2013 United Nations Public Service Forum Day and Awards Ceremony
“Transformative e-Government and Innovation:
Creating a Better Future for All”
CENTRE STAGING GRASSROOTS
WOMEN IN THE FIGHT AGAINST
CORRUPTION
Workshop 4:
“Transforming public service delivery to advance gender equality”
26 June 2013; Manama, Bahrain
Huairou Commission
Sangeetha Purushothaman & Sri Husnaini Sofjan
Huairou Commission:
Women, Homes & Communities
The Huairou Commission is a global network of grassroots
women’s organizations, NGOs, academics and professionals
that work to build strategic partnerships and linkages between
grassroots organizations.
Goals
Strategies
Build grassroots women’s
empowerment
…through knowledge exchange and
transfer
Strengthen sustainable
development practices at the local
level
…through supporting grassroots
designed and led pilot initiatives
Influence political spaces (local to
global) on behalf of their
communities
…through collaborative Global
Advocacy
Huairou Commission’s
Approach to Anti-Corruption
TRANSPARENCY & ACCOUNTABILITY INITIATIVE
When grassroots women organize at the
community level to design and implement
anti-corruption strategies, they build
gender sensitive governance that leads to
improved service delivery, increased
access to justice, and decrease levels of
corruption and poverty.
Seeing Beyond the State: Grassroots
Women’s Perspectives on Corruption &
Anti-Corruption (HC & UNDP)
“Grassroots women define corruption beyond bribery or misuse of
power to include poor or absent service delivery, poor governance, as
well as physical or sexual abuse.”
Participating Countries & Organisations
Region
Africa
Latin America
South Asia
Country
Grassroots Organization
Cameroon
Ntankah Village Women Common Initiative
Group (CIG)
Ghana
Grassroots Sisterhood Foundation (GSF)
Kenya
GROOTS Kenya
Uganda
Uganda Community-Based Association for
Child Welfare (UCOBAC)
Uganda
Slum Women’s Initiative for Development
(SWID)
Brazil
Espaço Feminista (EF)
Brazil
Cooperativa Ser do Sertao (Rede Pintadas)
Nicaragua
Union de Cooperativa Las Brumas
Bangladesh
Participatory Development Action
Programme (PDAP)
India
Naugachia Jan Vikas Lok Karyakram
(NJVLK)
India
Mahila Swaraj Abhiyan (MSA)
WHAT THE ASSESSMENT WAS ABOUT
• How do grassroots women perceive corruption?
• How do corrupt practices impact upon the dayto-day realities of grassroots women’s lives?
• What specific agencies engage more in corrupt
practices in the eyes of grassroots women?
• What strategies do grassroots women employ to
deal with corruption? What has worked and
what has not?
KEY FINDINGS
• Corruption is pervasive in the lives of grassroots
men and women and experienced in a variety of
facets of basic service acquisition
• Because of the endemic and diverse nature of
corruption, women have developed a range of
strategies to fight corruption
• These women are endowed with the skills to fight
localized corruption, but need support in a
variety of ways.
Grassroots Women Redefine Corruption
76% of women
think that
corruption has
prevented their
access to public
goods and
services.
Source: Survey data
Broadly speaking, grassroots women agree that corruption is a “misuse
of power”. To these women, the concept of “misuse of power”
includes a broad range of activities, like poor leadership, non-delivery
of public services, and sexual abuse.
AREAS WOMEN EXPERIENCE
CORRUPTION
“Corruption is getting worse
and worse every day. Those of
us who are poor are affected
most. If you want a job in
public service, you have to pay.
When you want medical
treatment, you have to pay. If
you seek justice, you have to
pay police. So, if your child
can’t get a job and you have
spent money educating her,
what will you do?”
Woman from SWID, Uganda
• There is almost no area of engagement with the public agencies that
escapes the dehumanising and adverse impacts of corruption
• Responses included areas not traditionally considered as basic
services, such as in business & employment, accessing documents,
law enforcement, and property.
AGENCIES NAMED BY WOMEN AS
CORRUPT
“Women at home really suffer.
