Social Innovation's Role in Curbing Corruption

Social Innovation has the potential to play an important role in fighting corruption. Lin and Chen, in "The Impact of Societal and Social innovation: a case-based approach" have argued that Social Innovation's goal is to produce actions that are "socially valuable and good for many" ^[1].

In governance, its main role is to enhance and maximize the trust of citizens through active involvement in society, whether in the public or private sphere ^[1]. Social Innovation's role in curbing corruption is carried out through two main mediums. Firstly, it is institutionalized through actors (in the public and the private sectors), and secondly, it is executed with new tools available, specifically ICTs.

Public Participation, Governmental Action and the Private Sector against Corruption

Grassroots Involvement

"Corruption cannot be tackled from the top, it has to be confronted from the grassroots" ^[2] according to John Githongo, a Kenyan member of Transparency International. The Stanford Social Innovation Review develops that grassroots innovations emerge through a combination of social and ethical capital. That is especially true when the system in which they lie fails to accommodate to people's needs ^[3].

In the fight against corruption, individuals or groups of citizens have used their position to lead battles against corruption. An example is the case of RosPil.net, a crowdsourcing website relying on anonymous tips and alerts to uncover and expose corruption in Russia ^[4], whether in the private or the public sector. The collective action permits a growing flow of information and offers, on a daily basis, around three promising tip-offs ^[4].

Another example is the initiative Agenda Pública, a Civil Society Organisation, which is paving way for transparent governance in Brazil by relying on the education of the country's public administrators ^[5], specifically in more remote and isolated rural areas. Agenda Pública trained more than 5,000 administrators in policy development and basic infrastructure, in order to promote effective parameters for transparency ^[5]. They do so by making sure that environmental needs and basic financial, education and overall health are met to circumvent bribing.

Women and Corruption

A UNDP Study conducted amongst women grassroots organization around the world demonstrated that "79% of women are better able to stand up against corruption if affiliated with a community group" ^[6]. Another poll suggested that electing women into power in countries heavily affected by corruption should be strongly accompanied by an affiliation to a mobilized grassroots women's group. Moreover, 83% of female respondents gave preferences to organized women's leadership to pursue anti-corruption policies ^[6]. Innovation lies mainly in the introduction of programmes facilitating access to information as well as a governance agenda designed to augment women's engagement in participatory monitoring.

Private Sector

The role of the private sector is preponderant in the fight against corruption. Companies need to take the largest step against corruption and must engage in collective governance in order to include public policy and standards in their core business ^[7]. It would be a way to promote good practices, specifically socially responsible investing ^[7].

For example, in 2006, the corporate sector fully funded and instigated the creation and development of the Business Code of Conduct for Combating Corruption in Malawi. It is considered an anti-corruption task force which works hand in hand with local groups, members of governments, civil society and the media ^[8].

Governmental Action

Anderson, Wu and Cho argue that good governance and its benefits can be extrapolated through effective e-governance. The simplification of administrative task and open data transparency, coupled with a clear policy on corruption can have a substantial impact.They also advocate for the strengthening of the delivery of services by the public sector ^[9].

In the United Kingdom, the government introduced in 2016 the Open Government National Action Plan with one of the main aim being improved transparency. One of the main commitments is the establishment of an Anti-Corruption Innovation Hub. It is the use of social innovation to mobilize social actors and entrepreneurs against corruption. It is perceived that it will "catalyze and connect [an] innovation approach" while promoting the sharing of good practices ^[10]. Their plan of action has been supported by Switzerland, Indonesia, Spain, Georgia, Australia, the UAE, France and Norway ^[10].

