News

By Shqipe Neziri Vela, Manager of the Anti-Corruption Programme at UNDP Kosovo

UNDP has been focusing its support to the fight against corruption in Kosovo starting from 2006 by helping establish the Anti-Corruption Agency. Support has been provided in drafting relevant legislation and policies to equip institutions with mechanisms and knowledge on how to best prevent and fight pervasive corruption.

With the support of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), from 2012 UNDP’s interventions in the sector have been significantly strengthened. During the first phase of the biggest UNDP anti-corruption programme in the region, the Kosovo anti-corruption team, together with partners from institutions and civil society, have been working hard to improve citizens’ lives by increasing institutional transparency, strengthening their capabilities, and engaging them in decision-making processes.

This programme helped introduce corruption risk assessments in key sectors considered to be most prone to corruption by citizens, namely health and education. It helped introduce and implement Integrity Plans, which in practice are anti-corruption guides to strengthen institutional integrity and increase citizens’ trust.

Through its work, the anti-corruption team has been the driving force behind the first initiatives in Kosovo on open data, which have included opening up government data, its re-use, and awareness raising activities. Seeing the potential that it has in Kosovo, the team streamlined more of their efforts towards piloting and promoting open data activities.

The team introduced Kosovo’s first-ever ‘hackathons’ to help institutions address their business problems. Youth from all around Kosovo gathered to develop applications on e-procurement, e-spending, and e-recruitment that are now utilised by institutions to prevent corruption in these areas.

Furthermore, to strengthen the civil society and citizens’ role in the fight against corruption, in 2012 UNDP Kosovo, jointly with implementing partner Internews Kosova, created the online platform www.kallxo.com (in Albanian “do tell”). We used the Ushahidi platform and www.ipadabribe.com as a reference.

Today, according to an independent poll, this platform is the fourth most trusted mechanism to report corruption, after the Anti-Corruption Agency and the police, with over 6,000 incidences of corruption reported by citizens.

During its next phase, 2016–2020, the anti-corruption programme will expand to cover municipalities and central level institutions to equip them with tools to prevent and fight corruption. Special emphasis will be placed on strengthening the role of the Parliament, reviewing existing legislation and implementing UNCAC requirements, and empowering vulnerable and marginalized groups through awareness raising and better access to information.

UNDP has launched a campaign throughout Kosovo to spread the message on increasing citizens’ knowledge on negative impacts of corruption and providing information on ways they can improve their lives by fighting corruption. The focus of the campaign is to name and shame anyone who is willingly engaged in a corrupt practice: Aren’t you ashamed? Don’t become one of them, report corruption now!

UNDP’s anti-corruption efforts in Kosovo was acknowledged recently in a story in The Guardian, as part of a series on anti-corruption initiatives around the world that have translated into real change. UNDP Kosovo was acknowledged for its work in digitizing public services at the municipal level.

“[Because] there is a 40% unemployment rate in Kosovo, recruitment is very often prone to bribes,” Shqipe Neziri Vela, Manager of the Anti-Corruption Programme at UNDP Kosovo, told The Guardian. “One way we are helping local governments to prevent corrupt practices by public service personnel is to put their entire recruitment process online. We’ve also used social innovation challenges and hackathons to build tools that show budget expenditures in real time.”

*The reference to Kosovo is understood to be in the context of Security Council Resolution 1244 (1999).

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Samoa’s Senior Government Officials are working with the UN in a two-day workshop to analyse where Samoa is already complying with best practices in the UNCAC (United Nations Convention Against Corruption) and to identify challenges still needed to be addressed to boost integrity in the public service.

Enhancing integrity and good governance is a key phenomenon in two of the most important national strategic documents: the Public Administration Sector Plan and the Strategy for the Development of Samoa. This is a clear demonstration of Samoa’s commitment to combating illegal practices and ensuring application of relevant integrity standards across the public sector. 

Over the last year the United Nations has worked closely with the Government and other non – governmental actors through the UN Pacific Regional Anti-Corruption (UN-PRAC) Project. Back in February, the UN-PRAC Team undertook workshops targeting youth and civil society organizations mainly aimed at raising awareness on the UN Convention Against Corruption. Later in April, at the Induction for the new Members of Parliament, the team also delivered a presentation on how fighting corruption and crime is key to building more inclusive and just societies, in line with Sustainable Development Goal number 16. 

