladministration are
interest. When such fixes are achieved with some degree widespread, the use of the fix-rate will also generate
of consistency this can be interpreted as a signal that a positive externalities as some of the examples given below
policy, law or method of problem solving works and that it will illustrate.
has the potential to become a routine practice of state-
The working paper is divided into three parts: First, I
society relations.
present an overview of the findings and some short case
The paper will show that Community Integrity Building studies from our Community Integrity Building work in
is also very cost effective way to achieve fixes. It six countries. Second, I describe in more detail how
costs on average less than 1 percent of the value of Community Integrity Building works and introduce two
the infrastructure projects and services that are being concepts that are key to understanding our method:
improved. Aid and government projects in developing closing the loop and organisational integrity. The third part
countries can conservatively be estimated to lose on sets out what is original about the Community Integrity
average between 10-25 percent of the value of a project Building approach and describes how Community
to fraud, corruption and mismanagement.5 The African Integrity Building is distinguished from other methods
Union estimated in 2002 that on average 25 percent of based on participation or confrontation. In the conclusion
Africas GDP (ca. $148bn) was lost to corruption every I outline some of the wider implications of Community
year. If 1 percent of a large projects costs are invested Integrity Building and the fix-rate to transparency and
in Community Integrity Building and that has the result accountability.
of reducing the loss rate caused by waste, corruption,

5
When Oby Ezekwesili set up the new federal procurement control unit in the Presidents Office in Nigeria in the early 2000s she reduced costs by 40-
50%. Similar reductions were noted in Italy after the Mani Pulite anti-corruption drive disrupted corrupt networks in the early 1990s. For a review of some
issues related to construction, see Paul Collier and Anke Hoeffler, The Economic Costs of Corruption in Infrastructure, Global Corruption Report 2005:
Corruption in Construction and Post-Conflict Reconstruction, Transparency International, Berlin: pp. 12-19. And for an excellent typology and analysis of
corruption in global infrastructure see giaccentre.org/cost_of_corruption.php. Data from the US provides another benchmark for potential losses due to
corruption and fraud: the US Department of Health and Human Services estimates Medicare fraud at 7 to 14 percent of all reimbursements in 2000, from
David Becker, et al, Detecting Medicare Abuse, NBER Working Paper Series, No 10677, August 2004. By 2010 such losses were estimated at $48bn
in a single fiscal year (see US Government Accountability Office, Medicare and Medicaid Fraud, Waste and Abuse: Effective Implementation of Recent
Laws and Agency Actions Could Help Reduce Improper Payments, Testimony Before the Subcommittee on Federal Financial Management, Government
Information, Federal Services, and International Security, Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs, US Senate, March 9, 2011).

4
 The Fix-Rate
A Key Metric for Transparency and Accountability

1. Testing the Approach: The Fix-Rate in Practice

The main question that drives Integrity Actions work is How can we
empower citizens to be the catalysts for fixing the integrity problems of
infrastructure and key public services that are of highest priority to them?

By using what we call an integrity lens and engaging to be a model for other cities in Kyrgyzstan. Recently,
citizens in a constructive Community Integrity Building officials and elected councillors from the cities of Batken
approach we can help to generate new fixes for what are and Isfana visited Naryn to learn from their experiences.
often well-known and seemingly intractable problems. Meanwhile, in Osh City, Integrity Action contributed to
We facilitate a locally driven dynamic that helps to stamping out the illegal dumping of rubbish in public
identify viable solutions to improve the quality of public areas, and brought rubbish removal services for the first-
infrastructure and services. The by-product of this work time to one of the most deprived estates in the city.
is often a reduction in fraud, corruption, waste, and
mismanagement. Here is how this work got started. As a first step in its
work in Kyrgyzstan, Integrity Action set up a think tank of
Without investing any funds directly in bricks, mortar, university professors in Bishkek to conduct local scoping
gravel, pipes or wells, how can communities get better studies and to provide joint learning to public officials and
school buildings, roads or access to water in settings community representatives. These academics recognised
where maladministration, incompetence, corruption that a methodology was needed and that it would not be
or fraud are widespread? The Community Integrity easy to find tools that would unlock better service delivery.
Building work we have undertaken in six countries was Over several months they developed monitoring tools
implemented with NGO partners and public institutions, and training manuals with Integrity Actions guidance so
which are listed in Box 1. These NGOs were responsible that civil society activists had a framework for analysing
for implementing the work on the ground and deserve service delivery, highlighting issues, and pushing for more
enormous credit for the results obtained through this transparency, accountability and competence. Professor
work. The first part of this section contains a few case Rakhat Bazarbaeva says, We developed thirty integrity
studies that illustrate the work and its impact. The second indicators relating to services, transparency, openness,
part contains overall findings from six countries. The third participation, and ethics. We then trained local activists on
part describes how the fix-rate is calculated. methods for monitoring services.

A Joint Working Group (JWG) was established in 2010

1.1. Case Studies to bring together local government officers, elected
Rubbish collection services across many cities in members, residents and Community-Based Organisations
Kyrgyzstan have been transformed since Integrity Actions so that they could discuss issues and work together to
work in the country started in 2009. The remote glacial city identify and implement appropriate solutions. Known as
of Naryn has led the way in the past four years in showing the Naryn Coordination Council, this JWG considered
how an integrity-building approach can bring sweeping whether public hearings and media campaigns could be
reform to local services. The city had a derelict solid used to improve rubbish collection services.6 Integrity
waste management that only covered parts of the city. Actions country manager, Lilia Utiusheva, says, Before,
The councils rubbish collection enterprise has completely there was no system for rubbish collection in Naryn. There
overhauled its procedures as a result of work that was were no definitive routes that truck drivers would follow.
initiated through Integrity Action, with the announcement The community monitors gathered photographic evidence
that 126 collection points will be visited on the same two that the trucks would just go around the city once a week,
days each week. All residents can access this information picking up rubbish wherever they saw it. In 2011 a plan
through large maps that are displayed in the suppliers was formulated by the Mayors Office, city council, the
offices. Additionally, more than 250 rubbish containers architectural office and the community monitors, and a
have been installed around the city, and twice as many map was put up so different parts of the city got rubbish
trucks are now deployed than they had previously. collection on the same days each week.
Such transparency and accountability in the way a A media campaign to raise awareness of the need for
service is delivered and dramatic improvement in the rate collection led to a massive increase in the number
competency being displayed by a supplier is proving of residents paying municipal taxes which gave the

6
The JWG was formed from participants who had been trained by a combination of local academics and policy makers in Integrity Actions approach.
Where structures similar to JWGs already exist, as in Kenya, we have given support to those structures. Community monitors can be identified through
a variety of methods that ensure they have local legitimacy. In most countries this happens through local level elections. In practice, it often means that
people who already enjoy a level of public confidence - for example members of a local Shura council in Afghanistan, or a board member of a respected
CBO in Kyrgyzstan are likely to be among the monitors. In Palestine, through an agreement with the Ministry of Education, school age youth have been
active and effective monitors.

5
The Fix-Rate
A Key Metric for Transparency and Accountability

supplier the income needed to install the 250 bins across

the city, and to deploy more trucks. Bilimbek Jakiev, a Box 1
member of the JWG, says, Through the campaign of the
Coordination Council, the tax collection has increased
Integrity Actions Partners
from 118,000 Kyrgyzstani Som in 2008 [1,600] to 1.9 Afghanistan:
million Som today [26,000]. The community is now a lot Integrity Watch Afghanistan
cleaner, and the rubbish is collected regularly, and that is
Kenya:
all down to the improvement in tax collection which only
Coastal Rural Support Programme, Federation
came about because of this project.
of Woman Lawyers, International Commission of
In the final stage, sustainability is at the top of the Jurists-Kenya.
agenda. Nurjan Asanbekova, a lawyer from our partner, Kyrgyzstan:
the Association of Attorneys in Kyrgyzstan (AAK), says, Academy of Management, Aga Khan Foundation,
Through this project we have discovered there is no Association of Attorneys - Insan Leilek, Judicial
benchmark for what the local supplier has to provide as Training Centre of the Supreme Court, Mountain
a minimum. For instance, I couldnt score local rubbish Societies Development Support Programme.
collection quality in Naryn because I couldnt get answers
to a simple question such as, How many rubbish bins Nepal:
should a city the size of Naryn provide? The Coordination Campaign for Human Rights and Social
Council will ensure that standards are defined, agreed, Accountability (CAHURAST)
and then adopted. Palestine:
Aman (the coalition for accountability and
On-going interaction between residents and local
transparency), Applied Research Institute Jerusalem
councillors is also being embedded into Naryn culture
(ARIJ), An-Najah University Faculty of Law, Teacher
through the use of community radio. A project partner, the
Creativity Centre (TCC).
Mountain Societies Development Support Programme,
approached radio station Almaz to see if it would be Timor Leste:
possible for the station to host a weekly 15-minute phone- Luta Hamatuk
in programme where residents could put their questions
about local services and highlight any issues they had
noticed to representatives from the Mayors Office, local
government, community monitoring CBOs, and service
providers. This was established in December 2012 and is
provided as a free public service.

