1 00:00:00,420 --> 00:00:10,300 Good evening, everybody. Hey. OK, so my name is Rob Tao, thank you so much to Fox for this invitation to to talk to you about a labour of love. 2 00:00:10,300 --> 00:00:16,470 Now this presentation has nothing at all to do with my Ph.D. research or even my post-doc research, which is great. 3 00:00:16,470 --> 00:00:20,370 It's about a labour of love that I've been working on for about six years now, 4 00:00:20,370 --> 00:00:25,170 and what I'm going to do is I'm going to talk to you, talk through my two children's books by and gyda. 5 00:00:25,170 --> 00:00:29,340 I'm going to tell you why I decided to write these two children's books and sort of 6 00:00:29,340 --> 00:00:33,330 the transnational national and global outreach that I've done across the globe, 7 00:00:33,330 --> 00:00:36,180 not just in the continent of Africa, but across the globe. 8 00:00:36,180 --> 00:00:44,340 And then I'll end up with some conclusions in terms of future outreach that I'm going to be doing in the very, very near future. 9 00:00:44,340 --> 00:00:49,710 So bye, bye and jot are to anti-corruption children's books, and I have a friend who says it just to me. 10 00:00:49,710 --> 00:00:53,850 Only you, Rob Tell, would write an anti-corruption children's books. 11 00:00:53,850 --> 00:01:01,560 Only you would conjure up something like this. And I think because he's the reason he says this is because I come from an activist background. 12 00:01:01,560 --> 00:01:05,340 But what I discovered in in terms of thinking about corruption and thinking about 13 00:01:05,340 --> 00:01:09,990 integrity is that quite often these conversations are had in adult circles, 14 00:01:09,990 --> 00:01:14,160 right? We don't really think about how our actions impact of children in our lives, 15 00:01:14,160 --> 00:01:18,390 whether they're our children or the children that we come in contact with who are in our ambit. 16 00:01:18,390 --> 00:01:23,730 Right. The other thing that I think about is you think about folktales, right? 17 00:01:23,730 --> 00:01:30,180 Folktales that we all grew up with in the continent that really teach us about virtues and vices. 18 00:01:30,180 --> 00:01:33,150 Right? So I borrow from this tradition of the folktales. 19 00:01:33,150 --> 00:01:39,630 But instead of using anthropomorphic characters, I use actual human beings and these actual human beings are children. 20 00:01:39,630 --> 00:01:46,180 Right? So that the two books are basically about two characters twin characters Sun Mind, 21 00:01:46,180 --> 00:01:52,230 Sun God who leave their port city of Buchanan, and they leave their port city of Buchanan and Liberia. 22 00:01:52,230 --> 00:02:00,120 And they go and they visit their aunt and uncle, Auntie Marty and Uncle Mau Mau Mau in Monrovia, the capital of Liberia. 23 00:02:00,120 --> 00:02:04,680 And when they go to the city, the capital city, they're super, super excited. 24 00:02:04,680 --> 00:02:10,530 But they have a series of experiences and encounters that remind them of these two baso words. 25 00:02:10,530 --> 00:02:13,890 Now, Bassa is one of 16 languages spoken in Liberia. 26 00:02:13,890 --> 00:02:21,030 Two massive words Baba and JD now, but by loosely translated means corruption or trickery effectively. 27 00:02:21,030 --> 00:02:26,370 But the way that I describe it in the book is not bribery or so forth and so on, not adult language. 28 00:02:26,370 --> 00:02:33,560 I describe it simply as lying, cheating and stealing right in Jodha, which is the sequel to Babajide, 29 00:02:33,560 --> 00:02:40,050 effectively means integrity, honesty and truthfulness, and the books are effectively about opposites, right? 30 00:02:40,050 --> 00:02:45,300 What does it mean to practise bad? But what does it mean to practise Jodhpur? 31 00:02:45,300 --> 00:02:49,410 Now, before I launch into my presentation, I'd like to read excerpts. What do you think? 32 00:02:49,410 --> 00:02:54,780 So you can get a taste of the books? And this is why I've co-opted Jake and Yvonne to to show you the illustrations. 33 00:02:54,780 --> 00:03:00,780 Because the books were published by one more book, which is a small niche publisher based in the United States and Liberia, 34 00:03:00,780 --> 00:03:07,620 founded by Liberian artists in their own right right because they notice that there is a dearth of children's books that are 35 00:03:07,620 --> 00:03:14,100 written for children in countries with low literacy rates where children can see themselves reflected in the narrative, 36 00:03:14,100 --> 00:03:20,130 right? The books were also illustrated by Chase Walker, who is a self-taught Liberian visual artist. 37 00:03:20,130 --> 00:03:26,970 He served as a political cartoonist in a number of local dailies in Liberia for a number of years and has since relocated to the United States, 38 00:03:26,970 --> 00:03:33,960 where he can hone his craft. Now, Jordan, so, so excited to say, is in both Bassa and English, 39 00:03:33,960 --> 00:03:40,410 and we co-opted a Bassa linguist by the name of Bishop Amos fÖr to translate the book into bass. 40 00:03:40,410 --> 00:03:45,690 And I'll tell you a little bit later about why I decided to focus on a local Liberian language. 