Cheryl Benard
Elvira Loredo
May 21, 2010

Corruption Is a Major Issue of
Concern for Afghans
•
Rated second most corrupt country in world by Transparency
International
•
Corruption affects everything from small daily interactions to large government contracts, appointment of leading officials
•
Public is strongly aware of issue
•
Major topic of discussion in media and civil society
•
It is undermining popular faith in international community, Karzai government, and prospect of progress in their lives
Benard 2 5/10

RAND Conducted Three-Day Workshop in Kabul to Accomplish Three Objectives
•
Assess strength and capacity of civil society activists in
Afghanistan . . .
– Who are they?
– What are they currently doing?
– How much are they willing to do in the future?
•
Identify those with potential and meet with them separately
•
Encourage establishment of civil society network to focus on issue of corruption at a grassroots level
Take Broad Core Sample of
Afghan Civil Society
Institutions
& Officials
Media &
Educators
High
Commission
MPs
Conventional &
New Media
NGO
Activists
Nati’l/Intern’l;
Issue-specific & issue-inclusive
Popular campaigns;
Advocacy groups
Benard 3 5/10

The Workshop Narrowed Focus Over Three Days
Day 1
•
40 participants within anticorruption community
•
Intro on official Afghan gov stance and on extent of corruption in country
•
Session 1: Surfaced corruption experiences
•
Session 2: Identified broad set of possible approaches and programs
•
Session 3: Discussed implementation of selected subset of above
Benard 4 5/10

The Workshop Narrowed Focus Over Three Days
Day 1 Day 2
•
40 participants within anticorruption community
•
Intro on official Afghan gov stance and on extent of corruption in country
•
Session 1: Surfaced corruption experiences
•
Session 2: Identified broad set of possible approaches and programs
•
Session 3: Discussed implementation of selected subset of above
•
Follow-up meetings with individual activists and groups assessed as most promising during Day 1
•
Meetings with additional activists identified during Day 1
Benard 5 5/10

The Workshop Narrowed Focus Over Three Days
Day 1 Day 2 Day 3
•
40 participants within anticorruption community
•
Intro on official Afghan gov stance and on extent of corruption in country
•
Session 1: Surfaced corruption experiences
•
Session 2: Identified broad set of possible approaches and programs
•
Session 3: Discussed implementation of selected subset of above
•
Follow-up meetings with individual activists and groups assessed as most promising during Day 1
•
Meetings with additional activists identified during Day 1
•
Site visits to view existing civic engagement programs
•
Continuation of meetings with additional activists
•
Meetings with experts, institutional actors
(MPs, presidential advisor, academics, business leaders)
Benard 6 5/10

Summary of Key Findings
•
Current level of corruption is beyond what anyone considers acceptable
• There is a lot of “finger-pointing” about blame for corruption, but some general obstacles underlie it
•
Groups and individuals are springing up to tackle it, but there is no coordination among the groups
•
There are possibilities for positive action
– Focus should be on mid-range and not the top for now
– International community must take lead on regulating its involvement
Benard 7 5/10

Today’s Briefing Focuses on
Answering Three Questions
•
How bad is the corruption in Afghanistan?
•
What accounts for that corruption?
•
What is being done about addressing the corruption and how effective has it been?
Benard 8 5/10

Workshop Participants Related Striking
Experiences of Corruption
•
Bribing tax agents before they will approve tax filings for businesses
•
Paying several bribes to pay electric bill
•
An Imam asking for a bribe before converting a non-Muslim bride to Islam
Benard 9 5/10

This Extreme Level of Corruption
Was Confirmed by UNODC Presentation
Bribes Are Rampant Throughout
Public Administration
Police
Municipal,
Provincial Officers
Judges
Prosecutors
Doctors
Members of
Government
Nurses
Tax/Revenue
Officers
NGOs
Teachers
Customs Officers
Members of
Parliament
Afghan Army
0 5 10 15 20 25 30
Percentage of Adult Population Who Paid at Least One Bribe During the Last 12 Months by Type of Public Official Requesting Bribe
Benard 10 5/10

This Extreme Level of Corruption
Was Confirmed by UNODC Presentation
Bribes Are Rampant Throughout
Public Administration
Police
Municipal,
Provincial Officers
Judges
Prosecutors
Doctors
Members of
Government
Nurses
Tax/Revenue
Officers
NGOs
Teachers
Customs Officers
Members of
Parliament
Afghan Army
0 5 10 15 20 25 30
Percentage of Adult Population Who Paid at Least One Bribe During the Last 12 Months by Type of Public Official Requesting Bribe
Bribes Amounted to Nearly
1/4th of GDP
Urban Rural National
1. Number of
People
Paying Money as Bribe
2. Mean
Number of
Bribes
Paid/Yr
850,000 2,500,000
5.2
4.5
3,350,000
3. Mean Bribe
Amount
(U.S.$)
Total Money
Paid as Bribes
(1 x 2 x x 3)
(U.S.$ millions)
139
615.7
166
1,870.6
2,486.3
or 23.3% of GDP
Benard 11 5/10

