Tracka, the initiative tackling corruption in Nigeria's public sector

The UDEME Monitor program trains student journalists to track and report on transparency and accountability around publicly-funded projects. The team has produced roughly 1,000 stories exposing corruption and gaps in implementation and has worked directly with community residents to raise awareness around procurement processes.

Ahmed Albasheer is an Iraqi journalist who uses a combination of humor and grassroots organizing to teach youth in Iraq and across the world about their government's corruption with his show, "The Albasheer Show.” He has been compared to Jon Stewart in how his weekly series airing on YouTube and satellite television engages young people through his comedic timing and straight-forward manner of speaking. As a result, protests have erupted, and the government has killed protesters in response, but Albasheer continues to boost morale and amplify their voices in solidarity.

Media Rights Agenda helped a community in Lagos, Nigeria, submit Freedom of Information Act requests to draw attention to the community’s lack of basic amenities like roads and clean water. When government organizations ignored the requests, the organization took legal action and released a documentary about the issue to gain public support.

When New York legislators abolished a state law that had long shielded police officers’ disciplinary records from public scrutiny, they were not just responding to recent protests but also to activism over many years by reform advocates and families of victims of police violence. Long-running legal challenges had failed to pry the records loose. But activists – opposed by police unions and their allies – had used public testimony, publicity, and their families’ stories to lay the groundwork for changes that then came quickly after George Floyd’s death sparked nationwide protests of police brutality.

Reduce corruption by making public data accessible and transparent. In Buenos Aires, Argentina, information about public works projects is available online, so excess spending is hard to hide. Meanwhile in Brazil, an observatory analyzes government expenditures and investigates suspicious transactions. Credit card expenditure fell by 25 percent after the data was published.

Feedback machines installed at government offices such as hospitals and police stations allow Ugandan citizens to offer anonymous thoughts on the quality of the services provided, creating data that is analyzed to highlight areas for improvement. More than 50 machines have been deployed throughout the country with nearly 260,000 people sharing feedback each month in Kampala alone.

The CitizenApp allows Zimbabweans to anonymously report instances of government corruption, which are then made available to law enforcement officials and investigative journalists. The app has attracted 580 users since its launch in March 2023.

Estonia's e-governance system allows citizens to register for social programs, access health records, and complete most government business digitally. In March 2023, more than half of the country's voters cast their ballots via the internet for the first time.

The Institute for Democratic Engagement and Accountability's "deliberative town halls" pair willing lawmakers with a random, representative sample of constituents so voters can share feedback and ask questions without being drowned out by the loudest voices in political spaces. All participants are given the same background materials created by a nonpartisan source to inform their discussion, which means there's no squabbling over establishing basic facts, and politicians must adapt to the natural flow of conversation rather than relying on canned talking points.

In Uganda, a country with high levels of corruption and political patronage, citizen-led grassroots efforts to root out graft and enforce accountability have sprung up across the country. “Village budget clubs,” trained by the Forum for Women in Democracy, learn about Uganda’s constitution, government budgeting and planning, and what is required of public officials. Club members then attend meetings, follow up with public officials, and fill out scorecards that rank lawmaker performance.