Donor Agencies' Anti-Corruption Training and Capacity Building
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U4 Helpdesk Answer Donor agencies’ anti-corruption training and capacity building Author: Iñaki Albisu Ardigo Reviewer(s): Matthew Jenkins, Transparency International Date: 18 February 2020 International donor agencies are the principal actors responsible for delivering aid and executing development projects in aid-recipient countries. Their presence in corruption-prone environments, frequent interaction with local partners and contractors, as well as the overlapping oversight and regulatory jurisdictions are all factors that increase donor agencies’ vulnerability to corruption. Many donor agencies have implemented anti-corruption training programmes centred on anti-fraud, as well as the identification of corruption risks and potential conflicts of interest. However, there is scant information in the public domain about aid agencies’ specific anti-corruption training curricula. After surveying topics typically covered in donor agencies’ anti-corruption training programmes, this Helpdesk answer looks at training provided by the World Bank, AusAid, the Asian Development Bank and UN agencies, all of which stand out because of their comprehensive application of anti-corruption training in their operations. U4 Anti-Corruption Helpdesk A free service for staff from U4 partner agencies Query Please provide an overview of topics covered in donor agencies’ anti-corruption curricula, such as procurement, conflicts of interest, foreign bribery, background training on international conventions and so on. (Kenny 2017). International aid represents an important source of income for lower income Contents nations, and supports many underfinanced 1. Overview of anti-corruption training in donor government institutions around the world. agencies International donor agencies are the principal 2. Trends in donor agency anti-corruption actors responsible for delivering aid and executing training international development projects in these 3. References countries. Donors can be both bilateral agencies as well as multilateral organisations, which are Caveat composed of members from various countries. This Helpdesk Answer reviewed publicly available The impact of development assistance on levels of information on 72 different donor agencies’ anti- corruption is contentious. A number of studies has corruption and bribery training programmes. found that international aid can have a negative Unfortunately, in the large majority of cases, effect on governance in aid-recipient states as a agencies provide very little information about the result of the rent-extracting opportunities offered anti-corruption training they offer to staff: of the by the influx of donor funds, an issue exacerbated agencies reviewed, for instance, only five donors by the complications of exercising effective state that they provide training on whistleblowing oversight of aid money in states with inadequate and other channels to report corruption. It is worth public financial management systems (see David- noting, however, that many agencies may provide Barrett et al. 2017; Yanguas and Hulme 2015). training but do not state so publicly. Other studies contend that development assistance plays an important role in strengthening public Overview of anti-corruption training institutions, improving state accountability and in donor agencies reducing incentives for petty corruption (see Sarwar et al. 2015; David-Barrett et al. 2017). Corruption and anti-corruption in international aid As well as seeking to reduce corruption in their own operations to enhance the effectiveness of their In 2015, overseas development aid amounted to interventions, aid agencies also allocate resources US$344 billion (Devinit 2016), with more recent to programmes aimed at curbing corruption and estimates putting it at around “7 per cent of total improving governance in partner countries international inflows and 2.5 per cent of (Miliband, D., & Gurumurthy 2015). government spending in developing countries” 2 U4 Anti-Corruption Helpdesk Donor agencies’ anti-corruption training Regardless of the effect of international aid on the many private philanthropic foundations employ quality of governance in recipient countries, donor various forms of anti-corruption training (Quibria agencies can themselves be highly vulnerable to 2017). corruption, not least due to their constant interaction with local partners and contractors in General topics covered in training curricula high-risk environments as well as the overlapping oversight and regulatory jurisdictions in which they Anti-corruption training curricula take many forms operate. There are as yet no reliable aggregate depending on the recipients of that training estimates of the costs of corruption, fraud and (directors, headquarters staff or in-country embezzlement to international aid. Nonetheless, a personnel) as well as the particular challenges a 2004 evaluation of World Bank operations donor agency is faced with and the context in which estimated that at least US$100 billion had been lost it operates. The following section summarises some to corruption over the preceding three decades themes commonly covered in donor agencies’ anti- (Mawere and Tandi 2016). Another study from corruption curricula. 2012 found that 157 World Bank contracts signed between 2007 and 2012 and worth US$245 million Corruption, bribery risks and do no harm were sanctioned for fraud of corruption (Kenny The identification of operational corruption and 2017). Across the sector, there are numerous cases bribery risks is one of the most typical topics of donor programmes plagued by corruption and covered in anti-corruption training in donor fraud (Savedoff et al. 2016). agencies. Most donors have established codes of conduct that specifically demarcate which actions Efforts to improve the efficiency of aid delivery constitute illicit, corrupt, or unethical acts. have led to numerous internal governance reforms Training modules are often designed to heighten within international aid organisations (David- awareness of these acts through the use of case Barrett et al. 2017). These include ex-ante good studies and practical examples that agency staff governance requirements for dispensing aid, may encounter in their daily work (Transparency improving oversight of procurement processes, International UK 2014; Roht-Arriaza 2018; GIACC establishing robust sanction mechanisms, 2016; Hart 2015). introducing codes of conduct, tightening up staff regulations, as well as the provision of anti- Anti-corruption training does not have to take corruption training for staff, partners and service place in a classroom setting, and may be provided providers (Kenny 2017; Savedoff 2016). through training manuals and e-platforms, which can be especially useful for staff not in frontline or Anti-corruption training has been a feature of most procurement roles, where there is a lower exposure international aid organisations since the World to corruption risks (GIACC 2016). At higher levels Bank implemented anti-bribery training in the late of agency hierarchies, the identification of 1990s to increase awareness of its internal corruption and bribery risks is generally conducted governance rules (Lie 2015). Today, most during the process of programme and policy multilateral and bilateral aid agencies, as well as 3 U4 Anti-Corruption Helpdesk Donor agencies’ anti-corruption training development, and is likely to focus primarily on the Procurement and interaction with structural drivers of corruption. partners/contractors Anti-corruption training in donor agencies often Increasingly, donors are incorporating political places special emphasis on corruption that occurs economy analysis into anti-corruption training, when procuring goods and services, as well as with the objective of ensuring that programme and project execution where responsibility is delegated project leads are able to assess how their activities to a third party (Musah et al. 2018). This could may contribute to corruption in destination occur where an aid agency launches a tender for countries or which expose staff to situations of construction companies to install water corruption (see Yanguas and Hulme 2015; Fisher et infrastructure, or where an agency partners with a al. 2013). civil society organisation to deliver water conservation workshops to citizens. In both cases, Anti-fraud and misuse of resources the agency is delegating functions to a third party, Measures to counter fraud in development projects relinquishing some degree of oversight and control were among the first internal governance policies over the execution of the project (Kenny 2017). that most aid agencies incorporated. Measures to curb fraud, generally understood to involve deceit Anti-corruption training in these situations can be to “gain some financial or other advantage” (GIACC targeted at three different groups. First, agency and Transparency International UK) have long staff, who can be instructed in techniques to been viewed as a key component of aid efficiency identify corruption risks in procurement processes (Kenny 2017). or the misuse of funds, as well as concomitant mitigation measures (Musah et al. 2018). Second, Anti-fraud training aims to instruct staff on how to anti-corruption training can be conducted for local identify fraud and the misuse of resources when partners, to familiarise them with donors’ integrity evaluating or auditing projects, focusing on issues policies, oversight mechanisms and financial such as mis-invoicing and the identification