41 00:03:45,690 --> 00:03:49,920 So without further ado, Jake and Yvonne, are you guys ready? 42 00:03:49,920 --> 00:03:54,480 So I'm going to read from the first and basically to set the scene. 43 00:03:54,480 --> 00:04:01,450 So the son of mine, Senegal, have arrived in Monrovia and they've been picked up by their auntie Marty, who is a big woman in the government. 44 00:04:01,450 --> 00:04:04,680 She is actually a minister and they're sitting in traffic, 45 00:04:04,680 --> 00:04:10,230 and I think this is an experience that we all have experience if you spent any time on the continent or outside of the continent. 46 00:04:10,230 --> 00:04:14,970 They're sitting in traffic for hours on end and they're becoming really, really antsy. 47 00:04:14,970 --> 00:04:20,400 Right. And the driver does something very interesting, which you'll find out in the book. 48 00:04:20,400 --> 00:04:27,330 So the driver's name is open when IPOB drove to Vermont, my house and Tubman Boulevard. 49 00:04:27,330 --> 00:04:39,780 Sun and Sun got stared in surprise. The long traffic lines of red, blue, brown and white cars went as far as the eye could see. 50 00:04:39,780 --> 00:04:44,460 Like a chorus, the drivers began to honk together loudly. 51 00:04:44,460 --> 00:04:49,320 Don't worry, Auntie Maria said. We will find a way out of this traffic. 52 00:04:49,320 --> 00:05:02,860 Next page. When the traffic finally move forward, £o drove right to the police officer at the junction. 53 00:05:02,860 --> 00:05:06,180 I'm very thirsty, the police officer said. 54 00:05:06,180 --> 00:05:08,730 Standing between the cars and when I read this out to the children, 55 00:05:08,730 --> 00:05:15,150 they've become really confused because they think, how does she conjure up that police officer's voice? 56 00:05:15,150 --> 00:05:25,250 I want some cold water today in this heat up hot roll down the window slowly and help out his hand. 57 00:05:25,250 --> 00:05:35,430 Sun Martin Sunday both noticed the clean one hundred Liberian dollar bill, which the police officer put in his pocket quickly. 58 00:05:35,430 --> 00:05:43,080 He waved Opus Car through the traffic in a line that was not there before Sunday. 59 00:05:43,080 --> 00:05:53,070 Man, son of God were confused by what OPA did and disappointed in the policeman's unfairness to the other drivers in Buchanan, 60 00:05:53,070 --> 00:06:03,330 Ma and PA always reminded them that they should not jump in front of others in line. 61 00:06:03,330 --> 00:06:10,170 OK, now in the spirit of opposites, I'm going to read an excerpt from Jai Dear. 62 00:06:10,170 --> 00:06:15,470 So they're back in traffic again, right? It's a few days later they're back in traffic. 63 00:06:15,470 --> 00:06:23,750 iPod drove along Tubman Boulevard to 15th Street, where the traffic stopped suddenly not. 64 00:06:23,750 --> 00:06:30,890 The twins squealed, remembering Monrovia traffic only days before in Buchanan. 65 00:06:30,890 --> 00:06:35,840 The traffic lines of red, green, yellow and white cars never went that far. 66 00:06:35,840 --> 00:06:42,830 Most people rode pumpkins or fast motorcycles that sped over concrete and dust. 67 00:06:42,830 --> 00:06:50,240 When Albert tried to create a third lane to escape the traffic, the driver in the car nearby warned Take time driver. 68 00:06:50,240 --> 00:06:56,410 That police officer ahead is not easy. It's. 69 00:06:56,410 --> 00:07:01,650 Now, this is my favourite scene in the entire book. 70 00:07:01,650 --> 00:07:10,380 Auntie Marty, a motion for OPA to get back into the two lane traffic after one hour of moving at a snail's pace. 71 00:07:10,380 --> 00:07:17,250 They finally entered the free flow of cars and saw why the traffic was blocked. 72 00:07:17,250 --> 00:07:27,630 A woman police officer no more than five feet tall, was standing in the middle of the road, with her hands placed squarely on her hips. 73 00:07:27,630 --> 00:07:35,280 Whenever drivers tried to create a third lane, she used sharp hand movements to get them back in line. 74 00:07:35,280 --> 00:07:41,400 Has to be a woman and a feminist to the core. 75 00:07:41,400 --> 00:07:43,930 What can I say? Sunday night and Sunday, 76 00:07:43,930 --> 00:07:53,730 God noticed how she stopped drivers who tried to slip crisp Liberian dollars in the palm of her hands instead of taking the money. 77 00:07:53,730 --> 00:07:58,830 The officer would direct the drivers one by one to the side of the road. 78 00:07:58,830 --> 00:08:06,630 Each time she took out a notepad, wrote something quickly and handed slips of paper to the drivers Sunday. 79 00:08:06,630 --> 00:08:11,070 I was curious what does that police woman doing on Maria? 80 00:08:11,070 --> 00:08:19,050 She asked. Now, at this point, I pause and I ask the children what they think the policewoman is doing, and I get all sorts of responses. 81 00:08:19,050 --> 00:08:26,070 But we'll flip to the next page. I won't ask you. Welcome to the next page and find out what happens to me. 82 00:08:26,070 --> 00:08:32,050 It looks like she is giving tickets to the drivers who tried to create a third lane. 83 00:08:32,050 --> 00:08:39,420 A. Maria said that woman officer is not easy on Midas and repeated, 84 00:08:39,420 --> 00:08:45,690 unlike the policeman who tried who directed traffic on their first day in Monrovia. 