Today’s Briefing Focuses on
Answering Three Questions
•
How bad is the corruption in Afghanistan?
•
What accounts for that corruption?
•
What is being done about addressing the corruption and how effective has it been?
Benard 12 5/10

Head of High Commission on Anti-Corruption
Addressed Reasons for Corruption
•
In speech, Osmani argued for three reasons beyond government control
– Cultural decline causing corruption to seem acceptable
– External money pouring in without accountability
– Afghan government unable to act independently
•
Some challenged his view and urged the Afghan government to take more responsibility
•
Some ascribed blame to international community and high-level Afghan officials and to absence of any effective process
– Versus Taliban who were seen at least as decisive
Benard 13 5/10

Other Participants Pointed the Blame for
Corruption at Government
• Corruption is pervasive and has much “top-cover”
– Anticorruption officials can’t achieve much EXCEPT with popular campaign or lobby that presses them so they can pass the pressure upward
•
The High Commission of Osmani is seen as wellintentioned but weak
– Inherited most of staff from failed predecessor institution
Benard 14 5/10

Other Participants Pointed the Blame for
Corruption at Government
• Corruption is pervasive and has much “top-cover”
– Anticorruption officials can’t achieve much EXCEPT with popular campaign or lobby that presses them so they can pass the pressure upward
•
The High Commission of Osmani is seen as wellintentioned but weak
– Inherited most of staff from failed predecessor institution
•
Consensus is that if he establishes a complaint mechanism, he can achieve some effect on midand lower-level corruption
Benard 15 5/10

But We Also Identified Some General Obstacles to Civil Society Activism in Afghanistan
Dependency
Portions of Afghan “civil society” have developed a strong dependency on donor ideas and donor funding
Benard 16 5/10

But We Also Identified Some General Obstacles to Civil Society Activism in Afghanistan
Dependency
Portions of Afghan “civil society” have developed a strong dependency on donor ideas and donor funding
Opportunism
Guns-for-hire matched by civic-activists-for-hire
Social and political entrepreneurs will sell their quasi-activism to foreigners but will cease the moment the funding stops
Benard 17 5/10

But We Also Identified Some General Obstacles to Civil Society Activism in Afghanistan
Dependency
Portions of Afghan “civil society” have developed a strong dependency on donor ideas and donor funding
Opportunism
Guns-for-hire matched by civic-activists-for-hire
Social and political entrepreneurs will sell their quasi-activism to foreigners but will cease the moment the funding stops
Lack of
Access
Grass root civil society has little access (barred by language and social status)
Benard 18 5/10

But We Also Identified Some General Obstacles to Civil Society Activism in Afghanistan
Dependency
Portions of Afghan “civil society” have developed a strong dependency on donor ideas and donor funding
Opportunism
Guns-for-hire matched by civic-activists-for-hire
Social and political entrepreneurs will sell their quasi-activism to foreigners but will cease the moment the funding stops
Lack of
Access
Grass root civil society has little access (barred by language and social status)
Cultural
Attitudes
Hierarchical thinking (waiting for what “those up there” will do) takes the steam out of civil society
Benard 19 5/10

Today’s Briefing Focuses on
Answering Three Questions
•
How bad is the corruption in Afghanistan?
•
What accounts for that corruption?
•
What is being done about addressing the corruption and how effective has it been?
Benard 20 5/10

There Is No Collaboration Now, But There Are
Logical Opportunities for Collaborations
Institutions
Reporting
& Investigating
Media &
Education
Advocacy
Group
NGOs
Activists
Advocacy
Group
Benard 21 5/10

There Are Some Bright Spots
•
Significant attention from independent media
•
Serious engagement within Parliament on subject of corruption
•
Strong interest and country-wide potential network from several key ministries [MRRD (CDCs) and
Ministry of Culture and Youth]
•
Individual positive programs of NGOs
– CIPE school curriculum against corruption
– WADAN Malik training that includes rudimentary legal training
Benard 22 5/10

There Are Some Bright Spots
•
Significant attention from independent media
•
Serious engagement within Parliament on subject of corruption
•
Strong interest and country-wide potential network from several key ministries [MRRD (CDCs) and
Ministry of Culture and Youth]
•
Individual positive programs of NGOs
– CIPE school curriculum against corruption
– WADAN Malik training that includes rudimentary legal training
But activities need to be “streamed” into larger effort
Benard 23 5/10

Addressing Corruption Requires Deploying
Three Approaches in Conjunction
Legal
Technical
Social/Cultural/
Mindset &
Attitudes
Addressing
Corruption
Benard 24 5/10

Attempts Have Been Made on All Three, but
Not with Sufficient Effect or Determination
Legal
•
Legal is the most difficult
Technical
Social/Cultural/
Mindset &
Attitudes
•
Technical is promising and should be used much more — will face less resistance while still having a big effect
• Social is easiest to implement but must be coordinated with the others
Benard 25 5/10

Recommendations
•
Focus on the mid-range bureaucracy of government services and justice system
•
Provide an index of technical approaches used elsewhere against corruption
• Develop and make available and “idea bank” of anti-corruption efforts in other countries
•
Insist that international community review its role in setting conditions for corruption and waste
Benard 26 5/10