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LESSON 5

CHAPTER A. Core Issues (common to all ACA capacity assessments)

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Interview guide for ACA head(s) and senior executives

The interviews with the ACA head(s) and senior executives supplements any data collected previously through the preliminary research and desk review of available sources. The following table provides sample questions to undertake these interviews, which require further adaptation based on the initially collected data and the country context.

Interview guide for ACA head(s) and senior executives
Enabling Environment
1. Social, economic and political context	Why has the anti-corruption agency been set up? How would you assess political will to fight corruption in your country? Have any surveys or studies been conducted on corruption in the country? What are the main types of corruption in your experience (volume, sector, patterns and trends)? What are perceived to be the main causes of corruption? Are there any traditional/informal practices leading to corruption? What cultural practices inhibit the detection, investigation, prosecution and prevention of corruption? What is the role of political parties in corruption? What type of corruption affects the people mostly? What would most help reduce corruption? What have been the biggest changes to the types and patterns of corruption over the past 5 years?
2. Institutional arrangements and coordination mechanisms	Which institutions does the anti-corruption agency work with informally or formally? Are there any other agencies responsible for investigating corruption? Which institutions have to report information to the anti- corruption agency? With which institutions does the anti-corruption agency have a formal MoU? In case institutions have information relevant to the anti-corruption agency (eg, the FIU on STRs, the Public Service Commission on staff disciplined for corruption-related misconduct) but are not formally required to report to the anti-corruption agency, can/do such institutions report on an informal basis? Is the anti-corruption agency part of any steering committees? Does it chair any steering committees between institutions? From which institutions does the anti-corruption agency receive most support? To which institutions does the anti-corruption agency give most support? From which institutions would the anti-corruption agency require most support? With which institutions would the anti-corruption agency like to improve working relations? With which institutions does the anti-corruption agency share information? With which institutions does the anti-corruption agency: Undertake joint work; Share intelligence; Share/second/exchange staff Are there any overlaps in terms of mandate with other institutions? Are there any potential frictions between institutions and how can they be dealt with? Are there any best practices in terms of collaboration with other institutions? What could be done to enhance anti-corruption work with the five most important other institutions in the integrity framework in your country? Which activities of the anti-corruption agency are compromised by weaknesses elsewhere in national integrity framework? Do the recommendations of the anti-corruption agency carry legal weight? Is the anti-corruption agency able to give injunctions to other institutions? Is there any penalty for not complying with those injunctions?
3. Legal Framework	In what ways could the legal framework be improved to facilitate the fight against corruption? Is legal reform required to enhance collaboration with any institutions?
4. Accountability	In practice, how often and to whom do you report? How does the anti-corruption agency report, i.e. in writing/verbally? Are any sessions organized in Parliament to report on progress? How in-depth is the review of activities?	- Is there any public council? - What are the powers of the oversight bodies? - What is the effectiveness of, or hindrance by, those institutions who monitor the anti-corruption agency’s work? - Is your anti-corruption agency website regularly updated?

Organizational level
1. Vision and mission	How did the anti-corruption agency define its vision and mission?
2. Leadership	What are your main responsibilities? Who appoints the senior management? What are the main criteria for appointment? What is their protection against dismissal? Are members of the anti-corruption agency protected when undertaking official duties?
3. Strategic planning	What is the overall decision-making and budget allocation structure of the anti-corruption agency? How often does the leadership meet to discuss strategic planning? How is the annual strategy agreed? What types of performance indicator are included? Is there an annual review of the strategy and action plans in terms of performance? What is the anti-corruption agency’s budget?	Who funds the anti-corruption agency? Is there any legal protection to the level Has it varied over the past 5 years? Are the funds paid on time? What is the budget estimate process and how are decisions made over competing requests for funding? What is the expenditure of the anti-corruption agency by division? What is the overall staff cost?
	What activities absorb most funds? What is the process for proposing and agreeing division budgets? What are the procedures involved and volume of activity? What are the anti-corruption agency’s management processes for overseeing operational activities, notably in terms of work allocation and progress, staffing levels, budget expenditures and performance? What performance measures are used at institutional and sub- institutional level and staff levels? Are they publically available? Are annual work plans based on the organization’s strategic plan? When did the anti-corruption agency undertake its first operational work for each of its functions?
4. Organizational structure	Are you satisfied with the current organizational structure or do you think some reforms would be appropriate?
5. Human resource management	Is there a human resource division? What are the processes for recruiting new staff? What are the processes for promoting staff? Are they published? What are the processes for disciplining staff? Are they published? Is there a code of conduct? Do staff declare their assets? To whom? How are they verified? Is there an annual appraisal process? Are all new posts advertised? Is there an anti-corruption agency training strategy?	Who trains new staff? Who provides specialist training? Is any joint training undertaken? Outline the training programmes. Are they linked to the strategy or action plans? What is staff turnover by division annually in % terms? Are there special salary scales that vary from civil service rates? Are there any other allowances specific to the anti-corruption agency? Can/Does the anti-corruption agency call on staff from other agencies for delivery of functions?
6. Knowledge and information management	When systematic patterns of corruption are diagnosed by the investigation team or the prevention team, are these findings shared among both teams?
7. Communication	How does the anti-corruption agency communicate internally? How, how often and through what media? How does the anti-corruption agency communicate with other agencies? How, how often, and through what media?
	How does the anti-corruption agency communicate with the public? How, how often, and through what media? Are citizens involved in the management of the anti-corruption agency? Are there any management committees dealing with education, prevention, investigation, awareness involving citizens?
8. Monitoring and evaluation	Does the anti-corruption agency have SOPs or Manuals for core functions? What are the work and workload progress review procedures? Who reviews progress? What records are kept? Do all staff have job descriptions and designated roles (such as exhibits officer, case manager, trainers, etc)? Does the anti-corruption agency operate a LAN, databases, analysis software and other software? Are these available on request, by a business case process, or on an ad hoc basis? How are the activities of the anti-corruption agency being evaluated?
9. Training and mentoring	What type of training and mentoring activities does the anti- corruption agency support?
10. Finance and procurement	Is there a head of finance/finance department? Does the anti-corruption agency have a finance management information system capacity? Who manages the budget for every division or section? Is the budget per division available? Who reviews expenditure externally? What is the proportion of the budget funded by donors by year, over the past 5 years? Which donor(s) fund the anti-corruption agency?

Individual level
1. Staff profile	How many staff do you have currently working for the anti- corruption agency?
2. Technical capacities	What technical capacities are currently missing among your staff?

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