U4 Helpdesk Query

U4 helpdesk reply

This was an urgent query and the reply to the query was sent within a few hours from receipt of the query. We have consulted between TI and CMI and we all seem to understand your query to be a request for information on donor agency strategies and policies on tackling corruption (including approaches for curbing in-house corruption). Should you have some additional time and like to submit a standard U4 query request, we would be happy to look into this matter further and provide you with a full U4 answer in form of a brief report. The regular timeframe for that type of work is 10 working days and we do our best to provide the answers in less than 10 days, if that proves possible. Please do not hesitate to contact us if we can be of any further help.

Since the request is at a very short notice, we are pointing you to three relevant papers that might be helpful sources for you. A brief description of each is also supplied to enable you to have a quick overview as to their contents. We hope this would be of some help.

U4 Reports:

Fighting the Bug Within What are the Utstein agencies doing to protect their own organisations from corrupt behaviour?
This study looks at the inhouse mechanisms, and highlights comparative aspects of political commitment, the legal framework, codes of conduct, organisation and training. Author: Harald Mathisen, CMI. (Sep.2003)

The Utstein Partner's Anti-Corruption Policies
This is a presentation of the Utstein anti-corruption policies, based on a study of available documentation. The intention is to present policies and strategies in a comparative framework. This presentation does not review progress in terms of the contribution that the respective strategies have made to actually reduce corruption. An examination of the anti-corruption strategies of the four Utstein partners show that there is some variation with respect to how the respective partners have organised their responses to the challenges. DFID’s strategy is most explicit in its recognition of the importance of closely integrated and holistic approaches. Commissioned by U4. Author: Johan Helland, researcher at Chr. Michelsen Institute, Norway (June 2002)

OECD/DAC:

Syntheis 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? (June 2003). It contains a section on donor strategies and looks inter alia at measures such as strengthening financial management, etc. to prevent corruption in development projects.