Updated
Morocco Gets Creative to Battle Corruption – Caitlin Dearing Scott
July 27, 2015
In March 2007, Morocco established l’Instance Centrale de Prevention de la Corruption (The Central Authority for Corruption Prevention, or ICPC) with the tasks of advising government bodies on corruption-preventing policy, monitoring and reporting cases of corruption to the appropriate authorities, and raising awareness of corruption among the public. The creation of the ICPC is just one of the ways Morocco has worked to address corruption in the country and bring its own policies in line with international best practices on the topic– something Morocco committed to when it signed the UN Convention against Corruption in 2003 and ratified it in 2007.
Since then, the ICPC has been working hard with stakeholders throughout the country to combat corruption. A key element has been engagement with the public, which is necessary for any anti-corruption program to be effective.
Toward this end, the ICPC has gotten creative. In cooperation with the French Embassy’s Cultural Cooperation Service, the ICPC has published a children’s comic strip and even mounted a puppet show on the topic. Most recently, the group launched a series of political cartoon contests aimed at youth. The theme of the first round, which was completed earlier this month, was election fraud (local elections are scheduled to be held across the country in September).
“The ICPC has focused on new information and communications technology to solicit potential participants, in order to reach a young population (16-35 years), which is essential in awakening the fight against corruption,” explained ICPC President Abdessalam Aboudrar, in a Huffington Post Maroc interview.
Out of twenty-one finalists, five winners were selected to participate in a week-long trip to Paris where they will meet with artists and political cartoonists, to encourage them to continue their work.