Changemakers Community,

Welcome to "Ending Corruption: Honesty Instituted"— a Changemakers collaborative competition. Whether you work in business, the media, the citizen sector or in government, you know that one of the biggest impediments to your success is corruption.

However you define or experience it, corruption is a disease that infects and impoverishes society. From the "lubricating" corruption of everyday bribe seekers among traffic police, hospital caregivers, permit administrators, customs agents, or prison guards—little by little grinding down those who need their services and approvals—to the "venal" corruption of self-interested political "kleptocrats" emptying entire national coffers, corruption is a poison that eats away at communities and institutions to devastating effect. "Business as usual" is all too often replete with access for some, dead ends for many, and tortuous alleys of shady dealing that affect us all.

Corruption is a pandemic disease invading society. The World Bank estimates that the cost of corruption represents about seven percent of the annual world economy, roughly $2.3 trillion. This is a staggering amount ... a figure that is larger than the entire federal budget of the United States government ($2.2 trillion).

In the words of Transparency International's Founder, Peter Eigen, "There are no short cuts and no easy answers" of how we can eradicate the disease. To eradicate any global disease we must use a clinical approach: diagnosis leading to therapy and cure through patient education and treatment.

First, society's systems need a thorough examination and diagnosis to ensure a proper diagnosis. If the diagnosis is wrong, the therapy or medicine will be wrong. We could kill the patient which is us and our society. Examine each organ of your own society. What is the cause of corruption? Why does it take hold so tenaciously and spread? What agents are infecting society with this scourge? Dishonest government civil servants, politicians and lobbyists, businessmen and women, citizen sector organizations, complicit citizens, others? And are the whistle-blowers who alert us to corruption sufficiently protected when they shed light on the malfeasance of their superiors or other colleagues?

Second, armed with a diagnosis, we must design the therapy and find a cure, and a sustainable way to distribute the cure. Who will invest in and support the most promising "integrity" therapies? Donors, foundations, international agencies, private businesses? Who is best positioned to test their efficacy? Changemakers, reformers, communities? Who will develop the vaccine to inoculate entire populations and societies?

Ashoka believes that when a problem is ripe for solution, social entrepreneurs (leading changemakers) come rushing in like white blood cells coursing through the body finding disease antigens, surrounding them, attaching to them, and destroying them. We believe that we now have an unprecedented opportunity to solve the problem of corruption and find therapies and cure that restore honesty to institutions and organizations.

Changemakers invites you to send us your corruption cures. If you are a citizen, business, or government changemaker, let us know your innovative solutions for ending corruption. How will you smash through old systems to create something new?

The competition will begin on February 28th and come to an end May 16th. Please visit the guidelines page for more details.

We challenge everyone to join us in sourcing, supporting and scaling the most powerful solutions. Refine the solutions with your new ideas, spread the word amongst your community, and provide resources that will help these solutions succeed. Share with us how you are a changemaker combating corruption; Ashoka believes everyone can be a changemaker.

Sincerely,

Carol Grodzins
Vice President, Global Fellowship
Ashoka: Innovators for the Public