[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":740},["ShallowReactive",2],{"publication-TZ-giftgiving":3,"related-TZ-giftgiving":260},[4],{"id":5,"status":6,"sort":7,"date_created":8,"date_updated":9,"nid":10,"slug":11,"title":12,"body":13,"citation":14,"language":15,"year":16,"publisher":17,"date_published":18,"external":19,"topic":20,"link_internal":22,"link_external":29,"featured":19,"topics":30,"languages":32,"type":33,"area":7,"programme":7,"websites":7,"summary":7,"pdf_text":7,"main_points":7,"short_version":7,"subtitle":7,"image":35,"countries":46,"tags":80,"pdf":115,"authors":139},2227,"published",null,"2022-09-08T10:04:05.000Z","2026-06-02T14:09:01.000Z",2251,"TZ-giftgiving","Using behavioural insights to reduce gift giving in a Tanzanian public hospital: Findings from a mixed-methods evaluation","This is the final technical report of the research project \u003Ca href=\"https:\u002F\u002Face.globalintegrity.org\u002Fprojects\u002Ftanzhealth\u002F\">Addressing bribery in the Tanzanian health sector: A behavioural approach\u003C\u002Fa>.\n\nPrevious research has shown that social norms of gift-giving and reciprocity are linked to patterns of bribery in the Tanzanian health sector. Health facility staff that do not accept a gift or reciprocate a favour are often punished by means of gossip, criticism, and even social isolation, further enforcing the norms. On the other hand, gift-giving and bribery exacerbate inequality in access to healthcare, as patients who are able and willing to give gifts might receive preferential treatment at the expense of those who cannot afford them. At the extreme, gifts and other unofficial payments become a requirement for access to services, with life threatening consequences for the most vulnerable groups.\n\nIn this mixed-methods evaluation we aimed to understand the feasibility and potential impact of a multi-component behavioural intervention on rates of gift exchange between users and staff of a public regional referral hospital in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. The intervention aimed to shift users’ (i.e. patients and individuals accompanying them to the health facility) and health providers’ attitudes and perceived social norms around gift-giving, and to reduce actual exchange of gifts (i.e. the behaviour).\n\nThis research project was funded by the Global Integrity Anti-Corruption Evidence Programme (GI-ACE), funded with UK aid from the UK government. The project implementation was a collaboration between the Basel Institute on Governance, the UK Behavioural Insights Team, the University of Dar es Salam and the University of Utrecht.\n\nThe technical report is free to share under a Creative Commons AttributionNonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) licence.","","English",2022,"Basel Institute on Governance","2022-09-08",false,[21],"Public Governance",[23,26],{"url":24,"caption":25},"\u002Fresources\u002Fpublications\u002Fwp-40"," See related Working Paper: Developing anti-corruption interventions addressing social norms: Lessons from a field pilot in Tanzania",{"url":27,"caption":28},"\u002Fresources\u002Fpublications\u002Fadopting-peer-led-approach-disseminate-anti-corruption-messages-results-network-survey"," See related paper: Results of the network survey",[],[31],"Corruption Prevention and Public Governance",[15],[34],"Report",{"id":36,"storage":37,"filename_disk":38,"filename_download":39,"title":40,"type":41,"created_on":8,"modified_on":8,"charset":7,"filesize":42,"width":43,"height":44,"duration":7,"embed":7,"description":7,"location":7,"tags":7,"metadata":45,"focal_point_x":7,"focal_point_y":7,"tus_id":7,"tus_data":7,"uploaded_on":8},"da338e5c-b31c-467a-bf3a-6af8e465fdec","local","da338e5c-b31c-467a-bf3a-6af8e465fdec.jpg?itok=DDxCTXER","Pages-from-220908-TZ-technical-report.jpg?itok=DDxCTXER","Cover page of Tanzania technical report","image\u002Fjpeg",29091,500,708,{},[47],{"id":48,"publications_id":49,"countries_id":74},1020,{"id":5,"status":6,"sort":7,"user_created":50,"date_created":8,"user_updated":51,"date_updated":9,"nid":10,"slug":11,"image":36,"title":12,"body":13,"citation":14,"language":15,"year":16,"publisher":17,"date_published":18,"external":19,"topic":52,"link_internal":53,"link_external":56,"featured":19,"topics":57,"languages":58,"type":59,"area":7,"programme":7,"websites":7,"summary":7,"pdf_text":7,"main_points":7,"short_version":7,"subtitle":7,"countries":60,"tags":61,"pdf":64,"authors":66},"03bebfd8-0b40-4a2a-820d-b9d9c13b9de6","3d9ff205-1640-4f34-b5b6-86977f51bbd6",[21],[54,55],{"url":24,"caption":25},{"url":27,"caption":28},[],[31],[15],[34],[48],[62,63],4382,4383,[65],2267,[67,68,69,70,71,72,73],2447,2448,2449,2450,2451,2452,2453,{"id":75,"name":76,"code":77,"latitude":78,"longitude":79},224,"Tanzania","TZ",-6.36903,34.88882,[81,98],{"id":62,"publications_id":82,"tags_id":95},{"id":5,"status":6,"sort":7,"user_created":50,"date_created":8,"user_updated":51,"date_updated":9,"nid":10,"slug":11,"image":36,"title":12,"body":13,"citation":14,"language":15,"year":16,"publisher":17,"date_published":18,"external":19,"topic":83,"link_internal":84,"link_external":87,"featured":19,"topics":88,"languages":89,"type":90,"area":7,"programme":7,"websites":7,"summary":7,"pdf_text":7,"main_points":7,"short_version":7,"subtitle":7,"countries":91,"tags":92,"pdf":93,"authors":94},[21],[85,86],{"url":24,"caption":25},{"url":27,"caption":28},[],[31],[15],[34],[48],[62,63],[65],[67,68,69,70,71,72,73],{"id":96,"name":97},982,"Anti-corruption",{"id":63,"publications_id":99,"tags_id":112},{"id":5,"status":6,"sort":7,"user_created":50,"date_created":8,"user_updated":51,"date_updated":9,"nid":10,"slug":11,"image":36,"title":12,"body":13,"citation":14,"language":15,"year":16,"publisher":17,"date_published":18,"external":19,"topic":100,"link_internal":101,"link_external":104,"featured":19,"topics":105,"languages":106,"type":107,"area":7,"programme":7,"websites":7,"summary":7,"pdf_text":7,"main_points":7,"short_version":7,"subtitle":7,"countries":108,"tags":109,"pdf":110,"authors":111},[21],[102,103],{"url":24,"caption":25},{"url":27,"caption":28},[],[31],[15],[34],[48],[62,63],[65],[67,68,69,70,71,72,73],{"id":113,"name":114},1381,"Health",[116],{"id":65,"publications_id":117,"directus_files_id":130},{"id":5,"status":6,"sort":7,"user_created":50,"date_created":8,"user_updated":51,"date_updated":9,"nid":10,"slug":11,"image":36,"title":12,"body":13,"citation":14,"language":15,"year":16,"publisher":17,"date_published":18,"external":19,"topic":118,"link_internal":119,"link_external":122,"featured":19,"topics":123,"languages":124,"type":125,"area":7,"programme":7,"websites":7,"summary":7,"pdf_text":7,"main_points":7,"short_version":7,"subtitle":7,"countries":126,"tags":127,"pdf":128,"authors":129},[21],[120,121],{"url":24,"caption":25},{"url":27,"caption":28},[],[31],[15],[34],[48],[62,63],[65],[67,68,69,70,71,72,73],{"id":131,"storage":37,"filename_disk":132,"filename_download":133,"title":133,"type":134,"folder":135,"uploaded_by":50,"created_on":136,"modified_by":7,"modified_on":136,"charset":7,"filesize":137,"width":7,"height":7,"duration":7,"embed":7,"description":138,"location":7,"tags":7,"metadata":7,"focal_point_x":7,"focal_point_y":7,"tus_id":7,"tus_data":7,"uploaded_on":136},"8af125e3-da01-4ad9-9484-eaddc06753ee","8af125e3-da01-4ad9-9484-eaddc06753ee.pdf","220908-tz-technical-report.pdf","application\u002Fpdf","67f22e04-d26f-4baa-b91f-acc5f89d87f5","2022-09-08T10:04:06.000Z",3147015,"Download PDF",[140,158,175,192,209,226,243],{"id":67,"publications_id":141,"authors_id":154},{"id":5,"status":6,"sort":7,"user_created":50,"date_created":8,"user_updated":51,"date_updated":9,"nid":10,"slug":11,"image":36,"title":12,"body":13,"citation":14,"language":15,"year":16,"publisher":17,"date_published":18,"external":19,"topic":142,"link_internal":143,"link_external":146,"featured":19,"topics":147,"languages":148,"type":149,"area":7,"programme":7,"websites":7,"summary":7,"pdf_text":7,"main_points":7,"short_version":7,"subtitle":7,"countries":150,"tags":151,"pdf":152,"authors":153},[21],[144,145],{"url":24,"caption":25},{"url":27,"caption":28},[],[31],[15],[34],[48],[62,63],[65],[67,68,69,70,71,72,73],{"id":155,"name":156,"position":7,"image":157},295,"Claudia Baez Camargo","efaca248-6b57-4e2e-af40-614056eb022c",{"id":68,"publications_id":159,"authors_id":172},{"id":5,"status":6,"sort":7,"user_created":50,"date_created":8,"user_updated":51,"date_updated":9,"nid":10,"slug":11,"image":36,"title":12,"body":13,"citation":14,"language":15,"year":16,"publisher":17,"date_published":18,"external":19,"topic":160,"link_internal":161,"link_external":164,"featured":19,"topics":165,"languages":166,"type":167,"area":7,"programme":7,"websites":7,"summary":7,"pdf_text":7,"main_points":7,"short_version":7,"subtitle":7,"countries":168,"tags":169,"pdf":170,"authors":171},[21],[162,163],{"url":24,"caption":25},{"url":27,"caption":28},[],[31],[15],[34],[48],[62,63],[65],[67,68,69,70,71,72,73],{"id":173,"name":174,"position":7,"image":7},505,"Violette Gadenne",{"id":69,"publications_id":176,"authors_id":189},{"id":5,"status":6,"sort":7,"user_created":50,"date_created":8,"user_updated":51,"date_updated":9,"nid":10,"slug":11,"image":36,"title":12,"body":13,"citation":14,"language":15,"year":16,"publisher":17,"date_published":18,"external":19,"topic":177,"link_internal":178,"link_external":181,"featured":19,"topics":182,"languages":183,"type":184,"area":7,"programme":7,"websites":7,"summary":7,"pdf_text":7,"main_points":7,"short_version":7,"subtitle":7,"countries":185,"tags":186,"pdf":187,"authors":188},[21],[179,180],{"url":24,"caption":25},{"url":27,"caption":28},[],[31],[15],[34],[48],[62,63],[65],[67,68,69,70,71,72,73],{"id":190,"name":191,"position":7,"image":7},506,"Veronica Mkoji",{"id":70,"publications_id":193,"authors_id":206},{"id":5,"status":6,"sort":7,"user_created":50,"date_created":8,"user_updated":51,"date_updated":9,"nid":10,"slug":11,"image":36,"title":12,"body":13,"citation":14,"language":15,"year":16,"publisher":17,"date_published":18,"external":19,"topic":194,"link_internal":195,"link_external":198,"featured":19,"topics":199,"languages":200,"type":201,"area":7,"programme":7,"websites":7,"summary":7,"pdf_text":7,"main_points":7,"short_version":7,"subtitle":7,"countries":202,"tags":203,"pdf":204,"authors":205},[21],[196,197],{"url":24,"caption":25},{"url":27,"caption":28},[],[31],[15],[34],[48],[62,63],[65],[67,68,69,70,71,72,73],{"id":207,"name":208,"position":7,"image":7},507,"Dilhan Perera",{"id":71,"publications_id":210,"authors_id":223},{"id":5,"status":6,"sort":7,"user_created":50,"date_created":8,"user_updated":51,"date_updated":9,"nid":10,"slug":11,"image":36,"title":12,"body":13,"citation":14,"language":15,"year":16,"publisher":17,"date_published":18,"external":19,"topic":211,"link_internal":212,"link_external":215,"featured":19,"topics":216,"languages":217,"type":218,"area":7,"programme":7,"websites":7,"summary":7,"pdf_text":7,"main_points":7,"short_version":7,"subtitle":7,"countries":219,"tags":220,"pdf":221,"authors":222},[21],[213,214],{"url":24,"caption":25},{"url":27,"caption":28},[],[31],[15],[34],[48],[62,63],[65],[67,68,69,70,71,72,73],{"id":224,"name":225,"position":7,"image":7},508,"Ruth Persian",{"id":72,"publications_id":227,"authors_id":240},{"id":5,"status":6,"sort":7,"user_created":50,"date_created":8,"user_updated":51,"date_updated":9,"nid":10,"slug":11,"image":36,"title":12,"body":13,"citation":14,"language":15,"year":16,"publisher":17,"date_published":18,"external":19,"topic":228,"link_internal":229,"link_external":232,"featured":19,"topics":233,"languages":234,"type":235,"area":7,"programme":7,"websites":7,"summary":7,"pdf_text":7,"main_points":7,"short_version":7,"subtitle":7,"countries":236,"tags":237,"pdf":238,"authors":239},[21],[230,231],{"url":24,"caption":25},{"url":27,"caption":28},[],[31],[15],[34],[48],[62,63],[65],[67,68,69,70,71,72,73],{"id":241,"name":242,"position":7,"image":7},370,"Richard Sambaiga",{"id":73,"publications_id":244,"authors_id":257},{"id":5,"status":6,"sort":7,"user_created":50,"date_created":8,"user_updated":51,"date_updated":9,"nid":10,"slug":11,"image":36,"title":12,"body":13,"citation":14,"language":15,"year":16,"publisher":17,"date_published":18,"external":19,"topic":245,"link_internal":246,"link_external":249,"featured":19,"topics":250,"languages":251,"type":252,"area":7,"programme":7,"websites":7,"summary":7,"pdf_text":7,"main_points":7,"short_version":7,"subtitle":7,"countries":253,"tags":254,"pdf":255,"authors":256},[21],[247,248],{"url":24,"caption":25},{"url":27,"caption":28},[],[31],[15],[34],[48],[62,63],[65],[67,68,69,70,71,72,73],{"id":258,"name":259,"position":7,"image":7},509,"Tobias