In this episode of Democracy That Delivers, we are joined by Peter Glover, Associate program Officer of CIPE's Anti-Corruption and Governance Center, and special guest Schuyler Miller. Miller recently returned from Trinity College in Dublin, where he completed his Master's Degree in International relations. He joins us to discuss the findings from his research dissertation on the relationship between international organizational input and financial disclosure reforms.
In this week's Democracy That Delivers, we are joined by José Raúl Perales, Deputy Director of the Global Alliance for Trade Facilitation (GATF) at CIPE. Perales and host Ken Jaques discuss the beginnings of GATF's work with CIPE, and how trade and the private sector can work better together. They also discuss the first project the team at CIPE has closed out, and the great successes that have come out of it in Colombia:
"It was a relatively small project, but the impact in monetary terms is 900% the investment that was made to implement the system."
Jose Raul Perales recently did a CIPE Insights video interview about some more projects GATF is currently working on. Check it out: https://www.cipe.org/newsroom/cipe-insights-with-jose-raul-perales/
"You need an infrastructure spine to build an economy," says guest Gyude Moore in this week's episode of Democracy That Delivers.
Gyude Moore is a Visiting Fellow at the Center for Global Development, and former Minister of Public Works for Liberia. He joins Ryan Musser, Program Officer for Africa at CIPE, and host Ken Jaques, in an insightful discussion on the vast field of infrastructure development. They discuss a number of issues, including the presence and practices of leading bilateral lender, China, as well as the current gaps in infrastructure in the African continent and how that impacts the economy.
Rick O'Sullivan joins host Ken Jaques and co-host Ryan Musser to continue their conversation about collective governance. During this session, they discuss the CAMP Matrix and its significance in explaining and understanding associations. Associations are not just about members. Members are only one of four core constituencies that associations need to engage to ensure their very survival. The other three, Customers, Allies, and Partners, are often overlooked but of equal importance to the success of an association.
This week on Democracy That Delivers, we are joined by Rick O'Sullivan, who joined us for episode #157 of DTD.
This podcast continues the conversation with co-host Ryan Musser, and host Ken Jaques. They examine the importance of civil society taking an active role in governing and not just advocating for government action through legislative or regulatory restraints. During their conversation, they link “third party governance” to self-sustaining CSO capacity, reducing corruption and countering the closing of civil society space.
Desmond Irabor is a Program Officer at Nigeria's field office. He has been involved in supporting and leading the implementation of numerous CIPE projects in Nigeria, that include:
We are joined by Ali Ayadi, CIPE’s Country Representative in Tunisia, to discuss the changing social, political and economic environment of the country. He and host Ken Jaques begin by discussing the recent passing of the late President of Tunisia, Beji Caid Essebsi. Ayadi then discusses some of the work CIPE does with partners such as the Jasmine Foundation and Institute Arabe des Chefs d’Entreprises (IACE) to help boost youth entrepreneurship in the country, and how the office has been working with government, business, civil society to help pass reforms. One of such initiatives focuses on corruption, and how to help the business community identify top priorities to introduce reforms, noting that corruption is part of what keeps young people from being included in their national economy.
Emily Crain joins us this week on Democracy That Delivers to discuss her recent trip in Geneva, Switzerland, where she attended the Centenary of the International Labour Organization (ILO). Part of the conversations at the conference included the discussion of the convention concerning the elimination of violence and harassment in the world of work. She describes the nuances of the convention with the tripartite system (government, private sector, and workers), and the resulting Convention 190.
Emily Crain is the Director of Fontheim International, LLC, where she manages client relationships and corporate social responsibility initiatives. She also manages programs of GlobalWorks Foundation.
This week on Democracy That Delivers, our host is Lars Benson, Regional Director of Africa for CIPE. We are joined by co-host Ryan Musser, Program Officer for Africa at CIPE, and Eric Olander, the founder of the China Africa Project (CAP). CAP is an independent, non-partisan media initiative dedicated to exploring every facet of China’s engagement in Africa. The CAP is now followed by more than a million people around the world, especially among policymakers in Beijing and Washington. Eric is also the co-host of the weekly China in Africa podcast that is now among the top-10% most downloaded shows worldwide. Eric provides nuanced insights into China and its actions both in Africa and around the world, and the three discuss China’s “corrosive” investments across the continent.
