Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation Deputy Country Director Ms Nicole Ruder and Transparency International-Pakistan (TI-P) Chairman Syed Adil Gilani on Thursday signed a bilateral agreement to support Phase-II of TI-P's Anti-Corruption Programme-Pakistan, says a press release.
The TI-P is the Pakistan Chapter of Transparency International and the only NGO in Pakistan directly implementing an anti-corruption programme in Pakistan. Under this agreement, the Government of Switzerland will provide approximately Rs 43 million to continue its anti-corruption programme in Pakistan over the next three years. Martin Bienz, consul general, Swiss Consulate in Karachi, was also present on the occasion.
The Pakistan chapter of Transparency International (TI-P) was founded in 2001 by a group of volunteers. Since 2001, the TI-P has published two widely acclaimed National Corruption Perception Surveys (2002, 2006) and has signed Integrity Pacts with government agencies on principles of transparency in public procurement procedures which has resulted in substantial savings of tax money.
Maybe its most visible success was the development of two model complaint centres in North Nazimabad and Gulshan-e-Iqbal towns allowing citizens to register complaints regarding electricity interruptions, inadequate water supply, overflowing drains, delay in garbage disposal, low gas supply to residences, etc) by e-mail, phone or personal visits to a centre. As these complaints are all formally registered it forces the government to address them in at timely manner.
The City District Government Karachi (CDGK) replicated this model in all remaining towns of Karachi. The complaint centers played a crucial role in CDGK becoming the first city district to be awarded the ISO-9001 Certification in January 2008.
Under the next Phase of TI-Ps activities, the complaint center model will be replicated in selected towns in Punjab, Balochistan, and NWFP, the National Corruption Perception Survey will be conducted on an annual basis and the TI-P will continue its high-impact advocacy campaign against corruption.-PR