To maintain the momentum, UN-PRAC in partnership with the Office of the Public Service Commission, organised an “Integrity Workshop for Senior Government Officials”.  The activity, held on Monday and Tuesday at the Millennia Hotel, brought together more than thirty representatives from Government Ministries.

For more information, click here. 

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TRANSFORMING OUR WORLD THROUGH OPEN GOVERNMENT IN ASIA-PACIFIC

Are you promoting open government initiatives in a country of Asia-Pacific to contribute to the achievement of the SDGs? What transformative steps are you taking to promote more open and inclusive societies?
 
Please share these initiatives with us and you might be selected to present them at the forthcoming Asia-Pacific Regional OGP Workshop hosted by the Asian Development Bank, in collaboration with the Open Government Partnership Support Unit, United Nations Development Programme, and Ford Foundation in the Philippines!

 
BACKGROUND
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Open Government Partnership (OGP) Support Unit are joining hands to put into action the commitments under the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Citizens want transparent, effective, and accountable governments, with institutions that empower people and respond to their aspirations. OGP is a multilateral initiative that aims to secure concrete commitments from governments, in partnership with civil society, to promote transparency, empower citizens, fight corruption, and harness new technologies to strengthen governance, building on the four open government principles of transparency, accountability, citizen participation, technology and innovation.
 
More than 50 OGP participating countries have endorsed the Joint Declaration on Open Government for the Implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The Declaration commits participating governments to take advantage of the OGP infrastructure — including the National Action Plan and the guaranteed participation of civil society — to help achieve the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals.

UNDP has been a multilateral partner of OGP since October 2013.
 
MAPPING OPEN GOVERNMENT INITIATIVES
We are now seeking examples of open government initiatives that can help contribute to the achievement of SDGs, in particular by meeting the following criteria:
 
√ Government and civil society are working together to promote transparency, accountability, and/or citizen engagement, either at the national or subnational level;

√ The initiatives contribute to the achievement of the sustainable development goals and demonstrate measurable results  (e.g., good health, quality education, rule of law and access to justice, gender equality, climate action);

√ The initiatives aim at leaving no one behind: Marginalized groups, the poor, minorities, women, young people, people with disabilities, are part of the process and/or benefit from the reform;

√ The initiatives are based on innovative approaches, methodologies and/or use of new technologies.

Illustrative examples of open government initiatives that can spur progress on the SDGs can be found here.
 
All the initiatives meeting these criteria will be promoted via UNDP and OGP’s international networks. The top 3 initiatives with the highest potential to transform our world and “reach the last mile” will be selected for presentation at the Asia-Pacific Regional OGP Workshop hosted by the Asian Development Bank, in collaboration with the OGP Support Unit, UNDP, and Ford Foundation in the Philippines on July 21-22 2016. UNDP will cover the cost of travel for the presenter of the initiatives.

WHO CAN CONTRIBUTE AND HOW
Whether you are a representative from a UNDP Country Office, government, civil society, academia, development partner or a private citizen, we would like to hear about these innovative initiatives taking place in the Asia-Pacific region (both in OGP participating and non-participating countries). Please share your experience by filling in the template attached and sending supporting materials (link to webpage, video, brochure, report, etc.). Deadline for submitting this information to Liviana Zorzi (liviana.zorzi@undp.org) is 3 June 2016.

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At the request of the UN Country Team Moldova, UNDP Global Anti-corruption Initiative (GAIN) together with UNDP’s Istanbul Regional Hub and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) organized a workshop on “Integration of Anti-corruption into UN Programming” on 12 April 2016. The one-day workshop brought together 16 members of the UN Moldova Country Team from nine UN agencies.

Corruption in Moldova remains an issue of high visibility and at the center of most debates. The economic, political and social context of Moldova has been tense and volatile in 2015 and the impact has been carried on into 2016. Within this context, elaboration of the new UN Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF) of Moldova for 2017-2020 needs to ensure it addresses issues of corruption and anti-corruption and integrates related concerns into its programming.