If, for instance you have
worked hard and grown some
sugarcane, maize or even
potatoes, your man will just
come from nowhere and sell
everything off without your
consent and will not even give
you the proceeds. Now, if you
make a move and report such
an act to the police or the
councilors, they automatically
ask you for some money, which
in many cases you cannot give
since you do not have it. They
then turn to your husband, ask
him for some money and
eventually silence you.”
Focus Group Discussion Uganda
GRASSROOTS WOMEN ANTI
CORRUPTION STRATEGIES
The Power of Mobilisation
• 79% of the women believed
that women affiliated with a
community group are better
able to stand up against
corruption
• More accountable
governance was achieved not
just because women
participated in and occupied
leadership positions in the
government but because
these women were affiliated
to a mobilised constituency of
grassroots women.
Women's organizations all over the world are developing and employing contextuallyrelevant, effective strategies to fight corruption.
SUPPORT NEEDED
• This makes a strong and direct
case for their demand for
increased funding support to
organise women’s groups and
build their capacities through
access to information, and by
forging partnerships and
alliances with government, their
peer groups and legal experts.
• 30% of the women sought
financial support to organise
groups, launch protests and
campaigns and 35% of the
women perceived the need for
education and information on
corruption and legal expertise
on ways to fight it.
TRANSPARENCY &
ACCOUNTABILITY PILOTS
Following the launch of the Seeing Beyond the State study findings, the HC began an
initiative across 5 countries for grassroots women to improve their access to health, land,
water services and documentation.
GOAL:
Promote good governance and improve
women’s access to services by:
• Supporting grassroots leaders to organize,
design and implement anti-corruption
strategies.
• Developing a gender-sensitive and grassroots
oriented global strategy for creating resilient
and sustainable governance practices.
Advocacy Meeting, 2013: SWID (Jinja,
Uganda) has mobilized 13 communities
around land titling processes and
together they are developing a guide
describing the steps and costs to acquire
a land title.
TRANSPARENCY &
ACCOUNTABILITY PILOTS
Local Strategies
HC Member Organization
Locality
Health Services
DAMPA
Metro-Manila, the Philippines
Urbanization Processes and Land Titling
Espaço Feminista
Recife, Brazil
Identification Documents
Las Brumas
Pantasma & Wiwili, Jinotega,
Nicaragua
Budget Monitoring
UCOBAC
Kiboga, Uganda
Land Titling Processes
SWID
Jinja, Uganda
WASH Report Cards
LUMANTI
Thankot, Nepal
Issues addressed
TRANSPARENCY &
ACCOUNTABILITY PILOT IN NEPAL
Regional Focus: LUMANTI (Thankot, Nepal)
Lumanti is developing a WASH governance report card to monitor and
evaluate corruption related to water and sanitation services.
Progress:
11 committees formed to mobilize the community
and raise awareness to corruption in service delivery
Meetings with local governments to discuss
implementation of WASH report card system
Unprecedented number of women have expressed
interest in learning about the WASH system
“ Bringing constructions projects up is not the only way to create lasting changes in the
communities. Awareness raising is equally important for women’s empowerment.”
-Sama Vajra, LUMANTI, on why awareness is just as important as infrastructure design
RECOMMENDATIONS



To ensure that programming and policies are relevant and
effective for poor communities and women especially,
GRASSROOTS COMMUNITIES MUST BE INVOLVED AT ALL
STAGES OF ANTI-CORRUPTION INTERVENTIONs, including
design, implementation, and evaluation.
GOVERNMENT has an instrumental role to play in the creation
of an enabling environment in the form of policies, legislations,
and mechanisms to combat corruption.
INTERNATIONAL AGENCIES should focus on facilitating a
supportive environment for women and men to organize
around and fight corruption.
FOR MORE INFORMATION:

Website: huairou.org/transparency
Report of the UNDP-Huairou Commission’s Needs Assessment
“Seeing Beyond the State: Grassroots Women’s Perspectives
on Corruption & Anti-Corruption”.
Summary Sheet on the Transparency and Accountability
Initiative
Article on the updates of the groups’ progress on the pilots in
six countries.
Contact:
Carolina Pinheiro, Coordinator Governance Campaign, Huairou
Commission
Email: carolina.pinheiro@huairou.org




