Civil society organisations, investigative journalists and other professionals outside government play an increasingly critical role in exposing financial misconduct, monitoring the use of public resources and supporting accountability efforts.

Asset recovery is a key part of that effort. It is not only about exposing wrongdoing, but about ensuring that stolen public funds are traced, returned and used for their intended purpose.

For civil society, investigative journalists and other non-state actors, understanding asset recovery strengthens their ability to follow cases, ask the right questions and push for tangible outcomes.

This course equips participants with the knowledge and tools to identify and analyse potential illicit financial activity, and to understand the asset recovery process from start to finish. This includes detection and intelligence gathering, investigation, judicial proceedings, confiscation and asset management, as well as the challenges that arise at each stage.

By the end of the course, participants will be better prepared to contribute to asset recovery efforts as informed and effective non-state actors. They will be able to conduct advocacy, monitoring and investigative reporting, and engage more confidently in detection efforts and whistleblowing processes.

The case

Participants work in groups on a simulated corruption case involving a senior public official in the health sector. The suspect has embezzled public funds intended for the construction of a hospital and used them to acquire assets both domestically and abroad.

Working through the case, participants analyse financial information and leads provided by a whistleblower. They use open-source intelligence (OSINT) tools to identify and trace assets, and explore how information and evidence can be obtained across borders through both informal channels and formal mutual legal assistance (MLA) processes.

Lectures and guided discussions equip participants with the skills and knowledge to complete the simulated investigation.