Corruption in Emergencies: What role(s) for media?
Report from U4 working meeting
Annex 2: Media impacts on corruption throughout the project cycle
Work by the Overseas Development Institute (ODI) maps out corruption risks at different stages of a relief intervention (See Mapping the Risks of Corruption in Humanitarian Action - pdf). These stages include:
- Initial Assessment
- Fundraising
- Agreements to work with local organisations
- Procurement and Logistics
- Targeting and Registration
- Implementation and Distribution
- Reporting/Monitoring/Evaluation
- Finance/Human Resources/Administration
In the following tables, we build on the work of ODI to offer a preliminary overview of some of those risks, suggesting positive and negative impacts that the media might have.
Positive impacts
| Project Cycle Phase | Corruption Risks | Possible Media Impact |
| Initial Assessment |
Inflation of needs to create surplus funds |
In scrutinising assessments, the media
should be able to: - contrast funds sought with actual needs - identify corruption risks according to past behaviour - discern motivations for distorting figures, by donors, and political groups |
| Fundraising |
Funds become mis-directed, no longer allocated according to the
principle of greatest need, but along partisan lines. |
In analysing how funds are raised and allocated, the media should
be able to: - compare pledges to actual funds - trace allocations and see how they fit principles of humanitarian assistance - provide a watchdog role over unscrupulous operations |
|
Contracting Local Organisations |
Local partners inflate costs and their own assessment of needs. |
In reporting the delivery of assistance at grass-root level, the
media should be able to discern: - whether beneficiaries receive their entitlements - whether needs are being met - whether funds exceed needs at local level The local media should provide an understanding of the local context and an awareness of possible pitfalls that agencies could encounter. |
| Procurement and Logistics |
Commodities are siphoned off for external distribution, stockpiled
or looted. Prices are inflated, bribery occurs, sub-standard goods are used |
In tracing the delivery of relief assistance, the media is capable
of: - Providing an an alysis of the political and power nexus to explain how aid is being directed and manipulated - Exposing relationships between individuals and companies that benefit from corruption - Acting as a whistleblower when individual incidents are uncovered. - Illustrating the harm done to affected communities when aid fails to reach them. |
|
Targeting and Registration |
Bribes are sought for inclusion on registration
lists for aid. Registration criteria are made complex to blur accountability. Affected communities, and their needs, are used as magnets for political attention and increased aid |
When looking at affected communities'
access to assistance, the media is able to: - Provide a voice for communities who are denied their entitlements - Provide needed information on entitlements and the criteria for registration - Contribute to a call for a transparent process - Perform a whistleblower duty when individuals are denied what they are entitled to or when they are used as pawns in a broader political struggle. |
| Implementation and Distribution |
Assistance is diverted or stolen. Distribution is repeated, according
to different local principles and power structures. Local taxation of relief goods. |
Through contact with beneficiaries, media can: - Follow aid past the point of distribution to see how distribution ends up - Stimulate public debate on end use of aid and its effectiveness |
| Reporting/Monitoring /Evaluation | Reporting used to cover up fraud and
hide surplus funds. Manipulation of evaluation of situation to attract further funding |
In scrutinising reports, the media should be able to: |
| Finance/HR/Admin | Embezzlement, fraud and nepotistic appointments | As above |
The corruption risks identified by ODI and others show how the principles of humanitarian delivery are too often subordinated beneath political demands and allegiances. The media, especially at the international level, has the opportunity to contrast the rhetoric of governments, donors and humanitarian agencies with the reality of their programmes and delivery and ensure that the affected population benefits from and receives the total amount of aid pledged.
Local media should be in a position to warn of possible pitfalls and,
with prior knowledge of political and familial affiliations, know where
to look for signs of corruption. With links and cultural and linguistic
ties to the affected population, they should be able to spot discord between
relief efforts and the lives of victims of disasters. The reality, of
course, is that much media coverage does not have this impact. Few journalists
are able, willing or editorially permitted to conduct sustained, meticulous
investigations.
Negative impacts
| Project Cycle Phase | Corruption Risks | Possible Media Impact |
| Initial Assessment |
Inflation of needs to create surplus funds |
- Inflated figures sell stories, media
coverage contributes to a distorted picture of need. - Lack of scrutiny leads media to accept assessments at face value Local media acts as function of political allegiances, contributing to misdirection of assistance. |
| Fundraising |
Funds become mis-directed, no longer
allocated according to the principle of greatest need, but along partisan
lines. Bogus NGOs cash in on mobilisation of funds. |
- Media coverage focuses on particular
areas, often those that are most easily accessible, drawing disproportionate
attention to particular communities. - Perpetuates simplistic assumption that all help is good help. - Poor understanding of the principles of humanitarian assistance necessary to analyse whether they are being practiced or not. |
|
Contracting Local Organisations |
Local partners inflate costs and their own assessment of needs. |
- Superficial contact with affected communities
resulting in a cursory interest in their predicament. - Limited knowledge about aid entitlements preventing detection of diversions and barred access. - Obstacles to access to information, which lead the media to reflect an inaccurate picture. - International media not interested in local situation unless there is an international hook for the story. |
| Procurement and Logistics | Commodities are siphoned off for external
distribution, stockpiled or looted. Prices are inflated, bribery occurs, sub-standard goods are used. |
- Local media insufficiently independent;
acts as communications arm of a political faction. - Local media too weak to investigate corruption, especially if it involves the military. - Lack of transparency barring media from the truth. - Lack of interest in the bigger picture, once the story of disaster has broken, little editorial incentive for in-depth investigation as to the result of aid allocations. |
|
Targeting and Registration |
Bribes are sought for inclusion on registration
lists for aid. Registration criteria are made complex to blur accountability. Affected communities, and their needs, are used as magnets for political attention and increased aid. |
- Media follows top line stories and does
not represent the beneficiaries - Local media bows to political pressure and allegiances |
| Implementation and Distribution | Assistance is diverted or stolen. Distribution
is repeated, according to different local principles and power structures.
Local taxation of relief goods. |
As above |
| Reporting/Monitoring/ Evaluation |
Reporting used to cover up fraud and
hide surplus funds. Manipulation of evaluation of situation to attract further funding. |
- Official reports taken as fact. - Insufficient knowledge about the situation of beneficiaries to contrast claims with reality. - Inadequate knowledge of political context in which manipulation can take place. |
| Finance/HR/Admin | Embezzlement, fraud and nepotistic appointments | - International media not interested in
low-level corruption - Local media protecting same powerful elite |
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Corruption in Emergencies |
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CES What role(s) for Media? |
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Corruption in post-conflict transitions |
Query the U4 helpdesk about corruption
in emergencies |
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U4 welcomes any | CONTACT |
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Jessica Leigh Schultz
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| RECOMMENDED READING |
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Need and greed: corruption risks, perceptions and prevention in
humanitarian assistance |
| CASE STUDIES |
The Overseas Development Institute has produced a range of case studies of corruption in humanitarian assistance: |
| RELEVANT EXPERT ANSWERS |
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Sexual exploitation in peace-keeping missions