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  Partnership for Transparency Seeks A New President  May 30, 2024 PTF, headquartered in Washington, D.C., is seeking a President. Given the range of PTF’s activities and the increasing challenges of countering corruption and supporting civil society organizations across middle-and low-income countries, PTF intends to recruit a full-time, remunerated chief executive, who will report to its Board of Directors. The deadline for applications is June 24, 2024. POSITION SUMMARY PTF has been guided throughout its history by a part-time, volunteer President, bolstered by a dedicated volunteer management team overseeing various responsibilities such as programs, finance, knowledge management, advocacy and administration. To expand the program and increase its impact, the PTF Board has authorized the search for a dedicated, full-time paid President. The President will be responsible for strategic leadership, program development and expansion and the focus on results and impact.  A significant part of the role will be to mobilize additional operational and project funding, diversify funding instruments and sources and build strong partnerships and relationships with stakeholders. The President will be responsible for attracting and encouraging a diverse staff and volunteer cohort. He/she will represent the PTF to the broader good governance community, using various communications tools, participating in external events and enhancing the PTF brand.   SPECIFIC RESPONSIBILITIES  The President will be expected to carry out the following responsibilities: Strategic vision, mission and goals: In collaboration with the board, ensure that the PTF has a clearly articulated vision, mission, goals and values. Leadership: Carry out and update the strategy and business plans as appropriate, apply performance measurements to monitor achievement of goals; promote innovation Fundraising: Explore opportunities to increase funding for both general operations and projects; strengthen relationships with current funders and cultivate new opportunities with multilateral and bilateral agencies, foundations, corporations, and individuals; deploy multiple approaches to fundraising including non-traditional sources; enhance the annual fundraising results from the World Bank Community Connections campaign Portfolio Management: Oversee the portfolio of projects, grants, knowledge products, contracts and other deliverables; ensure the requisite quality of PTF products; budget management; auditing and accounting. Promoting a collective PTF team: Promote collaboration and communication among PTF offices and volunteers in Europe, Africa, South Asia, and East Asia. Communications: Serve as principal spokesperson for the PTF, engaging with the broad PTF constituency through a wide range of in-person and virtual communications channels. Ensure messaging is compelling and engaging to different audiences. Staff and volunteers. Ensure that the PTF staff and volunteers are fully engaged, motivated, encouraged and reflect the PTF’s commitment to excellence, diversity, equity, inclusion and mutual respect and collegiality. Working with the Board: The President will report to the Board and liaise on strategy, program implementation, resources, financial management, results and support the Board as needed. Assist in the recruitment of new Board members. Provide regular reporting on program, organizational and financial issues. Compliance: Make best efforts to ensure the PTF abides by the laws of the US and other countries where it operates, and its by-laws reflect best practice. Given the strong volunteer PTF management legacy, the President will delegate whatever functions they feel are appropriate to the management team. Agreement […]

PTF PTF’s Vision: We envisage a world free of corruption in which citizens trust public officials and institutions and hold them accountable and responsive to their communities’ needs. PTF’s Mission: We support innovative civil society organization-led and related approaches to reduce corruption, increase transparency, strengthen governance, and enhance accountability in low- and middle-income economies and widely shares knowledge gleaned through its work. PTF Read about PTF's partnerships on four continents Partnerships /partnerships/ Projects Learn more about PTF's projects around the world /projects/ Knowledge Sharing Read PTF's publications /Knowledge Sharing/ News and UpdatesSEE ALL NEWS African CSOs Chart Paths to Counter Shrinking Civic Space November 5, 2024: Rachel Ansley reports on the “PTF Africa Civil Society Forum on Shrinking Civic Space” that brought together CSO representatives from Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, Malawi, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Togo, Uganda and Zambia, as well as regional organizations, at a time when civic space continues to shrink in Africa. Read the full article here. Working with PTF – SAVE Ghana’s Executive Director Shares His Perspective November 4, 2024: Dintie Sule Tayiru, SAVE Ghana's Executive Director and a 2024 Global Anti-Racism Champion shares his perspective on his organization's 16 year partnership with PTF. The journey, which began in 2008 with election monitoring, has since expanded to reducing teacher absenteeism and to increasing stakeholder engagement during the Covid-19 pandemic. Read the full article here. Spotlight on Dintie Sule Tayiru - SAVE Ghana October 27, 2024: The U.S. Department of State honors Dintie Sule Tayiru as a 2024 Global Anti-Racism Champion. PTF has had a 16 year partnership with SAVE Ghana, the civil society organization headed by Mr. Tayiru. PTF and PTF Europe have been proud supporters of the successful projects that they have partnered with SAVE Ghana. Read the full article here. Wayne Nissly Appointed President and Chief Executive Officer at the Partnership for Transparency (PTF) October 1, 2024: Wayne Nissly, former Chief Executive Officer of Peace Winds, has joined PTF as its President and Chief Executive Officer. “Wayne has a distinguished career and promises to bring fresh perspectives and new energy to our organization to build on the successful record that PTF has attained,” stated PTF’s Co-Chairs on behalf of the Board of Directors, Jean-Louis Sarbib and Hasan Tuluy. Read the full article here. To Be "Better" The World Bank Must Center Citizens October 3, 2024: PTF's Vinay Bhargava and AccountabilityLab's Blair Glenclose call for World Bank action. Read the full article here. Advocating for Deeper Partnerships between Civil Society Organizations and IDA grants to the Poorest Countries May 13, 2024: PTF's new report details specific approaches for enhancing the effectiveness of projects funded by the World Bank’s concessional affiliate, the International Development Association (IDA), through deepening engagements with CSOs. The report makes ten recommendations for how the Bank can more closely involve local civil society in its work at the country level, beyond consultations. The publication of this report has been followed by a campaign to call for funding for the expansion of partnerships with local civil society organizations (CSOs) as an integral part of a bigger and better next round of funding for IDA (IDA21: 2025-2028).  [...]

