By Global Integrity — January 5, 2015.

Global Integrity is hiring Peer Reviewers with expertise in state governance

in all 50 States.

Apply here

About the Project

The State Integrity Investigation II project is a collaboration between the Center for Public Integrity and Global Integrity. This new effort will refine and update a project first carried out in 2011-2012. At the time, the project represented the first in-depth, data-driven account of government transparency and anti-corruption mechanisms in all 50 states, using on-the-ground reporting and data analysis. A list of detailed questions, or “integrity indicators”, is answered through a combination of evidence-based research and interviews with knowledgeable experts, used to generate scorecards for each state.

The State Integrity Investigation was featured in more than 1,100 print, online and broadcast outlets across the country. Since then, it has led to the adoption of new laws or statutes in seven states and proposals in five more. The project was a 2013 finalist for Harvard’s Goldsmith Investigative Reporting Prize. A new round of research will allow states to measure any progress they have made, will raise the pressure for passing reforms and will serve as a critical tool for state government reporters, lawmakers and civil society across the country.

Position of the Peer Reviewer

Peer Reviewers will play a key role in the data quality control process by carefully reading, vetting and fact-checking the information submitted by the Lead Researcher. Peer Reviewers are typically governance experts, academics, journalists or civil society leaders with specific expertise and deep knowledge of specific governance areas. They must have an excellent grasp of the state’s transparency, accountability and anti-corruption mechanisms.

Peer Reviewers will provide substantive feedback on the indicators’ accuracy, relevance and balance and must have substantive knowledge in a number of the below issue areas: Freedom of Information, Political Finance, Electoral Oversight, Executive (Legislative and Judicial) Accountability, State Auditing, State Budgeting Process, Civil Service Management, Procurement, Ethics Agencies and the State Pension System. In some cases, Peer Reviewers will have to provide additional research and sources to make the data quality-compliant.

Timing and required Availability 

Peer Reviewers will review the data during March 2015 – June 2015 and will have seven days (sharp!) to review and provide feedback on the 250 indicators. As it is impossible to estimate when a particular scorecard will become available, Peer Reviewers must be available for a quick turn-around any time during that period and must be available to promptly clarify any aspect of their review throughout May and June 2015.

Compensation

All work is compensated. All contributors to the project will be publicly acknowledged.

State coverage 

Global Integrity is looking for Peer Reviewers in all 50 States.

How to apply

Interested candidates, including those who have worked with Global Integrity before, should apply online here.

Positions are filled on a rolling basis.

Who We Are

Global Integrity is a non-profit, non-partisan organization that champions transparent and accountable government around the world by producing innovative research and technologies that inform, connect, and empower civic, private, and public reformers seeking more open societies. The organization has used its expert assessment methodology in anti-corruption assessments in over 100 countries with the Global Integrity Report. The Center for Public Integrity is one of the country’s oldest and largest nonpartisan, nonprofit investigative news organizations. The Center won the 2014 Pulitzer Prize for investigative journalism and has also been honored for its work by Sigma Delta Chi, the White House Correspondents Association, the Overseas Press Club, Investigative Reporters and Editors Inc. and Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government.

Photo Credit: Kevin Hutchinson (Creative Commons: Attribution 2.0 Generic)