Within the framework created by Integrity Action,

Professor Rakhat Bazarbaeva says, Step by step we
have developed the methodology and indicators without
using external consultants, and now other organisations
have expressed an interest in using these, such as the
Eurasia Foundation and the World Bank. The Ministry of
Economy has approached us to assist them with their
anti-corruption work, and we are now discussing what
training we can help provide to Integrity Schools that are
being piloted in the Spring [of 2013]. And if the Ministry
of Economy establish regional platforms in their anti-
corruption forum, we are hopeful that monitors trained
under the project will be part of this.

In Timor Leste, Asias youngest nation, which has suffered

from years of conflict and mismanagement that have
destroyed up to 70 percent of infrastructure and stifled
efforts to alleviate poverty and food insecurity, Celestina de
Jesus Correia volunteers as a community monitor for Luta problems in my village, speak in public and support people
Hamutuk. Luta Hamutuk is an independent Timorese in my village to resolve their problems like in the case
organisation that is fighting corruption by building the long- of clean water projects. These are the most significant
term capacities of communities to demand accountability changes in my life after becoming a volunteer monitor.
and participate in decision-making. Celestina says,
Before, I was a wife at home; my job was to serve my Celestina inspects buildings and budgets, takes
husband, my children, and other men that have meetings photographs, engages with the contractors, local
in the village office. I dropped out of school when I was government and the communities. The dedication of
in sixth grade, but now I have learnt how to write reports, monitors like Celestina and Luta Hamutuk staff is paying
I am more confident to sit together with men to discuss off. In Bazartete, the monitors raised awareness that the

6
 The Fix-Rate
A Key Metric for Transparency and Accountability

local primary school had no basic facilities such as chairs, longstanding public demand. Outlying neighbourhoods,
tables and black boards. The students were on the floor even hillside areas that were previously not served by
during class, while teachers found it difficult to teach municipal cleaning services, are for the first time included
since there was no black board. They therefore, decided in a systematic manner.
to send a letter to the Ministry of Education. Within six
weeks, officers from the Department of Education visited In Lunga Lunga, in Kenyas coastal region, as a result of
the school and eventually delivered chairs, tables and gathering evidence and photos, and using a Joint Working
chalk boards. This is another example of how local people Group to talk to officials on an on-going basis, community
become empowered to make real change to their lives monitors were able to get an operational water standpipe
and communities. in a community that had not had running water for twenty
years. The women and girls of the village had previously
The City of Hebron located in the southern part of the West needed to walk for twelve kilometres every day and to
Bank suffers from constant water shortages, especially in spend hours bringing water from outlying areas.
its Old City. Most households have to buy water from water
trucks at a significant surcharge because piped water may 1.2. Summarising the Results so Far
only be available once or twice a week. The water pipes The table below contains a summary of the fix-rate for
are also in such a state of disrepair that a large percentage Community Integrity Building supported by Integrity
of the water is lost to leakage. The conditions in Hebron Action in six countries over a two-year period (2010-
are made worse by Israeli settlements, which encroach 2012). Through our approach and our work with partners
into the Old City, and Israeli military control over large on the ground, the rate at which problems in projects
parts of the city. These factors make water administration are fixed has reached over 83 percent in Afghanistan
and infrastructure renewal especially difficult. Nonetheless, and over 50 percent elsewhere. Problems identified in
after three years of persistent efforts to improve government services are being fixed at a rate of 25-33
transparency in public information and accountability of percent. Afghanistan stands out as the most remarkable
public officials, residents and city officials report a threefold case, both because of the high fix-rate and the number
improvement in water delivery in the winter of 2012/13 of projects they worked on. One can distinguish between
over the previous 12 months. project-level fixes and sub-fixes within a project. If a single
In Nablus, in the northern West Bank, through a resident- water-point is repaired or a kitchen in a clinic is installed
led initiative, the city was able to double municipal tax those are important steps in the right direction and will
collection after a year. The new revenues enabled the likely be experienced as empowering but they fall short of
city to deploy 60 new street cleaners and to purchase a project-level fix. The table below only reports on project
several small trucks for improved solid waste collection, a level fixes.

Table. Community Integrity Building Supported by Integrity Action (2010-2012):

an tan es
te
nist a zs l tine
r L
ha ny rgy pa les o
Afg
Period: 2010-2012 Ke Ky Ne Pa Tim Total
No. of Monitored
Infrastructure Projects 281 - - 8 137 15 317
% Fix-Rate 83% - 100% 90% 55% 82%
Est. Value of Monitored
Projects in USD $247m8 - - $26k
$6.08m
$2.27m
ca. $255m

No. of Monitored
Public Services - 16 12 - 8 - 36

% Fix-Rate - 25% 33% - 25% - 28%

Total No. of Monitors9 845 393 494 57 60310 181 2,573

Figures for 2010 only.

7

Budget information was only available for 251 projects; contracts could not be obtained for 30 projects.
8

Monitors include public officials who are part of Community Integrity Building Joint Working Groups.
9

10
More than half the monitors in Palestine are school students.

7
The Fix-Rate
A Key Metric for Transparency and Accountability

Integrity Action has used this approach in contexts The fix-rate findings for these six countries represent a
where governance is weak, the rule of law is often possible step-change for transparency and accountability
flaunted, and corruption, fraud and mismanagement are work for four main reasons:
commonplace. Integrity Action undertook the work in
First, the high fix-rate being achieved in some settings
these countries to test the Community Integrity Building
for projects and services positively affects the lives of
approach and the fix-rate in settings that reflect different
thousands of people.
levels of literacy (98 percent in Kyrgyzstan and 92 percent
in Palestine vs. 28 percent in Afghanistan); with fast Second, the outstanding work led by Integrity Watch
growing economies (Timor Leste, Kenya), and some that Afghanistan shows that the work can be scaled up.
are at the low end of the Human Development Index Integrity Watch Afghanistan has achieved a ratio
(Nepal, Afghanistan). Some of our work took place in between monitors and projects of 3:1, which is an
the urban areas (Palestine), whereas in other countries extremely efficient and effective deployment and
it was mostly rural (in Afghanistan, Kenya, Timor Leste, engagement with community monitors.
Nepal). Some countries are heavily dependent on foreign
Third, the work is being implemented in countries where
aid (notably Afghanistan and Palestine) whereas others
violence and intimidations through muscle power are
are almost entirely self-reliant (Timor Leste and Kenya).
frequently used. No local monitors or NGO staff partners
These countries do share three characteristics: (a) they
have been killed.12
have all experienced on-going or sporadic spates of
widespread violence in recent years; (b) all the countries Fourth, the work is extremely cost-effective, costing on
are in the bottom quartile of countries as far as corruption average less than 1 percent of the value of the projects
perceptions are concerned11; and (c), none of them have being monitored and improved, especially when it starts
an entirely free press or an independent judiciary. being scaled up, as it has been in Afghanistan, Palestine
and Timor Leste.

11
Palestine is not included in the Corruption Perceptions Index because of its status as an occupied territory.
12
In April 2013 we became aware of the first case of a community monitor who was physically assaulted by workers from a construction company. Despite
the harm he suffered he is continuing to volunteer as a local monitor. A partner in DRC, Floribert Kazingufu Kasirusiru, head of the Fondation Chirezi, has
told us As human rights activists, we often want to confront the government to demand justice. If it were not for the integrity approach of building trust
and credibility, I would be a dead man.

8
 The Fix-Rate
A Key Metric for Transparency and Accountability

The fact that thirty percent of communities in a given

province have Joint Working Groups or that 88 percent of
contracts are now openly reported would be considered
important milestones - but not fixes.

The table above shows a clear frontrunner among Integrity

Actions partners: Integrity Watch Afghanistan (IWA),
the leading Afghan NGO in its sector. IWA achieves a
consistently high fix-rate of more than 80 percent and
they have been able to redress problems in 281 projects
across five provinces over the past two years.13 Integrity
Actions partners in Nepal, Palestine and Timor Leste,
have monitored 8, 13, and 15 projects respectively.
These numbers are considerably lower but they remain
meaningful results for organisations that have embarked
on this approach more recently and with modest initial
resources. Integrity Action worked with IWA from its
inception in 2006 and the organisation has had a few
years head start over the others. The multitude of new
infrastructure projects being built in Afghanistan through
foreign aid in the last few years also made this country
particularly well suited to monitoring at scale, despite the
challenges posed by the rampant nature of corruption in
the country and the on-going threat of violence.

