No friend to sticky-fingered officials, these watchdog groups educate and train people throughout Paraguay to monitor and root out corruption in their government by being persistent, confronting officials, and passing along information to journalists. They form the Activists for the Strengthening of Civil Society (AFSC - Apoyo al Fortalecimiento de la Sociedad Civil) network that brings citizens together to share tactics, present proof of corrupt dealings to the media and members of the local judiciary, and initiate legal action against corrupt officials.

In addition to fighting corruption, the watchdog groups provide spirited support of officials who uphold the values of honesty and integrity. Recently, they rallied around Arnaldo Giuzzio, a district attorney who had helped the watchdog groups by taking their allegations and investigations seriously, establishing official investigations, and then following up by prosecuting corrupt officials who had been fingered by the watchdog groups.

Giuzzio was threatened by politicians who threatened to silence him. The citizen watchdogs marched in protest, collected signatures, and placed advertisements in newspapers that highlighted the importance of his honest leadership. They caused such a buzz among citizens that officials were forced to reinstate Giuzzio for another term.

Bareiro, a slim-faced, white-haired activist, helped found AFSC in the early 1990s after he and a couple of other "regular citizens" helped force the resignation of a dishonest governor. Since then, he has been recognized as one of the world's leading social innovators by Ashoka and was made an Ashoka Fellow in 2004.

The watchdog groups now form a network that combines actions at the local level into a national movement that aims to make public institutions accountable, Bareiro said. He believes those in power now have a palpable "fear of committing acts of corruption" because of the watchdog groups' efforts.

Officials and the public were skeptical at first, Bareiro said. "When we started this organization, they told us it would never work. I answered, 'Oh yes, it will'." Seven years later, the Citizens' Watchdog network is spreading and noticeably improving the integrity of Paraguay's government.

Q: How do you define corruption?

Bareiro: My definition of corruption is a behavior, be it open or hidden, that damages the common interest of society. Transparency and responsibility generate a mutual trust among citizens where mistrust disappears. This causes anyone who leads an organization or institution to direct relations and management toward the common interest.

Q: Is corruption a cultural phenomenon?

Bareiro: Yes. The culture of principles of our parents and grandparents has been distorted by a culture that seeks "power" and "to have." To have "power," one needs "to have," and "to have" may cause one to break principles and the values of honesty and the common interest.

Q: Where are the most promising opportunities for social entrepreneurs to get involved?

Bareiro: The majority of social entrepreneurs work in organizations where the culture of solidarity cannot be avoided. Why? Because the poor are the ones who suffer from corruption the most: when public resources are misused, the poor have no access to education, health, employment, etc.

But sometimes the leaders of the poor are bribed. They are provided with funds, for example, for housing. They are not accountable and they keep more than 50 percent. These leaders then must bribe others who are more poor so they do not speak and they become accomplices. Here I am talking about the "friend" who is not a friend but someone who joins a crook in swindling the public resources. Therefore, honest social entrepreneurs can and must collaborate so that we can get back to a culture of "principles of honesty" rather than this kind of "friendship."

Q: What do you think are the biggest obstacles to improving the management of government?

Bareiro: The biggest obstacles are amibition for power, lack of ethical principles, the way that culture distorts morals through corruption, the lack of engagement by those who consider themselves honest, and the failure to promote a conscience of honesty by organizations and institutions such as churches, schools, colleges, etc. We must make transparency and honesty mandatory ethical principles for all citizens and leaders.

Q: How does this play out in society? Do you see corruption as a problem of supply and demand?

Bareiro: Society sees corruption as both supply and demand. On the demand side, the poor need money to survive. When politicians give them money to vote for them, they consider them "gods," so politics does not move without money regardless of where it comes from.

On the supply side, politicians with no scruples plan their entire campaign with a supply of money to get votes, especially from the poor. This money comes from contributions by citizens, but generally the citizens are not aware of the fact that their money is being misused so that someone can attain power to continue squandering their resources.

Q: How does your innovative work address the supply side of this problem?

