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ePaper created 2015-12-01, 11:32:17 | version 1.43.00
IN FOCUS 24 akzente 2/15 » Advice centre Project: A fair approach to securing skilled labour – geriatric nurses FOR Germany commissioned by: German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy Lead executing agency: Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs, Viet Nam Overall term: 2015 TO 2017 VIET NAM Germany needs geriatric nurses, while Viet Nam has a surplus workforce. The countries are working together to address these problems. Transparency has an important role to play in ensuring fairness in this exchange. GIZ has set up an advice centre which provides information about legal recruitment channels. www.giz.de/en/worldwide/18715.html 3 EXAMPLES OF WORK AT Good governance Project: Strengthening governance in Central Africa’s extractive sector Commissioned by: German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development Lead executing agency: Economic and Monetary Community of Central Africa (CEMAC) Overall term: 2007 to 2017 CEMAC MEMBER STATES GIZ is advising CEMAC member states on ways of achieving more trans parency in the extractive sector. A geographic information system (GIS) records government revenue from the extractive sector and makes this information available to the public. www.giz.de/en/worldwide/15828.html 4 European Quarter in Brussels is just one example: after the decision was taken in the 1950s to locate key European institutions in the Belgian capital, a number of new build- ings were constructed, including the European Commis- sion’s Berlaymont building and the European Parliament, where the MEPs hold their sessions when they are not convening in the main building in Strasbourg. The new political Europe was keen to signal its transparency and express this in its architecture as well, so the buildings in the European Quarter were built from glass and flooded with light: physical evidence of the new Europe’s open- ness. There was one area in which Bentham was unsuccess- ful, however. He was determined to purge language of every element that might create confusion, for as he rightly observed, language is the archenemy of transpar- ency. But his efforts came to naught, as today’s plethora of incomprehensible or confusing press releases, laws, reg- ulations and business reports shows. The fact is that in many cases, information simply creates the impression of transparency. What use to the average consumer are the detailed lists on food packaging of chemical components whose names and effects are un- derstood only by highly qualified food technologists? In- formation is not the same as transparency. A precondition for, but no guarantee of, democracy And yet Bentham’s ideas show that demanding transpar- ency can be much more effective than demanding democ racy. Rare is the despot nowadays who makes the mistake of failing to cloak his unjust regime in at least a modicum of democracy. Parliaments are convened after supposedly free elections – but without any international observers able to check whether these assemblies can operate demo- cratically. The extent to which members of parliament can exercise their mandate freely is often difficult to deter mine. But it is easy to see whether the records of parliamen tary proceedings are published or simply vanish into an archive. In Kenya, anti-corruption suggestion boxes can be found in many public spaces. Members of the public who believe that they have been the victim of corruption can submit their grievances anonymously. But is this really progress? Yes – provided that citizens are informed in a transparent manner about how their complaint has been dealt with. Otherwise, the suggestion box is useless. It is sometimes difficult to determine exactly how much democracy has been achieved by many developing