Construction work on the Bahram Shahdid high school

in Mazar e Sharif, which was implemented by Unicef,
began in March 2011. It was supposed to be finished
after one year. However, under pressure from the local
monitors, work was halted in October 2011 after the
monitors discovered serious issues with the quality of the
work. The constructor was using sub-standard bricks for
the school building, as well as more than one hundred
bags of poor quality cement. This would have serious
implications for the long-term stability and safety of the
1.3. How is the Fix-Rate Calculated? structure. Floors inside the school building were far from
The fix-rate is the incidence with which transparency the required contractual standard. In addition, there were
and accountability related problems are resolved to the gaps in the ceiling boards, and no doors or windows in
satisfaction of key stakeholders in short, the percentage the classrooms.
of resolved problems. What constitutes a fix needs to
be defined and identified by people who have a stake in In December 2012, the local monitors, acting on the
its outcome, even when it is a policy or system-level fix. advice of IWA staff, wrote a letter, with details of their
A fix-rate can be phrased as a meaningful percentage. complaints about the construction process, to the local
A one-off or singular solution like the establishment government educational department. After the educational
of a sovereign wealth fund would not, therefore, be department received the letter, the provincial council
counted as a fix. If local communities try to improve the agreed to investigate the issue. In January 2013, a
quality of governance in basic healthcare services in meeting was convened by the IWA Provincial Monitoring
sixteen localities and they experience an improvement Board, which was attended by representatives from the
that generally satisfies them in four locations, this would local government Economic Department, the Educational
represent a fix-rate of 25 percent. If citizens file complaints Directorate, local Shura council members, Unicef, and the
using right to information legislation and receive construction company. At the meeting, the construction
satisfactory responses in fifty percent of the cases, that company signed a guarantee, which was witnessed and
would be the fix-rate. Inputs, like the formation of a Joint signed by all those who also attended the meeting. The
Working Group, or passage of open contracting legislation constructor committed to comply with its obligations to
may be solutions to a procedural or legal problem, but finish its work on the school to a satisfactory level.
they would not be measured as fixes by this definition.

13
A contrasting statistic for Afghanistan is that the High Office of Oversight, the countrys anti-corruption agency, which has submitted a number of dossiers
with evidence of grand corruption by high-ranked individuals in the Afghan government to the Attorney General for prosecution. Not a single case has
been successfully prosecuted since the High Office of Oversight was established. While the state is failing to curb corruption at the top, it is apparently
possible to make headway from below.

9
The Fix-Rate
A Key Metric for Transparency and Accountability

Haji Helaldin, a local monitor, told us Without the trainings protests, which IWA helped to facilitate and promote
it would have been impossible to monitor what was going through an advocacy campaign, were targeted at the
on. We did not understand anything about what our rights provincial council and the governors office.
were. Likewise, Mohammad Afzal a fellow local monitor,
These efforts eventually paid off. As a result of the
and head of the local Shura council, said Now we are
protests, the construction company was forced to comply
able to monitor anything, this was not the case before.
with the contract. The first 4.5km of the road is now
Although there is still work to be done, the school is now
being rebuilt according to the terms of the contract. It
in use and the children are no longer taught in UN High
was widened to eight metres and layered with asphalt
Commissioner for Refugee tents as was the case over the
at the correct thickness of 5cm. The remaining 4km of
last several years.
road is in the process of being built correctly as well. The
The Nongre Road is vital for residents in the Injil District construction company also built a drainage system and an
of Herat Province. It serves the 5,000 families that live in additional 3km of road, which they had previously failed to
the district, around 35,000 people, and also connects deliver altogether. Kurbanali explained the determination
Herat and surrounding villages to Iran. Local monitor of the community in the following way: The majority of
Kurbanali (35 years old) sums up why local monitoring is the people living in this community returned from Iran
needed: If the local government does not take control of when the war calmed down. Most of them worked
the monitoring then we must take up this responsibility. in construction in Iran so we knew how to control the
Despite numerous challenges, this community used what process and to expect the best results.14
local monitors had learned to successfully demand what
The Bahram Shahdid high school and the Nongre road
they were entitled to.
in Heart Province are examples of how two fixes were
Five months into the construction of the new road, achieved. As these examples illustrate a problematic
community monitors discovered that there were serious project usually reveals a multitude of problems.
divergences from what the construction company was Furthermore, there is no standard operating procedure
supposed to provide and what they had done until then. that can guarantee a fix. Communities, sometimes with
The quality of the road was extremely poor. It had only external support, experiment and test until they find a
been made five metres wide, instead of the eight metres solution that works and is implementable.
that were stipulated in the contract. The road was also
When calculating fixes one can distinguish between
not the required thickness, which meant that it could
fixes that communities are able to achieve themselves,
easily be worn down and damaged, creating dangerous
and those that require government intervention or NGO
potholes for drivers. Furthermore, the road was not
support. Genuine empowerment and sustainability
straight, it had many turns and bends, which made
would eventually come from the ability of communities to
using it extremely hazardous.
directly resolve their own problems with the immediate
The community monitors were able to halt work on the stakeholders in the process. Going forward, Integrity
road. Then, they moved to mobilise the local community, Action will start to collect such data with our partners.
contacting the local Shura council, in order to engage Finally, one can distinguish between what could be called
with local residents. The monitors first addressed their incidental and policy- or system-level fixes. The examples
concerns to the construction company directly. However, given above and those covered by the table are what
this did not bring about any changes in their practices, would be called incidental fixes, even if they have tens of
and they refused to comply with what was required of thousands of beneficiaries. An example of a system-level
them according to the contract. fix is the effort currently underway in Kwale County in
Kenya, directly inspired by the work supported by Integrity
With the assistance of IWA staff, Kurbanali, together Action, for the County to devote 1 percent of its resources
with 200 local residents from six villages, wrote a letter to Community Integrity Building. The provision of these
to the provincial government, complaining about the additional resources would make Community Integrity
construction companys failure to comply with the Building independent of grant or donor funding and
contract. Yet again, this did not produce the hoped for should be assessable through an increase in the volume
response. The Ministry of Public Works responded that of activity and higher fix-rates.
they could not assist the community in this matter.
Achieving fixes is not the ultimate aim or objective of a
Kurbanali and his fellow monitors did not give up. Local project. Improved roads, garbage collection and schools
residents, including many young people, got behind are the intended outcome. But the fix-rate is a powerful
him. They decided to take this matter further to the intermediate variable that signals why and how change is
provincial level, by organising and participating in a series happening. Without such information it is nearly impossible
of protests, from January to March, against the poor to fine-tune policies or to assess whether they are actually
quality of the road and the construction company. These contributing to meaningful change on the ground.

14
n this locality local residents who had done construction work in Iran were very well placed to undertake the monitoring. But without access to contracts
and support from IWA, which assisted them in dealing constructively with the public authorities, it is doubtful that they would have been able to force the
contractor to redo the work.

10
 The Fix-Rate
A Key Metric for Transparency and Accountability

1.4. Validating the Approach on their own steam, national elected representatives in
several countries have been attentive and supportive - but
Over the last four years we have tested a number of
generally not before.
variations on the core Community Integrity Building
approach to see what might generate the best results. Integrity Action also tested whether it was more effective
Below are listed examples to demonstrate the iterative to train community members and public officials
country- and community-specific action-learning separately or to bring them together from the outset. After
approach, which also emphasise Integrity Actions testing both approaches in different contexts we found the
capacity to acknowledge and learn from initial weaknesses latter, bringing public officials and community members
of implementation. together from the beginning, to be the best way of building
trust and a working relationship between the parties.
In Liberia, for example, our partner placed ads in local
newspapers and over community radio stations to recruit Finally, we explored whether public interest litigation,
monitors instead of identifying them through local level which has been used to defend social and economic
networks within the community or local elections as in rights in some countries, might be a useful tool to promote
Afghanistan. After some training the monitors uncovered improved standards of integrity in public services for the
evidence of projects that had never been implemented poor. We realised quite early that this was a non-starter in
or that did not fulfil their contracts. Reporting on these most countries we work in and that such a confrontational
failures through local media and the reports of local approach might have negative repercussions for our
NGOs produced a negligible number of fixes. Despite this immediate work. We did, however, find that involving
setback, the Government of Liberia committed to a rights- paralegal advisors as a source of support to be both
based approach and citizen feedback in the new Poverty empowering and cost-effective.
Reduction Strategy, the Agenda for Transformation. The
donor we were working with in Liberia was disappointed In these countries classic horizontal and vertical
with the results so the work was halted after a year. We accountability measures for example audits, post-
have recently had the opportunity to restart work in Liberia construction inspection, or legal proceedings against
based on lessons learned there and elsewhere. contractors tend to produce low fix-rates. While it is
important to continue strengthening these traditional
In three countries we tested engagement with members accountability mechanisms, we suggest that in the
of parliament at an early stage in the process, believing short to medium-term the Community Integrity Building
that they might provide valuable support when dealing approach is a cost-effective and socially beneficial means
with the bureaucracy. But even when they represented of improving the quality and effectiveness of public
specific electoral districts, we found the parliamentarians services and public infrastructure. It is also a method for
generally to be unwilling or unable to help. Moreover, the fixing the state from below and of introducing what is often
involvement of parliamentarians politicised the work from a new dynamic of constructive engagement between
the outset. Once communities have been empowered, citizens and officials.
however, and they have been able to achieve results