85 00:08:45,690 --> 00:08:51,000 This woman knew about John Day Sunday and Sunday. 86 00:08:51,000 --> 00:08:55,080 I rolled down their windows and eagerly waved at her. 87 00:08:55,080 --> 00:09:05,310 The policewoman tipped her cap in their direction and wait me asking me why Jada and bag about why anti-corruption children's books? 88 00:09:05,310 --> 00:09:13,620 Why focus on children? So when I was in my mid-twenties, and in fact, immediately after doing the MSCI African studies with Jake, 89 00:09:13,620 --> 00:09:23,940 I moved back to Liberia as a mid-level aide to the first democratically elected president, a woman, the first female elected president of Liberia. 90 00:09:23,940 --> 00:09:31,740 What I realised in those four years of working with and for President Sirleaf is that corruption wasn't just about when you think about corruption, 91 00:09:31,740 --> 00:09:35,220 it's always thought of in very formal terms, right? 92 00:09:35,220 --> 00:09:41,970 So it's public using public influence for private gain or using entrusted power for private gain. 93 00:09:41,970 --> 00:09:47,590 But what I realised and even social psychologists would argue, is that corruption really was a social norm, right? 94 00:09:47,590 --> 00:09:54,630 It was embedded in the unwritten rules, the unspoken practises that people engaged in on a day to day basis. 95 00:09:54,630 --> 00:10:00,620 Corruption effectively was enmeshed in every day human interactions I discovered in Liberia, right? 96 00:10:00,620 --> 00:10:06,180 It wasn't just the public influence for private gain, but effectively lying, cheating and stealing every day. 97 00:10:06,180 --> 00:10:08,160 This is how I describe it to children. 98 00:10:08,160 --> 00:10:13,440 But I think what was interesting is because I saw corruption in the public sector and I saw corruption in the private sector 99 00:10:13,440 --> 00:10:19,380 and I saw corruption in the media and I saw the corruption in the churches and the mosques and the informal private sector, 100 00:10:19,380 --> 00:10:22,200 right? I saw corruption everywhere. 101 00:10:22,200 --> 00:10:29,280 It wasn't until I had two encounters with adolescents and young adults that really shook my core of gravity, and I'll tell you about those encounters. 102 00:10:29,280 --> 00:10:36,360 So the first was I was charged with the responsibility of basically overhauling Liberia's bilateral scholarships programme. 103 00:10:36,360 --> 00:10:42,180 We discovered that people surprisingly enough, were selling scholarships to the highest bidder. 104 00:10:42,180 --> 00:10:50,880 They were giving scholarships to their relatives, their girlfriends, their whoever, and they weren't going to the best and brightest in Liberia. 105 00:10:50,880 --> 00:10:57,060 So the president called me in because I'd done a series of investigative reports for her, and she said, Well, what do we do about this? 106 00:10:57,060 --> 00:11:03,210 And I said, we need to come up with a committee that will completely change the system that will completely make scholarships, 107 00:11:03,210 --> 00:11:06,300 merit based, transparent as well as gender balance. 108 00:11:06,300 --> 00:11:12,540 And as somebody who's benefited from scholarships my entire life, I realised that this is an important imperative, right? 109 00:11:12,540 --> 00:11:19,260 So we set up a committee. It was an inter-ministerial committee represented by a number of different ministries and agencies in Liberia. 110 00:11:19,260 --> 00:11:25,500 And we started to develop the process of people actually applying through a merit based, transparent and gender balance process. 111 00:11:25,500 --> 00:11:36,540 Right. What we discovered is about four 18 year old boys forged their national exam records to become eligible for scholarships in Morocco. 112 00:11:36,540 --> 00:11:42,540 And when we called them in to give them a sense of why they had effectively done something wrong, 113 00:11:42,540 --> 00:11:47,580 committed a crime and academic crime, but also an offence and academic offence. 114 00:11:47,580 --> 00:11:53,230 They had sort of normalised and said to us that they didn't think there was anything wrong with it. 115 00:11:53,230 --> 00:12:00,390 In fact, the system almost 30 minutes to eventually confess that they had forged these national exam records. 116 00:12:00,390 --> 00:12:02,970 And that was confusing to me because I thought, Well, 117 00:12:02,970 --> 00:12:08,490 these 18 year olds are on the verge of adulthood and they have already internalised corruption as a social norm. 118 00:12:08,490 --> 00:12:12,930 They've already realised that the only way to get ahead is through hook and crook, right? 119 00:12:12,930 --> 00:12:16,260 The second encounter was teaching at the University of Liberia, 120 00:12:16,260 --> 00:12:26,370 which was by far my most profound experience speaking to university students about whether or not giving a traffic officer a sum money, 121 00:12:26,370 --> 00:12:35,970 as as you saw in the story, is a form of corruption. And the student said, No, it's not corruption, it's contribution. 