Bareiro: My job is to create responsibility among citizens so that they exercise their duties and rights, and at the same time demand that the authorities fulfill their duties and exercise their rights. This generates mutual control so that each fulfills their responsibilities. This mutual control reduces corruption–it doesn't disappear–in favor of the common interest.

Q: What are your innovative solutions, new ideas, and key strategies for fighting corruption and increasing transparency and responsibility?

Bareiro: The Citizens Watchdog is a strategic solution that is necessary to create a citizen consciousness about how the common interest belongs to all, and that all of us should control it–both the citizens and authorities. The day that all citizens exercise this right, there will be no need for a Citizens Watchdog because the common interest will be in control.

Q: What is your methodology?

Bareiro: In Latin America, education, the family, and government have neglected the creation of citizens–people who are responsible for controlling and managing the common interest. This is why corruption has increased throughout all Latin America. Paraguay is among the worst not because it is the most corrupt but because corruption cases are asknowledged in Paraguay whereas in other countries citizens coexist with corruption as a part of the cultural context.

That's how we saw the need to create Citizens Watchdogs in each municipality with the goal of creating a conscience that says "if we take care of what it is ours, we will all benefit," and an awareness that corruption only benefits those who control it and who give crumbs from their "public thefts" to supporters so that they will not report them. With the Citizen Watchdog, we want to get the attention of everyone who is governed and all those who govern so that they all fulfill their roles: as administrators, on the one hand, and as the owners of the common interest on the other.

Q: How has your work impacted corruption?

Bareiro: During the past five years five governors were removed from office, 20 mayors were dismissed, four national members of parliament were punished, more than 100 government employees were dismissed, and we got the President of the Republic, Ministers, Governors, and Mayors to sign agreements providing access to information and support for the fight against corruption.

We also have several cases that serve as exemplars for the entire country that we pursued in coordination with other organizations. For example, for the first time we blocked a pro-government member of parliament from committing criminal acts. The authorities had never been punished. In addition, we have supported honest judges and financial officers who do not have the support of corrupt authorities. The impact: fear of committing acts of corruption. When there is citizen control, corruption decreases–it doesn't disappear, one must be aware of that. But citizen control changes the culture, which is important.

Q: What challenges and obstacles do you experience daily at work?

Bareiro: The challenge is to prevent the Citizens Watchdog from fading so that it fulfills its objectives, because it is a daily struggle and each case must be followed up until we reach our objectives. We have to encourage the media to report cases of corruption since the worst punishment for corruption is to be exposed in the press.

Another challenge is to establish a Citizens Watchdog in each municipality. For now, we are already present in all departments or provinces of the country. We have a network of 70 Citizens Watchdogs. That means our challenges are many.

Q: Does your model apply to other regions, places, and countries?

Bareiro: I have already been in Bolivia, Argentina, Brazil, and Costa Rica. In all these countries, I have been told that it is applicable and necessary. It can be done throughout Latin America since the situation is quite similar.

Q: How do you see your model growing, expanding, or being replicated?

Bareiro: The model is not dogmatic; it must be adapted to each country according to its laws and cultures. It is perfectly replicable for all Latin America, other countries, or interested organizations: the idea is to share it with a group and later to carry out a follow up at the international level.

Social Entrepreneurs Gather to Build Integrity Systems for Latin America

Carlos Bareiro will be participating in the first roundtable meeting of a Latin American Collaboration on Building Integrity Systems in the city of Lima, Peru on May 24th-25th along with eight other leading social entrepreneurs. This collaboration is being organized by Ashoka Global Fellowship in collaboration with Changemakers.net.

These social entrepreneurs - all of them are Ashoka Fellows - will focus on providing strategies and policy recommendations for how the citizen sector can mitigate – and eliminate – government and corporate corruption. The principal areas identified by the Ashoka Fellows and staff that require focused attention include:

1. 1) The impact of corruption on the poor
2. 2) Building alliances between Ashoka Fellows and other citizen sector organizations to end corruption and create integrity systems
3. 3) Leveraging international media pressure and public opinion
4. 4) Developing productive relationships with authorities (police, politicians, judges)
5. 5) Improving the quality of institutions as a means of preventing corruption
6. 6) Crisis of attitude: transforming consciousness raising into action and changed behavior
7. 7) Innovations at work: strategies for solving "grand corruption" and "everyday corruption"

The work being done on this subject is of paramount importance at this historic moment. Given the dire nature of our current reality, innovative ideas around combating corruption must be showcased, tested, and brought to global scale within a short timeframe. Social, political and economic factors must be clearly understood, and barriers and opportunities recognized and addressed.

