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Washington DC, Sunday November 16, 2014. Well over one hundred colleagues, neighbors, relatives and other friends gathered at the World Wildlife Fund in DC to honor the life and work of Rick S. Piltz. Rick was a courageous public servant, a life long social justice activist, teacher, beloved East Bethesda neighbor, loving husband of Karen, proud father of daughter Shayne and much more. Winner of the prestigious Ridenhour Prize, Rick blew the whistle on the George W. Bush administration's efforts to suppress scientific evidence about climate change. Rick's action was fundamental in changing public understanding of this vital issue. He will be sorely missed.
Michael Termini from the Government Accountability Project addresses the crowd.
Better accountability, transparency and more detailed targets for climate action will be mandated under a new Climate Change Accountability Act.
Learn more: news.gov.bc.ca/20903
That which we manifest is before us; we are the creators of our own destiny. Be it through intention or ignorance, our successes and our failures have been brought on by none other than ourselves.
The Center For Total Health, Washington DC
May 24, 2017
The Council of Accountable Physician Practices (CAPP) and the American Cancer Society join forces to showcase how coverage and accountable healthcare systems can improve survival and reduce morbidity for people living with complex conditions like cancer. Better Together Health 2017 featured stories of medical excellence and patient-centered care delivered by CAPP’s organized systems and medical groups, plus an exciting policy keynote and panel discussion featuring national physician leaders, policymakers and patient voices.
Syrian activists, journalists and bloggers will provided first-person accounts of the situation in Syria at a special forum on the Opening Day of the 21st Session of the United Nations Human Rights Council: Bearing Witness: Human Rights and Accountability in Syria.
Opening Statements by
Ms. Navanethem Pillay
United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
Ms. Laura Dupuy Lasserre
President of the United Nations Human Rights Council
Moderator
Mr. Riz Khan
International Television Journalist and Author
Panelists
Mr. Muhanad al-Hassani
Human Rights Defender, Syria
Mr. Amer Matar
Syrian Journalist
Mr. Mohammad Abdallah
Syrian Journalist and Blogger in Exile
Ms. Lotte Leicht
Director, Human Rights Watch, Brussels Office
JUBA, 31 MAY 2023: The Human Rights Division of the UN Peacekeeping mission, UNMISS, hosted a consultation on promoting accountability and identifying key challenges within the justice system in Central Equatoria state. The forum brought together representatives from the local government, human rights institutions, civil society organizations, and justice actors. The objective is creating a space to enhance common.
understanding on the importance of human rights for all.
Photos by Isaac Billy/UNMISS
Better accountability, transparency and more detailed targets for climate action will be mandated under a new Climate Change Accountability Act.
Learn more: news.gov.bc.ca/20903
Kiribati: Access and mobility for people with disabilities is already challenging in the Pacific, but it's even harder during disasters and the chaotic aftermath. UNFPA has been able to contribute to the disater plans for countries like Kiribati by preparing kits that are adapted to the needs of people with disabilities.
@UNFPA/Carly Learson
The DeKalb Recorders Court is in line for a major shake up following the recent grand jury investigation that found a crisis of leadership, lack of accountability and pervasive staffing and physical problems at the court.
CEO Burrell Ellis said his administration is already making changes at the court that processes more than 230,000 traffic and misdemeanor citations a year and that he will install new leadership when Chief Judge R. Joy Walker’s current four-year term ends on Dec. 31.
“I agree with the grand jury that we need new leadership at the court,” he said Tuesday.
But on other issues pertaining to technology improvements, and renovations and expansion of the court, he said he did not want to be pinned down now about what might or might not be include in his proposed 2010 budget.
“We are considering all options at this point,” he said.
Ellis said that he and the Board of Commissioners will work collaboratively to address the concerns raised in the grand jury report and that Public Safety director William Miller is already at work clarifying the management and leadership issues raised by the grand jury.
DeKalb Commissioner Sharon Barnes Sutton, who chairs the BOC’s Public Safety Committee, said she is anticipating a complete overhaul of the Recorder’s Court and is now scouring the grand jury’s recommendations to come up with policies that will eliminate the Court’s problems.
“We are going one by one at these recommendations,” she said. “At this point, it is still a work in progress. It is not a fast process.”
Barnes Sutton, who represents District 4, said many of the grand jury’s recommendations will require expenditures at a time when the county is cutting back in the face of declining revenues, but that changes at the Court has to be a top priority.
“It is something that has to be addressed,” she said. “We have to make it work.”
The court, which collects fines for traffic and code violations, projects revenues of $21.4 million in 2009. But Barnes Sutton cautions that while it is tempting to view Recorder’s Court as a revenue source, that it is court of law.
“We can’t look at every ticket as revenue,” she said.
If the Court is operating properly, the District Four Commissioner said the county will have a more realistic expectation of its operations.
The grand jury investigation came in the wake of recent indictments of three former Recorders Court employees for a ticket-fixing scam while they worked at the court; a study that found an estimated $20 million in uncollected revenue since 2000, and chronic long lines, crowded and cramped conditions at the court on Camp Circle in Decatur.