11
The Fix-Rate
A Key Metric for Transparency and Accountability

1.5. Caveats and Cautions Some people may nonetheless object that the fix-rate is
too reductive: it does not necessarily take into account
George Soros principle of reflexivity dictates that
the volume of things that need fixing. In a context where
the adoption of a key metric in any field will generate
governance works only three things may need fixing and
unintended consequences: some of them positive,
if two of them get fixed, that would give a fix rate of 66
and some of them negative.15 At the most basic level
percent. But in another locality there may be a hundred
one would expect the use of the fix-rate to prompt
problems of which half get fixed, which would surely be a
some actors to over-report fixes that did not happen
more impressive result. The fix-rate should, of course, not
or, in turn, to under-report problems that are difficult to
be reported in isolation from other data, for example the
resolve thereby boosting their achievement but perhaps
number of projects being monitored and the number of
ignoring those issues of greatest concern to local
problems that were detected. On its own, the fix-rate does
citizens. If Community Integrity Building is implemented
not mean that much. What is likely to remain tenuous,
collaboratively citizens and local public officials can
however, is a causal link between fix-rates and macro-level
crosscheck each others findings, especially if they are
indicators and assessments, like corruption surveys or
openly reported through a site like DevelopmentCheck.
macro governance indicators. The latter are sometimes
org (see below). It may also be useful to have additional
useful advocacy tools, but they are not sufficiently precise
external spot checks and occasional independent
to be causally linked to any specific reforms.
validation of the results. Ultimately, Community Integrity
Building can only be sustained for any length of time Another argument against the fix-rate is that some
if it achieves meaningful results for a community. problems may loom so large for example an
Both the community monitors and members of Joint authoritarian, corrupt leader who has held power for
Working Groups do their work as volunteers, with only decades that merely conducting an in-depth expos
basic transportation and communication costs being is valuable even if it does not lead to any discernible,
reimbursed. Unless the problems they are redressing are short-term change. Moreover, some principles, such as
meaningful they would rapidly lose interest. The integrity of access to information, open budgets, empowerment,
the process is in that sense directly linked to its outcome accountability, or participation are values in themselves,
and should be self-reinforcing. even if they do not produce changes on the ground.

See, for example, George Soros, General Theory of Reflexivity, Financial Times, accessible at
15

http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/2/0ca06172-bfe9-11de-aed2-00144feab49a.html#axzz2QoeSxqTE (accessed on 17 April 2013).

12
 The Fix-Rate
A Key Metric for Transparency and Accountability

A fixation with fixes may seem to discount the value First, there is self-reinforcing credibility test: fix-rates
of such investigations, advocacy campaigns or policy should always be reported in conjunction with other
breakthroughs. numbers, say the value of projects being monitored,
the number of intended beneficiaries of a service, and
There are two responses to these objections: First, the number of problems that were identified. The most
investigations and exposs may in some ways be the important fix for an anti-corruption agency in a country
antecedents of the transparency and accountability field, where corruption is rife is likely to be the conviction-rate
but they are actually not the essence of movement. This (it may also report on the size of financial settlements, or
movement is interested in such revelations if they help the amount of repatriated funds). If the anti-corruption
to improve the quality of governance, rarely as ends agency only catches and secures sentences against
in themselves. Second, this paper suggests that there small fish it will not be nearly as credible as an agency
should always be a close and meaningful connection in a neighbouring country that has secured a number
between policy level changes and a fix-rate. The test of of high profile convictions (all the more so if they
a right to information law could be whether it empowers are for people from or close to the political party in
rural mothers to get better access to maternal health power). Similarly, an NGO that achieves fixes through
provision; the test of an open aid database could be Community Integrity Building for projects that affect
whether it is used by opposition members of parliament in tens of thousands of people will naturally be more
aid recipient countries to hold the government in power to credible than an NGO that only focuses on minor,
account more effectively; an open budget should be used easily repaired projects.
by marginalised interest groups to defend their budgetary
entitlements; an open contracting system will make it Second, a bar can be set: An NGO or a government
easier for local citizens doing Community Integrity Building agency working on Community Integrity Building could
to validate their findings of the infrastructure projects they decide that it will set a threshold and only tackle projects
are monitoring. Policy changes should, in other words, be that reach at least ten thousand people or projects with
assessed according to the fix-rates they contribute to. If a minimum value of $50,000. Such a threshold would
the fix-rate is low, this should raise questions about the have an immediate impact on scale. In anti-corruption
extent to which the policies were ill conceived, are being agencies, such thresholds are quite common.
badly implemented, or whether they have been captured
by well-placed interest groups. Third, small changes do matter: In Kenya, for
example, the rate of sexual abuse by male teachers
Integrity Watch Afghanistan, found that they were able to of their students has become notorious. A volunteer
interest heads of local Shura councils to join their efforts Community Monitor trained through Integrity Actions
as local monitors. These people are the establishment work decided single-handedly that the time had come
of their local communities and they are invariably male. to confront and bring a teacher to justice whom the
These traditional authority figures are a major reason why police and ministry of education had previously refused
local monitoring has been so successful in Afghanistan. to pursue, even after several complaints from the
Another NGO may decide that they want to empower community. Despite resistance from the local police
women and youth and that these traditionally marginalised who were relatives of the teacher, and the teacher
groups should also be able to do their own community fleeing from the community, the monitor was ultimately
monitoring. Although they might be mirroring IWAs successful and the teacher was caught, tried and
techniques in every other respect, this second NGO ultimately sentenced to several years imprisonment.
is likely to find that construction companies and local Changes that only affect a few people do matter,
government bodies ignore the youth and female monitors. especially for the weak and marginalised. In fact,
As a result, they only achieve a low fix-rate. The women the basic test of the strength and integrity of a fix -
and youth may nonetheless take pride in having given and therefore of the methods and institutions that
voice to their concerns and in the skills they have acquired produce the fix - is that it empowers those who are
through this process. The low fix-rate could be seen as weak and poor.
secondary. To an advocate of the fix-rate these divergent
results should be an invitation to explore the possibility of As the quality of public services and governance improves
bringing the two groups together and of finding innovative and corruption is reduced one would expect the fix-rate
ways of engaging the women and the youth in an effort to rise. While this may sound counter-intuitive a high fix-
that may be led by the elders of the Shura council. rate is the hallmark of a system that works. It is the rate
of problems that needs to be low, not the fix-rate.16 One
Finally, a critic may argue that the fix-rate needs to be would not expect nor wish - the public sector to be
weighted, otherwise fixing small, relatively easy problems entirely error free, because of the dystopian connotations
that only affect a few people might be given the same this would invariably imply, but the main point is that an
weight as the fix of a problem that affects thousands improvement in fix-rates is generally a good sign. The next
in a project costing millions. There are three ways of section describes how the Community Integrity Building
responding to this concern: method works both in theory and practice.

16
The extreme illustration of this point can be taken from manufacturing. Six Sigma is a set of tools and strategies for reducing errors in manufacturing,
wherein over 99.9996 percent of products manufactured are free from defects.

13
The Fix-Rate
A Key Metric for Transparency and Accountability

2. Bringing the Citizen in: Community Integrity Building

Community Integrity Building (CIB) is a collaborative method for local
citizens and public officials to jointly work on improving the provision and
performance of public services and public infrastructure.

