TRANSPARENCY AND ACCOUNTABILITY WHAT DO WE MEAN? WHAT DO WE DO? HOW TRANSPARENT SHOULD WE BE? FREEDOM OF INFORMATION THE NEW PUBLIC SERVICE DEFAULTS Ethics and Accountability

2 BE TRANSPARENT To be transparent is to let people ‘see through us’ - see what we do, what we intend to do, and why. Transparency builds trust, shows honesty and integrity, exposes corruption  But how do we ‘operationalise’ transparency?  To be transparent what must be done?  by us and by our departments?  in our activities?

Ethics and Accountability 3 INFORM, or TELL  How well do we tell clients and general public what we are doing and why?  Are there annual reports, press releases, newsletters, etc, to ‘target’ groups including end-users?  Are the messages effective?  Do people get the message?  How do we know?

Ethics and Accountability 4 RESPOND Invite questions; give answers People should know where and who to ask  Do people know where to seek information?  Give them an address, hotline number, a name. People should find what they want to know  How readily is information given?  How quickly is it given?  OR told why they cannot be told!

Ethics and Accountability 5 LISTEN … Information needs to flow both ways Do we listen to others – seek their views and inputs about the quality of service? Do we ask for their priorities for change?  Do we use ‘suggestions boxes’?  Do we conduct surveys?  Do we meet with ‘focus groups’?  Do we get their ideas, and feedback  ‘Quality Assurance’ of service received?

Ethics and Accountability 6 CONSULT  Do we involve clients and the general public in shaping, deciding and implementing policies?  Consultation leads to participation in which citizens co-operate to maintain the transparency of government and other organisations.

Ethics and Accountability 7 AN EXAMPLE FROM INDIA The ‘MKSS’ a controversial movement in Rajasthan  ‘Educated’ citizens demanded access to accounts of local government; gave info to villagers (wall charts)  Villagers found payments had been made  ‘for clinics, schools and public toilets that had never been built, for workers … long dead, and for disaster relief that never arrived’  DEMANDED MORE INFORMATION  Similar actions have worked well elsewhere

Ethics and Accountability 8 AND FROM NIGERIA… An NGO Zero Corruption Coalition Ran a hotline for the Ministry of Finance  People trusted NGO staff more than officials  to complain, to report suspected corruption Set up monitoring services in villages  Also posting accounts on boards  And checking VFM

Ethics and Accountability 9 SET INFORMATION FREE?  A ‘Freedom of information’ policy, gives citizens a ‘right to know’ in the US, Japan, the ADB, etc  When introduced in Japan, 2001, as earlier in US  it cost much time and money, reduced productivity  it changed the way people worked  making officials even more risk averse  (more meetings, less minutes)  But ADB policy causes less difficulty because it excludes access to initial policy proposals, etc

Ethics and Accountability 10 A CHANGING WORK CULTURE  Getting better transparency and accountability changes the work culture, the defaults of Public Service  From telling the public nothing,  unless authorised to tell  To telling everything,  except what is expressly forbidden, and then explaining why they cannot be told!  with a loss of power in consequence

Ethics and Accountability 11 HOW MUCH TRANSPARENCY?  There are many calls for more transparency  Should there be limits? If so, what guides us?  We need confidentiality, not transparency for  police investigations before prosecution and in revealing sources of evidence in court  commercial competition, or bidders collude  national and global security  staff proposals on policies, etc  privacy, but why? What else?

Ethics and Accountability 12 TRANSPARENCY: the DANGERS  Demands for ‘MORE TRANSPARENCY’ are seen by staff as an indication of mistrust  The objective needs to be explained – to…  ‘Build Trust in Government and Public Service’  With a personal responsibility to ensure our actions allow no ‘reasonable suspicion’  ALSO remember, beware targets  discredited by experience in the USSR (state farms) and the UK (health)!

Ethics and Accountability 13 GIVE ACCOUNT  To give account means more than just acting responsibly, we must report, tell, or give feedback  In English there is one word, ‘accountability’ If you give me a letter to post,  to be responsible, I must post the letter  to be accountable, I tell you (or others) I posted it  to be more accountable, I tell you (and them) where and when I posted it In French, Korean, Spanish, Thai … there is no one-word translation for accountability

Ethics and Accountability 14 GIVE ACCOUNT: TO WHOM?  I need to give account to ‘the Boss’  to the public and their elected leaders  to clients I serve directly, to the general public  to future generations, to God …  ‘Giving account’ by an organisation includes:  annual reports (for different readers?)  ‘project’ reports / reports to end users  tell about the money, audited accounts  reports of work intended, policy changes

Ethics and Accountability 15 TO IMPROVE ACCOUNTABILITY WE NEED A SEPARATION OF POWERS ACCOUNTABLE TO EACH OTHER  In the State  between Legislature, Executive and Judiciary  (the changing roles of a President?)  In Business  ‘Outside’ auditors with no conflict of interest  Within the Organisation  with different people to place orders, check goods, make payments

Ethics and Accountability 16 GIVING ACCOUNT Institution and functions  Ministers decide policies  Parliament/Legislature check on policies, & Ministers  Civil/Public Service serve citizens, enforce regulations implement & draft policies  Judiciary, Army, Police...  Parties, Companies, Media, CSOs, NGOs, families Giving account to  Parliament  People, electorate  Ministers, Customers and the Public  ?

Ethics and Accountability 17 ACCOUNTABILITY: the DANGERS  Demands for ‘MORE ACCOUNTABILITY’  require everybody to ‘give account’  For what do we give account, how?  Try the checklist, select ONE ‘target’  Managers tell staff to write reports  (which they may think are never read!)  The best staff hate this most!  they want more time to do the work,  to get results, give good service …

Ethics and Accountability 18 COSTS AND BENEFITS TRANSPARENCY AND ACCOUNTABILITY:  What are the costs? Who pays?  What are the benefits? Who benefits?  The dangers of excess; But the great value of trust  The usefulness of random or ‘spot checks’  The value of outsiders  and others with no long-term interests  the retired, on non-renewable contracts!