Stark",[261,321,350,392,437,486,541,577,616,686],{"id":262,"slug":263,"title":264,"status":6,"nid":265,"year":266,"body":267,"external":19,"topic":268,"language":15,"type":269,"date_published":271,"image":272,"citation":14,"publisher":273,"link_internal":274,"link_external":284,"authors":285,"countries":296,"tags":303,"pdf":314,"topics":316,"featured":19,"languages":317,"summary":7,"programme":7,"area":7,"websites":7,"pdf_text":7,"sort":7,"user_created":50,"date_created":318,"user_updated":51,"date_updated":319,"main_points":7,"short_version":7,"subtitle":7,"link":320},1779,"informal-networks-investment-east-africa","Informal networks as investment in East Africa",2126,2021,"This report presents findings from a research project entitled \u003Ca href=\"https:\u002F\u002Face.globalintegrity.org\u002Fprojects\u002Finformality\u002F\">Harnessing informality: Designing anti-corruption network interventions and strategic use of legal instruments\u003C\u002Fa>” funded by UK Aid as part of the Global Integrity Anti-Corruption Evidence Programme (GI-ACE).\n\nThe project follows from a previous research project where the Basel Institute on Governance, in partnership with University College London and SOAS, researched informality and its relationship with corruption and governance in seven countries in East Africa and Central Asia. The findings from that research project suggested that corruption often takes place according to informal, unwritten rules. The findings from the seven countries supported the following observation:\n\n\n“Corruption is most often not the result from the actions of a few, individual rotten apples operating in otherwise healthy governance systems; rather corruption is orchestrated by informal social networks that connect actors in the public and private realms and enable the pursuit of a variety of intransparent, often illicit, goals.”\n\n\nIn our current research project, we have aimed to understand how informal networks that are associated with different types of corruption are exactly articulated, operationalised and managed, with a view to distilling lessons of value to anti-corruption practitioners.\n\nThe present report sheds light on the functioning of informal networks in East Africa, based on evidence collected in Tanzania and Uganda. The report presents evidence, consisting of ten mini-case studies (six from Tanzania and four from Uganda) that describe informal networks associated with bribery and procurement fraud. The 10 cases are also analysed and implications for anti-corruption practice discussed.",[21],[270,34],"Article","2021-11-02","https:\u002F\u002Fjam.baselgovernance.org\u002Fapi\u002Fassets\u002Fe420805b-118f-48cb-8bff-675352716c10?width=600&height=840","Global Integrity Anti-Corruption Evidence Programme (GI-ACE)",[275,278,281],{"url":276,"caption":277},"\u002Fresources\u002Fpublications\u002Fcase-studies-tanzania-gi-ace-research-informal-networks-and-corruption"," View case studies from Tanzania",{"url":279,"caption":280},"\u002Fresources\u002Fpublications\u002Fcase-studies-uganda-gi-ace-research-informal-networks-and-corruption"," View case studies from Uganda",{"url":282,"caption":283},"\u002Fresources\u002Fnews\u002Fbribery-isnt-only-an-exchange-of-money-what-new-research-tells-us-about-how-informal-networks-enable-corruption-and-vice-versa-2129"," View blog\u002Fshort summary by Claudia Baez Camargo",[],[286,288,292],{"authors_id":287},{"id":155,"name":156},{"authors_id":289},{"id":290,"name":291},304,"Jacopo Costa",{"authors_id":293},{"id":294,"name":295},359,"Lucy Koechlin",[297,299],{"countries_id":298},{"id":75,"name":76},{"countries_id":300},{"id":301,"name":302},226,"Uganda",[304,306,310],{"tags_id":305},{"id":96,"name":97},{"tags_id":307},{"id":308,"name":309},848,"Behavioural science",{"tags_id":311},{"id":312,"name":313},1309,"Informality",[315],1804,[31],[15],"2022-04-27T11:53:30.000Z","2026-06-02T14:10:29.000Z","\u002Fresources\u002Fpublications\u002Finformal-networks-investment-east-africa",{"id":322,"slug":323,"title":324,"status":6,"nid":65,"year":16,"body":325,"external":19,"topic":326,"language":15,"type":327,"date_published":328,"image":329,"citation":14,"publisher":17,"link_internal":330,"link_external":331,"authors":332,"countries":337,"tags":338,"pdf":343,"topics":345,"featured":19,"languages":346,"summary":7,"programme":7,"area":7,"websites":7,"pdf_text":7,"sort":7,"user_created":50,"date_created":347,"user_updated":51,"date_updated":348,"main_points":7,"short_version":7,"subtitle":7,"link":349},2234,"behavioural-insights-and-anti-corruption","Behavioural insights and anti-corruption: Executive summary of a practitioner-tailored review of the latest evidence (2016–2022)","Donors, governments and anti-corruption practitioners seeking alternative tools to address systemic corruption are increasingly turning to behavioural science. Behavioural anti-corruption approaches appear promising because they respond to a growing body of descriptive evidence on how certain social norms and mental models drive corruption, particularly in fragile contexts. Interventions that target social norms and seek to shift people’s behaviours away from corrupt practices could be more effective and long-lasting than ones that, for example, simply add more regulations and controls.\n\nYet few large-scale anti-corruption programmes have so far been informed by behavioural insights – in part due to a lack of evidence on where such an approach would be appropriate, what works and what doesn’t. \n\nThat evidence is slowly becoming available, thanks to an increase in the past five years in what can be called Social Norms and Behaviour Change (SNBC) intervention studies. Many have yielded positive effects and demonstrate the potential of SNBC interventions to tackle systemic corruption, but some studies have encountered counterproductive effects of anti-corruption messaging. \n\nBased on a synthesis of the evidence, this brief paper summarises a set of behavioural explanations (i.e. insights and pitfalls) for why some of these SNBC approaches have failed, while others have been effective. The aim is to provide practitioners designing SNBC interventions with evidence to help them develop effective programmes and avoid common pitfalls.