This is achieved by: process. The initial focus will tend to be on those public
Jointly identifying the governance problems related to services and infrastructure projects that local communities
public services and infrastructure. consider their highest priorities.
Proposing practical solutions to redress these problems; Community Integrity Building must seek to add value
and through the process of change. A key to how this
Working together to ensure that the solutions are is achieved is how it contributes to strengthening
implemented organisational integrity.

These are the basic ingredients required to achieve a

fix. Community Integrity Building focuses on redressing
2.1. Operationalising Integrity
local community concerns and uses an analysis of Integrity is sometimes defined by its opposite, as the
integrity challenges such as corruption, a lack of absence of corruption. It is also defined by synonymous
accountability, incompetence and unethical behaviour as attributes, like honesty, rectitude, probity and morality.
the starting point for designing solutions that satisfy local Neither of these approaches is particularly helpful
communities. By using this approach local citizens and for an operational approach, since they leave us
public officials collaboratively engage in a constructive none the wiser about the factors that might enhance

14
 The Fix-Rate
A Key Metric for Transparency and Accountability

public or organisational integrity. Integrity Action views be said to be acting with integrity. If those are acts of
organisational integrity as the set of characteristics that integrity then the notion itself becomes hollow.
justify trustworthiness and that generate trust among
its stakeholders. Integrity creates the conditions for The final factor whose widespread presence fatally
organisations to intelligently resist corruption and to be undermines organisational integrity is corruption.
more trusted and efficient. Integrity Action has developed Corruption, the abuse of entrusted power for private
an approach that takes organisational integrity to be the gain, is one of humanitys more resilient and adaptive
alignment of four factors: accountability, competence, phenomena. It will not be eliminated through traditional
ethics and corruption control. accountability measures, nor by raising standards of
competence or even by having open dialogues or
Accountability is both the ability of key stakeholders to agreeing on a common set of ethical norms. A major
check that we do what we say we do, and responsiveness lesson of the last twenty years of activism and institution
to legitimate internal and external claims. Individuals may building in the field of anti-corruption is that effective
have integrity without accountability, but it is an inherent deterrence and enforcement of anti-corruption norms
part of the social contract that institutions, especially requires a set of dedicated and overt resources and
public ones, are to a greater or lesser degree held institutional mechanisms, which must, in turn, be
accountable, both vertically and horizontally. Without such complemented by other institutions.
accountability they may be honest in the sense that they
may not be deceiving or cheating, but are in effect acting Integrity Actions approach to integrity can be summarised
with impunity. A precondition for effective accountability, by the following formula, where I stands for organisational
in turn, is some level of transparency. Transparency does integrity, a for alignment, A for accountability, C for
not have a value in itself; it has value when it improves competence, E for ethics and c for corruption:
accountability in meaningful and useful ways.17
I = a (A, C, E) - c
Competence is the ability to do something well. Without
In our approach integrity is not an absolute notion that you
competence an individual or organisation may have good
either have or totally lack. Such a black or white approach
intentions and be honest in the narrow sense of the word,
would, yet again, render the notion meaningless since
but if an organisation doesnt deliver good infrastructure,
no institution is without some blemish or the occasional
healthcare or education, it would not, ultimately, be acting
rule that requires bending. Engineers have long had a
with integrity. Moreover, competence is a contextual
more pragmatic approach to integrity than organisational
norm. A doctor trained and educated in Germany may
ethicists. Engineering defines integrity as appropriateness
win accolades for competence in her native country, but
within intended requirements, taking both internal and
might despite her best intentions not perform well in a
external factors into account. The structural integrity
refugee camp in central Africa - under duress, with limited
of a building in Kobe, Japan, which is earthquake
access to medicines, and under poor sanitary conditions.
prone, will be different to a similar looking structure in
Competence in one setting does not always translate into
Washington, DC, where a major earthquake is forecast
competence elsewhere.
to occur only once every 55,000 years.20 Organisational
We define ethics as behaving with honour and public integrity should, similarly, be considered a feature of
purpose. Ethical norms are contextual and what institutions that helps them to better respond to internal
constitutes a public purpose or public good will often be needs and external demands.
disputed, even within a small, seemingly homogenous
Community Integrity Building is a cycle that can be divided
community. Despite the inherent challenges of defining
into five phases:
ethics, the willingness to engage with core values and
issues that are in a wider public interest, such as the 1. Context Sensitivity
environment, access to justice, public infrastructure, etc. 2. Joint Learning
is inextricably bound with the question of organisational 3. Evidence Base
integrity. Without any reference to ethics, integrity can
4. Constructive Engagement; and
more simply be defined as the full application of rules
and laws18 or as doing what I say I will do.19 By the 5. Closing the Loop.
standard of this definition a judge who applied laws widely
viewed as immoral for example Apartheid South Africas We have developed and adapted a diverse set of tools
Prohibition of Mixed Marriages Act (1949), which forbade to support each of these phases. The tools, in turn, can
marriages between white people and people of other be divided into those that are geared principally towards
races or a hired assassin who fulfils his contract would enhancing accountability, competence or ethics, the core
elements of our integrity definition.

17
Although transparency is a secondary value to accountability, it plays such an important role in this work that it is still entirely fitting to describe the
movement Integrity Action and others are part of as the global transparency and accountability movement.
18
Such a point is also made, for example, by TRS Allan, Law, Justice and Integrity: The Paradox of Wicked Laws, Oxford Journal of Legal Studies, Vol
29, No, 4, 2009: 705-728.
Tony Simons, The Integrity Dividend: Leading by the Power of Your Word, Jossey Bass, San Francisco, 2008.
19

From the US Geological Survey, cited in Nate Silver, The Signal and the Noise: Why So Many Predictions Fail But Some Dont, Penguin, London, 2012:
20

Loc 2469 (Kindle Edition).

15
The Fix-Rate
A Key Metric for Transparency and Accountability

evaluation database.22 The database contains up-to-date

2.2. Context Sensitivity
information on all aspects of the Community Integrity
Scoping studies help to assess and identify the Building process, including pictures of site visits, training
communitys environment and service delivery problems workshops, manuals, major findings and eventually the
and to understand the local context. They should be recommendations and whether they are implemented.
conducted in each of the selected locations for proposed
Community Integrity Building to assess and identify
the communitys environment and service delivery 2.3. Joint Learning
problems, including the role of potential spoilers.21 The During this phase we train trainers, working with them to
methodologies for scoping studies may include focus adapt a variety of learning and monitoring tools to the local
group discussions. Facilitators trained by Integrity Action context. Relying as much as possible on local trainers, who
lead discussions to identify different stakeholders might come from NGOs, universities or local civil service
concerns and the local integrity challenges. The focus training institutions, we also provide training to the local
groups help to identify the locations where the projects community. The representatives of the local community
could be implemented. The findings from these focus can be elected or chosen through a consensual local
groups are then reviewed and discussed in a meeting with approach, for example through community meetings.
partners and other stakeholders to ensure that priority Some of them may also be retired school teachers or
concerns and the selection of locations match their even school-age youth. During this training, community
expectations and capacities. This stage may also include members who show a strong interest and some leadership
the collection of baseline data, for example through a will be among those asked to form Joint Working Groups,
survey of corruption perceptions or a scorecard for an which bring together representatives from the public sector
assessment of local level institutional integrity. and civil society, on a voluntary basis. A Memorandum
of Understanding may be signed to hold the participant
After appropriate local consultations and if a joint organisations, rather than individuals, accountable and
decision is taken to proceed, a local level logframe can ensure the resolution of problems.
be developed that is uploaded in a monitoring and

Box 2
Case Study of a Failure
Maji Matone was a monitoring effort that sought to
gather SMS reporting to identify and repair some
of the estimated 46 percent of water points in rural
Tanzania that do not work (around 30,000 in total).
The initiative was widely publicised at the launch of
the Open Government Partnership. Daraja, a local
NGO, published a mobile phone number where
people in rural Tanzania could send information via
SMS on broken down waterpoints. The campaign
was heavily promoted through leaflets, posters, and
local radio. SMSs were directly forwarded to the
mobile phone of the relevant District Water Engineer
and Daraja established partnerships with local radio
stations to follow up on the District Water Engineers
response. After six months of campaigning only 53
usable text messages had been received. They had
aimed for 3,000 messages. When messages were
received they were able to achieve some fixes,
but they fell very short of the ambitions set for the
project. Among the lessons Daraja draws from this
experience are that a new technology is not a magic
bullet, and that accountability is ultimately political,
not administrative. [From Why did Maji Matone
Fail?, Daraja.org, October 2012]

