PNB Learning and Sharing Meeting

Kenema, August 2017

Table of Contents

Tables

Text Boxes

Introduction

Purpose and Outputs

Participants

Prior to the Meeting

Day One: Learning and Reflection

Day One, Session One: The Background

ACC presentation of PNB Reporting Data

Lessons and Action points: ACC Presentation

Coffey Presentation: End of Pilot Findings

Lessons and Action points: Coffey Presentation

Day One, Sessions Two, Three and Four: Achievements and Challenges

PNB Partners’ Achievements and Challenges

Feedback from Breakout groups and discussions

Lessons and Action Points: Feedback

Day One, Sessions Five and Six: Outreach and Communications

CSO Presentations and discussions

ACC Presentations and Discussions

Learning and Action Points: ACC Discussions

A Theatre Performance

Day One, Sessions Seven and Eight: Good Practice and Lessons Learned

Day One, Session Nine: Building MDA Engagement

Learning and Action Points: MDA Presentation

CSO Roles in MDA Engagement

Day Two: Planning for the Future

Day One, Session One: Recap

Day Two, Session Two: CSO Roles with MDAs

Action Points, CSO Roles

Day 2, Sessions Three and Four: Growing the Synergies Between Actors

Day Two, Sessions Five and Six: Trade Offs

Day Two, Session Seven: Who are our audiences and how do we reach them?

Conclusions of the Meeting

Annex One: PNB Learning and Sharing meeting, List of Participants

Annex Two: PNB Partners’ views of the Sharing and Learning Meeting

Annex Three: Copies of Flipcharts from all discussions

Annex Four: Coffey Performance through the PNB Pilot Phase

Annex Five: Workshop Agenda and Programme…………………………………………………………….33

Tables

Table 1 Reporting Modes by age

Table 2 Citizen knowledge of Reporting bribes

Table 3: Achievements

Table 4: Challenges

Table 5, Actions Taken by MDAs

Text Boxes

Text Box 1: Good practices and lessons learned, doing more and doing less

Text Box 2: Day One Themes and Messages

Text Box 3: Group 1 Feedback on Growing Synergies

Text Box 4: Group 2 Feedback on Growing Synergies

Text Box 5: Group 3 Feedback on Growing Synergies

Text Box 6: Thinking about Trade-Offs

Text Box 7: ACC Feedback on Trade-offs

Text Box 8: CSO Feedback on Trade-offs

Text Box 9: Target Groups and how to reach them

Introduction

The first Pay No Bribe (PNB) partners’ Learning and Sharing meeting was held at the Kenema Pastoral Centre on the 23rd and 24th October 2017.

Purpose and Outputs

The purpose of the meeting was to identify the lessons learned from the Pay No Bribe programme to date and to build on the findings to strategise around future delivery.

The Outputs of the sharing meeting were envisaged as:

Good practices and lessons learned identified for inclusion into future strategies and work-plans.
Agreements on ways forward for CSOs and ACC staff to work together at district and national levels (improving synergies, sharing information, coordinated monitoring etc.)
Agreements on improving outreach strategies to maximise reporting: animation, PE materials and Communication strategies, case studies, blogs, social media posts, radio, theatre
Ideas for strengthening MDA involvement, accountability and responsiveness (to be taken forward separately with MDAs)
Ideas for improving effectiveness in the face of budget limitations

Participants

A total of 26 people participated in the 2-day workshop. Officials from the Anti Corruption Commission’s (ACC) national headquarters attended the meeting, with responsibilities for Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) and Public Education (PE). ACC Public Education officials from the Bo, Bombali and Kenema ACC regional officesalso attended, along with representatives from Kono, a district to be included in PNB from October onwards.

The PNB coordinator and twoanimator representatives from each of the four PNB Civil Society Organisation partners were also present. These were: Campaign for Good Governance (CGG, responsible for Western Area Rural and Urban); Centre for Accountability and Rule of Law (CARL, responsible for Bo); Mankind Activities Development Accreditation Movement (MADAM, responsible for Bombali) and the Network Movement for Justice and Development (NMJD, responsible for Kenema). Two NMJD representatives from Kono also attended.

