April 2016

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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Opening court services to peer scrutiny might greatly improve integrity and public trust, new report says

DOWNLOAD THIS DOCUMENT: “A TRANSPARENT AND ACCOUNTABLE JUDICIARY TO DELIVER JUSTICE FOR ALL” (English, 2.1MB)

08 APRIL 2016, Bangkok: Corrupt judicial systems undermine reforms and are a major impediment to ensuring access to justice and human rights for ordinary citizens across the world, says a new report published by the United Nations Development Programme and U4 Anti-corruption Resource Centre on Friday.

Titled, A Transparent and Accountable Judiciary to Deliver Justice for All, the global report cites survey data suggesting that the public perceive the judiciary as the second most corrupt public institution, after the police.

Globally one in four people said they paid a bribe to court officials, according to a 2013 survey by the NGO Transparency International that covered 95 countries.¹ By 2015, TI found that 28% of citizens across Sub-Saharan Africa who had contact with a judge or court official paid a bribe – more than police and any other public sector service.²

“Judicial corruption disproportionately affects the poorest and most marginalised citizens of a community because they are far less likely to be able to pay a bribe or have access to influential networks,” said Patrick Keuleers, Director, Governance and Peacebuilding at UNDP headquarters.

In Bangladesh, for example, the average bribe of US$108 that a court user has to pay accounts for roughly a quarter of the GDP per capita or average annual income in that country, says the report.

“The UN system and its partners support numerous initiatives to strengthen judicial systems around the world, and corruption remains a major stumbling block to the success of these efforts,” Keuleers said.

The UNDP report concludes, however, that opening up judicial systems to scrutiny can strengthen integrity and increase public trust without impeding independence of the judiciary.  

“We are advocating the judiciary to open itself to peer learning by engaging with counterparts in other countries and allowing meaningful capacity assessments that will lead to increased judicial integrity” said Phil Matsheza, Regional Practice Leader in UNDP’s Bangkok Regional Hub.

The report highlights successful experiences from Afghanistan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Colombia, Indonesia, Kenya, Kosovo³, Nepal, Nigeria, Paraguay, Philippines, and Somalia, in promoting transparency and accountability within the judiciary.  

It discusses internal oversight within the judiciary such as judicial councils, and explains the mechanisms used in Somaliland to enforce sanctions against judicial officers in cases of misconduct.

It also looks at how stakeholders such as associations of judges and court users can become allies in reforming judicial systems. For example, the report cites the use of surveys and consultations with court users that have led to more responsive services and reduced demands for bribes in countries such as Kenya and Nigeria.

“Corruption undermines justice in many parts of the world with the poor and vulnerable suffering most,” said Cobus de Swardt, Managing Director of the International Secretariat of Transparency International. “This new report gives critical first-hand answers about promoting integrity in the courts by building citizen and other stakeholders’ support for reforms and by using technology to increase judicial transparency.”

Even in post-conflict environments such as Afghanistan, where change is difficult, NGOs working with citizens to monitor trials in selected provinces have contributed to improving the administration of justice.

While technology is not offered as a panacea to corruption within justice systems, modernisation and automation of judicial services can be key enablers for judicial transparency and accountability, the report adds.   For example, in Indonesia digitising court documents and statistics has helped increase transparency for people who can access judgments online, reduce bureaucracy, and achieve efficiency.

The report stresses that the success of these reforms efforts are predicated on strong political will and national ownership.

The recently adopted 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development includes key targets for providing access to justice, and tackling corruption. The report provides a fresh perspective on ways to develop integrity plans as part of broader judicial reforms, by illustrating inspirational experiences that countries can adopt to deliver justice for all.

The report was published by UNDP’s Regional Bureau for Asia and the Pacific and can be accessed online here (http://on.undp.org/dMP)

For additional information, please contact Elodie Beth, UNDP Regional Anti-Corruption Advisor, at elodie.beth@undp.org.

* * *

UNDP partners with people at all levels of society to help build nations that can withstand crisis, and drive and sustain the kind of growth that improves the quality of life for everyone. On the ground in nearly 170 countries and territories, we offer global perspective and local insight to help empower lives and build resilient nations.

Notes:

1. Perception survey Global Corruption Barometer, Transparency International, 2013. http://www.transparency.org/gcb2013/report.

2. http://www.transparency.org/whatwedo/publication/people_and_corruption_africa_survey_2015

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

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Our experience shows that we can ensure a more transparent construction sector by simply informing people about the kind of work being carried out in their neighborhoods. By disclosing SMG’s construction work information on the Construction Informer website, all the stakeholders, from private contractors to the responsible Seoul government officials, came to adopt a more transparent, responsible, and accountable administration of our public construction development.”

