We’re cruising along 35,000 feet above the South Pacific, en route from Honiara, Solomon Islands to Brisbane and finally Canberra, Australia. The long flight offers a good opportunity to reflect on governance and accountability reform in the Pacific — what makes it easy, what makes it hard, and what makes it unique. During the past…
Unlikely but true: despite being the poorest country in the Pacific, the Solomon Islands could become a model for executing transparency and anti-corruption reforms. After a long day of conversation in Honiara — including a sitdown with the prime minister’s chief of staff — here’s what we learned from yesterday’s Global Integrity Dialogues workshop. The…
Walking around downtown Honiara yesterday afternoon, Nathaniel and I were amazed at the hectic vibe of the city. Coming from Tonga’s capital of Nuku’alofa, with its more languid pace of life, Honiara seemed pulsing with activity. It turns out this bustle of activity extends to governance and anti-corruption reform as well. The city’s downtown infrastructure…
One down, one to go. The Global Integrity Dialogues workshop held August 13th in the Tongan capital of Nuku’alofa was a success, bringing together a diverse mix of key stakeholders from government, civil society, the media, and aid donors to debate prospects for governance reform in this small country facing a political transformation in 2010.…
For the next ten days, Global Integrity (in the form of our local research teams and intrepid visitors Norah Mallaney and Nathaniel Heller) will be facilitating Global Integrity Dialogue workshops in Tonga and the Solomon Islands. We’ll be reporting on the events with reflections on the challenges and opportunities of pursuing governance reforms in small,…
Considering the national attention recently given to D.C. Councilmember Marion Barry, we decided that it is high time we reported on some of the corruption in our “backyard,” so to speak. In a pattern we’ve seen worldwide, the trouble isn’t (just) the irrepressible Mr. Barry, but stems from the District’s poor controls on conflicts-of-interest and…