Casals & Associates Re-Launches Respondanet.com; Leading Anti-Corruption Website Gets New Look and Updated Features

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – Oct. 29, 2008 — One of the leading anti-corruption websites of the past decade, www.Respondanet.com, has been re-launched with a new look and updated features, Casals & Associates, Inc. (C&A) announced today at Transparency International’s ongoing 13th International Anti-Corruption Conference (IACC) in Athens, Greece. Respondanet is sponsored by C&A, an IACC cosponsor, along with Accountability 21.
 
The re-launch is aimed at enhancing Respondanet’s ability to raise awareness and diminish tolerance of corruption as well as facilitate an interactive global exchange of information on practical ways to combat it.
 
“We are very excited about the opportunity to better share with the world, in a virtual manner, all the information at our disposal as it relates to the promotion of transparency, good governance and anti-corruption efforts taking place around the globe,” C&A President and CEO Beatriz Casals said. “The updated website will serve as an effective two-way communications tool that will both inform its users and provide them with an online platform on which to share their experiences in the fight against corruption.”
 
The website features the latest articles and publications on anti-corruption, good governance, accountability and transparency and is designed to appeal to a variety of audiences, including journalists, who will be able to use it to obtain factual information for news articles and editorials. Other key audiences include nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), concerned citizens, university students, the private sector, public officials and the international community.
 
Rebuilt using state-of-the-art technology, Respondanet is based on the latest release of the open source award-winning Joomla! content management system. The site’s new high-tech features include an internal search engine allowing visitors to search and download a variety of documents as well as a news feed engine that syncs in real time with RSS news servers around the world to provide subscribed users with automated article updates. Other features include real-time polling; PDF conversion; article e-mailing; a calendar of anti-corruption events around the world; and the ability to accommodate, as needed, discussion forums and groups, newsletters distribution, and subscription-based content in multiple languages.
 
C&A’s cosponsorship of the IACC, where the Respondanet announcement was made, is another example of the firm’s commitment to helping shape the anti-corruption movement’s future agenda. Taking place in Athens, Greece, from Oct. 30 to Nov. 2, 2008, the biennial conference attracts up to 1,500 participants from more than 120 countries. C&A is one of five organizations sponsoring the IACC in conjunction with Transparency International (TI), the event’s founder and leading promoter.
 
Casals & Associates, Inc.
Founded in 1986 by Beatriz Casals, C&A has grown into an international consulting firm with overseas experience in good governance, anti-corruption, rule of law and access to justice, accountability and transparency, government financial management and other aspects of sustainable development. Headquartered in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area, C&A has more than a dozen offices on four continents.
 
Accountability 21
C&A President and CEO Beatriz Casals founded Accountability 21 in 1998. Accountability 21 is a non-profit organization aimed at supporting and expanding global efforts to curb corruption in government and the private sector.

Contact

Larry Ott
(703) 920-1234
lott@casals.com