New Citizen Newsletter #11

🔍 Shedding light on shady government contracts 💰

The World Economic Forum estimates that more than $2 trillion of public money is lost to corruption each year. In most countries, government procurement procedures allow corrupt officials to funnel public money into shady businesses and bank accounts. To tackle this issue in their country, Ukrainian programmers have built ProZorro, an open source e-procurement system that brings full transparency to how their tax money is spent by politicians. Ukrainians can now search through government procurement contracts and trace how their money is spent.

How are your politicians spending your money? Chances are that figuring this out is a headache, but it doesn’t have to be. ProZorro can easily be installed by any government, they just need to be convinced to bare all.

🕵 Being immortalised as comic book heroes 💣

In Bengaluru, vigilante street cleaners have spent years co-ordinating action to beautify their city. Now the collective has caught the imagination of the minds behind Amar Chitra Katha, the country’s most popular comic book. The magazine, which normally features legendary or historical figures, has decided to showcase the work of The Ugly Indian on the cover of their latest issue. Meanwhile, anonymous volunteers continue to clean streets, build footpaths and install public bins across the city.

🌞 Supplying renewable energy to rural Australia 🐨

Australia pays some of the highest prices for energy in the world and still its rural communities frequently suffer blackouts. To address this, Shirley Saywell started a campaign to create an energy microgrid in Euroa, Victoria. The project will supply surrounding communities with renewable energy once they have installed 589 kW of solar panels and up to 400 kilowatts of new batteries.

📋 Build something 💡

We’re collecting useful information about citizens initiatives, events, tools and funding sources. We want to build a database that can be used by engaged citizens looking for inspiration or practical suggestions about how to solve problems. If you know of any initiatives or tools that could be useful for New Citizens you can contribute to our database at our new site: citizenbase.co.

📨 Help us out 📨

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