In Kosovo, Support to Anti-Corruption Efforts in Kosovo (SAEK) has been developed in order to strengthen the capacities of the Kosovo Anti-Corruption Agency (KAA). They are using innovative ICT, web2.0 and social media technologies as a way to connect the government and younger generations by utilizing the potential of new technologies as well as "giving citizens the opportunity to voice concerns, share observations online and to make these visible to the public while raising the awareness on the level and form of corruption occurring in Kosovo" ^[11]. SAEK is considered a success as in the year it was launched, more than 1024 cases of corruption were reported (with half of them now resolved) ^[11].

Information and Communications Technology as a Tool for Transparency

According to the Inter-Agency Task Force on Financing for Development (part of the United Nations): "in addition to being an important technology sector in its own right, information and communication technology (ICT) is important for linking agents in the innovation system" ^[12].

Open Data and Data mining

Open data is currently arising as a corruption-fighting mechanism. Indeed, as transparency in government data increases and becomes accessible to all, there will be opportunities for better accountability as it will increase the odds of uncovering governmental misconduct (specifically in government activities, budgets and expenditures for citizens). Its applications are various, including but not restricted to: following the money, open contracting, changing incentives and enabling cross-sector collaboration.

In 2015, one of the G20 priorities was to reduce corruption and to promote good governance ^[13]. The Anti-Corruption Working Group (ACWG) developed the Anti-Corruption Open Data Principles in order to leverage open data as one of the key actions to create and foster accountability and transparency. The principles are directly derived from the International Open Data Charter, which specifies the release and use of government data to reduce the reach of corruption ^[13].

Transparency International and the Web Foundation carried out a study on certain member countries of the G20 (Brazil, France, Germany, Indonesia and South Africa) to evaluate the effect of the principles on their fight against corruption ^[14].

In Indonesia for example ( Corruption in Indonesia), it is estimated that corruption has cost up to IDR 31,077 trillion to the country ^[14]. Through public information availability, the country has tried to foster and promote its anti-corruption actions by utilizing its legal and institutional frameworks. Nonetheless, the access to datasets remains scarce while the lack of education amongst staff and citizens impedes the use of data as a tool against corruption ^[14].

Data mining was a crucial tool used in the famous anti-corruption investigation of the Panama Papers by way of the initiative of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists ^[15]. The amount of data reached was 2.6 terabytes or 11.5 billion documents ^[15]. The implementation of a graph database allowed for better efficiency in the research and analysis of the documents as it found hidden links between accounts and owners that would have been hard to dig up otherwise. Mar Cabra, ICIJ Data Editor, claimed that the software used made them feel like: "we [had] superpowers” ^[16].

Social Media

Social media is amongst the newest factors that has been shown by researchers to reduce the impact of corruption ^[17].

Social media platforms have created a multi-way communication which contradicts the one-way channel of traditional media. It enables individuals to share experiences in a quick and cheap manner through its platforms. It facilitates exchanges of geographically separated individuals which makes it an important tool as a dialogue platform ^[17].

In many countries, cases of human rights violations and corruption have started to come out publicly. They challenge the status quo of the government holding the monopoly over information ^[17].

The World Economic Forum established in 2014 that social media could be a useful tool to drive anti-corruption because of its ability to advance commentary and information provision to the population ^[18]. It is also useful because of its key role in investigating through collective action participation. They use the example of I Paid A Bribe, an Indian website inviting users to input their daily contact with corruption and whether they paid a bribe or not to a public servant ^[18].

Mobile Banking

Petty corruption can be fought by the emergence of cashless payments, and more generally in a cashless economy.

In Kenya, M-Pesa was launched to allow people to transfer money through mobile phones ^[19]. It is used by almost two-thirds of the population and is gaining momentum as it is opening its technology to other countries (Tanzania for example) ^[19].

As traffic police is seen as one of the most notorious sources of corruption ^[20], M-Pesa proposed to create cashless payments on public buses to avoid the extortion of bribes ^[21].

While there are currently some logistical and regulatory problems preventing it from getting traction, mobile banking is seen as a potential tool to fight petty corruption, specifically if it is accompanied by the proper framework for legislative action and good governance.

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