Starting Up

You have now decided you want to fight corruption. So where do you start? Well, lucky for
you we have a toolkit that can lead you in the right direction and on your road to promoting
anti-corruption and fighting corruption.

A. In which sector of society do you want to fight corruption?

Corruption can come in all shapes, forms and sizes and can be found in most places
where humans are running things. Never the less, if you are reading this, you have a
problem of corruption that you would like to tackle. At the same time you want to create
awareness about the issue of corruption.

So in which sector of society is the problem of corruption found in? Corruption can take
place in every sector of society so where is it affecting you?

Different sectors found in your society Mark the sector/s where you want to
tackle corruption
Community Sector
Family Sector
Business Sector
Government and Political Sector
Education Sector e.g. X
Religious Sector

Knowing in which sector you are going to try fight corruption will help you a great deal
in giving your campaign direction. It’s a simple task but essential.

B. Simplify the area you want to focus your campaign on

When identifying the area of corruption you want to tackle you need to ask yourself four
main questions, those being: which, where, what, and why? These questions look very
simple and pose the question, how can something so simple solve a massive and
complex problem such as corruption. Truth is that the most effective way to solve a
problem is to get to the root of it, eliminate the unnecessary.

The ability to simplify means to eliminate the unnecessary so that the necessary may
speak. ~Hans Hofmann, Introduction to the Bootstrap, 1993

In WHICH sector is it WHERE is the WHAT is the WHY is there a

found in? problem? problem? problem?
Educational Sector E.g. There is E.g. Teachers accept E.g. Students are not
corruption at my bribes to pass getting the marks
school. students. they deserve
because they are not
bribing the teachers.
Whereas the
students who are
bribing the teachers
are getting marks
that they would not
achieve in normal
circumstances (not
paying bribes).
C. What is your vision?

By now you’ve decided on an area/sector where you would like to fight corruption, as
noted above. Now you get to let your imagination fly! You need to come up with a
vision for your project that:

1. Is one to two sentences long

2. Is clear and understandable to yourself and others
3. Is grounded and achievable

What is your vision if you go about fighting the corruption in the specific sector
you chose?

Example: I would like to end corruption in the educational sector nationally. Students
must not be graded based the bribes they pay or their political affiliation, but on their
academic merit.

Write down your Vision!

D. What is/are your Goal/s?

Goals are the stepping stones to help you achieve your vision. As the saying goes,
goals motivate and vision inspires. You should set a number of goals towards achieving
your vision. The idea behind it is that once you have achieved one goal you are then
motivated to achieve the next one and eventually your vision will become reality.

Example: Firstly, I would like to create awareness to the corruption in my classroom.

Once I have achieved this I would like to move my campaign to include the whole
school. Next, I’ll extend my campaign to the schools in my town, and eventually, I’ll
reach the state and someday the whole nation.

Write down immediate Goal as well as future Goals!

E. Moving towards achieving your vision

By now you should have a good starting point (The area where you want to fight
corruption) and your end point (vision). The next step will be to figure out how to get
from the start to the finish, and this could be a bit trickier than a 100 meter dash.
So what will you need to do?

1. Plan your whole campaign

2. Initiate your campaign
3. Push through the struggle
4. Look back and reflect
1. Plan leads to PERFECTION

Before any action can be taken you need to have a solid plan. A plan that incorporates your
vision and goals, a plan that you will be able to use to fight corruption and fight it well! Plans
do change, so when planning your campaign you need to consider all the possibilities no
matter how mundane they may seem. An adaptable and flexible plan is key to success.

A. Organise a team

It is logistically, mentally and physically very challenging to run an effective

Anti-corruption campaign by yourself! So you will need to establish an executive team, if
you have not already. Each individual of your executive team needs to have a core
function, and they need to know exactly what their role is and what it entails. These
executives will in turn have other individuals below them. You should not include
yourself in this team as you will be coordinating the operation.

NB: Fighting corruption is no walk in the park, so you will also need to find a reliable
team that will stay and not leave once it gets a bit hot.