It found widespread breakdown in the court’s operations and identified a failure to address ticket fixing inside the court, exercise due diligence, adequately account for funds, follow the law and properly assess fines and enforce warrants.
Walker, who has been the chief judge since 2002 declined to speak about the report.
“Unfortunately, I am forbidden by the current administration from making any statements to the press,” she said in an e-mail.
Even though Ellis said Walker was mistaken about being forbidden to speak to a reporter, he did not give her permission to speak.
Instead in an Oct. 21 email, his communication director Shelia Trapier Edwards said that Ellis is preparing responses to the issues raised by the grand jury report.
“He wanted me to remind you that prior to issuing their report, the grand jury interviewed Judge Walker and the information obtained from her was utilized in drafting their report,” she said.
Ellis promised to provide a copy of his responses once it has been submitted to the grand jury.
Competency of leadership
In its report to DeKalb Superior Court judges at the end of its term in August, the grand jury said the Recorder’s Court’s “dysfunctional organization” precluded it from being able “to clearly fix accountability and responsibility.”
It said the employer-employee relationship between Walker and Clerk of Court Joyce Head makes it impossible “to determine where the Clerk of Court’s role and duties begin and end versus that of the Chief Judge.”
It pointed out that the current relationship between the two officials, who are both appointed by the Board of Commissioners on the CEO’s recommendations, violates DeKalb County Code, which sets the chief judge’s primary duty as the oversight of the adjudication process, and requires the clerk to keep all records of the Court, collect all costs, fines and forfeitures and remit the same within 72 hours to county’s director of finance.
“We are unable to conclude why the Clerk’s duties and responsibilities had become a part of the Chief Judge’s overall duties,” it said.
The grand jury identified the following factors it said have given rise to how important it will be address the “competency of leadership and management at the court”:
Series of failures
- Failure to address ticket fixing inside the Recorder’s Court:
The grand jury said the testimony of the Chief Judge and the Clerk provided no assurances that there had been any policy, procedural or security measures taken by the Court after the indictment of some employees for “ticket fixing.”
“The Chief Judge indicated that she had not contacted anyone concerning the matter and that no one had contacted her,” the report said. “Clearly no ‘check and balance’ system was in place at the time of the alleged criminal actions, and frankly, the grand jury finds it deleterious for the head of Recorder’s Court to fail to take any initiative, action or corrective step once her former employees were implicated.
“These corrective actions should also have included a means to better supervise probation collections to make sure no wrongdoing occurs at that point in the process.”
- Failure to exercise due dilgence:
“We are unable to understand why the Chief Judge would dismiss more than 11,000 warrants of probationers solel;y upon the recommendation of JCS probation service therby resulting in a loss of revenue (fees and fines) to the County estimated to be $2.7 million.
- Failure to adequately account for funds:
The investigation found undeposited checks amounting to more than $3.5 million that were held Recorder’s Court for more than 16 months.
“When we posed questions to the Clerk of Court as to the reasons why probation checks that were received from the previous probation company were held and not deposited, her response was they were held so the checks could be reconciled to the indvidual probationer’s file.
“However, this same documentation indicated that less than 10 percent of the probation activities were properly posted to individual defendant’s cases.
- Failure to follow the law and properly assess fines/fees:
The grand jury found that the Court was not collecting from defendants and depositing the correct fees in the Sheriff’s Retirement Fund, despite a 2004 change in the law that increased the amount from $1 to $2. It said that Recorder’s Court was still only submitting $1 to the fund despite the training the Clerk received. It also said that the monies being paid into the fund were coming from other sources, but not actually being assessed to the individual defendants resulting in loss to the county.
“We are unable to estimate how much DeKalb may owe this fund or why the delay in paying $2 into the fund,” it said.
- Technology, technology, technology:
The grand jury said the Court’s existing SAS computer system produced unreliable data but it was unable to determine if the unreliable data is due to lack of training of staff or if the system lacks the capacity to handle the volume of information. It said the fact that a former clerk from a county with similar caseload as DeKalb Recorder’s Court praised the SAS system, leads it to think the problem in DeKalb may be untrained or improperly trained staff and not the system.
- Failure to appear in court and warrants enforcement
The grand jury called for improvements for these functions of the court. It asked for a letter to be developed and mailed to any citizen who fails to appear and or pay their fines to the court. It said the the letter should inform the citizen that a warrant may be issued or their driver’s license may be suspended if the matter is not resolved. It said the Chief Judge said such a letter was tried as pilot program and resulted in 20 percent return.
“The grand jury is of the opinion that 20 percent is far better than zero percent and would encourage the Court to reconsider its refusal to institute this program.”
- Physical structure:
The Grant Jury recommends refurbishment of the current courthouse and that a fourth courtroom be acquired and staffed so that all full-time judges have a courtroom.
“There is need for considerable cleaning and painting of the facility,” it said.