\n\nThe full research paper and analysis tables are available to practitioners upon request. Please email \u003Ca href=\"mailto:info@baselgovernance.org\">info@baselgovernance.org\u003C\u002Fa>.\n\n### Acknowledgements and open-access licence\n\nThe publication is a technical report published by the Basel Institute on Governance. It is free to share under a Creative Commons AttributionNonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (\u003Ca href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fcreativecommons.org\u002Flicenses\u002Fby-nc-nd\u002F4.0\u002F\">CC BY-NC-ND 4.0\u003C\u002Fa>) licence.\n\nThis is a short version of a substantial in-depth review of the latest evidence (2016-21) on how SNBC approaches can inform anti-corruption practice. The publication was supported by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH on behalf of the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). The contents of this publication do not represent the official position of either BMZ or GIZ.",[21],[34],"2022-10-10","https:\u002F\u002Fjam.baselgovernance.org\u002Fapi\u002Fassets\u002Fbebee1ea-a781-4771-8ec0-b9e473e302c8?width=600&height=840",[],[],[333],{"authors_id":334},{"id":335,"name":336},354,"Cosimo Stahl",[],[339,341],{"tags_id":340},{"id":96,"name":97},{"tags_id":342},{"id":308,"name":309},[344],2276,[31],[15],"2022-10-10T16:04:11.000Z","2026-05-31T22:52:08.000Z","\u002Fresources\u002Fpublications\u002Fbehavioural-insights-and-anti-corruption",{"id":351,"slug":352,"title":353,"status":6,"nid":354,"year":355,"body":356,"external":19,"topic":357,"language":15,"type":358,"date_published":360,"image":361,"citation":362,"publisher":17,"link_internal":363,"link_external":367,"authors":368,"countries":375,"tags":378,"pdf":385,"topics":387,"featured":19,"languages":388,"summary":7,"programme":7,"area":7,"websites":7,"pdf_text":7,"sort":7,"user_created":50,"date_created":389,"user_updated":51,"date_updated":390,"main_points":7,"short_version":7,"subtitle":7,"link":391},2324,"research-case-5","Research Case Study 5: Harnessing behavioural approaches against corruption",2550,2023,"Social norms and behaviour change (SNBC) approaches are a promising complement to conventional anti-corruption strategies. Adopting a context-sensitive and nuanced approach is an essential ingredient for success.\n\nWe wanted to understand if and how behavioural approaches can promote anti-corruption outcomes, as well as conditions for success.\n\nTo do this we reviewed research from 2016–2022 on the use of behavioural approaches in anti-corruption practice. We also analysed our practical experience designing and piloting an intervention to tackle social norms of reciprocity which fuel bribery in health facilities in Tanzania.",[21],[359],"Research Case Study","2023-12-05","https:\u002F\u002Fjam.baselgovernance.org\u002Fapi\u002Fassets\u002Fa4b5e14a-9841-4feb-8411-335c9f972aba?width=600&height=840","Baez Camargo, Claudia, and Saba Kassa. 2023. ‘Harnessing behavioural approaches against corruption.’ Research Case Study 5, Basel Institute on Governance. Available at: baselgov- ernance.org\u002Fpublications\u002Fresearch-case-5.",[364],{"url":365,"caption":366},"\u002Fresources\u002Fpublications?type=Research%20Case%20Study"," View all research case studies",[],[369,371],{"authors_id":370},{"id":155,"name":156},{"authors_id":372},{"id":373,"name":374},303,"Saba Kassa",[376],{"countries_id":377},{"id":75,"name":76},[379,381,383],{"tags_id":380},{"id":308,"name":309},{"tags_id":382},{"id":312,"name":313},{"tags_id":384},{"id":96,"name":97},[386],2360,[31],[15],"2023-12-06T11:04:47.000Z","2026-06-02T14:08:43.000Z","\u002Fresources\u002Fpublications\u002Fresearch-case-5",{"id":393,"slug":394,"title":395,"status":6,"nid":396,"year":16,"body":397,"external":19,"topic":398,"language":15,"type":399,"date_published":400,"image":401,"citation":14,"publisher":402,"link_internal":403,"link_external":408,"authors":412,"countries":419,"tags":424,"pdf":431,"topics":432,"featured":19,"languages":433,"summary":7,"programme":7,"area":7,"websites":7,"pdf_text":7,"sort":7,"user_created":50,"date_created":434,"user_updated":51,"date_updated":435,"main_points":7,"short_version":7,"subtitle":7,"link":436},2221,"informal-networks-investment-qualitative-analysis-uganda-and-tanzania","Informal networks as investment: A qualitative analysis from Uganda and Tanzania",2277,"Published in the peer-reviewed journal *Governance*, this paper interprets informal networks as investments made by citizens and business people to cope with the public sphere. Informal networks often orchestrate corruption, connecting public and private actors. The paper aims to understand their key characteristics, scopes, and functional roles.\n\nTen mini case studies from Tanzania and Uganda are studied. The research applies narrative analysis to explore the experiences of citizens, entrepreneurs, and low-level public officials, who built informal networks as a problem-solving mechanism. It uses a grounded theory approach. The findings serve as working hypotheses about variables and patterns emerging from the bottom-up analysis.\n\nThe paper outlines:\n\n\n- Whether there are distinct types of informal networks associated with particular types of corruption;\n- How, why and by whom these networks are built;\n- Whether different individuals play specific roles;\n- The unwritten expectations and norms that govern such networks.\n\n\nThe results highlight critical implications for anti-corruption practice, showing, for example, how this can be strengthened by shifting the intervention unit from individuals to networks.