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Internet Access and Training Program (IATP)
Armenian Citizens Obtain Best Practices for Anti-Corruption Initiatives via Technology
Two recent online forums brought together citizens from six Eurasian countries to share anti-corruption strategies with experts and concerned citizens of Armenia. IATP staff in Armenia organized the forums to allow journalists, academics, NGO officials, and students find the best way to confront these areas of particular concern to Armenians, which have been confronted by other countries in the region. Over 30 citizens participated in the two forums, aimed at fighting corruption in education and in the traffic police.
In the latter event, exerts from across the region shared best practices with their Armenian peers, based on their experiences fighting corruption in their home countries. It began as a real-time online event on February 15, where participants discussed corruption in the traffic police, similar situations in other Eurasian countries, the major factors contributing to the rise of corruption, the benefits of education, and major challenges drivers face when asked to pay bribes. The forum was the first of a series of activities dubbed Clear Roads, an IREX initiative that will partner with local organizations to address this difficult issue with the help of technology. It was moderated by IATP Armenia Country Coordinator Khoren Mamikonyan, with participating guest speaker Vladimir Ghazaryan, expert-consultant for Clear Roads and vice-president of Achill, a NGO for human and civil rights, including driver's rights protection.
Ghazaryan opened up the floor for discussion with his presentation on the situation on the roads of Armenia, which mentioned some services that their center provides for citizens, such as legal advise, complaints registry, and representation for drivers in court. As Ghazaryan mentions, “Most drivers have no idea about traffic rules, because they have obtained their driver’s license illegally, by giving a bribe. This has become quite popular in recent years, since Traffic Police Officials started creating artificial barriers for citizens to pass the driving tests.”
Later, participants from Georgia gave a detailed presentation of how their traffic police underwent a series of reforms starting in the summer of 2004, which have resulted in vast improvements. New officers went through a series of trainings, and a number were fired, reforms revealed that a number of departments were superfluous. A 24-hour hot-line serves allows citizens to report cases of corruption immediately and anonymously. As a result of the series of reforms, the citizens have more trust in the traffic police officials now, which is proved by various researches conducted by international organizations. The information was of great use to the reform-minded Armenian participants.
Later Mamikonyan presented the Clear Roads project, which will create a website with materials about the rights and responsibilities of traffic police and drivers, traffic rules, instructions for the legal acquisition of a driver’s license, and a list of official payments and fines. This was the first in a series of Clear Roads awareness raising forums.
A second forum opened on January 29, and addressed the gaps in the education systems of Eurasian countries, and where improvements could be made to address the existing corruption. The issues varied from the problem of private tutoring, legislation, teacher salaries, Common State Exams for higher educational institutions, the possibility of privatization of some schools, to the quality of offered education in state universities.
The forum was moderated by IATP Armenia Country Coordinator Khoren Mamikonyan, with participating guest speaker Bagrat Harutyunyan, lecturer at the Yerevan State University. Here a lively discussion took place about the possibility of legalizing private tutoring as a way to make it a common and legal practice for teachers to have extra income and pay taxes. Harutyunyan opposed the idea, arguing, “Higher income of educators is not a panacea for stopping corruption. Moreover, why should we establish the institute of private tutoring? If we accept that a function can initiate a body, in that case private tutoring was initiated with the dysfunction of the education system. We should not legalize it; we should improve the education system.”
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