Workshop: Training of Public Officials on Social Accountability as Anti-Corruption Tool
Venue: City Institute of Image Management (CIIM), KMC Building, Karachi
22 February 2023
Summary of the Event:
Transparency International Pakistan, in collaboration with City Institute of Image Management (CIIM), hosted a highly informative workshop on “Training of Public Officials on Social Accountability as Anti-Corruption Tool” at Karachi Metropolitan Building (KMC) on 22 February 2023.
A total of 37 government officials, including 15 females, from different departments participated in the workshop, where they were educated on anti-corruption approaches, social accountability, public procurement, and Right to Information Law.
The workshop featured expert speakers who shared insights on various topics. Mr. Kashif Ali, Acting Executive Director of TI Pakistan, gave a comprehensive overview of public procurement systems and laws in the country, highlighting various sections of the PPRA Rules, and the monitoring mechanism of TI Pakistan. He also highlighted various cases taken up by TI Pakistan in the past, and helped the government to save billions of rupees.
Mr. Ashfaque Ahmed, Project Coordinator TI Pakistan, provided an overview of social accountability mechanisms and its different tools, including the Sindh Transparency and Right to Information Act 2016. In his talk, he explained the filing procedure of RTI request, and the role of Information Commission. He explained the definition of ‘applicant’, ‘Information’ and ‘Public body’ given in the law.
Furthermore, other expert speakers such as Advocate. SM Jafri and Mr. Irfan Ali talked about the challenges faced by public officials in exercising their duties and the role of transparent public administrations in promoting good governance, respectively.
The workshop was highly interactive, and the participants actively engaged in a Question & Answer session with the speakers, showing their keenness to learn more. Participants asked about public procurement rules, and right to information act. In the end, certificates were distributed to the participants to recognize their attendance and active participation in the informative workshop.
