Ramallah – The Coalition for Accountability and Integrity (AMAN) held the first meeting with several members of Women against Corruption Network. The network brings together a group of women’s organisations and feminist defenders of women’s rights, equality, and justice. The Network members stand ready and willing to work within the framework of the network and embrace its values and mission. They also strive to achieve the goals of the network of engaging women in anti-corruption efforts.
The meeting elaborated on the terms of reference (ToR) of the network, highlighting the most important objectives and outputs to be delivered by the network. Along this vein, the network seeks to make clear the concept of corruption associated with abuse of power to achieve personal interests at the expense of the public interest. Corruption gravely damages economic and social development, services, rights, and freedoms. It puts at risk the most marginalised and disadvantaged groups, including poor women and children.
The meeting also reviewed the near-complete results of AMAN survey, which measures corruption risks on female recipients of the Ministry of Social Affairs services. The survey will reveal if other forms of corruption are in place, such as sexual extortion or bribery. It was agreed that a committee would be established to decide on the network’s ToR, propose a set of interventions and activities, and develop an annual plan to implement the committee proposals and bring about the network’s objectives.
The majority of participants highlighted poor awareness of the concept of corruption. Some corrupt practices have been so common because they are merely repetitious. A few women report incidents of corruption in view of inadequate participation in public life or fear of relevant consequences.
