Organizing Workshops to Design Anti-Corruption Strategies

High-level participatory diagnoses have proved remarkably fruitful in generating frank analyses of sensitive policy issues, leading to suggestions for remedial measures. But sometimes there is no carrot or stick to keep that momentum moving.

The dividing line between "willing" and "unwilling" leaders is not as precise as journalistic accounts may make it appear. Most people who are corrupt or who lead corrupt institutions are schizophrenic about corruption. They may sincerely loathe it and wish to eradicate it, while at the same time participating in it or allowing it to occur. (I am told that psychologists and police personnel often encounter similar phenomena.) So it is that in my workshops on corruption, after some time people are remarkably frank about the corruption that exists, how it works, and how it might be prevented - even when their analysis belies an intimate knowledge that can only be incriminating.

Describing these workshops on corruption may contain general lessons. Sensitive subjects like administrative adjustment may require a therapeutic approach. First the subject is demystified through the analysis by participants of corruption in other countries - and successful campaigns to reduce it. Then analytical frameworks are supplied that help participants realize that corruption is not (just or primarily) a problem of evil people but of corrupt systems. The formula is: corruption equals monopoly plus discretion minus accountability. To members of corrupt organizations this insight often proves therapeutic.

As in good therapy, the participants then move to self-diagnosis and self-prescription. The facilitator assists in several ways: by asking questions, helping combine seemingly different phenomena or separate seemingly similar ones, by pushing when the group avoids work or escapes into relativism or cynicism. Out of such session emerge a deeper understanding of general phenomena and specific manifestations, and (if one is lucky) a six-month plan of action.

This plan may require assistance, and this is where external people may enter. They can help with money and ideas, and they can help in surprising ways by "imposing" conditions and deadlines that fortify local decision and self-discipline. An aura of international respectability - "part of a worldwide program to fight the universal plague of corruption, not just here in [country x]" - may help nervous actors coalesce around reform.

Such workshops can and perhaps should occur at many levels of society, but it is important that the first one involve the highest levels of government. Ideally, the president would call the workshop, and ministers, military leaders, legislators, judges, police chiefs, heads of labor unions, heads of business groups, and heads of religious organizations would participate. The ideal number of participants is 20 to 25. The ideal format is 1 1/2 to 2 days, in the mode of a retreat. The first session analyzes a case from another country, presenting the problem via slides and asking the group to divide into subgroups of about 8 people. Each subgroup is asked to describe the types of corruption in the case, say which is most serious and which least, list alternatives and their pros and cons, and make a recommendation. After 45 minutes, the subgroups "report" to a plenary session. After discussion, slides then show what the country in question actually did, and the results. Success stories are used.

Then after a break there is a lecture on the economics of corruption, focusing on motive and opportunity, and on the equation "corruption = monopoly + discretion - accountability." Questions and discussion are encouraged.

The second case goes further than the first. It asks not only for what might be called an economic analysis of corruption and how to fight it, but for a political strategy. Three lessons emerge from the case and from other success stories I have studied. First, in order to break the culture of corruption and cynicism, "big fish" must be fired - major violators, including violators from the ruling party. Second, after big fish are fried, anti-corruption efforts should focus on prevention. This includes the selection of agents, changing incentives, enhancing accountability, structural changes to mitigate monopoly and clarify discretion, and efforts to increase the "moral costs" of corruption. Third, involve the people. They know where corruption resides. Give them a chance to tell. Under this rubric come hot lines, citizen oversight boards, using village organizations to monitor public works, involving accounting and lawyers groups in oversight operations, and so forth.

After finishing the second case, the participants turn to their own situation. The outside facilitator here asks them to go through the same headings as before: what kinds of corruption exist, which are more serious and which less, what are the alternatives and their pros and cons, and what do they recommend. The subgroups go off and analyze, then present their results to the full group. A vivid discussion ensues. After a break, the facilitator poses a final challenge. "This has been a fascinating exercise. But we do not want it to be just another seminar. What has to happen in the next six months, what concrete steps by this group, to move things forward?"

A fascinating and practical agenda emerges. What is sometimes lacking, as mentioned above, are the resources, the expertise, and the leverage to make that agenda come true.

African Bureaucracies

The context in many African countries (among others) is not conducive to successful bureaucracies. For example:

• Information and evaluation are scarce and expensive, which inhibits internal and external controls.