Example:
NAME DEPARTMENT DUTY
Fran Coordination Head of the team
 Joseph Secretary
Katherine Media and ICT Organising media
 Bob Social Networks reports and
Jonny Newspapers awareness

Gaby Legal Ensure the

Charlie  Demonstrations campaign is run
Roxanne  Court proceedings legally
Matt Logistics Organising Marches,
 Roger Banners Stand-ins etc
 Boris Tech Equipment
Nicholas Correspondence In charge of
 Reggie Achiever receiving
anonymous reports
about corruption

NB: Remember each campaign is unique so the way you set up your team needs to be
custom made to fit your campaigns preferences.

NAME DEPARTMENT DUTY

B. Create an awareness campaign

An awareness campaign is essential to get popular support for your cause. The more
popular support you will have the more likely you are to be taken seriously. Having an
effective campaign ensures you will get your message out there to the masses.
Hopefully, this campaign will be as truthful as possible. Make sure you have the
necessary evidence to go out there denouncing corruption. Failing to do so might
jeopardize your entire campaign. Furthermore, the trustworthiness of your campaign
will influence the media. The media’s stance on your campaign is very important. If you
don’t get the support of the media, the majority of people will not believe you, and thus,
your campaign is less likely to be successful.

When planning your awareness campaign you need to decide what strategy you will
use to get your message to the masses. There are wide ranges to choose from. Below
you will find a list of effective types of awareness campaigns;

1. Subtle messages – Use this at the start of your campaign, to ‘plant the seed’ in
peoples minds.
2. Posters - They are a cheap and effective way to get your message out there,
organise protests and inform people about what is happening.
3. Media - In a country where there is an independent media your message will be
better reported. If media in your country has been completely nationalised and is
biased, your story can be twisted and you can be made to look more like a
vandal, so when engaging the media be certain your story will be told properly
and truthfully.
a. Newspapers.
b. Television.
c. Radio (effective in developing countries where the majority of people are
illiterate and don’t have television).
4. Social Networks – This is a very powerful tool to use to get your ideas and views
out to the masses, as we have seen in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya.
5. The Internet – There are thousands of possibilities on the Internet to get your
message out, you would just need to find the one that best suits you.
6. Mobile phones - Mobile phones are everywhere and there are several cheap
and easy to use mobile-based applications that can allow you to communicate in
mass and network.

What types of awareness campaigns will you use during your anti-corruption drive?
Explain each one!

1

2

3

4

5

NB: Look at your current political situation. The more politically free your society is the
more options you will have available to you. If you live in a country where the media is
state run and biased, be very careful when asking for their help!

C. What are your solutions to this corruption problem you are trying to solve?

When you go about corruption you need to have a solution or come up with one before
you start your campaign. You know what the problems are, you now need to figure out
and write down what you think good solutions might be to fix the current problem.
 There are flaws in the current system that allows the corruption to exist and persist.
You need to find those flaws and point them out to the public and the officials, who can
help support and give your campaign more credibility.

Example:
Problem Solution
Students partaking in corruption from a very Reduce corruption drastically; show
young age students that it’s hard work and ethics that
brings about a bright future, not corruption.
Teach children from a young age not to be
corrupt; drive the message home. (Long
Term Solution)
Not enough oversight of teachers Increase the oversight; one can do this by
bringing in external examiners to mark the
papers, allocate numbers to students so
making it harder for examiners and
students to accept and pay bribes to get
high marks.
Parent committees and student committees
need to have more influence and hold
teachers accountable; this will help
increase transparency and reduce
corruption.
Teachers wages are too low This is harder to improve as it needs to be
approved by the principle or education
department. However, we can organise a
teacher’s strike to increase their salary. By
doing this we are helping our own case.
Since, if teachers are paid more, they are
less likely to be interested in bribes.

Note down the major and minor problems you attribute to corruption in your community.
Go through each of these problems and find solutions which you feel can be used best
to solve these problems of corruption.

NB: Remember to look into long term solutions as well. This is imperative when fighting
corruption which has been normalised in your community. To really win this fight it will
not take a couple of weeks or months to win; it will take years.

Problem Solution

 

 

 
 

D. Risk assessment and possible short comings

You need to create two separate lists of the possible risks and shortcomings of your
campaign.

