Jocelyn, always a good student, passed through our system and went on to graduate from Peruvian public school by 2011.

Her career dream was to one day open he own restaurant. We offered to sponsor her in an international trade school, (gifted to Peru by the European Community), to studying catering management.

Again, she performed well in both the classroom and on-the-job practising parts of the course. In 2014 she completed the course and was given an informal document stating that she had completed in the top ten percent of the class, and that she was entitled to receive both a diploma and a Catering Management Licence.

Jocelyn took a job as assistant manager of a fast food franchisee, and she returned regularly to the trade school administrative office for her diploma and license. They always had a new reason why she would have to return yet again, that "her documents were not yet ready". After six months of trying on her own, she asked if we could help.

On her first visit to the people she knew at the trade school, our project manager quickly realised that Jocelyn's impediment was that she had failed to offer a bribe, to make her documents materialise. The same now would apply to our project director, only the required bribe just got more expensive.

Our NGO has participated for decades in an international Transparency campaign, TRANSPARENCY TRUST, and we therefore could not offer the simple solution that would produce poor Jocelyn's documents. Instead we attempted to persuade the administrator, cajole her, go over her head to her male supervisor - which proved anti productive. We considered the possible merits of going to the press, the law, politicians. In a thoroughly corrupt society - which, sadly, is the condition in most developing countries - such actions could easily have backfired and Jocelyn would never receive her diploma and licence.

Therefore, for eighteen months we vouched for Jocelyn whenever she needed to present her bona fides to her employer. At the same time we made of ourselves a daily polite nuisance to the trade school administrator. Until one day in July, 2016 Jocelyn was invited to come pick up her documents. Charo, our project director, accompnied her.