On April 25 and 26, 2023, the Commonwealth Africa Anti-Corruption Centre (CAACC) hosted a symposium called “Play Your Part! Let’s Rid Africa of Corruption”. Sessions focused on individual responsibility to counter corruption, civil society engagement in the fight against corruption, the roles of civil society organizations (CSOs) and anti-corruption agencies (ACAs) in combating corruption, and information exchange on the collaborative experiences of ACAs and CSOs to prevent and address corruption. On April 25th, Partnership for Transparency (PTF) ran a session on civil society engagement. PTF Management Team Member Aileen Marshall moderated the session and PTF Advisor Hady Fink provided technical support. PTF Board Member Richard Holloway gave a presentation on the different types of CSOs and how they can be useful to ACAs. Next, there was a presentation on whistleblowers, whistleblower protection, and the roles of CSOs and ACAs by Louise Portas, Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Officer with the Corruption and Economic Crime Branch of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime. This was followed by an interactive discussion with the participants. The session culminated with a video of CSO perspectives from Ghana, Uganda, and Zambia, which was moderated by PTF Europe Member Ina-Marlene Ruthenberg. Many thanks to Siapha Kamara, CEO, SEND West Africa; Doreen Nalunkuma, Program Officer, Anti-Corruption Coalition Uganda; and Maurice Nyambe, Executive Director, Transparency International Zambia for their insightful comments. Key take-aways from the session are that CSOs and ACAs share a lot of common ground as both are concerned about improving development outcomes for citizens and much can be gained by more effective collaboration. In most instances, there is a confidence gap between CSOs and ACAs that needs to be bridged. Although, in several cases, ongoing collaboration, which is sometimes formalized through MOUs, is yielding productive results. There is willingness on the part of CSOs and ACAs to work together and share information, with CSOs acting as a connection to local communities and a channel for two-way flows of information. In particular, anti-corruption efforts need to reach disadvantaged communities and be gender-sensitive, given that women are often disproportionally affected by corruption. In addition, protection of whistleblowers is essential. Greater collaboration between ACAs and CSOs could raise community awareness of the work of ACAs, build understanding and bridge differences between ACAs and citizens, help change public perceptions, foster trust, increase advocacy for anti-corruption, maximize use of scarce resources, and help establish effective anti-corruption coalitions. UNODC provides knowledge resources and technical assistance to institute effective whistleblower provisions and protections. PTF is available to work with CSOs and ACAs on collaboration and coalition building.

