Europe & CIS

Situation analysis:

Public corruption is a social manifestation affecting both developed and less developed countries. At its core, corruption is a governance issue - a failure of public institutions and a lack of capacity to realize good governance objectives through a framework of social, legal, political and economic checks and balances. High levels of corruption increase poverty and have serious consequences for the delivery of basic public services, such as healthcare and education.  Failed public institutions impact disproportionately the most vulnerable groups– the sick, poor or otherwise disadvantaged. Therefore, it is of utmost importance that countries be equipped with effective tools to prevent and confront public corruption. Effectively confronting public corruption is critical to restoring public confidence in state institutions and assisting the governments in the region to meet their responsibilities. Countries of the Western Balkans recognize that public corruption is a serious problem affecting the political, social and economic aspects of the everyday life of their citizens. Through the 2006 Democratic Governance Thematic Trust Fund several Country Offices have received seed funding for anti-corruption initiatives and these projects and others have been initiated. Country-level capacity to design and implement meaningful anti-corruption projects is still limited, thus, it is timely to intensify cooperation and facilitate the sharing of lessons learned and replicable successful methodologies among Country Offices throughout the sub-region. This will not only strengthen Country Office capacity to programming in this area – a necessary precondition for meaningful regional and country-level efforts- but it will also help UNDP define and strengthen its substantive role in anti-corruption in the sub-region.

Proposed programme:

This Project will create a sub-regional mechanism to support UNDP COs in the Western Balkans in pursuing anti-corruption initiatives. The Project will focus on defining a sub-regional strategic approach, knowledge management and exchange, identification of replicable project components, and supporting implementation of lessons learned.

The objective of the Project is to learn from each other and ensure that proper linkages are made between programming efforts in different countries. This will allow COs to maximize the use of resources and will in the end strengthen UNDP’s role in supporting national institutions to confront public corruption in the sub-region and provide a foundation for development of a focused anti-corruption center of excellence. Many donors emphasize the utility of regional components in country level programming, and it is expected that this mechanism will be helpful for Country Offices when mobilizing resources. The Project will also include activities that will help UNDP in its donor coordination efforts, not least in respect to the European Union’s new Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA), planned to replace the CARDS mechanism in the beginning of 2007.

Anticipated results:

• Formulation of a sub-regional strategy on anti-corruption in the Western Balkans
• Capacity of Country Office staff to design and implement anti-corruption programming increased through application   of lessons learned and transfer of replicable project elements across the sub-region
• UNDP’s role in anti-corruption enhanced and acknowledged by other donors
• Centre of excellence and coordination for sustained support to UNDP’s anti-corruption activities in the Western Balkans established in Macedonia

Current status:

Project implementation started in 2007 after extensive consultations with the headquarters and participating country offices. Project manager was hired by the UNDP Macedonia; administrative support to the project is provided by the country office. Two sub-regional project meetings were held with key stakeholders in 2008 for the formulation and elaboration of the sub-regional anti-corruption strategy.