Anti-Corruption Handbooks and Guides
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Anticorruption Assessment Handbook: Final Report - February 28, 2009
The purpose of this handbook is to provide practitioners and their implementing partners with an integrated framework and practical tools to conduct tailored anticorruption assessments efficiently and at a level sufficiently detailed to produce targeted and prioritized recommendations for programming. The framework is guided by international best practice, theory and research, as well as the results of pilot assessments that tested earlier versions of the methodology. By offering a common approach by which the dynamics of corruption can be understood and assessed, USAID believes that anticorruption strategies can be improved and programs made more effective and appropriate to different country conditions.
This Handbook provides a practical guide for anti-corruption reformers to reduce and prevent corruption in government administrative processes. The ideas and techniques of the “Administrative Process Redesign” approach are based on international best practices. They can be used to support the development of effective Anti-Corruption Action Plans by government ministries and departments.
Practitioner’s Guide for Anticorruption Programming – January 2015
This Guide offers practical programming and implementation advice for USAID field missions to support their development of effective anticorruption programs. The advice is based on lessons learned from past anticorruption programming by USAID, other donors and host governments. Guidance is also provided on the use of political economy analysis tools that can assist practitioners in identifying corruption dynamics, challenges and opportunities for programming, as well as highlighting initiatives appropriate for different sectors. Approaches to developing effective and targeted monitoring and evaluation systems for such programs are also presented in this Guide.
Anti-Corruption Citizen Advocate Offices: From Idea to Success – October 2017
Citizens and businesses continually transact with governmental agencies to obtain services, fulfill their public obligations, seek justice, and resolve disputes. All of these interactions are vulnerable to corruption or abuse of public office. As victims of corruption or excessive bureaucracy, citizens and businesses may require legal consultation or assistance to help them deal with their problem. This paper describes the design, establishment and impacts of Anti-Corruption Citizen Advocate Offices (CAO) in three countries.
This program brief examines how anticorruption initiatives can be implemented as effective components of statebuilding programs. The impact of corruption on post-conflict settings can be significant for both future political and economic development and peace prospects. Likewise, the fragility of the rebuilding context after conflict can seriously influence the growth of corruption, exacerbating the vulnerabilities of the state and completing a vicious circle.
Guide for Corruption Risk Assessment and Mitigation in Public Procurement – May 2016
This Guide provides an approach to assess corruption risks in public procurement within public institutions, to develop corruption mitigation plans, and to target strategies and plans for monitoring and auditing procurements.
High-Level Corruption and Transnational Organized Crime – October 10, 2014
Corruption linked to transnational organized crime (TOC) represents a serious governance challenge in many countries. Like other types of corruption, it invokes deviations from rules and regulations leading to inconsistent and ineffective public administration. Depending on the TOC activity, corruption linked to TOC can undermine such government operations as customs controls, natural resource protection, product regulation and banking oversight. It also weakens the rule of law and distorts electoral competition as criminals bribe police and judges to escape prosecution and make sizeable contributions to political campaigns. As a result of these distortions, management of public resources deteriorates, public security worsens and government legitimacy falls.
Institutional Corruption Risk Management (ICRM): How-To Guide – February 2018
The Institutional Corruption Risk Management (ICRM) How-To Guide presents practical advice on how to apply technical approaches to (a) highlight corruption vulnerabilities in government institutions and functions and (b) design targeted measures to reduce those risks and prevent corruption in the future. Once an institution has agreed to receive anti-corruption support or has identified particular functions or processes that are in need of reform, the ICRM methodology can be initiated. The objective of the ICRM is to offer rigorous assessment and systematic analytical approaches to support institutions that are ready to prioritize and implement corruption prevention policies and practices.
Institutional Vulnerability to Corruption Assessments (VCA-I) Guide – February 26, 2020
The Institutional Vulnerability to Corruption Assessments (VCA-I) Guide provides guidance for conducting assessment corruption prevention systems and corruption risks within an institution and developing risk mitigation plans. VCA-I can be used in any public or private organization.
The purpose of this guide is to provide field managers with practical guidance on: Options and approaches for assessing corruption; Addressing corruption as a cross-cutting theme; and Measuring the impacts of anti-corruption interventions. We attempt to clarify the practical aspects of conducting a corruption assessment. We outline possible options and approaches for assessing corruption within the developing country context.
Corruption and Public Finance - November 2002
Virtually every aspect of public administration, and public finance, can be a source of corruption – large procurements and major public works projects, tax administration, debt management, customs and ill-designed privatization of state owned enterprises. This study provides a selective review of some of the issues dealing with corruption in public finance and service delivery. Specifically, this report reviews factors that are likely to influence, or corrupt, public finances and assesses their impact on resource allocation and public good finance. The study also provides some recommendations with respect to improving governance and public financial management.
Corruption and Poverty: A Review of Recent Literature – January 2003
Corruption in the public sector -- the misuse of public office for private gain -- is often viewed as exacerbating conditions of poverty (low income, poor health and education status, vulnerability to shocks and other characteristics) in countries already struggling with the strains of economic growth and democratic transition. Alternatively, countries experiencing chronic poverty are seen as natural breeding grounds for systemic corruption due to social and income inequalities and perverse economic incentives. The literature points to the conclusion that corruption, by itself, does not produce poverty. Rather, corruption has direct consequences on economic and governance factors, intermediaries that in turn produce poverty. Thus, the relationship examined by researchers is an indirect one. This paper discusses two major models explaining this moderated linkage between corruption and poverty: an economic model and a governance model.
The consequences of corruption are typically examined in terms of the economic costs that they impose on a society. This study suggests that as good an argument can be made for the inverse relationship: significant benefits can be accrued by countries that effectively implement anti-corruption programming. Together, a powerful cost-benefit analysis can serve to motivate practical anti-corruption policy planning and action. An advantage of the “benefits” approach is greater data reliability. The study finds that strong implementation of anti-corruption initiatives is more important to achieving social, political, economic and human development benefits for society than merely establishing a good legal-institutional framework to fight corruption. Raising public expectations without strong delivery of visible anti-corruption programming is especially detrimental. Most interestingly, the study finds that a country’s level of development and wealth has little to do with its level of anti-corruption programming. Thus, it is not a good excuse for Vietnam or other developing countries to point to their level of development or wealth as a reason for why they are not doing as much as they can to implement anti-corruption reforms effectively. A country’s wealth is not a predictor of progress or success in this area.
Vulnerability to Corruption Assessments for Reform (VCA-R): How-To Guide - February 2018
This Vulnerability to Corruption Assessment for Reform (VCA-R) How-To Guide presents practical advice on how to apply technical approaches to (a) highlight corruption vulnerabilities in government institutions and functions, and then (b) design targeted reform measures to reduce those vulnerabilities and prevent corruption in the future. The approach merges Vulnerability to Corruption Assessments (VCA) to identify problems with Business Process Redesign (BPR) techniques to design best fixes to those problems, so that action plans and effective implementation can proceed. The VCA-R methodology is initiated once an institution accepts that corruption in its functions or processes is hindering its ability to conduct its mandate and provide services to the public. By combining a rigorous VCA assessment approach with a systematic process redesign approach, the VCA-R offers the next generation of anti-corruption techniques that increases the likelihood of reform implementation and measurable corruption prevention.
