In this chapter my focus is on discussing what I learnt from the evidence regarding the role of public education in addressing corruption in Zimbabwe. The chapter unfolds through five sections. First, I summarise the research journey that I travelled.
I achieve doing so through providing highlights of each chapter. From there. I move on to summarizing the key research findings. This would be followed by the conclusions I draw from the research findings. The chapter goes further to provide the study recommendations. I also provide a model that could be applied in public education on anti-corruption. The chapter closes with suggestions for future research.
I conceived and developed the topic after I got the feeling that much was not well with the current content and delivery of the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission public education on anti-corruption. The major thrust of this study was for me to understand the challenges affecting the delivery of public education on anti- corruption in order to be able to come up with specific improvements that would make it comprehensive, universal and more effective in reducing corruption in Zimbabwe. Anti-corruption education is very necessary in Zimbabwe particularly during this time when the state of the economy is ebbing and livelihoods are very difficult to come by. It is also believed that Anti-corruption education is one of the most formidable corruption busting strategies which has been tried and tested in other progressive jurisdictions. On a point of reflection, schools and colleges could without doubt prominently stand up as avenues for knowledge and skills development centres in propagating anti-corruption values among the public in Zimbabwe.
This study was prompted by the need to find an effective alternative to the investigation and prosecution of corruption suspects in mitigating run-away
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corruption in Zimbabwe. My background to the study shows that corruption is actually on the rise in the country despite all the spirited efforts in investigating and prosecuting corruption offenders. The increase in corruption cases made the Zimbabwe Anti-Corruption Commission to institute public education so that the public is well equipped to prevent all forms of corruption. The Commission embarked on public education activities in May 2009 and I felt it was time to take stock on the role that public education has played since then. The reasons I carried out this study included among several others, the need to establish the impact of public education on addressing corruption as well as identifying areas requiring improvement within the public education strategy.
This study aimed at investigating the efficacy of the Anti-Corruption education including how best anti-corruption educators could be prepared and developed. The objectives of the study were to;
a. establish the extent to which stakeholders were experiencing anti-corruption education.
b. examine the stakeholders’ perspectives on the role of education in combating corruption.
c. assess the factors conducive for quality public education on anti-corruption.
d. establish the role of education in combating corruption in Zimbabwe.
The study was conducted in one metropolitan area and participants were drawn from two government, two parastatals and two non-governmental institutions. In this study I used two phenomenological methods which were questionnaires and semi- structured interviews to generate data. I also used themes and sub-themes to answer the research questions. My research questions were:
• How do stakeholders experience and perceive anti-corruption education?
• What perspectives do stakeholders about the impact of public education in combating corruption?
• What factors are necessary for the provision of quality public education on anti- corruption?
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• What can be said to be the role of public education in combating corruption in Zimbabwe?
My study was guided by the Structural Functionalist and the Marxist theories. These theories provided a strong foundation on which anti-corruption education / transformative education issues had been interrogated. Several views of theorists and writers have been deliberately considered as an effort to learn from some tried public education models. My chapter 3 addressed the aspect of literature review. It unpacked the meaning of critical concepts like Corruption, Public and Public Education for the sake of formally putting my readers on board in terms of their operational meaning in this study. I moved on to address the different approaches to public education. I did that with the resolve to establish the nexus between the ZACC public education on anti-corruption and other models believed to be best practices elsewhere. The chapter also addressed the issues of people’s experiences and perspectives concerning public education in general. This was important for me to draw research gaps which I went on to plug in my chapter 5. Finally, in this chapter, I discuss the impact of public education in society as well as factors which are necessary for an effective public education programme. The two sections were very crucial in that I took advantage of research studies by other writers and these were useful when I compared their findings with my own findings on the role of public education on anti-corruption in Zimbabwe.
This study employed the Mixed Methods approach basically involving quantitative and qualitative methods and techniques in which questionnaires and interviews were the sole data generating instruments. My study, however took an interpretivist approach after careful analysis of the chore requirements of the topic. The approach agreed with the epistemological assumption that knowledge was gained through experience and much more so that it is gained through lived experience in different social contexts hence my thrust in exploring the experiences and perceptions of multiple stakeholders on the role of public education in mitigating corruption in Zimbabwe. I was mindful that a study on anti-corruption might not need to adopt a positivist approach wholesomely, since corrupt practices and activities mostly happen outside the public watch. I also avoided being experimental because this was a study in the field of education and I did not want to be perceived to be
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promoting socially unapproved norms and values. However, I was flexible in incorporating whatever I thought worked from positivism to bolster my epistemological general views.