Lessons learned and best practices

This page will present commissioned research and reports on lessons learned and best practices (forthcoming).

Introductions and links to other 'Best Practices' pages are found below.

Best practices - compiled by Transparency International
TI's Good Practices pages are found as a link on the top menu on the main TI web site. Basically, this Good Practices service is a searchable database of downloadable documents. You can do a free text search or choose from 60 keywords. The documents include mostly legal texts - like laws, decrees, treaties, codes of conduct, etc. - or recommendations by relevant organisations and entities. The strength of the system is that all documents (several hundred) are presented with a synopsis and are in electronic form, thus making the database an invaluable quick stop for transparency and integrity regulations at both national and international levels. Its limitations lie in that there is no published summary about the determining criteria for a document's inclusion in the list of good practices. Please note, that the database mostly contains the actual provisions for good practices (in the form of legal and other regulatory tools) - and is not intended to provide accounts of actual implementation of these tools.

Helping Countries Combat Corruption. Progress at the World Bank Since 1997

The World Bank's 1997 strategy, "Helping Countries Combat Corruption: the Role of the World Bank," put into motion a chain of events that fundamentally reformed the way the Bank thinks about and acts against corruption. This large World Bank publication reports on the progress that the Bank has made along each of the four dimensions of the Bank's anticorruption strategy: preventing fraud and corruption in bank-financed projects; helping countries that request Bank support in their efforts to reduce corruption; mainstreaming anticorruption in country assistance strategies, country analysis and lending decisions; and supporting international efforts to combat corruption. (116 pages) (2000)

Survey Techniques to Measure and Explain Corruption

A paper about Public Expenditure Tracking - a landmark anti-corruption tool. It argues that with appropriate survey methods and interview techniques, it is possible to collect quantitative micro-level data on corruption. Public expenditure tracking surveys, service provider surveys, and enterprise surveys are highlighted with several applications. These surveys permit measurement of corruption at the level of individual agents, such as schools, health clinics, or firms. They also permit the study of mechanisms responsible for corruption, including leakage of funds and bribery. (2003)

Synthesis of lessons learned of donor practices in fighting corruption

This report was prepared for the DAC Network on Governance by a team of consultants led by Mr. Bruce B. Bailey. The study is a review of donor experiences and lessons about what works or does not work in fighting corruption in developing countries. The study asks two basic and interrelated questions: What have we learned about fighting corruption, and what have donors learned from their own experiences? The paper is a highly recommended reading. (2003)

What Have Donor Agencies Learned From Their Efforts?

This paper is the executive summary of a speech held by Bruce Bailey at the 11th Interantional Anti-Corruption Conference, 2003. It is based on research which purpose was to review donor experiences and lessons about what works or does not work in fighting corruption in developing countries. The paper is short and very readable, and provide bullet point lists of lessons learned (although tentative). (2003)