Peter Eigen
Encyclopedia
Transparency International
Transparency International is a non-governmental organization that monitors and publicizes corporate and political corruption in international development. It publishes an annual Corruption Perceptions Index, a comparative listing of corruption worldwide...
(TI), a non-governmental organization promoting transparency and accountability in international development since 1993. Headquartered in Berlin, TI supports National Chapters in more than 90 countries.
A lawyer by training, Eigen has worked in economic development for 25 years, mainly as a World Bank
World Bank
The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans to developing countries for capital programmes.The World Bank's official goal is the reduction of poverty...
manager of programmes in Africa and Latin America. Under Ford Foundation
Ford Foundation
The Ford Foundation is a private foundation incorporated in Michigan and based in New York City created to fund programs that were chartered in 1936 by Edsel Ford and Henry Ford....
sponsorship, he provided legal and technical assistance to the governments of Botswana and Namibia, and taught law at the universities of Frankfurt and Georgetown.
In September 2001, Eigen joined the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace as Visiting Scholar while teaching at Johns Hopkins University/ SAIS. He also joined the Board of The Centre for International Environmental Law (CIEL) and since 2002, has been teaching as an Honorary Professor of Political Science of the Freie Universität, Berlin
Free University of Berlin
Freie Universität Berlin is one of the leading and most prestigious research universities in Germany and continental Europe. It distinguishes itself through its modern and international character. It is the largest of the four universities in Berlin. Research at the university is focused on the...
. In 2005, Eigen chaired the International Advisory Group of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative
Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative
The Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative increases transparency over payments by companies to governments and to government-linked entities, as well as transparency over revenues by those host country governments...
(EITI) and became Chair of EITI in 2006.
In 2000, he received the award of Honorary Doctor of the Open University, UK and in 2004, received the Readers Digest Award "European of the Year 2004".
From 1988 to 1991 he was the Director of the Regional Mission for Eastern Africa of the World Bank, and from 1999 to 2001, Eigen was a faculty member of the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.
Eigen is a member of the Africa Progress Panel
Africa Progress Panel
The Africa Progress Panel consists of a group of distinguished individuals chaired by Kofi Annan whose objective is to track and encourage progress in Africa, and to underscore shared responsibility between African leaders and their international partners for sustaining it.The APP was originally...
(APP), an independent authority on Africa launched in April 2007 to focus world leaders' attention on delivering their commitment
Commitment
Commitment may refer to:*Promise, or personal commitment*Contract, a legally binding exchange of promises*Brand commitment*Involuntary commitment, the use of legal means or forms to commit a person to a mental hospital, insane asylum or psychiatric ward...
s to the continent. The Panel launched a major report in London on Monday 16 June 2008 entitled Africa's Development: Promises and Prospects.
In 2004 he married Gesine Schwan
Gesine Schwan
Gesine Schwan is a German political science professor and member of the Social Democratic Party of Germany. The party has nominated her twice as a candidate for the federal presidential elections. On 23 May 2004, she was defeated by the Christian Democrat and former president Horst Köhler...
, the social–democrat
Social Democratic Party of Germany
The Social Democratic Party of Germany is a social-democratic political party in Germany...
candidate for the federal presidential elections in Germany
President of Germany
The President of the Federal Republic of Germany is the country's head of state. His official title in German is Bundespräsident . Germany has a parliamentary system of government and so the position of President is largely ceremonial...
in 2004 and 2009.
External links
- Africa Progress Panel Website
- Transparency International Website
- "How to expose the corrupt", talk at TED, Berlin Nov. 2009