Jehan Ara is a long-time CIPE partner, FEDN member, and President of the Pakistan Software Houses Association for IT & ITES (P@SHA) based in Islamabad. Jehan is a motivator, an entrepreneur, a social activist and a strong propagator of extending the power and use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) beyond pure traditional business, to empower and enable communities.
In this episode, Jehan and CIPE's Regional Director for Global, Anna Kompanek, discuss some successes and challenges seen in Pakistan when it comes to advancing digital transformation of business, and the economy more broadly. They note that innovation and jobs increasingly depend on countries creating enabling environments for a digital economy.
To learn more about Jehan's work with P@SHA, please visit their website and their tech incubator's website, called The Nest i/o.
This week on Democracy That Delivers, we are joined remotely by author Richard C. Lyons. Lyons has been involved in printing, publishing, stage and television production throughout his professional career. His most recent work, "The DNA of Democracy," takes a historical look at the evolution of democracy through short essays differentiating distinct time periods. With host Ken Jaques, he discusses some valuable points about the current state of democracy, as well as what part independent businesses and corporations play in a democracy.
"The DNA of Democracy" is volume 1 of a 2 volume work. Volume 2, "The Shadows of the Acropolis", is forthcoming in 2020.
To learn more about the book and other works by Richard C. Lyons, please visit Lylea.com. "The DNA of Democracy" can be found wherever books are sold.
This week on Democracy That Delivers, we highlight CIPE's work in helping refugee populations in the MENA region, especially women, ahead of International Refugee Day on June 20th. Women comprise 49% of the Syrian refugees living outside of camps in Turkey, and more strikingly, 95% of Syrian refugees in Turkey are outside of camps. The Livelihoods Innovation through Food Entrepreneurship (LIFE) Project is an innovative approach to the humanitarian challenge of the Syrian refugee crisis, and benefits women who are disproportionately impacted by conflict.
In this episode, Barbara Langley, Director of CIPE's Center for Women's Economic Empowerment, and Marie Principe, Program Officer for MENA, recount stories of impact from the LIFE Project. They discuss how through the LIFE Project, the members, particularly the women, build confidence in public speaking and advocating for their product and themselves, and how they also build a sense of community with other women from different backgrounds.
Dr. Bijan Khajehpour is the managing partner of Eurasian Nexus Partners (Eunepa) – a Vienna-based strategy consulting firm. He has advised international companies on West Asian markets for more than two decades. He has also been involved in mediation and negotiations of international business and investment partnerships.
In this Democracy That Delivers podcast, along with Babak Yektafar, CIPE Senior Program Officer for MENA, he discusses the issue of corrupt networks in Iran, and how that affects the country’s population and harm the private sector.
“In the name of sanctions, all types of corrupt businesses are happening. It’s undermining the Iranian economy, it’s undermining the private sector, and it’s consolidating forces that are not constructive for Iran or for the region. It creates channels of goods and money that are hurting the regional economy.”
Zahid Jamil has over 20 years of experience a general law practitioner, where he specializes in technology (i.e. e-commerce, e-payments, and privacy), cybercrime and counterterrorism. Jamil has served as a cybercrime and cybersecurity consultant for the Council of Europe, the ITU-American Bar Association, the government of Pakistan, and is a member of the Commonwealth’s Cybercrime Experts working Group. He is a qualified barrister with primary practices in Pakistan and the UAE as a member of the Bar at the Dubai International Financial Center Court and the Bar of the Supreme Court of Pakistan, and serves as a Special Legal Consultant to the District of Columbia Court of Appeals. In these capacities, he has drafted numerous pieces of legislation relating to cybercrime and cybersecurity.
During this podcast, Jamil, along with Louisa Tomar, Program Officer, Global Programs, and host Ken Jaques, discuss trends in cybersecurity and cybercrime legislation around the globe. Jamil suggested ways to improve cyber readiness in countries still coming online and what small and medium-sized businesses can do to protect themselves. Tomar referenced CIPE’s Digital Economy Enabling Environment Guide: Key Areas of Dialogue for Business and Policymakers, which includes guidance for business and regulators on cybersecurity legislation.