- Inadequate oversight by internal audit
The grand jury said that audits of the Recorder’s Court in 2005, 2006 and 2007 by the DeKalb County Internal Audit Division were insufficient and had allowed the problems at the court to exacerbate.
“We recommend future audits be far more comprehensive and thorough.”
Noting that it had spent considerable time reviewing Recorder’s Court, the grand jury said it would be greatly disappointed “to see our work end up in a file drawer gathering dust.”
“As importantly, Recorder’s Court requires the attention of the CEO and the County Commission,” it said.
Posted By Norman Reedus (Daryl Dixon) – The Walking Dead Season 6: 10 Questions We’re Asking After ‘Always Accountable’ t.co/3FlXEPd3mc #DarylDixon #TWD #NormanReedus #TheWalkingDead November 20, 2015 at 12:43AM
Source: walkingdead.affiliatebrowser.com/the-walking-dead-season-...
March Organizer call for Police accountability: "185 people killed by the NYPD in the last 15 years and ZERO convictions"
© Erik Mc Gregor - erikrivas@hotmail.com - 917-225-8963
Better accountability, transparency and more detailed targets for climate action will be mandated under a new Climate Change Accountability Act.
Learn more: news.gov.bc.ca/20903
Army Disaster Personnel Accountability and Assessment System (ADPAAS)
In the event that a manmade or a natural disaster affects the
Soldiers, civilians and dependents assigned to the 1st Mission Support
Command, Commanders Representatives (COR) must commence accountability
and assessment process using the procedures established by the ADPAAS.
This is to ensure the wellness and status of the 1stMSC personnel to determine the need for assistance. This is also done to safeguard our capabilities from the effects of a natural or manmade disaster; in order to deploy capabilities in support of civil authorities within Puerto Rico to assist.
From 29 August thru 8 September 2011, the ADPAAS Team (Ms. Mercedes Torres
Medina (ADPASS Manager) and SFC Luis A. Camacho Leon (ADPASS Alternate
Manager) visited the US Army Reserve units throughout the island and trained 38 Commanders' Representatives (COR).
These COR are the Subject Matter Experts at the Regional Support Group/Bn/unit level and are capable to train their Soldiers in the use of the ADPAAS. If necessary they can train and assign other COR’s as well.
At the end, the Army Disaster personnel Accountability and Assessment System is another way through which the US Army Reserve in Puerto Rico and the 1stMSC takes care of its soldiers, civilians and family members.
The Inspection Panel is completing 25 years in its role, as an accountability mechanism of the World Bank. As you are aware, the Bank’s failure to comply with its operating policies was seen by the entire world in the Bank’s financing with the Sardar Sarovar Dam project on River Narmada. The tenacity of massive grass-roots uprisings from our communities in the 80’s and the sustained hard work of our social movements along with our resoluteness to link it with international coalitions to question the hegemony of the Bank, subsequently led the Bank, for the first time, to commission an independent review of its project. The Independent Review Committee (Morse Committee) constituted by the Bank in 1991 to review the social and environmental costs and benefits of the dam, after years of consistent struggle by Narmada Bachao Andolan (Save Narmada Movement) and its allies led to a demand from the civil society around the globe for the creation of a grievance redressal system for project-affected communities, which ultimately pressurized the Bank to constitute the Inspection Panel in 1993. We expected this might be a crucial backstop and an opportunity for us to raise our issues of livelihoods, economic loss, displacement from our lands, alienation from natural resources, destruction of environment and threat to our biodiversity and cultural hotspots, where Bank invested in large, supposedly ‘development’ projects like mega dams, energy and other infrastructure projects. Yet, the outcome we expected rarely delivered sufficient remedy for the harm and losses people have experienced over the years.
A number of accountability mechanisms over the next couple of decades in several development finance institutions were formed following the model of World Bank, commonly known as ‘Independent Accountability Mechanisms’[IAMs]. Each year the number of complaints rise which is an indication of the increasing number of grievous projects happening around the world. While IAMs of most MDBs are advertised to provide strong and just processes, many of our experiences imply that the banks are accommodating practices which suit their own needs and their clients, which are borrowing countries and agencies, and not the people for whom the IAMs were built to serve.
Many a time, we have been disappointed by these mechanisms, since these are designed by the banks who are lending for disastrous projects in our lands. And as a result, the already existing narrow mandate of IAMs is further restricted.
In our efforts to hold the lending bank accountable, the communities are always presented with the arduous process of learning the complex formalities and detailed procedures to initially approach the IAMs and get our grievances registered. Our many years’ time and energy then is channelised into seeing through the various cycles of these complaint handling mechanisms, that our entire efforts go into this process, and often our complaint gets dropped off in midst of the procedural rules of the IAMs. People are made to wait many months to clear procedural levels and our cases with the IAMs get highly unpredictable. Further, we face intimidation and reprisals from the state and project agencies for having contacted the IAMs who themselves do not possess any authority to address the violations hurled out to us when we seek dignity, fair treatment and justice from them. There are many of us who feel a loss of morale after long years of struggling with lenders when we fail to see concrete benefits or changes in our circumstances, by which time considerable irreplaceable harm is already done to our lives, environment and livelihoods.
