The article in the url below outlines an interesting experiment in Indonesia with Honesty Cafes:
“As part of a national campaign led by the attorney general's office, the provincial government here on the eastern shore of the island of Borneo opened a dozen honesty cafes last month alone in schools and government offices. By 2010, the provincial government here plans to have more than 1,000 such cafes in operation, including in private establishments.”
The government-led effort is part of a wider anticorruption campaign. The goal is to inculcate honesty in people in terms of everyday transactions, which will then have a broader influence on how people interact socially:
“By shifting the responsibility of paying correctly to the patrons themselves, the cafes are meant to force people to think constantly about whether they are being honest and, presumably, make them feel guilty if they are not.”
In response to its ranking of 126th out of 180 nations in a 2008 report by Transparency International that documented perceived level of corruption in a country, the government’s campaign has led to an improvement in Transparency’s ranking, in spite of some of the cafes having to close and other high-profile set-backs:
“Recently, … the head of the Corruption Eradication Commission was arrested on suspicion of involvement in the murder of a prominent businessman over a love triangle involving a golf caddie.”
Nevertheless, if the campaign is successful, the Honesty Cafes will have played a big part:
“Since the attorney general's office started the campaign, some 7,456 honesty cafes have opened in 23 provinces in Indonesia, according to the National Youth Group, which is working with the office. The group expects 10,000 honesty cafes to be operating in 26 provinces by the end of the year before eventually reaching all 33 provinces.”
Have a good weekend.
David
Bill Werther & David Chandler
Strategic Corporate Social Responsibility
© Sage Publications, 2006
Making Honesty a Customer Policy in Indonesia Cafes
By NORIMITSU ONISHI
1139 words
16 June 2009
Late Edition - Final
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