21
This paper does not contain a section on dealing with or pre-empting spoilers. But addressing this issue is part of Integrity Actions current ongoing
research that will be published later in 2013.
An example is found here: http://ppi-mande.integrityaction.org/
22

16
 The Fix-Rate
A Key Metric for Transparency and Accountability

The public sector participants do not necessarily need to a) Access to information: For infrastructure projects
be senior. Their level of commitment and at least the tacit monitors try to access information from five project
approval from their superiors are the two most important documents - the feasibility study, project plans,
success factors. If public service charters and codes of contract, budget, and bill of quantity. These documents
conduct or ethics already exist they can be useful guiding are often not publicly available but community monitors
documents for the Joint Working Groups. Where they and members of JWGs sometimes use creative
do not exist the Joint Working Groups will eventually methods and informal networks to access them.
advocate for them.
b) Community engagement: Was the community engaged
in the project design or implementation, or both?
2.4. Evidence Base
In the scoping and joint learning phases, focus groups c) Project effectiveness: Are problems identified and
with a range of community members are excellent resolved? Is the community satisfied with the project?
ways of identifying issues and prioritizing concerns. In When the monitors are in doubt, for example about
Afghanistan, for example, the highest priority as identified the quality of the materials used in a construction
by community members was to monitor the state of newly project they can sometimes call on the assistance
built schools. Road infrastructure was a close second. In of building engineers who may be retained as
the West Bank City of Nablus the major concern was solid semi-voluntary advisors for the monitoring of public
waste management; in Hebron it was access to water. infrastructure projects.

In this phase hard evidence is needed to produce the Community monitors work constructively with service
leverage that will eventually lead to a fix. Once general providers, contractors and local authorities to obtain
priorities like water and sanitation have been identified, access to project documents, such as budgets and
Community Monitors are trained to gather evidence on contracts; they also survey affected communities and
three dimensions of a public service or infrastructure: photograph project delivery.

Starting in 2012, the data and photos gathered by our

monitors was uploaded onto the developmentcheck.
org website. This pioneering online monitoring platform
ensures that the voice of people is heard and that such
views can be gathered on a proactive, representative
and statistically significant basis. Most online tools are
reactive, relying on voluntary participation. As such, they
are self-selecting and prone to social biases. The people
most likely to use such tools will be in their 20s and 30s,
male and educated. This was one of the problems of Maji
Matone (see Box 2), an initiative in Tanzania to gather SMS
reports from citizens on failed water points.

DevelopmentCheck relies on trained community monitors

and an approved sampling method to ensure that a
representative sample of the population is heard. Because
it relies mostly on volunteers the cost of collecting the data
is low. It is currently being used in nine countries in Africa,
Asia, and the Middle East and will shortly be expanded
to other countries. It uses International Aid Transparency
Initiative norms of reporting making it compatible with aid
transparency databases; its also one of the only tools
that provides real-time citizen feedback on aid project
delivery and implementation. DevelopmentCheck can be
augmented by other methods, including public hearings,
SMS feedback, Facebook, Twitter and call-ins on
community radio or TV programmes.

2.5. Constructive Engagement

During this phase the stakeholders meet and discuss
the evidence from the community monitoring and they
propose possible solutions fixes to the problems they
have identified. In several countries we have tested the
use of paralegal advisors in this phase and found it to be
very useful.

17
The Fix-Rate
A Key Metric for Transparency and Accountability

During the constructive engagement phase some needs paid and the context in which it happened. Thousands of
may seem obvious: a poorly built school must be rebuilt; users from 500 Indian cities have self-reported such acts
a partly built dispensary must be finished; or a new road over the years. This is a remarkable tally and it gives far
that does not comply with the contracted specifications better insights into the types of extortion demands Indians
for width or quality of materials should be rebuilt. But the face every daily than an opinion survey or a corruption
means of obtaining this redress may not be self-evident, index ever could. But it remains an open loop: to avoid
especially if the community suspects that corruption, fraud libel risks the public official making the bribe demand is
and/or complicity from public officials were involved. not named and the person making the report also remains
anonymous. A stream of negative stories may embarrass
The Joint Working Groups lead the process of gathering government officials, but corrective action is rarely
inputs and suggestions for how to redress the problems undertaken as a result of the reports. The fix-rate in other
that have been identified by the monitors. Public hearings words is very low.
may sometimes help in this process although we have
tended to avoid them in fragile and volatile countries. In FixMyStreet.com in the UK, as the name of the site
these settings a closed hearing with key stakeholders has indicates, enables citizens to self-report local level
yielded better results. Starting shortly, the Joint Working problems like graffiti, fly tipping [illegal waste dumping],
Groups will have access to an online Integrity Helpdesk broken paving slabs or broken street lights. The site
that more than one hundred international experts from has what could be characterised as both a closed and
forty countries have agreed to contribute to. The paralegal an open loop option: the website sends these reports,
advisors of the Joint Working Groups, where we have used usually accompanied by a picture, directly to the local
them, are an important source of support and advice at council to the person or persons in charge of addressing
this stage. They are paid a modest fee for their services. these problems. This is an open loop, but so targeted
Integrity Watch Afghanistan has forged trusted ties to that it often leads to fixes. They also have a second
major donors and senior government officials, who are able option a closed loop - wherein the organisation behind
at times to exert the pressure that is needed to obtain a fix. FixMyStreet.com, MySociety, signs a contract with a city
council so that the latter publishes fixes on the homepage
2.6. Closing the Loop of the city councils webpage, and actively encourages its
residents to report problems. 30 British city councils have
The final phase is the closing of the loop when the
signed such agreements so far.
solutions put forward by the Joint Working Groups are
actually implemented. Closing the loop is when a feedback A high fix-rate in the transparency and accountability
mechanism is integrated into a process so that it triggers field can only be achieved by closing the loop. In the UK,
an intelligent response. An automated sprinkler that waters infrastructure and services generally function so a city
a lawn every morning at 6:00 am is an open loop. But if council may be quite pleased to get reports of this kind
the sprinkler includes a sensor that measures the humidity from their residents. FixMyStreet.com saves a city the time
in the soil, for example from the rainfall of the previous and effort needed to identify problems proactively. In a
evening, and can therefore autonomously remain switched country where public services generally work one should
off that morning if additional water is not needed that expect the fix-rate for such problems to be high with or
would constitute a closed loop. An even more intelligent without the website. But not in a country where potholes
sensor would measure humidity levels and provide just the are omnipresent, street lighting is sometimes non-existent,
right amount of water required for the grass. illegal waste dumping is commonplace and thousands
of people experience bribe requests daily a reporting
Another example is the difference between the first
system will not close the loop on its own.
generation of GPS-based car navigation systems
compared with smartphone-enabled applications, like If the Community Integrity Building fails to implement a
Waze, which collect live data from thousands of drivers solution to the satisfaction of the main stakeholders a
and can therefore detect traffic jams in real time, advise fix hasnt been achieved. Yet an intelligent response
a driver to take an alternate route to work, or provide a may nonetheless be prompted, which may, for example,
more accurate estimate of the time of arrival than an open escalate the problem to involve the provincial government,
loop navigation system. A closed loop system like Waze a paralegal advisor from the capital or Integrity Action.
is more useful to drivers and therefore ultimately also a Community Integrity Building is therefore an iterative
better business proposition. All the most famous websites process and the closing of the loop is not synonymous
are predicated on integrating closed loop feedback with achieving a fix on the first try.
mechanisms.
Activities that can support the closing of the loop include:
In the transparency and accountability field a complaints
system that does not trigger a reliable or systematic 1. Putting forward smart, locally sensitive policy
response is an open loop. The Indian NGO Janaagraha, recommendations.
based in Indias IT centre, Bangalore, created an
innovative website some years ago called ipaidabribe. 2. Engaging potential spoilers or pre-empting the actions
org. Through this site any citizen can report an extortion they can take where possible.
demand or bribe payment, giving details on the amount

18
 The Fix-Rate
A Key Metric for Transparency and Accountability

3. Making it clear that fixes are a joint achievement and Figure 1 illustrates the five phases of the Community
not the credit of civil society, or an NGO, but a genuine Integrity Building cycle and the use of tools and
collaboration between public officials and local citizens. interventions that are oriented towards enhancing
accountability, competence and ethics.
4. Close working ties to key public institutions and
selected senior government officials. The timeframe required to close the loop varies
significantly and averages are not a useful guide. While
5. Sharing and disseminating best practices, for example some problems can be fixed within a matter of weeks,
through local media, public hearings and social media. other problems persist and Joint Working Groups are still
trying to implement solutions to problems two years after
6. Public hearings inviting all stakeholders, peer they were proposed. The solutions tend to be low-cost
organisations, civil society and the media to present the and some of them are very innovative.
main successes, challenges and lessons learnt.