In this manner, our immediate and larger goal of holding banks for their failure to consult with and obtain consent from communities before devising action plans for our lands, water and forests is deflected in the pretext of problem-solving and grievance hearing offered to us in the name of IAMs.
With over 50 registered complaints sent to different IAMS from India in the past 25 years, many more left unregistered due to technical reasons and only a few got investigated, assessed and monitored at different levels, we have a baggage of mixed experiences with the IAMs. A few of the prominent cases from India apart from Narmada project are Vishnugad Pipalkoti Hydro Electric Project [WB’s IP], Tata Mega Ultra-01/Mundra and Anjar [IFC’s CAO & ADB’s CRP], India Infrastructure Fund-01/Dhenkanal District [IFC’s CAO], Allain Duhangan Hydro Power Limited-01/Himachal Pradesh [IFC’s CAO] and Mumbai Urban Transport Project (2009) [WB’s IP].
As we now know, what is being witnessed recently is an influx of approved and proposed investments majorly in energy, transport, steel, roads, urban projects, bullet trains, industrial zones/corridors, smart cities, water privatization and other mega projects in India. This has been financed from different multilateral and bilateral sources, foreign corporations, private banks as well as Export-Import Banks (ExIm Banks). It has become a brutal challenge for communities, social movements and CSOs, with lenders and governments constantly shutting their eyes and ears to us who demand accountability for their actions. A compelling and timely need has arisen among diverse groups amongst us to gather together and critically analyze the various trajectories of our engagements with accountability mechanisms of MDBs in order to bring together past 25 years’ learning, insights and reflections of various actors of this accountability process. This urging demand is also an attempt to define the collective experiences in India among our social movements, projected-affected communities and CSOs with IAMs and lending banks, especially appropriating the global political opportunity of Inspection Panel celebrating its 25 years this year.
Speakers:
Thomas Franco, Former General Secretary, AlI India Bank Officers’ Confederation
Arun Kumar, Eminent scholar, Former Professor Jawaharlal Nehru University
C.P. Chandrashekar, Economist, Professor Centre for Economic Studies and Planning, Jawaharlal Nehru University
Sucheta Dalal, Managing Editor, Moneylife
Soumya Dutta, National Convener, Bharat Jan Vigyan Jatha
Dunu Roy, Hazards Center, New Delhi
Medha Patkar, Senior Activist, Narmada Bachao Andolan
Tani Alex, Centre for Financial Accountability
M J Vijayan, Activist and Political commentator
Joe Athialy, Centre for Financial Accountability
Anirudha Nagar, Accountability Counsel
Madhuresh Kumar, National Alliance of People’s Movements
A J Vijayan, Chairperson, Western Ghats and Coastal area Protection Forum
Meera Sanghamitra, National Aliance of People’s Movements
Vimal bhai, Matu Jan Sangathan, Uttarakhand
Daniel Adler, Senior Specialist, Compliance Advisor Ombudsman
Joe Athialy, Centre for Financial Accountability
Birgit Kuba, Operations Officer, Inspection Panel
Anuradha Munshi, Centre for Financial Accountability
Bharat Patel, General Secretary, Machimar Adhikar Sangharsh Sangathan,Gujarat
Awadhesh Kumar, Srijan Lokhit Samiti
Amulya Kumar Nayak, Odisha Chas Parivesh Surekhsa Parishad, Odisha
Dr. Usha Ramanathan, Legal Scholar
Manshi Asher, Himdhara Environment Research and Action Collective, Himachal Pradesh
The Center For Total Health, Washington DC
May 24, 2017
The Council of Accountable Physician Practices (CAPP) and the American Cancer Society join forces to showcase how coverage and accountable healthcare systems can improve survival and reduce morbidity for people living with complex conditions like cancer. Better Together Health 2017 featured stories of medical excellence and patient-centered care delivered by CAPP’s organized systems and medical groups, plus an exciting policy keynote and panel discussion featuring national physician leaders, policymakers and patient voices.
Better accountability, transparency and more detailed targets for climate action will be mandated under a new Climate Change Accountability Act.
Learn more: news.gov.bc.ca/20903
Do you ever wonder why nearly all disposable and reusable water bottles are round? I’ve always disliked that since they’re big and bulky and take up so a lot area in my bag. As people are moving away from the disposable, single use bottles, reusable ones are popping up more and far more and abs...
www.housedecorating-ideas.com/a-slim-environmentally-acco...
Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Commission (JMEC) Chairman, H.E. Festus Mogae, outlined the three defining questions that face South Sudan – Peace, Relief and Inclusivity
At the opening of JMEC’s plenary meeting on 15th March 17 in Juba, the Chairman said, “Whether by design or default, a war is being waged around this country and the security and humanitarian situation continues to deteriorate.”
“How do we stop the fighting? How do we stop innocent people dying of starvation? And how do we ensure that the interests and concerns of all South Sudanese communities are fully represented and considered?