\n\n### About this article\n\nThis peer-reviewed article is based on extensive field research and analysis conducted by the Basel Institute's Public Governance team in Tanzania and Uganda. The research was funded by UK Aid under the Global Integrity Anti-Corruption Evidence (GI-ACE) programme. See the links below for the open-access research outputs, including a full research report and two sets of case studies.",[21],[270],"2022-08-25","https:\u002F\u002Fjam.baselgovernance.org\u002Fapi\u002Fassets\u002F1771fed4-0a6d-4050-88ce-494e877fab4e?width=600&height=840","Governance (Wiley-Blackwell on behalf of the IPSA Structure and Organization of Government Committee)",[404,406,407],{"url":320,"caption":405}," View open access research report: Informal networks as investment in East Africa",{"url":276,"caption":277},{"url":279,"caption":280},[409],{"url":410,"caption":411},"https:\u002F\u002Fdoi.org\u002F10.1111\u002Fgove.12726","View peer-reviewed article on Wiley Online Library",[413,415,417],{"authors_id":414},{"id":155,"name":156},{"authors_id":416},{"id":290,"name":291},{"authors_id":418},{"id":294,"name":295},[420,422],{"countries_id":421},{"id":75,"name":76},{"countries_id":423},{"id":301,"name":302},[425,427,429],{"tags_id":426},{"id":96,"name":97},{"tags_id":428},{"id":308,"name":309},{"tags_id":430},{"id":312,"name":313},[],[31],[15],"2022-09-06T14:10:21.000Z","2026-06-02T14:08:59.000Z","\u002Fresources\u002Fpublications\u002Finformal-networks-investment-qualitative-analysis-uganda-and-tanzania",{"id":438,"slug":439,"title":440,"status":6,"nid":441,"year":16,"body":442,"external":19,"topic":443,"language":15,"type":444,"date_published":446,"image":447,"citation":448,"publisher":17,"link_internal":449,"link_external":453,"authors":454,"countries":461,"tags":466,"pdf":479,"topics":481,"featured":19,"languages":482,"summary":7,"programme":7,"area":7,"websites":7,"pdf_text":7,"sort":7,"user_created":50,"date_created":483,"user_updated":51,"date_updated":484,"main_points":7,"short_version":7,"subtitle":7,"link":485},1760,"policy-brief-9-informal-networks-and-what-they-mean-anti-corruption-practice","Policy Brief 9: Informal networks and what they mean for anti-corruption practice",2166,"Corruption is frequently associated with money alone and the behaviours of a few individual “bad apples” operating in otherwise healthy governance systems. This is too simplistic. As the latest research shows, including research in Tanzania and Uganda on which this Policy Brief is based, corruption is a networked phenomenon. This Policy Brief explains what this means and its implications for anti-corruption practice.\n\nWhen ordinary citizens and business people face problems, like constrained access to public services or an uneven playing field, they invest time, effort and resources in building informal networks.\n\nHeld together by personal connections and corrupt payments, these informal networks are a problem-solving mechanism. They allow members – such as business people, other citizens and public officials – to pursue a variety of goals. The networks aid in easing access to public services, for example, or helping a business to run smoothly, or securing business opportunities with the government. Informal networks can be leveraged to speed up long and complicated permit processes or exploit weaknesses in formal tender processes to obtain undue access to contracts. When red tape is used by public officials to extort bribes from service users, informal networks can help manage and overcome these demands. \n\nIn contexts in which these informal networks are widespread, the research shows that conventional anti-corruption measures, such as introducing more regulations, policies and controls, can actually backfire and increase corruption. \n\nBreaking this self-reinforcing cycle of networked corruption requires a shift in thinking and approaches:\n\n\n- **Focusing on networked corruption** as opposed to individual corrupt behaviours.\n- **Tackling corruption both from the demand and the supply side** by addressing inefficiencies and weaknesses in public systems that cause problems for ordinary citizens and business people. This may make it less likely that they will resort to corruption through informal networks to overcome the public service weaknesses.\n- **Harnessing informal networks for anti-corruption objectives.** This includes leveraging new insights into social norms and networks and establishing Collective Action initiatives to better target the underlying drivers of corruption.\n\n\n## About this Policy Brief\n\nThis publication is part of the Basel Institute on Governance Policy Brief series, ISSN 2624-9669. It presents findings from a research project entitled “\u003Ca href=\"https:\u002F\u002Face.globalintegrity.org\u002Fprojects\u002Finformality\u002F\">Harnessing informality: Designing anti-corruption network interventions and strategic use of legal instruments\u003C\u002Fa>”, funded by UK Aid as part of the Global Integrity Anti-Corruption Evidence Programme (GI-ACE).\n\nIt is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0). ",[21],[445],"Policy Brief","2022-02-21","https:\u002F\u002Fjam.baselgovernance.org\u002Fapi\u002Fassets\u002Fc9f50b43-2246-4e39-a1b1-052b0e9829f1?width=600&height=840","Baez Camargo, Claudia, Jacopo Costa, and Saba Kassa. 2022. \u003Ca href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fbaselgovernance.org\u002Fpublications\u002Fpolicy-brief-9-informal-networks-and-what-they-mean-anti-corruption-practice\">Informal networks and what they mean for anti-corruption practice.\u003C\u002Fa> *Policy Brief* 9, Basel Institute on Governance.",[450],{"url":451,"caption":452},"\u002Fresources\u002Fpublications?type=Policy%20Brief"," View all Policy Briefs",[],[455,457,459],{"authors_id":456},{"id":155,"name":156},{"authors_id":458},{"id":290,"name":291},{"authors_id":460},{"id":373,"name":374},[462,464],{"countries_id":463},{"id":75,"name":76},{"countries_id":465},{"id":301,"name":302},[467,469,473,477],{"tags_id":468},{"id":96,"name":97},{"tags_id":470},{"id":471,"name":472},909,"Collective Action",{"tags_id":474},{"id":475,"name":476},973,"Corruption",{"tags_id":478},{"id":312,"name":313},[480],1786,[31],[15],"2022-04-27T11:53:17.000Z","2026-06-02T14:09:04.000Z","\u002Fresources\u002Fpublications\u002Fpolicy-brief-9-informal-networks-and-what-they-mean-anti-corruption-practice",{"id":487,"slug":488,"title":489,"status":6,"nid":490,"year":266,"body":491,"external":19,"topic":492,"language":15,"type":493,"date_published":494,"image":495,"citation":14,"publisher":17,"link_internal":496,"link_external":502,"authors":503,"countries":518,"tags":523,"pdf":534,"topics":536,"featured":19,"languages":537,"summary":7,"programme":7,"area":7,"websites":7,"pdf_text":7,"sort":7,"user_created":50,"date_created":538,"user_updated":51,"date_updated":539,"main_points":7,"short_version":7,"subtitle":7,"link":540},1773,"policy-brief-8-it-takes-network-defeat-network-what-collective-action-practitioners","Policy Brief 8: It takes a network to defeat a network – What Collective Action practitioners can learn from research into corrupt networks",2148,"This Policy Brief distils recommendations for \u003Ca href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fbaselgovernance.org\u002Fcollective-action\">Collective Action\u003C\u002Fa> practitioners based on empirical insights on certain forms of corruption involving private-sector actors.