• Information-processing skills are weak at both the individual and institutional levels, due for example to low levels of education and few computers, as well as relatively few specialists such as accountants, auditors, statisticians, and so forth.

• Incentives are weak, in the sense that good performance goes relatively unrewarded and bad performance relatively unpunished.

• Political monopolies dominate, sometimes coupled with violence and intimidation.

• Countervailing institutions are weak, in part because of information and incentives problems but also because of hostile actions by the state.

• Some governments face a soft budget constraint, meaning that foreign aid will fill a good part of any deficiency due to inefficiency or corruption .

• Consequently, good economic reasons explain the failure of government institutions to perform. One need not cite cultural or political factors, and one need not immediately turn there for solutions.

Faced with this unfavorable environment, one has several options. One can try to remedy the enabling environment. Or one can experiment with alternatives to government agencies operating under the bureaucratic paradigm (for example, privatizing, using civil society, or experimenting with post-bureaucratic organizational forms.

The argument for institutional adjustment in brief: the success of economic reforms depends on a government policies and on limiting the state role, but it also depends in ways that economists can readily grasp on the quality of government management, and this in turn depends on economic concepts like information, incentives, competition, and budget constraints. For private sector adjustment to work, we need something akin to adjustment in the public sector. This includes, importantly, reducing corruption.

In the decade ahead we will come to conceptualize the substance of administrative adjustment in economic terms, based on information, incentives, and organizational structure. The principles of administrative adjustment will include:

• Enhance information and evaluation. Put it in the hands of clients, legislators, and those with official oversight (regulators, auditors, judges, etc.).

• Improve incentives. Link incentives to information about the attainment of agreed upon objectives. In a phrase, administrative adjustment must be incentive compatible.

• Promote competition and countervailing forces - including civil society, the media, the legislature and the courts, and political parties - and procedures that allow these different interests and voices to make a difference in policy and management.

• Harden the budget constraint. One possibility is to reduce foreign assistance. Another is to make aid contingent on progress in administrative adjustment.

This approach contrasts with approaches based on more: more training, more resources, more buildings, more coordination, more central planning, and more technical assistance. The logic is that without adjustment, more will not solve the problem of inefficient, corrupt public administration in contexts like those found in many African countries.

Development strategies are shifting from policy reform to institutional reform, including the control of corruption. As we learn that economic policy reforms are not enough for economic success, that democracy is not enough for political success, we focus on the institutions through which economic and political activity are carried out and mediated. Regarding institutions of the public sector, we do not yet have consensus on the labels. We encounter overlapping concepts such as governance, public administrative systems, institutional development, and administrative adjustment. Within five years there will be a more stable set of concepts and texts and a template to guide reforms in this domain.

Perhaps even more than in the case of policy reforms, institutional reforms take place in contexts that interact with advisable measures. Cultural, historical, and political variables probably matter a lot to the correct choice of mechanisms for fighting corruption. Every country will find its own solutions.

Moreover, in the emerging domain of institutional adjustment, data are scarce. We find few well-tested propositions about what happens when reforms are tried under such-and-such circumstances. We therefore proceed on the basis of success stories and analogies to the developed countries and to private business. Importantly, we also can build on new theoretical developments (agency theory, public choice, industrial organization, finance in economics; new bureaucratic theories in public and business administration). Is emphasized the agency theory (more broadly, the new theory of the firm) coupled with case studies of success. Substantively, is emphasized three generic reasons why public-sector institutions often fail: incentive myopia, corruption, and inappropriate administrative integration and centralization.

So, the problem of fighting corruption (and more generally of what might be called administrative adjustment) is difficult: unclear concepts, many interaction effects with local contexts, metaphors and models from many divergent areas of economics and elsewhere, few established estimates of "parameter values."

Despite these complexities, the argument for administrative adjustment is intuitively powerful and empirically plausible. Corruption is clearly one of the two or three major problems holding back economic and political advance in most developing countries.

Merits Of Organic Perfume

Organic perfumes are natural fragrances that are completely free from chemical constituents and toxic synthetics. The approaching global warming threat is also one of the significant reasons to avoid using artificial oils in perfumes. As a result, perfume manufacturers take keen interest in developing organic perfumes, than enhancing the global warming threat. Organic perfumes are environmentally friendly and have given evidence of being skin friendly. The advantage of using it is that it generates no harmful skin rashes or diseases.