Regarding the new reports of and intense fighting between the government forces and the SPLA in Opposition in Fangak and the Equatoria, with worst incidents reported in and around Kajo-keji, the chairperson of the JMEC, Festus Mogae, said there must be “accountability for these violations.”
“It is not acceptable and I strongly condemn the violence, the killings, the human rights abuses and the destruction of homes by all armed groups across this country,” lamented Festus Mogae
“Those responsible must be held accountable,” he stressed.
Photo:UNMISS/Isaac Billy
Upon founding the Light Foundation, Matt dreamed about starting a camp where young men could learn lifelong skills that would help them be R.E.A.L (Responsible, Ethical, Accountable, Leaders). For its 10th consecutive year, the Light Foundation’s premier program, Camp Vohokase has done just that.
Each year, Matt chooses four incoming high school freshmen from an at-risk community and asks them to commit the next four years to our leadership program, which includes 10 days at Chenoweth Trails each summer. There are always 18 boys in camp, four from each grade level, with each group coming from a different part of the country. Those locations, all with a connect to the Light Foundation, include Greenville, Ohio, where Matt grew up; Woonsocket, Rhode Island, close to where Matt holds his signature fundraising event; New Orleans, Louisiana, where a like-minded charity had asked for help; West Lafayette, Indiana, where Matt attended Purdue; Gloucester, Worcester and New Bedford, Massachusetts, all close to where Matt played during his NFL years; Hammond, Indiana, where Matt’s wife Susie grew up and identified a need for support; and new this year, Washington D.C, where the treasurer of the board resides.
The young men are required to keep good academic standing, complete a yearly community service project back home, and check in with our head counselors on a frequent basis. Program Director Edgar Flores tracks the kids’ progress year-round. He also does quarterly visits in order to foster the ongoing relationship between the campers, their class, and the foundation. By interacting with them in their own space, we can learn more about their behaviors and how those connect with their personal situations. By entering their homes, we often have the chance to stand as a united front with their parents or guardians in ensuring they’re doing exactly what they need to do to succeed. These visits are critical in reassuring to the young men that we are committed to them and serve as a true support system and not just a summer camp counselor. Not to mention, we have a lot of fun! They bond over some good grub and connect about what’s going on in their lives at that moment. Past day trips during a visit have included: Dave & Buster’s, paint balling, laser tag, amusement parks, farms, and bowling. We do try and balance the fun with more educational opportunities like volunteer community service projects, visiting local museums, or making a college visit for some of our juniors and seniors.
In return of having a good academic standing, the campers spend ten days among nature enjoying all that our beautiful facility has to offer whether it be skeet shooting, woodworking, canoeing, archery, fishing, dirt biking, etc. Despite all the fun we have here, the young men are responsible for daily chores, site visits to area businesses, and the completion of a service project around Darke County. Each night of the stay is reserved for fireside chats. These chats are structured to help create a dialogue about the very real and difficult issues these young boys face back home.
For a lot of these kids, all they need is an opportunity. We use the outdoors as a real teaching tool and a way to get kids to open up. And with us, these kids aren’t given anything. We make them work for everything they achieve. But through that they understand and value hard work, they learn work ethic, and they become proud of what they do, and want to share their accomplishments. Our hope is that after four years, each young man graduates from the program ready to become leaders in their own communities, equipped with the necessary tools and a heart for service.
In the past 11 years, 30 at-risk young men have graduated from Vohokase Cultural Leadership Camp with the tools to tap into their greatest potential as people and community leaders.
The envisaged EU banking supervision rules must be of good quality and provide for accountability. However the member states' current preferences for establishing them risk sending the wrong message, as well as perpetuating inefficiencies, warned the Parliament in a resolution approved on Thursday.
The resolution comes a day after the Commission tabled two proposals to reinforce banking supervision. It sets out some of the key concerns that MEPs want to see addressed in decisions shaping the system.
The resolution also highlights certain points of substance which should be considered in the debate on how to enact banking supervision. An important one concerns bank recapitalisations, which, the resolution suggests, could be carried out by the European Stability Mechanism (ESM). A second is the need to devise a system which will be able to address any spillover effects on non-Eurozone members stemming from the creation of a Eurozone banking union.
www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?type=MOTION&re...
This photo is copyright free, but must be credited: "© European Union 2012 - European Parliament". (Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs Creative Commons license). For HR files please contact: webcom-flickr(AT)europarl.europa.eu
The Inspection Panel is completing 25 years in its role, as an accountability mechanism of the World Bank. As you are aware, the Bank’s failure to comply with its operating policies was seen by the entire world in the Bank’s financing with the Sardar Sarovar Dam project on River Narmada. The tenacity of massive grass-roots uprisings from our communities in the 80’s and the sustained hard work of our social movements along with our resoluteness to link it with international coalitions to question the hegemony of the Bank, subsequently led the Bank, for the first time, to commission an independent review of its project. The Independent Review Committee (Morse Committee) constituted by the Bank in 1991 to review the social and environmental costs and benefits of the dam, after years of consistent struggle by Narmada Bachao Andolan (Save Narmada Movement) and its allies led to a demand from the civil society around the globe for the creation of a grievance redressal system for project-affected communities, which ultimately pressurized the Bank to constitute the Inspection Panel in 1993. We expected this might be a crucial backstop and an opportunity for us to raise our issues of livelihoods, economic loss, displacement from our lands, alienation from natural resources, destruction of environment and threat to our biodiversity and cultural hotspots, where Bank invested in large, supposedly ‘development’ projects like mega dams, energy and other infrastructure projects. Yet, the outcome we expected rarely delivered sufficient remedy for the harm and losses people have experienced over the years.
