The UN-Pacific Regional Anti-Corruption (UN-PRAC) team has seen a big increase in anti-corruption activity across the Pacific in 2015, with 20 workshops and 430 participants.
Partnerships are the hallmark of UN-PRAC and these first six months of the year have brought in many new participants from government, civil society, parliament, youth and the private sector. The July 2015 issue of PRAC’s newsletter shows current efforts with partners to prevent and fight corruption in the region.
The Bogotá Chamber of Commerce and UNDP Colombia have launched a guidebook, “Buenas prácticas empresariales de lucha contra la corrupción” (Good Business Practices in the Fight Against Corruption).
The guidebook presents three private sector experiences identified as good practices of transparency for possible replication by other private sector organizations. A chapter in the book discusses a UNDP methodology for choosing such good practices, along with other criteria that allow the adaptation of the methodology to the particular dynamics of the private sector.
Below is an English translation of the guidebook’s Introduction:
“Following the recommendation of the UNCAC on the joint partnership between United Nations agencies with public and private actors, and in order to integrate new key stakeholders in the fight against corruption to fulfill their mission in terms of transparency, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has been working together with the Chamber of Commerce of Bogota, in the context of a strategic alliance to promote transparency and prevent corruption in the private sector, with the understanding that an institutional culture based on ethics is one of the best antidotes against corruption.
“This document presents three experiences of the private sector, which, after being analyzed, were identified as good practices of transparency, with the possibility of being replicated by other private sector organizations.
“One of the chapters of the document is dedicated to presenting a methodology developed and tested by UNDP, introducing some methodological adjustments to select those initiatives that include, in addition to the features traditionally addressed by UNDP, other criteria that allow the adaptation of the methodology to the particular complexities and dynamics of the private sector.
“Finally, each experience is explained in great detail, including its objective and justification and the initial situation which led to the need to implement the practice. Furthermore, the criteria mentioned in the methodology is verified, the situation after the implementation is described, as well as the lessons learned from the whole process of construction and execution of the exercise.”
Background
UNDP’s Independent Evaluation Office (IEO) is carrying out an ‘Evaluation of UNDP Contribution to Anti-Corruption and Governance Integrity in a development context.’ The evaluation will assess the contribution of UNDP’s support to anti-corruption and transparency, accountability and integrity, for the period 2008-2014. The evaluation will be presented to the Executive Board of UNDP in the second regular session of 2016, and provide strategic inputs for strengthening the contribution of anti-corruption and governance integrity policy.
The objectives of the evaluation are to:
The UNDP Independent Evaluation Office is seeking the services of 2 evaluation/research consultants proficient in meta-synthesis methodologies and with prior work experience in governance area. The evaluation/research consultants will carry out meta-synthesis of anti-corruption and governance integrity evaluations carried out by the IEO and UNDP programme units. The consultants will work in close coordination with the IEO.
Duties and Responsibilities
Drawing on the secondary data, review of relevant documents, and evidence from the UNDP evaluations, the consultant will carry out the following tasks: Check the coherence of the evidence in the evaluations assessed, in terms of whether all evaluations include required evidence and that it is of suitable quality;
The consultants will also contribute to the meta-synthesis framework that will be developed by the IEO. The assignment will be home-based, and consultants will work under the supervision of the IEO Evaluation Manager throughout the evaluation. All reports and documents will be produced in English.
In partnership with the Office of the Chief of Government and in coordination with the National Anti-Corruption Authority, UNDP organized a consultation workshop in Tunis on 28-29 July. The event aimed at raising the awareness of key stakeholders, focusing on parliamentarians and civil society representatives, on the need to enhance the existing institutional and legislative framework on asset declarations that was established in 1987; and also to set up effective measures to criminalize and prosecute illicit enrichment. With the support of international and regional experts, participants familiarized themselves with related international standards as well as good practices and lessons learned from comparative experiences. They were also enabled to formulate and exchange views on the proposed bills that were developed by the Government in 2014 with the support of UNDP-ACIAC, with a view to contributing to their enhancement and promoting their adoption and effective implementation.
Organized by: UNDP, in partnership with the Office of the Chief of Government and in coordination with the National Anti-Corruption Authority
For more information, click here.
A number of authorities in charge of strengthening integrity and fighting corruption in the Arab region have witnessed important changes at the level of their leadership in 2015, reflecting in most cases a desire to pump new blood into such authorities with a view to strengthening their efforts while building on previous achievements and lessons learned.
On 9 April, the President of the Republic of Egypt appointed Major General Mohammed Mohammed Orfan Jamal El Dine as President of the “Administrative Control Agency” (ACA), who acts as the successor of Major General Mohamed Omar Heiba appointed advisor to the President of the Republic on anti-corruption issues. Orfan holds a Bachelor of Commerce and has been climbing the ranks of ACA since 1986, leading its General Secretariat and heading the department of special operations before becoming the Agency’s President. ACA is the central agency in Egypt concerned with coordinating anti-corruption efforts and is in charge of investigations and إستدلال in cases related to public money and public functions. The President of ACA also chairs the executive committee of the national coordinating committee on anti-corruption.
This change was preceded by the appointment of Dr. Hassan Al Yasiri as head ad interim of the “Commission of Integrity” by the Iraqi Prime Minister on 6 April. The appointment awaits legal confirmation from Parliament. A former law instructor, Al Yasiri comes with an oversight background having worked as a former member of parliament in Iraq. He is known for affirming his political independence on numerous occasions.
The beginning of 2015 also saw similar changes in other Arab countries such as Saudi Arabia and Jordan. Indeed, Dr. Khaled Bin Abdulmohsen Al Mohaisen was appointed head of the “National Anti-Corruption Commission” in Saudi Arabia while a new board was appointed for the “Jordanian Anti-Corruption Commission” headed by Mr. Abed Kharabsheh, a former board member.
The four mentioned authorities are members of the “Arab Anti-Corruption and Integrity Network” and have been active on a number of fronts. Indeed, previous months have witnessed the success of the “Administrative Control Agency” in Egypt in coordinating efforts for the development of the first national anti-corruption strategy in the history of the country. In Jordan, the anti-corruption commission successfully established a number of pioneering sectoral initiatives and paved the way for new means of engaging civil society in anti-corruption efforts, enabling Jordan to reach a score of 49 on the “Corruption Perception Index” for 2014, compared to 45 in 2013, thus becoming among the top improvers in the world. As for the Saudi agency, it made qualitative progress in terms of its awareness and education programs and strengthened its ability to monitor and detect corruption cases while also recovering large sums to the state treasury. In Iraq, the “Commission of Integrity” made a qualitative leap, referring 1923 cases to specialized courts during the first five months of the year with the number of convicted persons reaching 1668 including 15 ministers and persons of similar rank and 122 persons of private rank or at the rank of director general or similar ranks.
It is noteworthy to mention that the changes in each of Egypt and Jordan were internal, as the two new heads did not come from outside the agencies, contrary to the case in Saudi Arabia and Iraq.
In all cases, important challenges await the four agencies including volatile security situations and public and media pressure to achieve concrete results, in addition to the technical requirements arising from the launching of the second round of the self-assessment of the United Nations Convention against Corruption which focuses on the assessment of the chapters related to corruption prevention (Chapter II) and asset recovery (Chapter IV) and which deal with implementing related national strategies and policies, some requiring amendments and updates while others requiring further efforts for an effective implementation.