Organic perfumes are found to be excellent as they include primary ingredients as plant extracts containing fragrance compounds and essential oils. Blossoms and flowers, such as jasmine, rose, mimosa tuberose and osmanthus, are also key sources in plants that offer maximum fragrant oils. Leaves and twigs are also appropriate for making organic perfumes and carry merit for the green smell they offer. Fruits are one of the rich sources for manufacturing perfume and are employed for oil extraction, and these include oranges, limes, lemons and grapefruits.

Giving merit to organic perfume is a must and this can be done by showing responsibility by avoiding chemicals found in various products in our daily routine. This is essential to protect the planet from chemical destruction and to save our planet for our future generation. After all, chemical components in fragrances and perfumes have been known to cause headaches, allergic skin reactions, asthma attacks and nausea. Man made synthetic musk scent has even been found in breast milk and human fat.

Producing organic perfume is simple and is also less expensive as the ingredients do not cost much. Subsequently, the merit of organic perfume focuses on being special as they are totally natural and do not include any chemical or alcohol to result in stain clothing. A spectrum of fragrances is available in organic perfume and is usually of better quality than the chemically altered products.

The majority of organic perfumes contain natural nutrients and minerals. However, the trace of vitamins and elements also form a part of organic perfumes such that these rich ingredients produce unique fragrance working with the natural oils in the body. Perfumes with musk or sandalwood fragrance are highly preferred, but because of illegal trafficking, some natural perfume scents are substituted by synthetic aromatics. Conversely, the merit is to organic perfume as the aroma of musk is highly complex and is not simple to imitate using synthetic aromatics. Organic perfumes should have the right compositions such as the scents of rose, cola and jasmine can provide a distinct smell. Some of the popular and well-known perfumes are Eau de cologne, Rose, Opium, and more.

Preserving perfumes is also of great significance as the fragrance changes when light, heat, oxygen and any such extraneous materials get mixed. Tight and light aluminum bottles are ideal to preserve perfumes, but regrettably all the modern day perfumes are available in spray bottles that mix with oxygen outside and dust. The perfumes should also be kept in a cool place and can be also stored in the refrigerator so that the fragrance is retained for a longer period of time.

Benefits of an Effective Minisite

There are many ways to earn passive income and to earn a great deal of money just by working at home. One such effective method is by creating a minisite that either can be the foundation of your own online business or as a supplement to your existing websites.

A mini website is more than just putting up an online sales letter or sales page for whatever product or service you are selling. It serves more purposes than that and it can actually assist or even greatly contribute to the success of your existing online businesses.

What are the benefits of creating your own minisite?

1. It brings traffic to your main website. A smaller site, when it has gained enough traction and popularity, can help attract and bring considerable traffic to your own major website. The smaller website can just serve as general information about your business or of the industry or category on which your online business is operating. It can then lead the traffic that it is getting to your own site for a better conversion, either for sales or any other forms.

2. It is easy to optimize for better search engine rankings. Since it is light and does not contain much content, this type of website is a lot easier to optimize so it can rank better in the search results for whatever keyword you might be targeting. You can then channel that added popularity or trust to your own major website to give it much leverage and eventually also help it with its own rankings.

3. People will see your smaller site as an expert or authority in the category. Since most sites of this size are just meant for creating authority or providing info and content regarding one specific topic, it is easier for you and your smaller site to be viewed as an expert in that field. And when you are already considered an expert, you can use that to channel your influence on your other sites.

4. Better traffic. Since smaller sites are easier to update and rank in the search engine results, it will naturally gain better traffic than larger websites. If you have put up some form of advertising on your small site, you can use that great traffic to your advantage through the advertisements on your site.

5. It brings much attention to a single product or topic. If you are using that smaller site to provide more information on your product, it can focus the readers' attention on that sole product. Compared to bigger websites where there are lots of other products being offered, a site of this size can show preferably only one product or service and the readers' attention, since it is focused on that one item, can easily be influenced with regards to the qualities, features, and benefits of the product you are offering.

These are just a few of the major benefits that you can gain from creating a minisite. In short, it's all about better traffic, higher search rankings, and more focus on the product being sold.