A number of accountability mechanisms over the next couple of decades in several development finance institutions were formed following the model of World Bank, commonly known as ‘Independent Accountability Mechanisms’[IAMs]. Each year the number of complaints rise which is an indication of the increasing number of grievous projects happening around the world. While IAMs of most MDBs are advertised to provide strong and just processes, many of our experiences imply that the banks are accommodating practices which suit their own needs and their clients, which are borrowing countries and agencies, and not the people for whom the IAMs were built to serve.
Many a time, we have been disappointed by these mechanisms, since these are designed by the banks who are lending for disastrous projects in our lands. And as a result, the already existing narrow mandate of IAMs is further restricted.
In our efforts to hold the lending bank accountable, the communities are always presented with the arduous process of learning the complex formalities and detailed procedures to initially approach the IAMs and get our grievances registered. Our many years’ time and energy then is channelised into seeing through the various cycles of these complaint handling mechanisms, that our entire efforts go into this process, and often our complaint gets dropped off in midst of the procedural rules of the IAMs. People are made to wait many months to clear procedural levels and our cases with the IAMs get highly unpredictable. Further, we face intimidation and reprisals from the state and project agencies for having contacted the IAMs who themselves do not possess any authority to address the violations hurled out to us when we seek dignity, fair treatment and justice from them. There are many of us who feel a loss of morale after long years of struggling with lenders when we fail to see concrete benefits or changes in our circumstances, by which time considerable irreplaceable harm is already done to our lives, environment and livelihoods.
In this manner, our immediate and larger goal of holding banks for their failure to consult with and obtain consent from communities before devising action plans for our lands, water and forests is deflected in the pretext of problem-solving and grievance hearing offered to us in the name of IAMs.
With over 50 registered complaints sent to different IAMS from India in the past 25 years, many more left unregistered due to technical reasons and only a few got investigated, assessed and monitored at different levels, we have a baggage of mixed experiences with the IAMs. A few of the prominent cases from India apart from Narmada project are Vishnugad Pipalkoti Hydro Electric Project [WB’s IP], Tata Mega Ultra-01/Mundra and Anjar [IFC’s CAO & ADB’s CRP], India Infrastructure Fund-01/Dhenkanal District [IFC’s CAO], Allain Duhangan Hydro Power Limited-01/Himachal Pradesh [IFC’s CAO] and Mumbai Urban Transport Project (2009) [WB’s IP].
As we now know, what is being witnessed recently is an influx of approved and proposed investments majorly in energy, transport, steel, roads, urban projects, bullet trains, industrial zones/corridors, smart cities, water privatization and other mega projects in India. This has been financed from different multilateral and bilateral sources, foreign corporations, private banks as well as Export-Import Banks (ExIm Banks). It has become a brutal challenge for communities, social movements and CSOs, with lenders and governments constantly shutting their eyes and ears to us who demand accountability for their actions. A compelling and timely need has arisen among diverse groups amongst us to gather together and critically analyze the various trajectories of our engagements with accountability mechanisms of MDBs in order to bring together past 25 years’ learning, insights and reflections of various actors of this accountability process. This urging demand is also an attempt to define the collective experiences in India among our social movements, projected-affected communities and CSOs with IAMs and lending banks, especially appropriating the global political opportunity of Inspection Panel celebrating its 25 years this year.
Speakers:
Thomas Franco, Former General Secretary, AlI India Bank Officers’ Confederation
Arun Kumar, Eminent scholar, Former Professor Jawaharlal Nehru University
C.P. Chandrashekar, Economist, Professor Centre for Economic Studies and Planning, Jawaharlal Nehru University
Sucheta Dalal, Managing Editor, Moneylife
Soumya Dutta, National Convener, Bharat Jan Vigyan Jatha
Dunu Roy, Hazards Center, New Delhi
Medha Patkar, Senior Activist, Narmada Bachao Andolan
Tani Alex, Centre for Financial Accountability
M J Vijayan, Activist and Political commentator
Joe Athialy, Centre for Financial Accountability
Anirudha Nagar, Accountability Counsel
Madhuresh Kumar, National Alliance of People’s Movements
A J Vijayan, Chairperson, Western Ghats and Coastal area Protection Forum
Meera Sanghamitra, National Aliance of People’s Movements
Vimal bhai, Matu Jan Sangathan, Uttarakhand
Daniel Adler, Senior Specialist, Compliance Advisor Ombudsman
Joe Athialy, Centre for Financial Accountability
Birgit Kuba, Operations Officer, Inspection Panel
Anuradha Munshi, Centre for Financial Accountability
Bharat Patel, General Secretary, Machimar Adhikar Sangharsh Sangathan,Gujarat
Awadhesh Kumar, Srijan Lokhit Samiti
Amulya Kumar Nayak, Odisha Chas Parivesh Surekhsa Parishad, Odisha
Dr. Usha Ramanathan, Legal Scholar
Manshi Asher, Himdhara Environment Research and Action Collective, Himachal Pradesh
Current weight: 148
I started going to the gym this past weekend. I've done water aerobics, started working with a trainer, and have tried to eat better.
