Ambassador Pekka Hyvönen approved in June a new support agreement of the amount of 245,125 euros, for Transparency International (TI) and its contact in Vietnam, Towards Transparency (TT), to conduct the phase 2 of the project ‘Strengthening Anti-corruption Demand from Society, Public and Private Sector’.
Roundtable Workshop on Corruption in Education on May 20th 2010, organised by Towards Transparency in cooperation with the Swedish Embassy.
“Transparency International is a global civil society organization leading the fight against corruption”, said Ambassador Hyvönen while singing the agreement. “It is our hope that through this agreement we will also increase the Vietnamese civil society voices in joining Vietnamese government efforts to diminish corruption on all levels” The Ambassador welcomed the good work of the Vietnamese partner organization Towards Transparency and hoped that the ranking difference between the two countries 6 versus 120 on the Corruption Perception Index will narrow in the near future¹.
The project aims at contributing to equitable sustainability and economic prosperity in Vietnam by progressively establishing a TI presence with a view to raising awareness on the impact that corruption and tolerance to corruption have on socio-economic development, and by helping to reduce the risks and occurrences of corrupt practices in government, business and NGOs.
Having achieved encouraging results during the first phase, this phase is expected to continue its efforts in: i) developing TI sustainable presence in Vietnam, ii) coordinating research work and analysis on corruption across the country, and analyzing progress of anti-corruption reforms together with local and international experts, iii) supporting the development of greater youth integrity, assisting in reduction of corruption risks in large public procurement projects, and promoting the implementation of anti-bribery measures, and iv) pursuing advocacy and outreach activities including collaboration with local media and other actors to increase the visibility and demand for anti-corruption, engagement in regional advocacy and international projects, and representation of the work of the TI international movement.
The 1.4 million euros project has been jointly financed by DFID, Irish Aid, Sweden and Finland for a period of 2009 – 2012. Finland’s contribution, almost 400.000 euros, is made through its Fund for Local Cooperation.
