In the context of a multi-centre research project, the Institute and its partners seek to map the manner in which informality is associated with the resilience of corruption. In this innovative project, researchers shift the focus away from analysing the implementation of formal legal frameworks, regulations and policies to concentrate on informal actions and practices that may be effectively taken into consideration where conventional anti-corruption interventions have failed.

For this purpose dedicated local researchers are conducting fieldwork in Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda studying patterns of informality that are linked to high corruption levels and associated with the poor performance of conventional anti-corruption approaches. Amongst potential factors assessed in this context are the role of electoral processes in heightening corruption risks, the role of informal networks based on kinship, ethnicity as well as opportunistic considerations as well as the role that informality may play or not in two "success stories" namely Rwanda and Georgia.