–Mr. Won Soon Park, Mayor of Seoul
2 December 2015 UNDP-SMG workshop on Public Construction Transparency

The UNDP Seoul Policy Centre (USPC) and the Seoul Metropolitan Infrastructure Headquarters (SMIH) of the Seoul Metropolitan Government (SMG) undertook a full-day workshop to discuss the most effective ways to share with developing countries Seoul’s experiences and lessons learned from its Clean Construction System (CCS) through USPC’s Development Solutions Partnership (DSP) on Open Data and Public Construction Management for efficiency, transparency, and integrity in the public construction sector. 

Introduced in 2011, CCS is an effective technological and institutional approach to enhancing transparency, efficiency, and the protection of construction workers’ rights in the public construction sector. The system won the prestigious UN Public Service Award in 2013, in recognition of its innovation and potential for application in other countries.

The workshop was organized to strategize how to provide follow-up support to countries that had participated in the International Workshop on Public Construction Transparency, co-organized by USPC and SMG on 2-4 December 2015, which had shared CCS with some 70 overseas participants from 20 countries around the world.

Based on the demand from the workshop participants for sustained partnerships and support, USPC and SMG in partnership with GAIN had released a Call for Expressions of Interests in February 2016 to solicit proposals from these countries, in order to provide advisory and technical support, combined with seed funding, for their application of the learning points from the December meeting. Almost all of the eligible countries had submitted their proposals, thereby making the selection process very competitive.

At the workshop, participants intensive discussions with Seoul Government partners on how to design and implement effective triangular cooperation among UNDP, SMG, and partner countries. Participants also deliberated each of the submitted proposals against the a set of evaluation criteria l that include implementation opportunities and capacities in candidate countries, project sustainability and ownership, availability of necessary expertise and resources, and quality of the proposed work plans.

Support will be delivered for the period of 2016-2017 to a maximum of five countries selected through this competitive process following further in-depth discussions. DSP partner countries will apply Korea’s CCS and lessons learnt shared at the Workshop, and implement various initiatives to promote more transparent, efficient, and accountable management of the public construction sector through at the country-level, with Seoul’s CCS as a reference point.

Since the early 2015, the UNDP Seoul Policy Centre (USPC) has been partnering with the Seoul Metropolitan Infrastructure Headquarters (SMIH) of the Seoul Metropolitan Government (SMG) and the UNDP Global Anti-Corruption Initiative (GAIN) to share Seoul’s CCS under the DSP. The ‘Open Data and Public Construction Management’ DSP is one of two DSPs UPSC is currently conducting alongside the ‘Anti-Corruption Monitoring and Evaluation Systems’ DSP in partnership with Korea’s Anti-Corruption & Civil Rights Commission (ACRC).

Initiated in 2014, DSP is a new approach for USPC, acting as a knowledge broker and facilitator, to connect Korea with the wider UNDP network and enhance the Korea-UNDP partnership on strategic development issues globally. DSPs work through triangular cooperation among Korean Government institutions, UNDP, and partner countries.

The workshop took place on 14 March, 2016 in Seoul, Korea.

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The Department of Personnel and Training, Government of India, in collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme India has developed a national-level pool of trainers to conduct training on two thematic areas: Leadership Skills and Ethics. The pool of trainers brings with it the skills and experience of retired and serving officers and faculty of government training institutes.

The pool consists of 53 trainers who have undergone rigorous training on a high quality module developed by reputed institutes and delivered by scientifically trained National Facilitators on a pan India and international basis to ensure better learning of the skills. The trainers have been trained and assessed by the Centre for Creative Leadership and certified by the Department of Personnel and Training, Government of India.

The modules have sufficient flexibility to account for local and regional variations. The concept is based on an officer-teach-officer model where trainees learn both from the module and from the personal experiences and sharing of the facilitators. The methodology is extremely participatory and engrossing so that there is deep impact on the trainees. Both modules are available in 2-day and 3-day design formats.

Following the training, these trainers are being successfully deployed in training programmes at the provincial level. Leadership and ethics are at the core of civil services across all countries of the world.  Other countries could also benefit from services of this pool of trainers that has been developed by the Government of India and is being used within the country.

Further information on the training that can be provided by the trainers and the list of trainers can be accessed as per details given below –

http://solutionexchange-un.net.in/ftp/decn/resource/NationalpoolofTrainers-Leadership Skills and Ethics.pdf

http://solutionexchange-un.net.in/ftp/decn/resource/Listoftrainers-Ethics.pdf

http://solutionexchange-un.net.in/ftp/decn/resource/Listoftrainers-Leadership.pdf

http://solutionexchange-un.net.in/ftp/decn/resource/2-daysEVIPG Design.pdf

http://solutionexchange-un.net.in/ftp/decn/resource/3daysEVPG Design.pdf

http://solutionexchange-un.net.in/ftp/decn/resource/BasicLeadershipSkills.pdf

For more information, please contact:

Sumeeta Banerji
Assistant Country Director & Head (Democratic Governance)
United Nations Development Programme
55, Lodhi Estate, New Delhi – 110003
sumeeta.banerji@undp.org

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