Enhancing CSO and Media Engagement in Southeast Asia

Participants outlined types of effective media-driven accountability mechanisms
Participants outlined types of effective media-driven accountability mechanisms

Siem Reap (Cambodia), 9 June 2022 - The United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) frames cooperation across society, including with civil society, the private and public sector, as crucial for the prevention of corruption. In Southeast Asia, a decline in media freedom has curtailed the degree of accountability provided by media outlets. The 2022 analysis of Reporters Without Borders places all countries of the region in the lower half of their World Press Freedom Index.

To build cross-sector collaboration, UNODC hosted the CSO and Media Workshop on Methods and Tools for Anti-Corruption Engagement on 7-9 June 2022 in Siem Reap, Cambodia. Bringing together civil society and media practitioners from across Southeast Asia, 26 participants shared cutting-edge tools and techniques around accessing data and media engagement being used in the region to advance anti-corruption advocacy.

Participants included leading investigative journalists and media organizations including the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ), Tempo Indonesia and the Cambodian Journalists Alliance Association, CSO advocacy and data groups such as Sinar Project (Malaysia),  Transparency International (TI) Cambodia, Youth Council of Cambodia, Business Integrity  and Mining for Sustainable Development (Cambodia), GoodGovPH (Philippines), Publish What You Pay Indonesia, the C20 Anti-Corruption Committee, Center to Combat Corruption & Cronyism (C4) Malaysia, Spectrum – Sustainable  Development  Knowledge Network  (Myanmar) Open Data Initiative Thailand, Gender and Development Research Institute (Thailand) and the Partnership for Governance Reform (KEMITRAAN) and Lokataru Foundation, Indonesia.

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UNODC also invited CSOs outside the active anti-corruption network so as they could progress integrity initiatives within their fields of health, gender and diversity. These groups welcomed their exposure to integrity training for the first time and included Proud To Be Us Laos and the Centre for Supporting Community Development Initiatives (Vietnam).

The two Southeast Asian representatives from the Youth Led Integrity Advisory Board of UNODC’s Global Resource for Anti-Corruption Education and Youth Empowerment (GRACE) project also contributed to the workshop.

Participants agreed on: the need to progress an active mechanism for Southeast Asia anti-corruption CSOs and media to engage on peer-driven sharing of good practices; further training on contemporary integrity data use; progressing citizen journalism initiatives; to evaluate the effectiveness of ASEAN anti-corruption agencies; developing a regional protective ecosystem for those CSOs and media investigating corruption; more strategic engagement with parliaments and the legislative process at national and regional levels in Southeast Asia.

These trainings were part of activities funded by the East West Management Institute. Footage (where available) and written summaries of UNODC events are publicly available via our website.

 

Other Useful Links:

  • The recent webinar on Integrating Lessons Learnt from the Covid Crisis is publicly available for viewing in English and Bahasa Indonesia here
  • The recent UNODC Webinar on Law Enforcement Integrity is publicly available for viewing in Bahasa, English, Thai and Vietnamese here
  • The footage of UNODC Anti-Corruption Webinars in Southeast Asia, where available, can be viewed on our social media page here
  • A summary of activities by the UNODC Anti-Corruption Team in Southeast Asia is available on our website here