When completing the risk assessment you need to look at what risks you may endure
during your campaign. You will upset a lot of people, specifically the people who benefit
from the corruption, and so you need to know beforehand what the possible
repercussions might be for your sake, your team’s sake and the populous that join your
drive.

Corruption undermines democracy, human rights, civil liberties and sustainable

development and, as such, is often deeply embedded within varying factions of
society. The fear of economic loss drives many to threaten and target anti-
corruption advocates.
Those involved in illicit enrichment through corrupt practices will often stop at
nothing to protect their unlawful gains. Not only are fraudulent financial gains
at stake, but reputations, influence and relationships as well. Exposing corrupt
acts, therefore, becomes a significant threat. ’
- Transparency International

Risk Assessment:

• E.g. Personal threats to whistleblowers and supporters

• Aggressive police at our demonstrations

The second list will deal primarily with shortcomings. By this we mean logistical
problems, problems when approaching people etc.

Short Comings:

• E.g. The media is state run and reports negative things about us

•
E. What are your solutions to the possible short comings and risks?

As noted above, your campaign can become very risky and dangerous so you need to
have effective solutions to help protect yourself and the other activists who will be
fighting against this corruption, as well as whistleblowers who will also help you.

Make a list of the solutions you have to help reduce the risk of harm to yourself and
your fellow activists and whistleblowers. Remember, the less you can guarantee a
whistleblowers protection and anonymity, the less likely they will be willing to come
forward.

Solutions to the possible risks you will face:

• E.g. Keep anonymity of whistleblowers and people that come to us with their reports
of corruption. This ensures more people will come and speak out about the corruption
affecting them as they know their reports will be anonymous and so protected from
the possible repercussions for ‘spilling the beans’

• Keep protests as peaceful as possible so as to prevent the police from using force to
disperse us.

Solutions to the short comings:

• E.g. Use other alternatives to get our story out there, Facebook, Twitter and
YouTube.

• If there is illegal police brutality against your cause be sure to record it on your mobile
phone so as to have proof and so gain more support

•
2. Initiation leads to INSPIRATION

Once you have put a solid plan together, it’s then time for you and your team to initiate your
anti-corruption campaign. If you initiate your plan well, people will be interested in what you
are doing and begin to support your campaign.

Note: Planning an anti-corruption campaign and running one are completely different.
Planning is mostly theoretically based with some practical knowledge coming from what you
have researched or gotten from other anti-corruption campaigns. So do not expect the
campaign will follow the exact lines of your plan. Chances are they will differ, use your plan as
a guideline.

A. Launching your campaign

At this stage you should have already got a good idea about which channels you will be
using to promote your campaign. The media team would have already created accounts
on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube so as to document your struggle and keep the
supports up to date on what has happened, what is happening, and what will happen.

When launching your campaign, meeting with people who can do something and hopefully
help you change the current corrupt system is essential. One could say it’s the official
begin of the campaign. It is however very unlikely that they will do anything if they are in
actual fact benefitting from the corrupt system. Again, make sure that your team is
committed. For this kind of campaign there must be complete trust among team members.

If they are not interested in what you have to say, inform them that you will demonstrate
the current corrupt system and bring about change peacefully. You struggle has officially
begun!

How will you go about launching your campaign?

• When will you first start spreading the message of corruption?

o E.g. Once I have a solid plan of action I will begin to spread subtle
messages about the corruption in my school. So ‘planting the seed.’

o
• Who will be your target audience?
o E.g. My target audience will be the children within the school. My hope is
that through their involvement and passion in the fight, their parents will
take an interest and so a snowball effect of gaining supporters would
have started.

o
• How will you get the attention of the media, school heads and ministry of
education?
o E.g. We will plan a series of stand-ins, protests, etc. to get the attention of
the press and through the them get our message out there to a wider
audience.

o
B. Protesting

There is a large variety of different forms of protesting you can participate in. Each and
ever one of them are effective depending on how well you implement it and where you
protest.

What different types of protesting will you organise during your campaign?
• Marches

• Stand-ins

• Picketing

• Demonstrations

• Strike

Where will your protesting take place?

• E.g. We will protest at the school, if nothing come of this we will walk to the
education ministry.

