Digital Award for Transparency: Honouring digital initiatives to fight corruption

The French Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs, Transparency International, the French Operator in Media Cooperation and Liberté Living-Lab today proudly announced the winners of the Digital Award for Transparency.

The Digital Award for Transparency awards individuals and civil society organisations who have developed digital technology tools used to fight corruption. The award aims at strengthening and promoting existing initiatives that promote good governance through three categories: Open Data, Citizen Engagement and Anti-corruption Tools.

Nominations for the award have been judged by a committee of nine experts from the technology sector and the anti-corruption movement who have chosen three winning projects from Tunisia, Burkina Faso and Madagascar; and three runner-up projects from Tunisia and Sénégal (x2).

The award ceremoney was opened by French Secretary of State of Digital Affairs, Mounir Mahjoubi and the awards were presented by Deputy Secretary General André Parant of the French Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs.

Category One: Open Data

Open data is a pretty simple concept: governments should publish information about what they do – data that can be freely used, modified and shared by anyone for any purpose.

Two Tunisian projects, the winner Cabrane and the runner up Al Bawsala, have been selected in the Open Data category by the jury. Tunisia is a country that has a strong civil society fighting against corruption and for greater transparency and accountability.

CABRANE – Charfeddine Yakoubi (Tunisia)

Cabrane is a platform that monitors public infrastructure projects in Tunisia. It not only gives access to all relevant information about these projects but it also gives the possibility of adding new projects and asking for more accountability from authorities using open data. This platform uses new technologies accessible to all and fits into the global movement working towards e-governance and greater transparency of public infrastructure. Charfeddine Yakoubi founded the Tunisian Association of Public Auditors (ATCP), he is an anti-corruption activist and fights for greater access to public datasets arguing that corruption cannot happen in a transparent environment.

AL BAWSALA – Selim Kharrat (Tunisia)

Al Bawsala was founded in 2012, right after the Tunisian revolution. This parliamentary monitoring organization works towards putting citizens at the heart of public action by giving them access to data and tools in order for them to observe the activities of public institutions. Selim Kharrat is actively engaged in Tunisia’s activist scene. He has lead initiatives with Amnesty International, created the “Freedom Notebooks”, an organisation that aims at enhancing citizen engagement in politics, and has worked in many NGOs defending Human Rights.

Category Two: Citizen Engagement

This category aims at encouraging and allowing citizens to foster anti-corruption cultures.

The winner project Presimetre from Burkina Faso and the runner up Africa Check from Senegal have proven to be effective tools for citizens to fight corruption.

AFRICA CHECK – Robert Holloway (Senegal)

With offices in South Africa, Senegal and Nigeria, Africa Check is the first fact-checking African organization. Its goal is to promote accuracy and honesty within African public debate thus reinforcing democracy and accountability in the continent. It evaluates declarations made by public figures, unions, and other members of civil society using journalistic resources accessible to all.

PRESIMETRE – Luther Yameogo (Burkina Faso)

Created by Luther Yameogo, whose experience in international development and humanitarian action is acknowledged throughout the African continent, Présimètre is an accountability platform based on citizen monitoring of public policies. This tool aims at sharing information between civil society groups working on governance and its ultimate goals are to reinforce cooperation, to promote advocacy initiatives and to provide a rapid response to public policies’ malfunctions.

Category Three: Anti-Corruption Tools

It’s no wonder that measuring corruption is at the heart of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The winning project is Tsycoolkoly from Madagascar, and the runner-up is P.A.S.C.O working in West African countries try to do just that by unleashing the power of good quality data.

TSYCOOLKOLY – Andrianina Rakotoarivelo (Madagascar)

Tsycoolkoly means “corruption is not cool” in Madagascan and works under the umbrella of the NGO Tolotsoa. Tsycoolkoly allows citizens from Madagascar to denounce corruption cases and to honour public agents’ integrity. Data from specific activity sectors is translated into statistics in a barometer, thus allowing citizens to get information easily to effectively curb corruption.

P.A.S.C.O – Moussa Diallo - Senegal

P.A.S.C.O is a tool aiming at raising awareness by providing useful information in order to fight corruption. In partnership with the Intergovernmental Group Against Money Laundering (GIABA), P.A.S.C.O benefits from a network of observers throughout the Economic Community of Western African States (CEDEAO). Moussa Diallo (Senegal), its founder, has a degree in informatics and decided to put his technological skills to the service of the common good.

We would like to thank our partners, the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the French Operator in Media Cooperation (CFI), Etalab and the Liberté Living-Lab for making this possible.