\n\n\u003Ca href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fbaselgovernance.org\u002Fpublications\u002Finformal-networks-investment-east-africa\">Field research carried out in Tanzania and Uganda\u003C\u002Fa> produced detailed case studies that show how informal networks link private and public sector actors to pursue common illicit goals, such as gaining an unfair business advantage, avoiding a sanction, decreasing taxes owed or jumping the queue at the point of delivery of public services. Corruption, most often bribery, is the currency that works to cement and nurture those networks.\n\nThis Policy Brief is based on that research and a series of in-depth interviews with Collective Action practitioners working in Africa, Eastern Europe and Latin America. The goal is to extract insights from what we have learned about the networks that fuel corruption and discuss implications for anti-corruption Collective Action initiatives. \n\n## About this Policy Brief\n\nThis publication is part of the Basel Institute on Governance Policy Brief series, ISSN 2624-9669.\n\nIt is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0). Suggested citation: Baez Camargo, C., Costa, Hans,V., J., Koechlin, L. and Wannenwetsch, S. (2021) *It takes a network to defeat a network: What Collective Action practitioners can learn from research into corrupt networks*. Policy Brief 8, Basel Institute on Governance.\n\nThe research underpinning this Policy Brief was funded by the \u003Ca href=\"https:\u002F\u002Face.globalintegrity.org\u002F\">Global Integrity Anti-Corruption Evidence Programm\u003C\u002Fa>e, funded with UK Aid from the British people.",[472,21],[445],"2021-12-14","https:\u002F\u002Fjam.baselgovernance.org\u002Fapi\u002Fassets\u002Fe139b149-ae15-42eb-a076-1dccd23e562f?width=600&height=840",[497,499],{"url":320,"caption":498}," View Tanzania\u002FUganda research paper: Informal networks as investment in East Africa",{"url":500,"caption":501},"https:\u002F\u002Fbaselgovernance.org\u002Fb20-collective-action-hub"," See the B20 Collective Action Hub for more information about anti-corruption Collective Action",[],[504,506,508,512,514],{"authors_id":505},{"id":155,"name":156},{"authors_id":507},{"id":290,"name":291},{"authors_id":509},{"id":510,"name":511},298,"Vanessa Hans",{"authors_id":513},{"id":294,"name":295},{"authors_id":515},{"id":516,"name":517},293,"Scarlet Wannenwetsch",[519,521],{"countries_id":520},{"id":75,"name":76},{"countries_id":522},{"id":301,"name":302},[524,526,530,532],{"tags_id":525},{"id":312,"name":313},{"tags_id":527},{"id":528,"name":529},830,"Business integrity",{"tags_id":531},{"id":96,"name":97},{"tags_id":533},{"id":471,"name":472},[535],1793,[472,31],[15],"2022-04-27T11:53:25.000Z","2026-06-02T14:09:06.000Z","\u002Fresources\u002Fpublications\u002Fpolicy-brief-8-it-takes-network-defeat-network-what-collective-action-practitioners",{"id":542,"slug":543,"title":544,"status":6,"nid":545,"year":355,"body":546,"external":19,"topic":547,"language":15,"type":548,"date_published":550,"image":551,"citation":14,"publisher":17,"link_internal":552,"link_external":556,"authors":557,"countries":564,"tags":565,"pdf":570,"topics":572,"featured":19,"languages":573,"summary":7,"programme":7,"area":7,"websites":7,"pdf_text":7,"sort":7,"user_created":50,"date_created":574,"user_updated":51,"date_updated":575,"main_points":7,"short_version":7,"subtitle":7,"link":576},2291,"wp-45","Working Paper 45: Strategic anti-corruption communications – Guidance for behaviour change interventions",2462,"This Working Paper is intended to guide practitioners who are seeking to complement conventional anti-corruption measures by adopting a behavioural communications approach.\n\nIt aims to connect a typology of anti-corruption messages with behavioural change theories, and discuss their impact.\n\nSubsequently, it suggests practical implications for designing anti-corruption communication as part of behaviour change interventions. This includes outlining how to develop a robust Theory of Change as a means to enhance the success of such efforts.  \n\nThe guidance is based on a review of seven key topically pertinent studies that have been recently published. \n\n### About this paper\n\nThis publication is prepared as guidance for the USAID Indonesia Integrity Initiative (USAID INTEGRITAS).\n\nThis study is made possible by the support of the American people through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The contents are the sole responsibility of the Basel Institute on Governance and do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID or the United States Government.\n\n### Open-access licence and citation\n\nThe publication is part of the Basel Institute on Governance Working Paper Series, ISSN: 2624-9650. You may share or republish the Working Paper under a Creative Commons \u003Ca href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fcreativecommons.org\u002Flicenses\u002Fby-nc-nd\u002F4.0\u002F\">CC BY-NC-ND 4.0\u003C\u002Fa> licence.\n\nSuggested citation: Baez-Camargo, Claudia, and Johanna Schönberg. 2023. ‘Strategic anti-corruption communications: a resource for practitioners.’ Working Paper 45, Basel Institute on Governance. Available at: \u003Ca href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fbaselgovernance.org\u002Fpublications\u002Fwp-45\">https:\u002F\u002Fbaselgovernance.org\u002Fpublications\u002Fwp-45\u003C\u002Fa>",[21],[549],"Working Paper","2023-06-13","https:\u002F\u002Fjam.baselgovernance.org\u002Fapi\u002Fassets\u002F9472f8db-b06d-4af5-94ef-68380ff513f7?width=600&height=840",[553],{"url":554,"caption":555},"\u002Fresources\u002Fpublications?type=Working%20Paper"," View all Working Papers",[],[558,560],{"authors_id":559},{"id":155,"name":156},{"authors_id":561},{"id":562,"name":563},524,"Johanna Schönberg",[],[566,568],{"tags_id":567},{"id":308,"name":309},{"tags_id":569},{"id":96,"name":97},[571],2328,[31],[15],"2023-06-19T09:56:33.000Z","2026-06-02T14:09:07.000Z","\u002Fresources\u002Fpublications\u002Fwp-45",{"id":578,"slug":579,"title":580,"status":6,"nid":581,"year":582,"body":583,"external":19,"topic":7,"language":7,"type":584,"date_published":585,"image":586,"citation":7,"publisher":587,"link_internal":588,"link_external":595,"authors":599,"countries":600,"tags":601,"pdf":608,"topics":610,"featured":19,"languages":612,"summary":7,"programme":7,"area":7,"websites":7,"pdf_text":7,"sort":7,"user_created":51,"date_created":613,"user_updated":51,"date_updated":614,"main_points":7,"short_version":7,"subtitle":7,"link":615},2444,"recommendations-combatting-border-corruption-falcon-policy-brief","Recommendations for combatting border corruption (FALCON Policy Brief)",2946,2026,"Corruption at borders poses a significant threat to the integrity of the European Union’s external borders, undermining security, trust, and governance. And border corruption is not static — it evolves in response to new controls, technologies and enforcement strategies. This means that even well-designed measures may lose effectiveness over time.\n\nA new Policy Brief by the FALCON (Fight Against Large-scale Corruption and Organised Crime Networks) project outlines actionable recommendations for EU policymakers and officials involved preventing and combatting border corruption.\n\nThe brief identifies four priority areas:\n\nreducing discretionary face-to-face interactions at border crossing points through digitalisation;\\\ndeveloping harmonised, risk-based digital infrastructures that can detect corruption-prone patterns;\\\nlimiting manual data handling to close opportunities for manipulation; and\\\nstrengthening the conceptual alignment between anti-trafficking and anti-corruption strategies.\n\nIt argues that effective reform requires corruption-sensitive implementation frameworks, enhanced inter-agency coordination and a shift toward anticipatory governance.\n\nThe Basel Institute on Governance is an associated partner of the FALCON project. [Jacopo Costa](https:\u002F\u002Fbaselgovernance.org\u002Fabout-us\u002Fpeople\u002Fdr-jacopo-costa) contributed to the Policy Brief and related research.\n\n_FALCON is funded under the Horizon Europe Framework Program Grant Agreement ID 101121281. The Basel Institute on Governance receives funding from the Swiss State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation (SERI)._",[34],"2026-03-25","https:\u002F\u002Fjam.baselgovernance.org\u002Fapi\u002Fassets\u002Fbc5fa519-a9aa-472c-aed6-91849cddb2aa?width=600&height=840","FALCON - Fight Against Large-scale Corruption and Organised Crime Networks",[589,592],{"url":590,"caption":591},"\u002Fresources\u002Fpublications\u002Fqg38","Related Quick Guide to border corruption",{"url":593,"caption":594},"\u002Fresources\u002Fpublications\u002Fwp-58","Related Working Paper on corruption at the port of Rotterdam",[596],{"url":597,"caption":598},"https:\u002F\u002Fwww.falcon-horizon.eu\u002F2026\u002F03\u002Ffalcon-policy-brief-recommendations-for-combatting-border-corruption\u002F","Related FALCON news",[],[],[602,606],{"tags_id":603},{"id":604,"name":605},859,"Corruption risks",{"tags_id":607},{"id":96,"name":97},[609],2498,[611],"Prevention Research and Innovation",[15],"2026-06-01T22:10:26.000Z","2026-06-02T14:08:58.000Z","\u002Fresources\u002Fpublications\u002Frecommendations-combatting-border-corruption-falcon-policy-brief",{"id":617,"slug":618,"title":619,"status":6,"nid":620,"year":582,"body":621,"external":19,"topic":622,"language":15,"type":624,"date_published":625,"image":626,"citation":14,"publisher":627,"link_internal":628,"link_external":629,"authors":636,"countries":653,"tags":658,"pdf":679,"topics":681,"featured":19,"languages":7,"summary":7,"programme":7,"area":7,"websites":7,"pdf_text":7,"sort":7,"user_created":50,"date_created":682,"user_updated":51,"date_updated":683,"main_points":684,"short_version":7,"subtitle":7,"link":685},2433,"addressing-conflicts-interest-and-corruption-indonesias-energy-transition","Addressing conflicts of interest and corruption in Indonesia’s energy transition",2936,"This U4 Issue analyses Indonesia's ambitious energy transition and highlights how political finance, weak regulations and a \"revolving door\" of personnel between public office and the private sector create vulnerabilities. The publication was produced by U4 and the Basel Institute on Governance through its Green Corruption programme.\n\n\u003Ca href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fbaselgovernance.org\u002Fsites\u002Fdefault\u002Ffiles\u002F2026-02\u002FAddressing-conflicts-of-interest-and-corruption-in-indonesia-s-energy-transition_U4-Issue.pdf\">Download publication here\u003C\u002Fa>.\n\n### About the paper\n\nConflicts of interest and corruption in Indonesia's political economy pose significant risks to its energy transition, including the Just Energy Transition Partnership. Existing legal and institutional frameworks are fragmented, inconsistently applied, and often fail to address the risk of state capture by powerful political and economic actors, especially in the extractive and energy sectors.\n\nThe reliance on fossil fuel industries for political financing and the monopolistic nature of state-owned entities further complicate the shift to a low- or no-carbon system, despite the country's ambitious renewable energy targets.\n\nPotential pathways to greater anti-corruption resilience lie in improvements to beneficial ownership transparency and strengthening regulation, monitoring and sanctioning of conflict of interest violations.