How do you involve citizen reporters to Identify potential fraud or waste before funds leave your organization. Will interest you if you are an organization that makes loans or disburses funds to external parties.

1. Citizen reporting and Financial assurance Options for your organization 1 PrasannaLal Das - http://prasannalaldas.blogspot.com - @prasannalaldas

2. The challenge Expand the types and nature of evidence available for assurance before your organization disburses funds Identify potential fraud or waste before funds leave your organization (to complement audits, supervision, and other ex-post techniques that your organization may already use) 2 PrasannaLal Das - http://prasannalaldas.blogspot.com - @prasannalaldas

3. The proposal Involve ‘citizen reporters’ to generate information that may be used as ‘evidence’ as part of the decision-making process before financial disbursement (currently, the only evidence available to many organizations is the documentation that borrowers send) 3 PrasannaLal Das - http://prasannalaldas.blogspot.com - @prasannalaldas

4. What are other organizations doing 4 PrasannaLal Das - http://prasannalaldas.blogspot.com - @prasannalaldas

5. Example approach – Payment Accuracy The ‘Payment Accuracy’ initiative of the US federal government – combines citizen reporting, with central ‘behind-the-scenes’ database services A central website for citizens to report fraud, waste or abuse A forum for citizens to share innovative ideas about solutions to reduce improper payments A one-stop payment verification service (aggregate of different federal databases) that agencies can consult before making payments 5 PrasannaLal Das - http://prasannalaldas.blogspot.com - @prasannalaldas

6. Example approach – Stimulus Watch Stimulus Watch (USA) – citizen reporting and discussions in a simple environment Central place for citizens to search for all awards, grants, and loans Citizens can vote/rate the award; add information to a wiki; or join a discussion 6 PrasannaLal Das - http://prasannalaldas.blogspot.com - @prasannalaldas

7. Example approach – Recovery Act Recovery Act (USA) – no citizen reporting yet; built in business reporting process that facilitates data intelligence Recipients and federal agencies fulfill built-in reporting requirements through the Federal Reporting website Analysts at the Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board use sophisticated data analysis techniques to identify potential problems such as criminal convictions, lawsuits, tax liens, bankruptcies, risky financial deals, and suspension and debarment proceeding – the focus is on intercepting fraud before it occurs (as described in this report); the project aims to recover $2 billion in improper payments over the next 3 years A public website allows the public to track how the money is spent 7 PrasannaLal Das - http://prasannalaldas.blogspot.com - @prasannalaldas

8. Example approach – From Brazil Transparency portal (Brazil) – combines ‘transparency’ with options for citizens to provide information For public managers and citizens to follow-up on the financial execution of government programs Easy access to information, plus a ‘talk to us’ feature for citizens to post feedback and suggestions 8 PrasannaLal Das - http://prasannalaldas.blogspot.com - @prasannalaldas

9. Elements of the approach Social Simple, generally inexpensive tools A well defined ‘citizenry’ or audience A safe, collaborative environment Processes/tools to analyze contributions and respond to them Processes/tools to escalate ‘reports’ to the right business channels Technical Tools (often mobile) that facilitate reporting Analytical tools that make sense of reports Data mining techniques that supplement citizen reporting Strategic/tactical Clear fit into the overall program Feedback loop that affects other products 9 PrasannaLal Das - http://prasannalaldas.blogspot.com - @prasannalaldas

10. Roadmap for your organization 10 PrasannaLal Das - http://prasannalaldas.blogspot.com - @prasannalaldas

11. Roadmap for your organization Establish your goals Strengthen objectives; establish initial metrics Define the ‘reports’ that citizens should send Build partnerships Inside your organization – other units/groups exploring similar initiatives Yes, this isn’t a terribly new idea so somebody is likely working on it already Outside your organization Other agencies pursuing similar projects Vendors/firms with requisite technical expertise/products Community/design firms with relevant expertise Start with simple, exploratory projects Start with a pilot project Set up basic reporting mechanisms (using one or more existing organizational websites) that facilitate citizen reporting; may not have great success but will serve as a useful signaling device Plan a community of reporters – focus on community engagement techniques and challenges; how do you get citizens to participate and contribute; what issues will this raise Start thinking about more sophisticated reporting techniques, and the support/engagement infrastructure that should be in place to respond quickly and helpfully to reporters Mobile phones (options include txteagle, Ushahidi, Frontline SMS, and many others) Multi-lingual support (here is an example approach; there are others) A user engagement team 11 PrasannaLal Das - http://prasannalaldas.blogspot.com - @prasannalaldas

12. Time and money 12 Basic reporting via existing website – A few days at negligible cost May be worth setting aside a few people hours to respond to any reports that emerge Deliverable – a web link that provides a reporting channel Thinking through the assurance model and available options Set up a working group, with representation from all internal stakeholder groups – 4 weeks or so Ask the same working group, or a consultant, to review external practices and tools/approaches available – same time frame Resources – no budgetary impact (except perhaps the cost of a consultant); team members spend about 20% of their time – the group lead spends about 75% Deliverable – a short report that includes a TOR for a pilot A pilot to confirm the findings Assign a basic budget and ask the team to work within the constraint -- $... may be a good starting number Thinking through user engagement and support May be included as part of the mandate of the working group described above, but it should preferably be a separate exercise Ask this group to define how/why people can be engaged; how do you create a community of citizen reporters Ask the group to define the support that the citizen reporters will need and how to provide it Resources – no budgetary impact (except perhaps the cost of a consultant); team members spend about 20% of their time – the group lead spends about 75% Deliverable – a short report that includes the TOR for a pilot to accompany the ‘other’ pilot above Thinking through data analysis and reporting options May be included as part of the mandate of the working groups described above, but it should preferably be a separate exercise Ask this group to define how citizen reports will be aggregated and what intelligence can be ‘crunched’ from them Ask this group to evaluate the technology marketplace for products to support the initiative Resources – no budgetary impact (except perhaps the cost of a consultant); team members spend about 20% of their time – the group lead spends about 75% Deliverable – a short report that includes the TOR for a pilot to accompany the ‘other’ pilots above PrasannaLal Das - http://prasannalaldas.blogspot.com - @prasannalaldas

13. Issues 13 How will you ensure that the approach can be scaled up across your entire organization How do you get participation from relevant stakeholders in your organization Are there opportunities to include external stakeholders/clients in the exercise What will you measure PrasannaLal Das - http://prasannalaldas.blogspot.com - @prasannalaldas

14. Thank you 14 Prasanna Lal Das - http://prasannalaldas.blogspot.com - @prasannalaldas