122 00:12:35,970 --> 00:12:41,580 And what they meant by that is, you know, low-level civil servants in Liberia get paid very, very little. 123 00:12:41,580 --> 00:12:49,710 Right. So they were contributing to the salary structure of that traffic officer because they know very well that he can't afford to supply, 124 00:12:49,710 --> 00:12:53,670 you know, his daily needs or to have his livelihood is constantly threatened. 125 00:12:53,670 --> 00:12:58,440 Right. So they give a contribution every time they pass by him in order to help him live and survive. 126 00:12:58,440 --> 00:13:02,160 And so, you know, supply his family's daily needs. 127 00:13:02,160 --> 00:13:10,050 What was interesting about these are these two encounters, again, is that people at that age had already started to rationalise their dubious deeds. 128 00:13:10,050 --> 00:13:17,370 So what I realised is that I really wanted to focus on kids because my my argument 129 00:13:17,370 --> 00:13:21,510 is that young adults have already been schooled in the ways of corruption. 130 00:13:21,510 --> 00:13:27,100 Right? They they think that it's the way to get ahead. By any means necessary. 131 00:13:27,100 --> 00:13:28,840 Young adults as well as adults. 132 00:13:28,840 --> 00:13:36,130 So what we need to do effectively is to build a new generation of integrity advocates a new generation of anti-corruption champions, right? 133 00:13:36,130 --> 00:13:38,200 And to develop that moral compass, 134 00:13:38,200 --> 00:13:44,270 social psychologists argue that children begin to develop an ethical core and a moral compass between the ages of eight and 10, 135 00:13:44,270 --> 00:13:47,980 and there are some kids who even develop that much, much earlier on. 136 00:13:47,980 --> 00:13:54,550 So that's basically the target group of these two books. The other thing I realise is that children are relatively honest, 137 00:13:54,550 --> 00:14:01,720 and I say relatively because I've been called out by a number of parents who say, Have you ever seen a two year old lie? 138 00:14:01,720 --> 00:14:08,830 So this this particular parent said to me that I had a very naive outlook about children, so I put that qualifier qualifier in. 139 00:14:08,830 --> 00:14:16,600 Their children are relatively honest until we socialise them to be dishonest, and so we teach them how to lie. 140 00:14:16,600 --> 00:14:20,230 So I have a story and you've probably heard this in your own particular cultural context, 141 00:14:20,230 --> 00:14:25,120 but the story is there's a mother and a child at home, right? It's become urban legend in Liberia. 142 00:14:25,120 --> 00:14:28,030 Folklore, there's a mother and child at home, 143 00:14:28,030 --> 00:14:34,450 and the mother gets a knock at the door right and she looks to the people and realise this is auntie so-and-so. 144 00:14:34,450 --> 00:14:43,180 And she actually doesn't want to talk to auntie so-and-so. So she hides and she tells the child, Tell Auntie Soto so-and-so, I'm not here. 145 00:14:43,180 --> 00:14:50,410 And the child nods emphatically and says, Okay, mama, I'll go out the door, opens a door and says, Auntie so-and-so. 146 00:14:50,410 --> 00:14:57,250 My mom just told me I should tell you that she is not here. 147 00:14:57,250 --> 00:15:01,180 Now, come on. That's a funny story, isn't it? I usually get more or less than that, 148 00:15:01,180 --> 00:15:05,800 but basically the reason I tell this story and the reason I think it's so informatique 149 00:15:05,800 --> 00:15:11,080 of how we teach children to lie is effectively that child told the truth, 150 00:15:11,080 --> 00:15:16,210 right? Told the God's truth that some of the children have told me my workshops right? 151 00:15:16,210 --> 00:15:21,730 But that adult tried to convince a child to lie and the child just didn't have it in him. 152 00:15:21,730 --> 00:15:26,860 He was very, very transparent about what the mother had told him. 153 00:15:26,860 --> 00:15:34,930 The third thing I realise is that because we talk about corruption or anti-corruption in adult circles and we forget how it affects children, 154 00:15:34,930 --> 00:15:38,860 that we forget also that children can also be anti-corruption allies, right? 155 00:15:38,860 --> 00:15:44,110 That they can be our allies in this fight in terms of exposing corruption as a social norm 156 00:15:44,110 --> 00:15:48,970 and perhaps changing those norms to reflect the kind of societies that we want to create, 157 00:15:48,970 --> 00:15:52,930 right? Because I think we can cultivate that inherent honesty, 158 00:15:52,930 --> 00:15:59,170 that that natural honesty that children have and what I call this is effectively a revolution from below. 159 00:15:59,170 --> 00:16:04,330 So I hope you'll join me in this revolution from below. So what's my theory of change, right? 