This week on Democracy That Delivers, host Ken Jaques is joined by two experts in the field of “corrosive capital” in the Balkans. Martina Hrvolova is a Program Officer for Europe at CIPE, and Ruslan Stefanov is the Director of the Economic Program at the Center for the Study of Democracy (CSD) based in Bulgaria, a longstanding partner of CIPE. Stefanov is also a member of the Free Enterprise and Democracy Network (FEDN) through CIPE.
Stefanov and Hrvolova discuss CIPE’s corrosive capital work in the Balkans. Stefanov last joined Democracy That Delivers in the summer of 2018, where he, along with other partners CIPE has in the Balkans, presented the results of their work on Russia’s economic presence in the region. In the first phase of this project (2017-2018), CSD and other CIPE partners from Balkan civil society and media came together to create analyses of Russian economic footprint in the Western Balkans. The results were launched at a U.S. Congressional Helsinki Commission Briefing. Stefanov discusses the work they have accomplished in the last year, and what some of the main challenges and successes have been thus far.
What are some steps to ensure that civil society partners become self-sustaining? This is one of the key questions guests Lars Benson, Regional Director for Africa at CIPE, and Rick O'Sullivan, Principal of Change Management Solutions, aim to answer in this week's episode of Democracy That Delivers.
Lars discusses how CIPE works to promote good governance practices, then O'Sullivan describes what civil society's role in governance is, and how it has evolved.
“Good sustainability performance means good financial performance,” says Alison Taylor.
Alison Taylor, Managing Director for Sustainability Management at of BSR, joins us on Democracy That Delivers to discuss what business for social responsibility is, with CIPE’s ACGC Director, Frank Brown. Taylor shares her insight on how businesses can be encouraged to foster organizational cultures that are ethical and sustainable, as well as what incentivizes SMEs to change their behavior.
They also discuss BSR’s most famous report: “Five-Step Approach to Stakeholder Engagement,” originally published in 2011 but re-written to match the changed 2019 landscape. It discusses the reasons digital communication, international agreements and investor expectations makes stakeholder engagement more important than ever before.
To read the report, please visit:
https://www.bsr.org/en/our-insights/report-view/stakeholder-engagement-five-step-approach-toolkit
In this Democracy That Delivers podcast, host Ken Jaques is joined by Ryan Musser, Program Officer for Africa at CIPE, and Matthew McLean, Founder and President of Endsight Consulting. In this podcast, they discuss what the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) is, what it does, and what criteria MCC looks at when considering funding for countries.
McLean has worked with country governments such as Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Togo, and Niger, which has resulted in significant new funding for these countries by helping them qualify for MCC funding. Endsight Consulting is now releasing its "Country Performance Index" that ranks all 54 African countries on their attractiveness for private business and investment. McLean served 20 years in US Government service, including as a White House advisor in the Clinton and Bush administrations. He was also Chief of Staff and Vice President of MCC during its growth years from 2005-2009.
On this week's Democracy That Delivers, Ken Jaques is joined by CIPE Program Assistant for Europe, Connor Leach, and special guest, Rastko Petakovic. Petakovic is a Senior Partner at Karanovic Partners specializing in M&A (Mergers and Acquisitions), competition law, and business regulation. Petakovic is also a member of CIPE’s Free Enterprise and Democracy Network (FEDN) in Serbia.
Since 2018, CIPE has been working with Libertarian Club Libek (LIBEK), an independent Serbian economic think tank, to enhance public awareness of common economic misconceptions in Serbia by creating a guidebook that examines the underlying economic challenges and puts forward a series of corresponding recommendations. Moving forward, CIPE and its partners will continue their efforts to promote responsible economic policies in Serbia through an enhanced outreach campaign, including on Talas.rs a newly created portal for economic news analysis.
