Approaches to monitor identified external corruption risks in development programmes

U4 Helpdesk Answer

Approaches to monitor identified external corruption risks in development programmes

Corruption risk management has become a standard feature of many aid agencies’ development programming. While various approaches to monitor corruption risks exist, this Helpdesk Answer presents a systematic method that can capture the fluctuating risk profile of a programme over time while also assessing the effectiveness of mitigation measures designed to keep integrity risks within tolerable limits. This approach stresses the need to consider potential integrity issues across the programme’s value chain, from the policymaking level to the client interface, to ensure that corruption mitigation efforts do not focus unduly on highly visible threats at the expense of tackling less obvious issues that may have a more profound impact on desired outcomes.

5 April 2020

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Main points

Effective corruption risk management does not end with risk identification but rather the development of appropriate mitigation measures and indicators to track risks.
Development practitioners must adapt standard guidance to their specific needs, developing bespoke tools to identify, assess, mitigate and monitor corruption risks across the entire project cycle.
Value chain analysis helps to identify less obvious corruption risks that can have perfidious effects on programme outcomes.
Monitoring the incidence of corruption is notoriously difficult, but a combination of different kinds of indicators offers a relatively reliable insight into the effectiveness and performance of anti-corruption safeguards designed to ensure transparency, accountability and participation in development programming.

By

Kaunain RahmanResearch Coordinator

Reviewed by

Guillaume NicaiseSenior Adviser

Matthew JenkinsResearch and Knowledge Manager

In collaboration with

Transparency International

Topics

Anti-corruption basics

Cite this publication

Rahman, K. 2020. Approaches to monitor identified external corruption risks in development programmes. Bergen: U4 Anti-Corruption Resource Centre, Chr. Michelsen Institute (U4 Helpdesk Answer 2020:13)

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About the author

Kaunain Rahman

Kaunain is the business integrity specialist at Transparency International (TI), driving integrity in business as part of TI’s strategy. She strengthens business capacity for collective action, fosters integrity in value chains, and advocates for better regulatory frameworks. Her projects include Integrity Pacts and the Business Integrity Country Agenda, focusing on transparent procurement and national business integrity. Kaunain also leads TI’s efforts in addressing corruption through private sector sustainability reporting.

Disclaimer

All views in this text are the author(s)’, and may differ from the U4 partner agencies’ policies.

This work is licenced under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International licence (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

Keywords

corruption risk management, monitoring, evaluation, and learning

U4 Helpdesk Answer