I hope that I'm able to get results.
2022-10-06: Dieudonne Boenga, Private Sector Development, and Job Creation Support Project, DRC interacts with the officials during the CSO forum.
This image is excerpted from a U.S. Government Accountability Office report, available here: www.gao.gov/products/GAO-11-26
Better accountability, transparency and more detailed targets for climate action will be mandated under a new Climate Change Accountability Act.
Learn more: news.gov.bc.ca/20903
John Ellis of The Pittsburgh Foundation attends the symposium about the role of universities in supporting local accountability journalism. Photo by Molly J. Smith.
Accountable Care Organizations and Competition Policy
January 24, 2011, 12:00pm -1:30pm
To view a video of this event, click here: http://www.americanprogress.org//events/2011/01/aco.html
The Affordable Care Act provides an opportunity to create integrated, cost effective, high quality health care systems for Medicare recipients—and eventually all Americans—through the creation of Accountable Care Organizations, or ACOs. One of the most challenging questions facing ACOs is how to provide integration without sacrificing competition and the decreased cost and increased quality it produces. The Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services, the Federal Trade Commission, and the Department of Justice have already been carefully scrutinizing these issues. Will some ACOs threaten competition and eventually raise costs for consumers? To what extent can ACOs overcome the barriers set up by current antitrust regulation? How should the lessons from health care reform educate the role of antitrust enforcement and regulation? How should we approach health care antitrust issues in an era of ACOs?
We were joined for a discussion of these and other questions related to implementing the Accountable Care Act in a way that enhances competition, provides better care, and lowers costs.
Miatta Mulbah is currently an accountapreneur with the Accountability Lab. In Liberia, many young girls engage in commercial sex in order to survive or to pay for school. Miatta’s vision is “a Liberia where teenage girls are not exposed or forced into harmful practices that endanger their health or their future.” Through her organization Leemah, Miatta is using music and street theater to advocate for and raise awareness among girls in Montserrado and Margibi counties, ages 11-25, who face challenges of sexual violence, abuse, poverty. Leemah strives to change the mindsets vulnerable Liberian girls, and the broader community, to understand their rights and responsibilities as citizens and to rethink their future.
The Future Generation Bill and The Sustainabe Development Bill - Wales.
Long term Perspective Needed
The World Futures Council has been working to promote and develop these structures at all levels of governance over the past 3 years. The function can be interpreted in different ways but essentially has the mandate to:
• Balance short term interests of political institutions with long term interests of society
• Take responsibility for making sure sustainability policies work in synergy and are effective in practice
• Bring authority to agreed sustainable development goals - holding governments and the private sector to account
• Provide space to share and inform others of analytical evidence and research
• Facilitate coherence between separate pillars of Government
• Connect citizens and civil society with the core of policymaking
There were six criteria defined as being essential in achieving a successful impact – being independent, proficient (in respect of capacity of multidisciplinary staff), transparent, legitimate (in terms of establishment within the democratic system), having full access to all relevant information, and being widely accessible to citizen concerns. www.cynnalcymru.com/blog/long-term-perspective-needed
World Future Council
Twitter: @Good_Policies
The World Future Council (WFC) consists of 50 respected personalities from all five continents. They represent governments, parliaments, the arts, civil society, academia and the business world. Together they form a voice for the rights of future generations. The World Future Council is a charitable foundation reliant on donations. www.worldfuturecouncil.org/about_us.html
World Futures Council - Twitter: @FutureJustice0
Decisions taken by politicians today will have a major influence on the world of tomorrow. www.futurejustice.org/about-us/
' Holding governments and the private sector to account '
Future Generations Bill: Better Choices for a Better Future
wales.gov.uk/topics/sustainabledevelopment/sdbill/?lang=en
Welsh sustainability law to be introduced in 2014 www.resource.uk.com/article/Waste_Law/Welsh_sustainabilit...
Twitter @nspugh twitter.com/nspugh
Mayor Bill de Blasio signs an NYPD accountability package, a comprehensive set of reforms including Intros 487-A, 536-B, 721-B, 760-B, 1309-B, 1962-A, after helping paint the new Black Lives Matter mural in the Bronx. Morris Avenue between 161st and 162nd Street, Bronx. Wednesday, July 15, 2020. Credit: Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office.