Coffey representatives comprised the Interim Team Leader, the M&E Adviser and the Programme Manager, and the newly appointed CSO Coordinator. The two-day programme was facilitated by the M&E Adviser and Ann Kargbo from RADA in Bo.

Prior to the Meeting

Each organisation completed three core tasks prior to the meeting. These were:

An exercise to identify the main technical achievements that the organisation had identified, why it was felt to be an achievement, and what were the results and impact
An exercise to identify the principle challenges that the organisations had encountered, why they were challenges, what was done about them and what impact they had.
A short presentation summarising the two main achievements and the most important challenge, to be given at the meeting

In addition:

CSOs were asked to complete a short exercise on their animators, how many they were working with, Terms of Reference, how activities and animator reports were verified, and how CSOs might modify animator arrangements in future (if at all).
The ACC were requested to prepare an analysis of PNB reporting data to date (i.e. an overview of report numbers together with breakdowns by sector and other variables. They were also asked to prepare a summary of MDA responses.
Coffey agreed to prepare list of key emerging findings from the end-of-pilot survey, and to present these at the meeting.
Coffey visited each CSO individually prior to the meeting to update records and assess issues and problems.

Day One: Learning and Reflection

The aim of the day’sactivities was to enable constructive reflection on what hashappened in PNB to date to prepare the ground for looking forward and developing strategies on Day Two.

Day One, Session One: The Background[1]

The purpose of this session was to present background information and emerging survey findings to enable constructive questioning of future strategies. Two presentations were provided, one an analysis of reporting data and the other a summary of the preliminary findings of the end-of-pilot survey.

ACC presentation of PNB Reporting Data

In Session One, the ACC presented their analysis of PNB reporting data from September 2016 to the end of July 2017. During this period, nearly 30,000 reports were received through the PNB Call Centre, reporting app or website. For seven out of the nine months, between 2,000 and 3,000 reports were registered.

Other Key points

Reporting was higher from Kenema and Bombali, than from Bo and Western Areas rural and urban.
The clear majorityof all reports were made through apps (81% in 2016 and 87% in 2017). The numbers of people calling the call centre free 515 number was lower at around 12% in both years.
By age group, modes of reporting varied mainly between those in the 15-19 age group and the rest of the population as per the table below.

Table 1 Reporting Modes by age

Mode / 15-19 / 30-49 / Over 50
Call Centre / 16% / 9% / 10%
Mobile Apps / 83% / 89% / 86%
Website / 1% / 2% / 4%

In relation to sectors, Police received the largest number of ‘I Paid a ‘Bribe’ reportsat 42% of all complaints. Police reports were especially high from Kenema, followed by Western Area Urban, Bombali, Western Area rural and Bo. Numbers of Health and Education reports were similar across the districts.
Almost all bribes are paid in cash, with other services, products, animals or food and sexual favours being less used. Worryingly, the highest numbers of sexual favours were reported for the Education sector.

Lessons and Action points: ACC Presentation

Learning/Action Point: CSOs found the summary of reporting data was very helpful and asked that something similar be shared with them on a monthly or quarterly basis to strengthen feedback to citizens.
Action Point: ACC/Coffey should identify the reasons for discrepancies between numbers of reports from different districts.
Action Point: The programme is very dependent on animators helping citizens to make reports using the app; calls to 515 can be made independently and are less dependent on animator support.Hence a key area for PNBsustainability will be increasing the number of 515 calls.
Learning/Action point: The PNB programme should identify the characteristics of different target audiences/sectors of the population (e.g. age, location, gender) in order to diversify its audience and ensure that effective means for disseminating messages are used(see also Session XX, Day Two).
Learning Point: Linked to the above,there is currently a focus on panel discussion formats for PNB radio programmes: other types of formats would reach a broader range of citizens; it will be useful to gather statistics on listeners and strengthen listener feedback mechanisms.