•
3. Struggle leads to SUBSTANCE

Why does struggle lead to substance? Corrupt officials have on many occasions been
threatened by individuals about their corrupt practices, but nothing has ever materialised from
it. Because of this they do not feel threatened and so do not take these past individuals and
you seriously. In order for this to happen you need to show him/her that you will fight until
justice prevails and you will never give up. This stubbornness to never give up will show that
your campaign is different from all the others; yours has a drive and substance to go to the
very end. This will do two things, firstly, it will scare the officials, and secondly, it will help
motivate your supporters as well as gain more people to join your cause.

A. Be Prepared

During your struggle many unexpected things may happen. You might get arrested. Your
fellow activists might also get arrested. Your families might be scolded by fellow peers and
some of your family members may loose their jobs. It’s not an easy thing to fight
corruption; you need to understand this. The people who benefit from being corrupt do not
want to loose their jobs, as well as the money they get from being corrupt. The more
pressure you put on them and the more support you have, will make them sweat and so
put a lot of pressure on you, your fellow activists, and their families. The problem is that
when you are showing the masses the true colours of these corrupt people, they then
become desperate and therefore are likely to do just about anything to save their tail.

B. Stand your ground

Your struggle will be long and hard, you will receive many threats, bribes to keep quite and
pleas to stop from many people. Stand your ground, do not give in! This is the point where
your leadership, integrity, strength, etc. will be tested.

How can you improve on your leadership potential so you can deal with the
problems you will face during your campaign effectively?
• E.g. I need to be able to rely and trust on the fact that my team members can do
their jobs effectively so I can focus my efforts on conducting the campaign

When you are at the negotiating table what outcome will be acceptable if you are
unable to achieve your exact goal or vision?
• E.g. Officials do not want to get rid of the corrupt teachers, so we then ask to
appoint external examiners to ensure marks are being awarded on merit.

•
C. Keep your team and activists motivated

Motivation is an essential part of ensuring that you have constant support throughout your
campaign. What tends to happen is that support is high at the beginning of the campaign
when emotion and excitement is high but as time goes by the emotion and excitement can
wear off. To prevent this from happening you need to keep the protesters and your team
motivated.

What will motivate your team?

• E.g. Achieving goals that we had set during our planning stage will motivate the
team. Each goal achieve is another step closer to our goal and that alone is a
great form of motivation.

• We need to keep our supports updated on what is happening, this keeps them
involved and helps motivate them when they see our progress

What will you need to do to motivate your team?

• E.g. In order for me, the leader, to motivate my team I will need to stay motivated
and encourage the team members and large support group. Keeping them well
informed through sustained lines of communication, their spirits up and energy
high all depends on how motivated they are. My passion and drive will also help
with the motivation.

• I need to follow through on all I have said and claimed, this shows my fellow
supports and opposition that we mean business and we are not weak and
doubtful.

Get out!
• E.g. I am planning to host a football match during the weekend where we can
relax and recharge our batteries. Having some days off are good to help with
motivation.

•
4. Review

Your campaign is finished. You have either reached all you goals and vision, reached some of
your goals or you were unable to reach any. Not achieving any of your goals does not mean
you failed, you did not fail. You stood up for what you knew was right and fought for it. Well
done! The job is however not finished.

The whole point behind looking back on what you have done is to document it. Write down
where and when you came across problems, how you overcame them etc. At the end you will
have your own personalised manual on how you went about fighting corruption. This manual
can then be used as a blue print for other youth around the world who want to fight corruption.
Even though you lost the battle it does not mean you lost the war on anti-corruption.

A. Where could you have improved your campaign?

• E.g. We could have put more focus on fighting cultural corruption at the same time
•
•
•
•

B. What was a major obstacle during your campaign that you were not able to
foresee?
• E.g. We did not have enough money to do everything we wanted. We should have
tried to fundraise
•
•
•
•

C. What would you change about your leadership style?

• E.g. I need to improve on my public speaking skills
•
•
D. What awareness campaign was very effective during your campaign?
• E.g. Using the internet, mobile phones and social networks to get our message out
there to the masses
•
•
•
•
E. Which form of protesting was most effective? Why?