Needed – Zero-Tolerance Policies for Sexual Abuses By: Frank Vogl, Board Chair, Partnership for Transparency December 12, 2022 Professor Purna Sen does not use weasel words and vague phrases when discussing sexual abuse and sextortion. She does not argue that we must seek gradual change or aim to just curb criminal practices against women that rage across the world. She says “My focus is on elimination.” It surprised me that a recent meeting of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) devoted its first session to the issue of sextortion. This is a topic that for far too long has been largely buried by humanitarian and anti-corruption organizations under the broad heading of gender issues. IFRC is seeking to break the sextortion silence. IFRC could not have chosen a better lead conference speaker than Professor Sen, Visiting Professor at the Child and Woman Abuse Studies Unit at London Metropolitan University. Her work over many years for the United Nations and many other organizations has made her a global leader on the critical issues of gender equality, violence against women, and sexual harassment. She stressed that “for too long we have placed the greatest emphasis on responding to the crimes of sextortion, rather than on prevention.” Professor Sen called for significant cultural changes, noting that the patterns and contours of inequality relate to patterns of power, which is fundamental to the relationships between the abused and the abusers. Women Suffer Most From Corruption IFRC asked me to comment on Professor Sen’s remarks and I did with considerable trepidation. Through the lens of anti-corruption, I have been striving to understand the issue of sextortion for about 15 years, all the while sensitive to the comment made by my friend and colleague at Partnership for Transparency (PTF), Indira Sandilya, that “women experience corruption differently and disproportionately from men.” Currently, Indira is leading PTF’s collaboration with the Center for Advocacy and Research in India on a gender-based violence project in Rajasthan. According to surveys, there are large numbers of very poor women who dare not go on public transport or to the market alone for fear of being abused. In Rajasthan, as is the case in dozens of the world’s poorer countries, women who are victims of sexual abuse take grave personal risks in speaking publicly, let alone seeking to press charges against their abusers in the courts. Hundreds of millions of women across the world are too poor to buy their way out of difficult situations or finance legal action afterward. Their financial vulnerability makes them targets. These might be young women being confronted by professors at universities who demand sex for good grades, women walking the refugee trails who know the risks of encountering sexual predators, women seeking licenses and permits for small businesses, or women just striving to get employment. Quid Pro Quo While sextortion manifests itself in many ways, the common feature is quid pro quo. It is the blunt abuse of power by men who place (mostly) women in horrendous positions where to consent to the demands can shatter their lives, yet to refuse and […]

Expertise: Environment, Gender Equality, and Health

Jonas Mbwangue is an economic policy specialist with more than 17 years of experience in the design, implementation, and monitoring and evaluation of development projects, programs, and policies, particular in the sectors of agriculture, health, and environment. Currently, Mbwangue is the Lead Technical Advisor of French President Emmanuel Macron's Initiative for Health in Africa, implemented by Expertise France of the Agence Francaise de Developpement Group. Since 2019, he has provided technical assistance to the Ministry of Health of Burkina Faso in the development of its new national health development plan 2021-2030 and in the development of a health financing strategy. Prior to joining Expertise France, Mbwangue worked with Sabin Vaccine Institute in Washington, DC, as a Senior Program Officer in charge of supporting Cameroon, Mali, and Senegal in the implementation of a sustainable financing strategy for their national immunization programs. Jonas also worked for more than eight years as a consultant at the World Bank in Washington, DC where he contributed to the design of capacity building programs on land reform policies and sustainable land and natural capital management, as well as operational projects for the rehabilitation of agriculture in Burundi and the promotion of gender inclusive productive alliances, climate change, and nutrition projects in Cameroon. In his native Cameroon, Jonas was Executive Director of the Cameroon National Association for Family Welfare, a family planning and reproductive health non-governmental organization member of International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF), present in 180 countries around the world. Mbwangue holds a Master of Public Administration in economic policy management obtained in 2004 at the School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA) of Columbia University in the city of New York.

The use of innovative approaches and constructive engagement resulted in demonstrable improvements to education service delivery in the Upper West Region of Ghana within the context of a social accountability project, according to the project managers.

PTF Moves Ahead with Projects in Europe, Asia, Africa, and Argentina - Latest Project Summaries PTF’s Board of Directors reviews progress on current projects twice each year. The most recent report covers projects led by PTF Asia and PTF Europe, as well as projects in India, Argentina and in Africa. Please review the latest summary of the report to the PTF Board. Projects pages can also be found after this summary. --- PTF Europe Ukraine We are continuing to look at projects that involve monitoring of local reconstruction activities, improving reconstruction standards among municipalities, facilitating journalistic investigations into reconstruction processes, and knowledge sharing:  Project 1: contributing to better standards in planning and implementation of restructuring at the local level in Ukraine, with funding from the German Ministry of Development (BMZ).  Project 2: promoting compliance and integrity among humanitarian volunteer organizations, with funding from the Czech Republic’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. PTF Europe is also building a pipeline of activities to grow our geographic footprint across Eastern and Southeastern Europe and the Central Asia region.  === Moldova PTF is engaged in a multi-year project. Please see the latest update on the public procurement project in the country.  ===   PTF Asia For the past two years, PTF Asia has been implementing three projects:   Masarig na Irigueño The project in 3 pilot barangays and at the city level produced significant results by strengthening the capacities of stakeholder groups in social accountability, leadership and empowerment, and policy advocacy; assisting CSOs in their registration and accreditation to participate in development councils and processes; and accessing programs and services from various government agencies and institutions. Empowering CSOs in Iriga City in crafting their 9-point Citizen’s Agenda that would serve as their unified voice in lobbying and advocating their issues and concerns. The Citizen’s Agenda also envisions the establishment of the Iriga City Peoples’ Council in the long run. The CSOs also contributed to the Annual Investment Plan of the City for 2025 through the submission of their CSO-proposed programs and projects: Amplifying the voice of the Indigenous Peoples in Iriga City by setting up the Iriga City Indigenous Peoples Association (ICIPA). The Project also proposed a water supply project for IP communities to the Australian Embassy. Training of 110 participants by PTFA’s partner, the Camarines Sur Polytechnic College (CSPC), to improve their livelihood and entrepreneurial skills. A joint PTFA-CSPC team is constantly monitoring the results of this component. Incorporating resiliency in the 2024 Barangay Development Plans, incorporating plans solicited from the community members. Some plans have now been included in the city and barangay budgets. Building Resilient Communities (BRC) The BRC Project is implemented together with Action for the Care and Development of the Poor in the Philippines (ACAP) in Parañaque City, and Philippine Island Kids Foundation (PIKIFI) in Cagayan de Oro City.  An End-of-Project Evaluation by an independent evaluator is in progress. BRC has improved community governance by promoting social protection in the project areas. Community volunteers were trained and engaged in the implementation process – serving as the link between the implementing partners, communities, and barangay local government units. Health and nutrition [...]

