Why
Transparency for Iran

Numerous think tanks and research institutes have been established to solve the country’s problems, which the predominant approach of most of them is to identify problems, conduct studies, and submit policy papers to solve the issues of governmental institutions and organs. Although the existence of these institutions has had good results in identifying problems and providing solutions to solve them, but there seems to be more basic problems that have been neglected by most think tanks. 

In order to solve this problem, Transparency for Iran has proposed a conceptual network of solutions based on the concept of transparency which are: Transparency, Open Data, Public Participation, Responsibility, Accountability, Conflict of Interest, Whistleblowing and so on.

Given the objectives, Transparency for Iran required to select an entity for its activities which best met the intended criteria. Of all entities, the “Think Tank” and the “NGO” entity had the most adaptation. Some of the most important features of a think tank are:

Component Explanation
Scientific, but not necessarily academic Independency from scientific segmentations or academic requirements, or not limited to common scientific methods in activities;
Problematic Entry is an objective matter and a need of today’s life, not subjects which imposed by a discipline or tendency (different from scientific associations);
Mission-centered or Social-centered Non-project approach / denying the logic of “first profit” / priority of social benefit;
Being Reference Being reference, and well known in the country;
Output diversity Outputs are not limited to books, articles, conferences, and meetings; it produces a wide variety of outputs;
Network- centered With extensive communication and interaction with various actors or activists;
Well-heeled Funding through project proposal, but not dependent on it;
Well-fixed thematic teams The importance of a team in solving the problem, the relative stability of the teams due to the relative stability of the issues (different from the project approach);
Interdisciplinary The need to benefit from various scientific disciplines in problem solving, not only the Humanities and Social Sciences, but also the Technical-Engineering disciplines.

 

Transparency for Iran had all these components, but there were other features that, in addition to the think tank, made it like a non-governmental organization. Among the features of a non-governmental organizations are the following:

Component Explanation
The importance of public sphere Necessity for extensive promotional and educational activities in order to create public discourse;
The importance of networking and empowerment Necessity for using network capacity of activists and elites, connecting into the members of this network, and empowering them;
The importance of trying to influence decision-making processes Necessity for affecting both decision-making and policy-making processes, and to interact with influential people on the process;
Active in political, social, and economic spheres Necessity for affecting different political, social, and economic spheres based on the subject requirements;
Concentration on specific domains Necessity for focusing on the problem area contrary to other think tanks that enter a variety of issues.


The most important policies of Transparency for Iran are:

Component Explanation
Our words in the voice of others The strategy of the Think Tank is to empower the entities. Therefore, it is very important that the words of us will come out from others voices.
Economics as a subset of decision-making Economics and business are fundamental strategies of us. However, earning money is not the main parameter of Transparency for Iran in defining priorities and obtaining projects.
Political, but not politicized The political arena is also crucial for us, but it should be done scientifically, not politically.
Committed to the problem, not to the method There is no barrier in the way of any problem-solving method.
Empowerment instead of rowing We are not going to do everything ourselves, but we want the actors to be powerful; for example, to empower media or the parliament’s representatives.
The importance of Management knowledge in running various affairs Management knowledge helps us navigate the best, the shortest, and the cheapest way to reach our goal.
Specialization We use a specialist in all areas. There is no need to invent the wheel from the beginning.