To facilitate this conversation and to equip the UN teams with the relevant tools, methodologies, and programming entry points, the workshop sought to create space to reflect and work specifically on the anti-corruption aspect of UNDAF formulation. The objective of the workshop was to ensure a uniform understanding of the impact of corruption on development in Moldova, specifically given current contexts, and the importance of taking corruption and anti-corruption into account in programming.

The outcomes of the workshop were two-fold: First, the UN Country Team came to a common understanding that without addressing corruption risks in the areas that each UN agency is responsible for, it will not be possible to achieve any tangible results for development. Second, the participants got practical knowledge on what the anti-corruption entry points are in their respective areas and what specific anti-corruption actions could be integrated into the new UNDAF.

Taking advantage of the presence of the GAIN team and anti-corruption specialist from the Istanbul Regional Hub, the UNDP Moldova Team also requested a one-day training for its project managers and officers. The training brought together more than 30 participants from UNDP Moldova and focused on the issues of impact of corruption on UNDP programming, mainstreaming anti-corruption in UNDP programming, specifically project planning, including quality assurance screenings, tools, indicators, as well as integrating anti-corruption in UNDP’s work plan.

GAIN also shared all the online tools, courses, methodologies, and knowledge products that it has developed. The UNDP Moldova team found these useful and applicable to their work. The training resulted in increased understanding by the participants about the negative impact of corruption on UNDP programming and hands-on guidance on how to integrate anti-corruption into existing projects implemented by UNDP Moldova. Participants also got familiarised with UNDP’s approach on anti-corruption and all the resources that they can tap into when elaborating respective interventions.

Prior to the training the GAIN team also met with the deputy commissioner of Moldova’s National Anti-Corruption Commission, members of the Moldovan Parliament, as well as the UN Operations Management Team. The discussion with the deputy commissioner of the National Anti-Corruption Commission related to current legislative initiatives that aim to improve the overall anti-corruption environment in Moldova and optimize anti-corruption efforts in the country.

In its meeting with Moldovan parliamentarians, GAIN discussed the planned launching of a Moldovan chapter of Global Organization of Parliamentarians Against Corruption (GOPAC), an initiative supported by UNDP Moldova’s Parliamentary Strengthening project. The meeting with the Operations Management Team related to improving the UN’s internal transparency and accountability, with GAIN offering some practical recommendations that could help UN Moldova further promote transparency and accountability in-house.

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The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) remains the most transparent aid organisation in the world, according to a leading global ranking released today.

1. 2016 Aid Transparency Index today recognized UNDP as the leading aid organisation among 46 international agencies, representing 98 per cent of Official Development Flows. The index is produced by Publish What You Fund, a non-profit organisation that advocates for and measures transparency.

It is the second consecutive year that the UNDP has been ranked first in the index, which assesses the state of aid transparency among the world’s major donor organisations. 

The index is based on the International Aid Transparency Initiative (IATI) standard, which sets a common global benchmark for publishing timely, forward-looking and comprehensive aid information.

“We are thrilled to be recognised for our commitment to transparency, which is at the core of our mission,” said Helen Clark, UNDP Administrator.

“UNDP was proud to be ranked number one during the last index, and our commitment to raising the bar has certainly not wavered since. We have continued to improve the way we report our data and are now able to share information on where our interventions are having an impact,” Helen Clark said.

“The developing countries we serve have a right to know how development funding is being used in their countries. All those who place funding through UNDP are also entitled to know how we are handling the monies entrusted to us.”

Currently 397 organisations are publishing information to the IATI Standard, including donor countries, multilateral organisations, foundations, private sector and national and international NGOs. More than 25 developing countries have endorsed the initiative and are active members in its governance. 

Among the UN system, 14 agencies already publish to the IATI Standard: IFAD, OCHA, OCHA-FTS, CERF, UN Women, UNCDF, UNDP, UNESCO, UNFPA, UN-Habitat, UNICEF, UNOPS, WFP and the World Bank, with firm commitments from UNEP, UNIDO and FAO to begin publishing within the year. 

“We congratulate UNDP for topping the Aid Transparency Index for the second time in a row. UNDP has become a leader in aid transparency and is setting a high bar for others to follow,” said Rupert Simons, CEO of Publish What You Fund.

As an original IATI signatory, UNDP began publishing to the global standard in 2011. Since then, it has consistently met international transparency standards, operating an innovative portal (open.undp.org) that details more than 5,000 of its development projects.
 

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