160 00:16:04,330 --> 00:16:10,360 I think it's possible to reverse the socialisation process. We talked about the fact that corruption is a social norm. 161 00:16:10,360 --> 00:16:18,700 Corruption can be taught, but it can also be unlearnt. Right? So we can reverse that socialisation process in terms of us training children, 162 00:16:18,700 --> 00:16:22,390 how to lie in training to learn how to be dishonest by equipping children with 163 00:16:22,390 --> 00:16:26,020 the verbal tools to really question the confusing ethical codes of the adults. 164 00:16:26,020 --> 00:16:29,500 So effectively, we tell children to be truthful and honest, 165 00:16:29,500 --> 00:16:34,780 but we're not truthful and honest in our everyday interactions, and children are so astute. 166 00:16:34,780 --> 00:16:40,090 They pick up on those cultural codes even if we're not verbally telling them right. 167 00:16:40,090 --> 00:16:45,040 And I think that by doing this, by reversing the socialisation process and equipping children with the verbal 168 00:16:45,040 --> 00:16:50,200 tools to question the confusing ethical codes of the adult that we may enable, 169 00:16:50,200 --> 00:16:54,460 we may be enabled to embarrass the adults into adopting more ethical behaviour. 170 00:16:54,460 --> 00:16:59,230 Right. There's something about a child telling you that you're a liar without effectively telling you you are a liar, 171 00:16:59,230 --> 00:17:04,630 that that does something about stabilising how you behave and how you interact with that child. 172 00:17:04,630 --> 00:17:09,790 The other thing that I think is important is this particular revolution from below enables us to 173 00:17:09,790 --> 00:17:16,390 frame children as the identifiable victims of corruption and what identifiable victims are clear, 174 00:17:16,390 --> 00:17:20,410 clearly identified individuals who are affected by corruption, right? 175 00:17:20,410 --> 00:17:24,970 Because when we think about corruption, we say, Oh, corruption hurts all of us, it hurts society. 176 00:17:24,970 --> 00:17:28,870 But if you think about corruption is hurting your children or hurting the children in your lives, 177 00:17:28,870 --> 00:17:34,390 I think it'll force us to think about how we live and practise on a day to day basis. 178 00:17:34,390 --> 00:17:40,510 And then the last thing I think is important to realise a lot of people critique my approach and they said, Well, why focus on children? 179 00:17:40,510 --> 00:17:45,850 They can't change policies, right? But for me, it's not about changing policy. 180 00:17:45,850 --> 00:17:50,380 We have enough regulations on the books about corruption. Right? Do we enforce them? 181 00:17:50,380 --> 00:17:59,710 No. When I'm interested in is changing values is changing practises is changing those social norms that we are so embedded in, 182 00:17:59,710 --> 00:18:04,710 and I think children can be an important tool in doing that right. 183 00:18:04,710 --> 00:18:09,120 So what are some of the methodologies that I've used, both informal and formal, and I think for me, 184 00:18:09,120 --> 00:18:13,230 it's been a labour of love because it's been a labour of love collaboratively. 185 00:18:13,230 --> 00:18:17,020 I've worked with so many phenomenal people, not only my illustrator, my publisher, 186 00:18:17,020 --> 00:18:21,810 my translator, but a number of policy makers, as well as people who are in the arts. 187 00:18:21,810 --> 00:18:27,570 So one of the things that I'm doing with these two books is I'm basically taking corruption out of its linguistic prison. 188 00:18:27,570 --> 00:18:33,870 Now, I don't I don't know if you are familiar with in Google what the NGOs nineteen eighty six book decolonising the mind, right? 189 00:18:33,870 --> 00:18:40,440 And in this book, Kenyan novelists and Googie argues that when African writers write in colonial languages, 190 00:18:40,440 --> 00:18:48,150 they're effectively putting their ideas in a linguistic prison because it's not a language that they is their mother tongue effectively. 191 00:18:48,150 --> 00:18:54,870 So what I'm doing is I'm taking the language of corruption so bad by anxiety or Bassa are in the best of language. 192 00:18:54,870 --> 00:18:59,700 And I think most of us, if we say the word corruption, we find its equivalent in our language. 193 00:18:59,700 --> 00:19:04,860 It has much more force. I think corruption has become such a clichéd phrase these days. 194 00:19:04,860 --> 00:19:12,450 But think about how you say corruption in your own language and think about how much that carries a certain weight and a force that saying the word, 195 00:19:12,450 --> 00:19:14,850 the English word corruption doesn't necessarily so. 196 00:19:14,850 --> 00:19:23,100 For instance, in Liberia, when you say bad ba, I always like to say it, and then I laugh and I say, Ooh, say it again, but say it again. 197 00:19:23,100 --> 00:19:28,480 When you say that to a Bassa language speaker, that person knows that that word is that bad thing. 198 00:19:28,480 --> 00:19:32,590 That's how it effective. That's what it means in very, very layman's terms. 199 00:19:32,590 --> 00:19:38,520 When you say the word, Jodha has a certain value as well, that integrity doesn't or truthfulness doesn't. 200 00:19:38,520 --> 00:19:46,230 Right? The other thing is, I think it's important to use multimedia tools because a lot of children won't necessarily have access to these two books. 