Figure 1: Five Phases of Integrity Actions Community Integrity Building Approach:

JWGs identify solutions to integrity problems

Public Service Integrity Charters from JWG

Results Communicated:
Integrity Helpdesk both problems resolved and good
practices identified (through public
Public voice: Community radio, sharing, film, reports)
social media, SMS, public hearings
JWGs implement solutions to
integrity problems

Engagement 5
uctive Clo
str sin
on g
4C

th
eL
oop
3 Evidence Base

Community M&E Online Database

monitoring:
International Peer Learning
DevelopmentCheck
Focus groups
ity

Community
sitiv

score cards
n

Research
Se

te
xt

2J
Con
oin 1
t Lea
rning
Scoping study
stakeholder mapping,
local priorities, needs,
potential spoilers
Integrity Education: Joint training of
teachers, university professors, community
monitors, public officials

Integrity Tools: training manuals, schools DVD,

ACE analysis, animations, teacher training

Joint Working Groups (JWG) formed/Supported

Accountability Competence Ethics

19
The Fix-Rate
A Key Metric for Transparency and Accountability

2.7. Designing out Corruption? evidence they have uncovered so that these bodies can
take the necessary and appropriate steps. Moreover,
In the Community Integrity Building cycle there isnt a
the data collected on DevelopmentCheck is open, and
circle for corruption or corruption control and yet it is
therefore accessible to senior decision makers and
part of the integrity formula. Why is it missing? If there
enforcement agencies. If there is a prima facie case for an
is significant corruption in public works or services, the
investigation it will be possible for these public authorities
monitoring tools deployed by the community monitors
to pursue this further without implicating members of the
and the Joint Working Groups will uncover what will
community as whistle-blowers.
amount to strong circumstantial evidence of corruption,
mismanagement and fraud. Community Integrity The Joint Working Groups communicate a consistent
Building is not an anti-corruption drive, however. The first message that their primary objective is problem solving,
priority of this work is to fix and resolve problems that not retribution or justice. But they have sufficient evidence
affect local communities. to make their case with other external or higher levels of
authority if needed. The reason corruption remains part of
Pursuing or denouncing specific cases of corruption
the integrity formula and a tacit element of the Community
is not an effective objective for local communities. The
Integrity Building approach is that uncovering even
pursuit of incidental corruption cases is ultimately a state
circumstantial evidence of corruption and mismanagement
responsibility or at best something the media should take
gives the monitors and Joint Working Groups leverage,
up. On a case-by-case basis, community monitors or
which is beneficial when it comes to closing the loop.
Joint Working Groups may decide to alert the appropriate
authorities and/or the principal donor of a project of the

20
 The Fix-Rate
A Key Metric for Transparency and Accountability

3. Whats Innovative About Community Integrity Building?

The Community Integrity Building (CIB) approach is significantly
different from other approaches to transparency and accountability
for a number of reasons.

3.1.What CIB does not do

CIB is not an anti-corruption initiative. If it were motivated
in the first instance by the goal of deterring corruption
it would use the evidence gathered by the community
monitors to bring cases of wrongdoing to justice or at
least to the medias attention. Furthermore, it would need
to draw a line between administrative incompetence,
on the one hand, and corruption or fraud on the other
hand. While the latter is a criminal offence, the former is
far more difficult to pursue but often causes just as much
damage. Finally, an anti-corruption drive based on direct,
smoking gun evidence of wrongdoing is incompatible
with collaborative, constructive engagement with public
authorities. It may work once or twice but it is not an
approach that can be scaled up or repeated. Government
officials will get wise to the risks and will ensure that the
work is undermined before it starts.

CIB does not limit itself to identifying wrongdoing or

discrepancies between plans, pledges, budgets or public
commitments with actual delivery, and thereby make
public office holders more accountable for their actions.
Only the evidence-gathering phase in the CIB process is
purely oriented toward accountability. CIB recognises that
a purely accountability based approach, which
may work in an advanced industrialised country, is
less likely to succeed in settings where malpractices
are widespread and where the levers of external
accountability are often fleeting.
3.2.What CIB does do
CIB is a collaborative approach that citizens can start
CIB is not an approach based on naming and shaming, on their own initiative. In other words, it is a proactive
nor is it an approach that is driven by an information approach that arises from the citizens; they begin, develop
and communications technology (ICT) solution. and own the approach. Governments and implementing
ICT is a precious ingredient in the CIB process (ref. agencies (like the UN or a big NGO that is a service
DevelopmentCheck), but we recognise that people provider) can also take the initiative for CIB, but the
and institutions close the loop. The technology merely approach does not make it ultimately reliant on them.
supports the process.
Figure 2 illustrates what distinguishes a proactive
Community Integrity Building does not require prior approach based on integrity from approaches that
consent to be initiated or for it to ultimate be effective. are compliance driven or more reactive. The vast
Thus it distinguishes itself from traditional participatory majority of multinational enterprises currently invest
approaches in that, while it may appear to be similar to in a mix of reactive/compliance and what we would
participatory development or participatory budgeting, call reactive/integrity. Some businesses also invest in
there is one important distinction: participatory budgeting proactive/compliance, but proactive/integrity remains
and participatory planning require a priori enlightened a poorly articulated aspiration for most companies
leadership from public authorities. If a mayor is uninterested and organisations. Figure 2 also suggests that there
in calling for a public consultation or in engaging the are different levels of risk and return for each of these
citizens of his city in budget decisions, it will not happen. approaches. While reactive strategies are generally
A mayor could in theory also stack the deck by limiting low risk they also produce low returns. The proactive
participation to residents of a similar political persuasion. strategies for compliance are medium risk and generate

21
The Fix-Rate
A Key Metric for Transparency and Accountability

Figure 2: Integrity versus Compliance

Compliance training Community Integrity Building

Integrity testing Multi-stakeholder initiatives with oversight
Zero tolerance policy Integrity as competitive differentiator
Proactive

Code of Conduct Holistic/step change

Business Collective Action
Supplier white lists
Rewards to whistle-blowers
Integrity Pact
Medium return, Medium risk High return, High risk

Whistle-blower hotline Ethics advice center

Whistle-blower protection Ethics officer
Supplier black lists Code of Ethics
Reactive

Compliance-plus ethics

Low return, Low risk Low return, Low risk

Compliance Integrity

medium returns. The proactive integrity strategy is high In Community Integrity Building the legitimacy derives from
risk at least in the beginning - but it also produces the four key components:
highest return. Ultimately, the biggest return would come
from a comprehensive Integrity and Compliance strategy First from the means by which the community
of a business, organisation or government agency that chooses monitors and members of Joint Working
implements action plans in all four categories. Although Groups. The most effective monitors are those who are
it may seem counterintuitive our evidence suggests that chosen by democratic or consensual means directly
the fastest route to a comprehensive strategy might be from their community.
to start in the upper right-hand quadrant, with a proactive
Second, because they are all volunteers. If the
integrity approach and work backwards to incorporate
participants in the process were paid an allowance or
the other three.
per diem their motives could be questioned.
The effectiveness and efficiency of the CIB approach is
Third, the ability to bring citizen representatives together
also linked to the question of legitimacy. Governments
with public officials is recognised as an accomplishment
derive legitimacy when they are democratically elected or
in itself in many places.
in the case of the seemingly popular rulers of some Gulf
States or China, when a large majority of citizens give Fourth, CIB work is most effective when it is undertaken
their consent to this form of unelected government. Two in response to local needs and priorities. People are
of the three pillars of accountability in liberal democratic more likely to be mobilised and be willing to volunteer
states the judiciary and the media - are unelected but when they are addressing issues that are important
they derive legitimacy from traditions developed over to them, like schools, roads, water, electricity,
numerous generations.23 sanitation and health services. These are the problems
for which they are more likely to come up with
innovative solutions.

The election of judges in the USA is a rare exception.