Participants:

Carlos Bareiro (Paraguay)

Carlos Bareiro recruits and trains people’s groups in Paraguay to monitor and root out corruption in government. With his support, citizens found Contralorías Ciudadanas and join a network that connects their local efforts to a national movement for accountable public institutions. Members of the network share tactics, gather and present proof of corrupt dealings, and initiate legal action against corrupt officials.

Mercedes De Freitas (Venezuela)

Mercedes created a non-partisan movement for citizen participation in government to popularize Venezuelan democracy. She is helping citizens understand their role in governance and, taking advantage of a historic moment when Venezuela's new Constitution aims to promote citizen participation, Mercedes is trying to ensure just that - that Venezuela's citizens play a key role in the design and implementation of the most significant electoral and municipal governance laws and mechanisms, currently in the process of formation.

Nicolas Hernandez (Colombia)

Nicolás mobilizes young Colombians aged 16 to 26 to proactively fight the rampant corruption in their country. In his early twenties, Nicolás has identified an untapped approach to combating corruption in transforming young people’s passive acceptance of the status quo. Nicolás attracts them to the issue with a series of creative, appealing campaigns and education strategies, including a unique online course marketed to student leaders across the country. His courses teach how corruption happens and give students concrete tools to monitor public officials and stop corruption. Nicolás is creating a rising, effective anti-corruption movement stemming from young people themselves.

Cesar Cardenas (Ecuador)

César Cárdenas is demonstrating how to bring about effective youth participation and even youth leadership in all aspects of Ecuadorian life. His first objective is youth development, but he understands that community participation is essential to self-improvement. César's work shows that training youth to develop effective voices in family, civic organization, community and even national political life benefits everyone.

Ana Teresa Bernal (Colombia)

Ana Teresa Bernal is strengthening the citizen peace movement in Colombia by bringing together various isolated local peace organizations of youth, women, and indigenous people to form a strong and unified voice for ending the violence in Colombia. Through the National Network of Citizen Initiatives for Peace and Against War (REDEPAZ), Ana Teresa unites the range of organizations promoting peace to set a common agenda of activities and create their own solutions to the country's problems instead of waiting for the actors of the armed conflict to do so.

Guillermo Worman (Argentina)

Guillermo Worman is changing the relationship between Argentina's government and the citizen sector by opening spaces and forums for civic activity within the country's public sector. He effectively raises the general public's awareness of, and engagement in, state activities and grassroots advocacy projects to inform political decisions and protect citizens' rights.

Gilberto de Palma (Brazil)

Gilberto believes that to create an educated citizenry two things are needed: a body of interesting material that puts practical, citizenship-related problem solving skills in the hands of citizens; and a municipal-level, non-partisan body that can serve as a gathering point for citizen comments and complaints. To meet these needs, Gilberto has created the first in a series of curriculum offerings that have been adopted by twelve high schools in São Paulo, six private and six public. He has also created the first municipal-level Voters Rights Agency. It is being sponsored by the Law Faculty at the University of São Paulo.

Gustavo Candia (Paraguay)

Gustavo Candia protects Paraguay's wetlands ecosystems by mobilizing citizen sector organizations to change harmful cultivation methods, offer environment-friendly jobs, and design new land use policies. By creating a bilateral, transparent and accountable environmental protection strategy, he works with institutions in other countries to jointly manage ecosystems across boundaries.

María Elena Foronda (Perú)

María Elena Foronda educates Peruvian citizens about the environmental damage caused by fish processing factories and negotiates with the fish industry to find realistic, effective responses to rising ecological problems.

Contact Carlos Bareiro: bardour@rieder.net.py