201 00:19:46,230 --> 00:19:50,010 So the written text may be cost prohibitive for some people. 202 00:19:50,010 --> 00:19:57,030 And so what I've done is I've worked with local artists in Liberia to create adaptations of the book into a song and a music video. 203 00:19:57,030 --> 00:20:02,100 Now on your far left, you'll see the music video cover for gyda is integrity. 204 00:20:02,100 --> 00:20:10,980 As a music video on a song that I collaborated with Tycoon J, who is a very popular social activist in Liberia, but also a Hip-Hop artist, 205 00:20:10,980 --> 00:20:17,430 and he does a lot of songs around social issues in Liberia, around corruption and anti-rape and so forth and so on, and talk about nepotism. 206 00:20:17,430 --> 00:20:23,400 He collaborated with with my younger sister Ella on Paly, who is a phenomenal vocalist, 207 00:20:23,400 --> 00:20:28,020 and they came up with the song Jota's Integrity, which is an adaptation of the gyda book. 208 00:20:28,020 --> 00:20:32,820 But I've also worked with local theatre, which is the local theatre troupe in Liberia, to create a radio drama, 209 00:20:32,820 --> 00:20:40,230 five minute radio drama that's been played on about 60 for commercial, as well as community radio stations across Liberia. 210 00:20:40,230 --> 00:20:45,070 And then a stage play with local theatre as well that features an all child cast. 211 00:20:45,070 --> 00:20:51,660 Now there's something very powerful about children mimicking adults, right? 212 00:20:51,660 --> 00:20:56,640 And as you see from the photos there, the traffic officer in the middle, in the middle photo, 213 00:20:56,640 --> 00:21:00,510 this thing was probably the most for profound scene, and everybody thought it was really funny. 214 00:21:00,510 --> 00:21:05,040 But it made a lot of the policymakers in the room think about how they engage in corruption, 215 00:21:05,040 --> 00:21:11,520 how they use their entrusted power for private gain when they're in traffic. So, yeah, lot of theatre and I collaborated on that. 216 00:21:11,520 --> 00:21:17,100 They got twenty five children trained within a five month period to put on this debut stage production. 217 00:21:17,100 --> 00:21:22,950 What we're doing now is we're expanding the because it was focussed on bag by the time since Boggo was published in 2013. 218 00:21:22,950 --> 00:21:29,250 We're expanding it to include Jodha, so it's back by and jotted the stage play, which will be debuted next spring in Monrovia. 219 00:21:29,250 --> 00:21:36,270 And the idea is to take this play on the road to different regions of Liberia and possibly to a country or a city near you. 220 00:21:36,270 --> 00:21:40,770 All of these multimedia tools are funded by the Open Society Initiative for West Africa, 221 00:21:40,770 --> 00:21:51,110 and as you know, we'll see what does a lot of work on transparency and integrity. And they were the perfect ally to work on this project with me. 222 00:21:51,110 --> 00:21:54,530 I also realised that it was important to work with the Ministry of Education 223 00:21:54,530 --> 00:21:59,550 because my goal is to get these books in the national curriculum in Liberia, 224 00:21:59,550 --> 00:22:04,040 not just in Liberia, but across the continent, because for me, this is a pan-African crusade. 225 00:22:04,040 --> 00:22:11,090 Right. So I've worked with the Ministry of Education in Liberia to adopt both books as a supplemental reader for third to fifth grades. 226 00:22:11,090 --> 00:22:17,120 I've also gone to Ghana, and the Ghana Education Service has also put the book on the Supplemental Reader list for third 227 00:22:17,120 --> 00:22:22,280 to fifth grades and then effectively what I've also done pilots in 30 schools in Liberia. 228 00:22:22,280 --> 00:22:26,930 We've worked with the Ministry of Education Curriculum team in Liberia to create a teacher's guide, 229 00:22:26,930 --> 00:22:31,730 so the teachers have some activities to work with children in the classroom. 230 00:22:31,730 --> 00:22:34,940 And for me, that's that sort of formal adoption into the curriculum. 231 00:22:34,940 --> 00:22:41,090 And then the formal adoption in the teachers guide is an important way to spread the message of bug by anxiety across the country, 232 00:22:41,090 --> 00:22:46,690 across the continent, across the globe. Workshops, 233 00:22:46,690 --> 00:22:50,260 I think the workshops that I've done in 11 countries have been the most worthwhile 234 00:22:50,260 --> 00:22:54,790 experience because it's given me a lot of fodder for possibly future books. 235 00:22:54,790 --> 00:22:59,170 A lot of the children in the workshops will ask me, Miss Rob, tell us not is there going to be a part three? 236 00:22:59,170 --> 00:23:01,240 And I haven't even thought about it as a possibility. 