In this Democracy That Delivers podcast, we are joined by partner Jaime Arteaga of Jaime Arteaga and Associates, and CIPE Regional Director for Latin America, John Zemko. Together they discuss their joint project with the Observatory, where an analysis has been developed on the private sector's role in post-conflict zones. Arteaga and Zemko highlight a few post-conflict regions where companies are investing and the feedback this work is receiving. Arteaga also discusses how companies are moving from agricultural work to commercial exchange and tourism in regions where safety has significantly improved.
For more information on the project, be sure to check out the "Guide for Responsible Investment in Post-Conflict Zones." It captures the expertise CIPE has in corporate governance and social investment. This guidebook, unlike others, is aimed at Board of Directors and what they should be thinking before investing in a post-conflict zone.
Putin’s Dark Ecosystem is a report that Brian Whitmore, a Senior Fellow & Director of the Russia Program at the Center for European Policy Analysis (CEPA), is currently developing. This report is aimed at answering the question: Why do Russian malign influence campaigns work better in some places than others?
On this Democracy that Delivers podcast, Brian Whitmore joins co-hosts Eric Hontz, CIPE’s Program Officer for Eurasia, and Martina Hrvolova, CIPE’s Program Officer for Europe, along with our host Ken Jaques. Together this group of experts discusses Russian malign influence campaigns and how they are developed to undermine democracies and lead people to not trust their institutions in order to achieve foreign policy goals. Russian influence campaigns work in nations that have vulnerabilities such as corruption or polarization, which make populations more susceptible to Russian propaganda and messaging. All thoughts and opinions of guests are their own, and do not represent CIPE's position.
This week on Democracy That Delivers, host Ken Jaques is joined by CIPE’s Gibson Haynes, and James Reston, a Washington, DC-based researcher, whose work focuses on human rights, corruption, internet freedom, and security. They define some of the risks that the LGBTI+ community face, as well as the intersection between discrimination and corruption. Some topics of discussion include: how inclusive workplaces have higher rates of employee engagement, how criminalization or low levels of protection lead to economic losses and less foreign direct investment, and some solutions for international corporations as well as local businesses moving forward.
Read James’ blog contribution “LGBTI+ Rights and Corruption: What’s the Connection?”
For International Women’s History Month, Democracy That Delivers will feature podcasts for CIPE’s Center for Women’s Economic Empowerment every week of March.
Jacqueline Muna Musiitwa, Esq. is an ICT4D expert focused on East African trade and development. Jacqueline most recently served as the Executive Director of Financial Sector Deepening Uganda committed to improving financial market access and competitiveness. Jacqueline also founded and served as Managing Partner of Hoja Law Group and worked in executive-level positions in various African financial institutions including the Central Bank of Zambia. Jacqueline holds a Bachelor of Arts from Davidson College and a Juris Doctor from the University of Melbourne. She frequently speaks at conferences and opines in the media outlets such as the Financial Times, NPR, CNBC Africa, and others on matters related to investment in Africa. Her most recent article on Project Syndicate Banking on Refugees discusses uses of new technology for financial inclusion of refugees.
During this podcast, Musiitwa, along with Louisa Tomar, Program Officer, Global Programs, and host Ken Jaques, discuss East and Southern Africa’s e-commerce readiness, financial inclusion, the digital gender divide, and opportunities and barriers to the 4th industrial revolution in Africa. Jacqueline previously shared her expertise with CIPE at the launch of the Digital Economy Enabling Environment Guide: Key Areas of Dialogue for Business and Policymakers in November 2018.
Women encounter similar struggles in both political organizations and business associations when attempting to enter these heavily male-dominated structures. Sandra Pepera Director for Gender, Women, and Democracy at the National Democratic Institute (NDI) is an advocate for gender mainstreaming women into positions of leadership, especially in politics and business.
On this episode of Democracy that Delivers, Sandra Pepera joins Barbara Langley, Director of CIPE’s Center for Women’s Economic Empowerment, and host Ken Jaques, to talk about broader inclusion dynamics in politics and business. Sandra emphasizes that women represent a multitude of identities because women are 50% of all marginalized populations. Unfortunately, women, especially young women and women of color, often become victims of cyberbullying when expressing their political views online. Women leaders are particularly vulnerable to the weaponization of social media, but as we continue to challenge gender roles and expectations we can change the attitude and response towards women leadership.