This photograph is provided by the New York City Mayoral Photography Office (MPO) for the benefit of the general public and for dissemination by members of the media. The photograph may not be manipulated in any way and may not be used in commercial materials, advertisements, emails, products or promotions that in any way suggests approval or endorsement of the City of New York, the Mayoral administration, or the de Blasio family without prior consent from the MPO (PhotoOffice@cityhall.nyc.gov). Any use or reprinting of official MPO photographs must use the following credit language and style: “Photographer/Mayoral Photography Office”, as listed at the end of each caption.
After giving a very insightful lecture on information management and the US occupation of Iraq, Mark Bernstein holds up the iPhone while answering a question about the kinds of government accountability that result from widely-available cameras.
Mayor Bill de Blasio signs an NYPD accountability package, a comprehensive set of reforms including Intros 487-A, 536-B, 721-B, 760-B, 1309-B, 1962-A, after helping paint the new Black Lives Matter mural in the Bronx. Morris Avenue between 161st and 162nd Street, Bronx. Wednesday, July 15, 2020. Credit: Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office.
This photograph is provided by the New York City Mayoral Photography Office (MPO) for the benefit of the general public and for dissemination by members of the media. The photograph may not be manipulated in any way and may not be used in commercial materials, advertisements, emails, products or promotions that in any way suggests approval or endorsement of the City of New York, the Mayoral administration, or the de Blasio family without prior consent from the MPO (PhotoOffice@cityhall.nyc.gov). Any use or reprinting of official MPO photographs must use the following credit language and style: “Photographer/Mayoral Photography Office”, as listed at the end of each caption.
Mayor Bill de Blasio signs an NYPD accountability package, a comprehensive set of reforms including Intros 487-A, 536-B, 721-B, 760-B, 1309-B, 1962-A, after helping paint the new Black Lives Matter mural in the Bronx. Morris Avenue between 161st and 162nd Street, Bronx. Wednesday, July 15, 2020. Credit: Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office.
This photograph is provided by the New York City Mayoral Photography Office (MPO) for the benefit of the general public and for dissemination by members of the media. The photograph may not be manipulated in any way and may not be used in commercial materials, advertisements, emails, products or promotions that in any way suggests approval or endorsement of the City of New York, the Mayoral administration, or the de Blasio family without prior consent from the MPO (PhotoOffice@cityhall.nyc.gov). Any use or reprinting of official MPO photographs must use the following credit language and style: “Photographer/Mayoral Photography Office”, as listed at the end of each caption.
The quotation from Maclean's Magazine inspired me to create this poster. The Rubric's cube suggests just how puzzling things are in the PMO's office - our country is run by unelected people.
The Center For Total Health, Washington DC
May 24, 2017
The Council of Accountable Physician Practices (CAPP) and the American Cancer Society join forces to showcase how coverage and accountable healthcare systems can improve survival and reduce morbidity for people living with complex conditions like cancer. Better Together Health 2017 featured stories of medical excellence and patient-centered care delivered by CAPP’s organized systems and medical groups, plus an exciting policy keynote and panel discussion featuring national physician leaders, policymakers and patient voices.
Accountability Windmill 25-Pack Greeting Cards: Discover the impact of our cards! These greeting cards add beautiful imagery and motivational messages to your notes and will make a positive impression on everyone who receives them. Stock cards are blank inside for a personal message and packaged flat to imprint messages using your computer printer. Includes 25 envelopes.
DISCHARGE OF OIL PROHIBITED -- THE FEDERAL WATER POLLUTION CONTROL ACT PROHIBITS THE DISCHARGE OF OIL OR OILY WASTE INTO OR UPON THE NAVIGABLE WATERS OF THE UNITED STATES, OR THE WATERS OF THE CONTIGUOUS ZONE, OR WHICH MAY AFFECT NATURAL RESOURCES BELONGING TO, APPERTAINING TO, OR UNDER THE EXCLUSIVE MANAGEMENT AUTHORITY OF THE UNITED STATES, IF SUCH DISCHARGE CAUSES A FILM OR DISCOLORATION OF THE SURFACE OF THE WATER OR CAUSES A SLUDGE OR EMULSION BENEATH THE SURFACE OF THE WATER. VIOLATORS ARE SUBJECT TO SUBSTANTIAL CIVIL PENALTIES AND/OR CRIMINAL SANCTIONS INCLUDING FINES AND IMPRISONMENT.
This image is excerpted from a U.S. GAO report:
www.gao.gov/products/GAO-22-103910
Evidence-Based Policymaking: Survey Results Suggest Increased Use of Performance Information Across the Federal Government
Note: The use of performance information index score is an average of the results on 11 positively correlated survey questions related to the use of performance information for various management activities and decision-making. It runs from 1 to 5. A 1 reflects that managers reported they and others in their agency engage to "no extent" in the use of performance information for those activities. A 5 reflects to a "very great extent." Significant differences were assessed through statistical tests that account for survey design and weighting.