Coffey Presentation: End of PilotFindings

Also in Session One, Coffey presented a draft summary of the end-of-pilot survey taken from pilot districts only. The preliminary findings to date appear to demonstrate that citizens’ knowledge and awareness about PNB reporting have increased over the course of the pilot programme from 21% who can describe how to report a bribe in 2016 (before the launch of PNB)to 38.8% in July 2017 after 10 months of operation (see Table 2 below). However, 61% of citizens have apparently not heard of PNB as they cannot describe one or more ways of reporting bribes.

Table 2 Citizen knowledge of Reporting bribes

Other Key Points

Along with knowledge and awareness of PNB, citizens’ confidence in being able to do something about corruption appears to have increased from 32.2% in 2015 to49.5% in 2017. This indicates that an awareness of PNB in pilot districts has probably helped citizens to understand that they can play a more active role in combatting corruption.
Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) conducted as part of the survey indicated that mostcitizens are confident that reporting bribery will make a difference. FGD participants also emphasised, however, that it is important for government to set an example and to be seen to be becoming more vigilant in relation to combating corruption. Those who had less confidence that they could do anything about bribery highlighted evidence of continued corruption and persistence of bribery as their reasons.
Of the citizens who had an opinion of PNB reporting modes, most said that it was easier to use the 515 number that to report either through the app or through the website. A clear majority of citizens, however, did not have an opinion.
Opinions of FGD participants were divided in relation to whether corruption had increased or not over the previous year[2]. Interestingly, although most people (63%) reported that public officials are continuing to take bribes, a number also thought that officials’ behaviour may be becoming more discreet in relation to asking for bribes. Some people also argued that amounts asked for in bribes had reduced.

Lessons and Action points: Coffey Presentation

Learning Point: There are still many citizens in pilot areas who have not come into contact with the PNB programme. Outreach must be broadened and deepened.
LearningPoint: It is positive that citizens’ confidence in addressing corruption has grown, but FGDs highlighted the fact that any confidence could be quite fragile if people see little difference in their daily lives and/or feedback to them about government actions is limited.
Action Point: Feedback to citizens on PNB and other government achievements must be strengthened.
Action Point: Citizens appear to find the 515 phone number easier to use than the app. This supports the sustainability point made above(under the ACC presentation) about shifting animator focus from app to phone where network coverage conditions allow.

Day One, Sessions Two, Three and Four: Achievements and Challenges

The purpose of Session Two (presentations of achievements and challenges) was for all PNB partners to share their experiences to help identification of lessons learned.

The purpose of Session Three (breakout groups) was to build understanding of how organisations have built on achievements and responded to challengesto begin the identification of lessons learned.

The purpose of Session Four (reports from breakout groups) was to share thinking on achievements and challenges, share experiencesand stimulate discussion on ways forward

PNB Partners’ Achievements and Challenges

All CSOs, Coffey and the ACC presented their analysis of achievements and challenges. Presentations were followed by discussions in mixed break-out groups and then reports back from all groups.

The analysis in Tables 3 and 4 belowreflects allachievements and challenges raised by PNB partners before and during the meeting.

Table 3: Achievements

ACHIEVEMENTS / CARL / MADAM / NMJD / CGG / ACC / Coffey / Totals
PNB up and running despite challenges / 1 / 1 / 1 / 1 / 1 / 5
Changes in behaviour of service officials /reductions in unofficial charges / 1 / 1 / 1 / 1 / 4
Large numbers of people reached/made aware/trained / 1 / 1 / 1 / 1 / 4
Building of relationships with other PNB partners or other organisations / 1 / 1 / 2
Removal of unofficial checkpoints / 1 / 1
Close monitoring of service delivery / 1 / 1