23

22
 The Fix-Rate
A Key Metric for Transparency and Accountability

While external actors a national NGO or Integrity Action and subsequently put forward integrity plans to convince
- have a role in the beginning of the process, this role public bodies to fund the staffing needs and running
decreases the closer the process comes to the closing costs of these facilities. Self-financing of CIB (as opposed
of the loop. By the time the process reaches the final to donor or grant funded work) is being considered in at
stages it is almost entirely locally driven and owned. Local least two countries as a result of local-level initiatives. In
communities and stakeholders are the key to producing several locations in Palestine and Kenya, local communities
the alignment that is part of the organisational integrity were emboldened by their experience and have registered
formula. When there are setbacks, or spoilers in the or started the process of registering themselves as
system fight back, and fixes are not achieved, external Community Based Organisations (CBOs) in order to have
support can be welcome and helpful. a formal working relationship with the state.24 Another
positive effect is that several community monitors and
Community Integrity Building can also produce positive members of Joint Working Groups entered into politics for
externalities. We have numerous examples of projects the first time after their positive experience with Community
and integrity initiatives that have been started by trained Integrity Building. In the West Bank one community
community monitors without any external support or monitors was elected to a seat on the city council of
intervention from our NGO partners or Integrity Action. In Nablus in the local government elections of 2012. In
several locations, for example, communities have fixed, another country, an activist became Deputy Minister of
repaired or started health clinics, nurseries and schools Social Affairs and another became deputy mayor.

Our partners in Kyrgyzstan were already well established CBOs.

24

23
The Fix-Rate
A Key Metric for Transparency and Accountability

Conclusion
Community Integrity Building requires three things at a minimum: capacity
building to introduce the concept of an integrity lens, the formation of Joint
Working Groups (or their strengthening where similar arrangements already
exist) and the evidence base against which solutions are measured and the
leverage for change is created.

In a functioning state or in a high trust setting, First, can CIB be conducted at a national scale or at a
a reporting mechanism like FixMyStreet.com may scale that really impacts on some key national priorities?
be sufficient to generate a fix. But where state Of the six countries where the method has been applied
capacities are low and trust is weak, an investment Afghanistan has by far been the most successful in terms
in an approach like Community Integrity Building of the numbers of projects covered. But even in this
may be required. case, the scale is not yet national. Very large countries,
countries with violent internal conflicts, and countries with
While Community Integrity Building as a method is particularly challenging geographies (like Indonesia with
still undergoing refinement and continual testing, its thousands of islands, or Pakistan with its topography),
going forward, it has reached a point where, over evidently pose special challenges and one should be
the course of the coming years, it should be tested inherently cautious about scaling up a new methodology
in five different ways: too rapidly in such complex settings.

24
 The Fix-Rate
A Key Metric for Transparency and Accountability

One option might be to do Community Integrity Building would still argue based on our experience that one should
as a for-profit business, which may be better equipped never lose sight of the importance of citizen feedback
and managed to reach scale faster than an NGO. The and monitoring in the last mile. This will always remain
risk, however, is that a profit motive might clash with the the final litmus test and critical to closing the loop on any
involvement of volunteer community monitors and the problems. For budget monitoring work more generally,
public spirit of Joint Working Groups. Another option, reporting on the fix-rate would demonstrate a clear focus
which we have tested successfully in Palestine, is to on outcomes and a commitment to closing the loop.
engage teenagers as volunteer community monitors as
part of their civics lessons. We are also exploring whether Fourth, in addition to producing a high short-term fix-rate
such a model could be extended to undergraduate are the solutions put forward by Joint Working Groups
university students. The involvement of numerous youth sustainable? A single fix - like the cure of an illness - is no
volunteers through schools and universities would help to guarantee that the same problem will not recur sometime
put feet on the ground to scale up community monitoring. in the future, or that other problems might not replace
It would also inject a real-life, constructive experience for them. Are the Joint Working Groups able to renew
youth for them to contribute to improving integrity in public themselves over time without extensive external support
services. In Kyrgyzstan case studies from Community in order to provide support to further community
Integrity Building for example the Naryn garbage monitoring? An integral part of that question is whether
disposal case are taught at the National Academy of there are any innovative funding models that can ensure
Management to public officials. Exposing officials to such that the few resources this approach requires can be
experiences can also contribute to scale up the work if it is accessed over time.
emulated elsewhere.
Fifth, could Community Integrity Building be managed
Second, can CIB be used to successfully improve public and facilitated at the initiative of an enlightened provincial
service delivery? It has been more successful with public government, municipality or line ministry, like a Ministry
infrastructure than with basic public services. The latter of Health or Education? Or could a major development
involve more stakeholders and do not have the well- service provider, like the World Bank, the World Health
defined start and end-point of a new road, school or Organisation or UNDP, implement it by setting aside 1
irrigation system. In infrastructure delivery a contractor percent of a projects budget for Community Integrity
can be held liable; in public services, it is the government Building to improve the integrity of its service delivery? We
that must be held accountable. Moreover, infrastructure think this well worth testing and that it could be a step in
is visible and tangible, whereas a service like social the right direction for a proactive, integrity-based strategy
protection, primary education and basic healthcare is for organisations.
more abstract. The fix-rate for public services in fragile
Numbers have the power to simplify and communicate
and developing countries remains low. We are confident
to a wide audience what may otherwise be a poorly
that the methodology can be improved to be implemented
understood or daunting set of problems. In some cases
more consistently, and thereby achieve a higher fix-rate.
the key metric describes a problem. In other cases, it is
But the intangible, long-running nature of public services
the measure of an innovation. The use of the fix-rate as
will always make it more challenging.
a key metric for the transparency and accountability field
Third, the CIB method has largely focused until now on may have the power over the coming years to drive policy
the last mile of infrastructure and public service delivery, and innovation in our field. The five sets of questions
but what about the budgets that were allocated for outlined above could be the basis for an international
infrastructure that was never built? What about budgets Community Integrity Building reform agenda for the
for services that were never rendered or policies that were years to come. They would require some investment
only half implemented? The only way to find out about as well as third party validation of the findings for this
phantom infrastructure and services is to get access to method to enter the mainstream. If a high fix-rate is a
budgets and plans at a higher level and to follow both the mark of excellence it is also a benchmark and it may
money and the decisions. In Afghanistan, Palestine, and be the basis for a goal or aspiration. The transparency
Timor Leste, our partners are already involved in national and accountability field is starting to contribute to the
and provincial-level oversight and monitoring of budgets. notion that people at different levels of government can
But the combination of CIB and budget monitoring at contribute to fixing the problems they encounter - and that
least in our own work is still in its early days. Tackling they can do even better if they are willing to let external
a problem upstream could affect more people, but we stakeholders help them.

25
Integrity Action is an organisation and Integrity Action believes that integrity offers the single largest
opportunity for the advancement of equitable and sustainable
an active network of committed NGOs, development worldwide. We view organisational integrity
as the set of characteristics that justify trustworthiness and
universities and policy makers, working that generate trust among its stakeholders. Without integrity,
closely with governments, media measures to safeguard human rights, protect the environment,
strengthen democracy, promote social equity and reduce poverty
organisations, businesses and our peers are compromised. In the absence of integrity, the corrupt flourish.
to identify ways of making integrity work in Fredrik Galtung is the Chief Executive of Integrity Action
some of the worlds challenging settings.

How Integrity Action can Help You How You can Help Integrity Action
If you are interested to explore how to implement Community If you are a donor, help us to expand Community Integrity Building
Integrity Building in your country or in implementing a governance and our provision of training resources, monitoring tools and peer-
reform programme that uses the fix-rate as a key metric we will be to-peer support and learning among organisations in this field.
happy to see how we might be able to assist you.
If you are an expert in any of the sub-fields related to Community
Integrity Action can support the integration of Community Integrity Integrity Building (organisational integrity, anti-corruption,
Building into existing programmes by: budgeting, engineering, construction, contracts, etc.) volunteer
your time as part of the Integrity Helpdesk.
1. Providing leadership training and advisory work to support a shift
from a compliance-based programme to a proactive integrity If you are an academic or field practitioner and you think that you
strategy built on Community Integrity Building. We can also work can help to develop training resources or provide training of trainers.
with stakeholders to establish consensus around the key fix-rates.
If you are a policy maker or business leader and you can help
2. Training on the use of DevelopmentCheck and adapt it to use to make the case for a proactive integrity approach in your
in a local context so that fix-rates are published online. organisation, country or sector.

3. Providing access to the Integrity Action Helpdesk to connect If you are a donor, help us to deepen and expand our Integrity
global expertise to local-level integrity builders. Education Network so that we can engage thousands of young
people as community monitors and introduce them to ways in
4. Conducting independent validation through spot-checks which they can improve integrity in their professions, workplace
that validate the integrity of the data as well as the integrity and their societies.
of the approach.

Where programmes dont already exist, Integrity Action would start

by conducting due diligence of prospective partners, training and
support and potentially providing re-granting where needed.

Contact
Fredrik Galtung
T +44(0) 203 119 1187
E info@integrityaction.org
W www.integrityaction.org
A First Floor, 364 City Road, London, EC1V 2PY, UK