237 00:23:01,240 --> 00:23:08,050 But now I'm realising that there's such a yearning and a thirst for these kinds of books amongst the children that I've that I've interacted with. 238 00:23:08,050 --> 00:23:17,320 So I've done workshops in Brazil and Cote d'Ivoire and Jamaica, in Kenya, Liberia, Madagascar, Mozambique, Qatar, South Africa, UK and US. 239 00:23:17,320 --> 00:23:24,130 And I haven't stopped. I'm continuing. So if you have any invites, please let me know after this presentation is over. 240 00:23:24,130 --> 00:23:31,570 The purpose of this workshop. So the purpose of these workshops is really to be in a dialogue with children about the whys of corruption. 241 00:23:31,570 --> 00:23:37,900 So why does corruption happen in the House of corruption? So how does corruption manifests itself in society? 242 00:23:37,900 --> 00:23:44,530 And then, most importantly, what can be done about it? And for me, having the children talk about why corruption happens, 243 00:23:44,530 --> 00:23:49,810 how it happens and what can be done about it for me is the most profound part of this experience. 244 00:23:49,810 --> 00:23:53,290 So I have some quotes from different workshops that I've done across Africa. 245 00:23:53,290 --> 00:23:58,930 There was a child in Kenya who said to me that we should all tell God's truth, and that was her description of God. 246 00:23:58,930 --> 00:24:04,450 So God's truth is is unfiltered. God's truth is is on rationalise. 247 00:24:04,450 --> 00:24:08,740 God's truth is the truth with a capital t as far as she was concerned. 248 00:24:08,740 --> 00:24:16,120 In Liberia, one child said to me in Baquba, there are no real winners, only losers, right? 249 00:24:16,120 --> 00:24:19,630 Such a profound thing coming from an eight year old. 250 00:24:19,630 --> 00:24:26,830 And what I realised in the workshops is that children were absolutely preoccupied with the unfairness of corruption, right? 251 00:24:26,830 --> 00:24:32,050 The injustice of corruption. And they talked about that a lot in South Africa. 252 00:24:32,050 --> 00:24:35,980 Someone said jumping the traffic queue may cause an accident. Right. 253 00:24:35,980 --> 00:24:43,660 So beyond just the sheer corrupt practise of actually paying a traffic officer abroad, this time I was thinking about the consequences, right? 254 00:24:43,660 --> 00:24:49,810 So if you create a third lane, that could actually cause an accident, right in Mozambique, 255 00:24:49,810 --> 00:24:55,990 one child said to me people who sell expired goods must go to jail and we're thinking about the consequences. 256 00:24:55,990 --> 00:25:00,250 The boats talk about not only how corruption manifests itself, but also the consequences. 257 00:25:00,250 --> 00:25:07,200 So what should happen to people who engage in corrupt practises? So these two pictures on your right from Kenya, 258 00:25:07,200 --> 00:25:12,710 a young boy was answering a question and then in the middle is a workshop that I did in Madagascar with a number of children. 259 00:25:12,710 --> 00:25:18,370 And as you can see, we did a bit a bit of a simulated exercise. A traffic officer, 260 00:25:18,370 --> 00:25:22,600 I was pretending to be the traffic officer and I paid the young boy in the front or he paid 261 00:25:22,600 --> 00:25:27,190 me some money so that he could move from the back of the line to the front of the line. 262 00:25:27,190 --> 00:25:33,400 And when the children realised what what had happened, they were laughing. But then immediately they started to get very angry because again, 263 00:25:33,400 --> 00:25:37,750 the injustice of just giving a police officer money to come to the front of the line, 264 00:25:37,750 --> 00:25:45,400 it's usually the last person in line the sort of the penultimate person who gets very upset because now they're the last person. 265 00:25:45,400 --> 00:25:50,990 In fact, in one workshop in the US, I asked the girl to give me money and she gave it to me and she came to the front of the line. 266 00:25:50,990 --> 00:25:57,130 And then her friends were upset that she made it to the front of the line. And then I asked her, I said, Well, why are you in the front of the line? 267 00:25:57,130 --> 00:26:03,130 She said, Because you asked me for money and I gave it to you. So, you know, the sort of instinctual. 268 00:26:03,130 --> 00:26:05,440 A lot of other children have said that they would pay a bribe. 269 00:26:05,440 --> 00:26:11,110 They were honest that they would pay a bribe because they don't like sitting in traffic in Nairobi for hours on end. 270 00:26:11,110 --> 00:26:15,160 What was interesting about the experience in Nairobi is that a couple of days after 271 00:26:15,160 --> 00:26:19,450 I had the workshop in Nairobi with the children at St George's Primary School, 272 00:26:19,450 --> 00:26:27,430 I went to the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development the next day. And if you've been following Twitter, you probably know about what happened. 273 00:26:27,430 --> 00:26:30,610 Basically, I was solicited. 274 00:26:30,610 --> 00:26:37,720 The person who I interacted with at the K, I said because I was pitching the books as a possible supplemental reader for the new curriculum. 275 00:26:37,720 --> 00:26:44,050 Ask me for two thousand United States dollars to do the assessment of the book, the evaluation of the book. 276 00:26:44,050 --> 00:26:51,850 So what's interesting is that what I realised throughout this experience is that it's not just the children. 