Table 4: Challenges

CHALLENGES / CARL / MADAM / NMJD / CGG / ACC / Coffey / Totals
Lack of responsiveness from MDAs / 1 / 1 / 1 / 1 / 1 / 1 / 6
Poor quality smartphones and equipment / 1 / 1 / 1 / 1 / 1 / 5
Quality/reporting issues with animators / 1 / 1 / 1 / 3
Call Centre languages / 1 / 1 / 1 / 3
Unwillingness of citizens to report/ nervousness about reprisals / 1 / 1 / 1 / 3
Making the PNB sustainable / 1 / 1 / 1 / 3
Lack of Service Charters from MDAs / 1 / 1 / 2
Monitoring of MDA responses / 1 / 1 / 2
Collusion/culture of silence between citizens and MDA officials / 1 / 1 / 2
Officials (e.g. Police) still extorting money and/or threats of reprisals by public officials / 1 / 1 / 2
Network connectivity / 1 / 1 / 2
Transport problems for Animators / 1 / 1
Challenges with price hikes/exchange fluctuations/ other budget problems / 1 / 1

Key points

The principal achievements highlighted by most PNB partners were

The fact that the PNB is up and running;

The large number of reports received (exceeding the logframe target); and

Changes noted in the behaviour of some public officials

Key challenges highlighted by PNB partners were:

The poor timeliness and content of MDA responses

The low quality of smartphones and other equipment

Inconsistent quality of animatorsand animator reports

Other Key Points

The ACC raised several issues in their presentation:

Most MDAs have responded to reports, but there are gaps and delays that mustcontinually be chased up
There is limited follow-up of MDA actions and no specific mechanisms for doing this.
MDA Service Charters are not all complete: citizens do not know what they should be paying for which services and when.
The Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (MEST) has not responded to any reports and has no service charter. This apparent absence of accountability in one MDA is frustrating for all PNB partners.
Provision of electricity to the Call Centre has been challenging but it is hoped that this can be resolved using a solar unit
Not all PE/communications efforts have been successful and PNB messages are not reaching all audiences

Feedback from Breakout groups and discussions

Lessons and Action Points: Feedback

Learning point: Strong inter-agency collaboration between ACC national and regional offices and CSOs has been important to obtaining political buy-in more broadly. It will be important to continue this.
Learning/Action Point: PNB PE materials and broadcasts are not reaching all audiences. Partners should develop more creative approaches to communications, perhaps using PNB songs and jingles and identifying people with outreach to ordinary citizens (such as religious leaders) or celebrities (such as footballers). Messages should be memorable and tailored to specific audiences or groups.
Learning/Action Point: MDA responses must be made more visible to strengthen accountability and build citizens’ confidence. PNB partners agreed to explore different tactics for engaging with MDAs at district levels, such as obtaining MDA endorsements for PNB objectives and messages from personnel such as the District Medical Officer (DMO) or the District Education Officer (DEO), and customising engagement with Integrity Management Committees (IMCs). Also important to gather stories and case studies highlighting instances where MDAs have taken action in response to reports and share these with the public, through the ACC platform as well as other media/social media routes.
Learning/Action Point: Addressinglack of MEST responsiveness is important. CSO strategic engagements with MEST in Kenema and Bo have been useful and productive, hence PNB partners could work with MEST (and other) officials at district level to help to build momentum for change. This would support ACC actions at national level.
Learning/Action Point: Follow up on MDA actions is currently problematic and needs closer monitoring. CSO partners should work with ACC regionally and nationally to strengthen this element of the programme.
Action Point: The quality of animator activities and reporting should be improved. Animator selection criteria should be developed by Coffey with the CSOs, and each CSO should then review the animators it has and monitor their performance in future.
Action Point: As in the previous session, it was emphasised that animators should be encouraged to focus on enabling citizens to use the 515 number rather than the app.
Action Point: Service Charters should be turned into simple English when complete and distributed by all PNB partners through appropriate means. Partners could consider translating key points into local languages.
Action Point: Sustainability is critical and a sustainability plan should be developed and agreed as soon as possible.
Action Point: The holding of regular sharing and coordination between all PNB partners should be set up as soon as possible.
Action Point: More collaboration with other agencies working on similar themes should be encouraged (for example SABI).

Day One, Sessions Five and Six: Outreach and Communications

Sessions Five and Six were focused on exploring what had been achieved in the areas of communications, Public Education and Outreach. Three breakout groups were formed of CARL and MADAM; NMJD and CGG; and the ACC to discuss what has worked and why.