On July 1, 2020, the Partnership for Transparency (PTF) and the United Nations Association of the National Capital Area (UNA-NCA) hosted experts from Asia, Africa, Europe and the United States in a 90-minute conversation on one of the worst forms of corruption. Nancy Hendry of the International Association of Women Judges began using the term “Sextortion” a number of years ago to bring attention to practice of women being sexually exploited by corrupt actors, primarily men in positions of power. She joined a panel of experts to discuss the topic, including Francisca Chinelo Ekwonu, founder of New Girl on Campus; Dr. Ortum Merkel of the United Nations University; Marie Chêne, Research Director at Transparency International; Dena Shayne of the Amara Legal Center and Equal Justice Works Crime Victims Just Corps Fellow; and Nancy Hendry of the International Association of Women Judges. Indira Sandilya, a Senior Adviser at the PTF and Board Member of the Partnership for Transparency India also contributed to the conversation.

1 in 5 people experience Sextortion or know someone who has -- Latin American TI Barometer 2019 Recommended viewing BBC EYE ON AFRICA Sex for Grades: Undercover inside Nigerian and Ghanaian universities This remarkable BBC undercover investigation in Nigeria provides first-person accounts. Universities in Nigeria and Ghana have been plagued by stories of sexual harassment by lecturers and professors for decades. The UNA-NCA and PTF Anti Corruption Forum present a special virtual global discussion on SEXTORTION in developing and emerging market countries - and indeed in our own communities How acute is the Sextortion issue? What must we do to counter Sextortion? Sex + Corruption = Sextortion The abuse of power to obtain sexual favors – specific demands by men in power of sex in return for, for example, obtaining a job, getting a passing college grade, ensuring safe passage as a migrating refugee, obtaining vital official documents. What all the victims have in common is that they are in situations where they have few means to secure legal, or community support and recourse – making them all the more vulnerable. Please join outstanding experts from Asia, Africa, Europe and the United States in a 90-minute conversation on one of the worst forms of corruption. Guest experts include: Dr. Ortrun Merkle, Researcher, United Nations University, Graduate School of Governance. Author of doctoral work: The Myth of Gender-Neutral Power: Corruption and Gender Norms. December 2018. Oluwaseun Ayodeji Osowob, Executive Director, Stand to End Rape Initiative (STER). TIME 100 NEXT Honouree, 2019 Commonwealth Young Person of the Year. 2019 Africa & Europe Winner, Commonwealth Award for Excellence in Development Work, 2018 British Council Future Leaders, Connect Member, 2018 Obama Foundation Fellow in Africa. Francisca Chinelo Ekwonu, founder of “New Girl On Campus (NGOC),” official at the Centre for Social Awareness, Advocacy and Ethics (CSAAE), Lagos, Nigeria. Nancy Hendry – International Association of Women Judges (IAWJ), Washington DC – a leading authority and writer on the challenges of sextortion. Marie Chêne, Transparency International, Berlin, Research Director – TI recently published: Breaking the Silence around Sextortion: The Links between Power, Sex and Corruption. Dena Shayne, Equal Justice Works Crime Victims Justice Corps Fellow at the Amara Legal Center in Washington DC. “I view Sextortion as the single most challenging area for anti-corruption reform and arguably the single most pervasive form of corruption across the world,” - Frank Vogl, Chair, PTF Board of Directors on PassBlue.