277 00:26:51,850 --> 00:26:56,590 It's not just the children who need bugged by insider. It's also the adults. 278 00:26:56,590 --> 00:27:00,010 Right? So a lot of adults will look at the book and say, Oh, it's a children's book. 279 00:27:00,010 --> 00:27:07,330 It's benign, but it's not. If you read them, you realise that it really calls it calls to test adults. 280 00:27:07,330 --> 00:27:13,150 It says that your actions, your behaviour, has an impact on the children in your life. 281 00:27:13,150 --> 00:27:17,740 And furthermore, I believe fundamentally that children can be the moral compass of the world. 282 00:27:17,740 --> 00:27:24,370 And in the book, the twin characters Sunday on Sunday are the moral compass of the book, right? 283 00:27:24,370 --> 00:27:32,140 So it's almost an inversion of the social order. We often think that it's the adults in our lives who will teach us virtues. 284 00:27:32,140 --> 00:27:38,440 But for me, I think sometimes it's the children in our lives who have the power and the capacity to teach us about virtues. 285 00:27:38,440 --> 00:27:44,940 Right. So I'll talk a little bit about some of my future interventions. So I've talked about the children's all top task, the. 286 00:27:44,940 --> 00:27:50,760 He has to take the all child task plate on the road once we combine the two books to schools, 287 00:27:50,760 --> 00:27:56,910 to mosques, to churches, town halls, ministries and agencies. In something what we call the forum theatre. 288 00:27:56,910 --> 00:27:59,640 How many people are familiar with the form theatre format? 289 00:27:59,640 --> 00:28:08,430 So basically, Form Theatre is after the play is debuted, the all star cast lines up and we enable the audience to ask them questions. 290 00:28:08,430 --> 00:28:11,910 And what they're supposed to do is respond in character. Right? 291 00:28:11,910 --> 00:28:16,980 We did that. Would they debut in September? Twenty seventeen? And I was astounded by the responses that I got. 292 00:28:16,980 --> 00:28:22,920 So one child from a local primary school stood up and asked the police officer who was playing the police officer, 293 00:28:22,920 --> 00:28:30,870 the young boy who was playing the police officer, police officer. What do we need to do as a society to stop you from taking bribes? 294 00:28:30,870 --> 00:28:39,450 Right? An audience member, probably 10 or 11 years old and the police officer said, increase my salary. 295 00:28:39,450 --> 00:28:42,000 This is coming from an eight year old child. 296 00:28:42,000 --> 00:28:46,620 So what this child had realised to that five month process of not only going through the theatre production 297 00:28:46,620 --> 00:28:54,990 but understanding the difficulties that police officers face is that living wages in Liberia too low, 298 00:28:54,990 --> 00:29:00,540 that corruption is also a function of poverty in as much as is a function of greed. 299 00:29:00,540 --> 00:29:07,450 Right. So Form Theatre a really, really powerful tool. The other thing I want to do is I want to expand the pilots beyond just Man Cerrado 300 00:29:07,450 --> 00:29:14,190 and Grandmaster Co. The pilots have been in two counties two regions of Liberia, to go to the three most populous country counties in Liberia. 301 00:29:14,190 --> 00:29:16,800 So nimble, low fat and bong. 302 00:29:16,800 --> 00:29:24,300 And then beyond Liberia, transcending Liberia is to take the pilots to different countries, beginning with English speaking West Africa. 303 00:29:24,300 --> 00:29:28,080 So Ghana, Nigeria and then southern Africa, South Africa, Kenya. 304 00:29:28,080 --> 00:29:39,120 I'm coming even even though they try to, even though they try to derail me, I'm realising that my friends are sorely needed in Kenya, right? 305 00:29:39,120 --> 00:29:43,260 And the idea is to work with the ministries of education, the education boards in these countries, 306 00:29:43,260 --> 00:29:48,810 as well as the anti-corruption agencies, because I think they're an important ally in this process as well. 307 00:29:48,810 --> 00:29:54,730 And then again, ultimately translating the books into other African language and other official languages. 308 00:29:54,730 --> 00:29:58,230 So I've been approached by House of speakers, by Swahili speakers, 309 00:29:58,230 --> 00:30:06,420 by Malagasy speakers to translate the books into these local languages, in addition to the colonial French and Arabic and Spanish. 310 00:30:06,420 --> 00:30:10,200 Last, but certainly not least, to adapt the books into a board game. 311 00:30:10,200 --> 00:30:16,360 A lot of people have said there could be a bag. Banjara board game, even a TV animation and illustrator in Kenya, 312 00:30:16,360 --> 00:30:21,450 has also approached me and said that he'd like to change the books or adapt the books into a TV animation. 313 00:30:21,450 --> 00:30:28,560 So as you can see from the future, interventions by the anxiety are coming to a city, country and continent near you. 314 00:30:28,560 --> 00:30:31,938 Thank you.