\n",[623],"Green Corruption",[34],"2026-02-24","https:\u002F\u002Fjam.baselgovernance.org\u002Fapi\u002Fassets\u002Fd97f2ca5-300d-45c9-9de9-33152b72f96c?width=600&height=840","U4 Anti-Corruption Resource Centre",[],[630,633],{"url":631,"caption":632},"https:\u002F\u002Fwww.u4.no\u002Fpublications\u002Faddressing-conflicts-of-interest-and-corruption-in-indonesia-s-energy-transition"," View on U4 website",{"url":634,"caption":635},"https:\u002F\u002Fwww.u4.no\u002Fblog\u002Fimproving-anti-corruption-resilience-in-indonesia-s-energy-transition"," Read related U4 blog",[637,641,645,649],{"authors_id":638},{"id":639,"name":640},581,"Robert Forster",{"authors_id":642},{"id":643,"name":644},582,"Aled Williams",{"authors_id":646},{"id":647,"name":648},523,"Lakso Anindito",{"authors_id":650},{"id":651,"name":652},579,"Dr Amanda Cabrejo le Roux",[654],{"countries_id":655},{"id":656,"name":657},99,"Indonesia",[659,661,665,669,673,677],{"tags_id":660},{"id":96,"name":97},{"tags_id":662},{"id":663,"name":664},818,"Anti-money laundering",{"tags_id":666},{"id":667,"name":668},804,"Natural resources",{"tags_id":670},{"id":671,"name":672},1371,"Public governance",{"tags_id":674},{"id":675,"name":676},1236,"Compliance",{"tags_id":678},{"id":475,"name":476},[680],2489,[623],"2026-02-27T15:11:31.000Z","2026-05-23T20:08:18.000Z","- Corruption and conflicts of interest are embedded in the energy transition process due to the strong links between political power, private wealth (especially from extractive industries) and public office holders.\n- Existing anti-corruption regulations are often vague, fragmented across different legal instruments, and suffer from inconsistent enforcement, which creates loopholes susceptible to manipulation.\n- Progress in renewable energy uptake is slowed by the enduring influence and interests of fossil fuel incumbents who benefit from subsidies that keep coal an artificially cheap and viable energy source.\n- The Just Energy Transition Partnership is vulnerable to misallocations due to concentrated decision-making power, limited transparency in project selection and insufficient involvement of national anti-corruption bodies and civil society in its planning.\n- Improving transparency of beneficial ownership and strengthening the monitoring and sanctioning of conflict of interest violations are possible pathways to build greater anti-corruption resilience, though these institutional efforts alone are insufficient to fully address state capture dynamics.","\u002Fresources\u002Fpublications\u002Faddressing-conflicts-interest-and-corruption-indonesias-energy-transition",{"id":687,"slug":688,"title":689,"status":6,"nid":690,"year":582,"body":691,"external":19,"topic":692,"language":15,"type":695,"date_published":696,"image":697,"citation":14,"publisher":698,"link_internal":699,"link_external":700,"authors":704,"countries":713,"tags":718,"pdf":731,"topics":733,"featured":19,"languages":7,"summary":7,"programme":7,"area":7,"websites":7,"pdf_text":734,"sort":7,"user_created":50,"date_created":735,"user_updated":736,"date_updated":737,"main_points":738,"short_version":7,"subtitle":7,"link":739},2432,"political-economy-weeds-embracing-complexity-anti-corruption-work-lessons-learned-anti","Political economy in the weeds: Embracing complexity in anti-corruption work – lessons learned from anti-corruption programme in Malawi",2910,"In this joint paper with Adam Smith International, authors Claudia Baez Camargo and Renee Kantelberg show how anti-corruption efforts require more than mere technical fixes, such as capacity building for civil society alone, to drive lasting change.\n\nAnti-corruption work is often embedded in complex, politically charged environments. This requires thinking and working politically. Engaging with complex social and economic systems also means recognising that change is not linear or even predictable. What to do then?\n\nOur years of anti-corruption research have demonstrated the centrality of having local stakeholders be in the driver’s seat for identifying priorities and finding solutions. This is how we have worked in Malawi in the Malawi Anti-Corruption Civil Society Support (MACCSS) project, funded by the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office and implemented with Adam Smith International.\n\nThis publication shares practical lessons and successes in applying this approach in the MACCSS project. It illustrates our joint efforts to navigate uncertainty and ground anti-corruption efforts in trust, resilience and local leadership. The key takeaways for practitioners who design or implement anti-corruption programmes (paraphrased) are:\n\n\n- **Embrace complexity.** Change is adaption and pivoting to reality, which is not linear. In governance programmes, unexpected developments and temporary reversals are signs that systems are shifting.\n- **Local ownership matters.** When partners are in the driver’s seat, impact and sustainability improve. This is true even if the route diverges from initial plans.\n- **Facilitation over funding.** Hands-on mentoring and relationship brokering build deeper capabilities than unidirectional training, grants and results frameworks.\n- **Learning by doing.** Regular reflection converts experience into strategy; failures become data for adaptation.\n- **Build trust and coalitions.** Reform depends on a collective effort with credible institutions and sister anti-corruption programmes. It also requires nurturing emergent anti-corruption networks, rather than merely building the capacity of individual actors.\n- **Resilience grows from below.** Sustainable accountability takes root when communities see anti-corruption as linked to livelihoods and services, not as an abstract governance agenda.\n- **Gender and inclusion strengthen legitimacy.** Integrating gender and social inclusion (GESI) principles by addressing corruption in mining, infrastructure and agriculture – sectors critical for women and marginalised groups – broadens both the reach and credibility of anti-corruption efforts.\n\n\nUltimately, the MACCSS experience reinforces a simple but profound insight: **anti-corruption work is not about perfect plans but about adaptive partnerships.** Change happens through relationships, experimentation and persistence. The task is not to eliminate uncertainty, but to navigate it with integrity and learning at the core. ",[693,694],"Prevention","Research and Innovation",[34],"2026-01-28","https:\u002F\u002Fjam.baselgovernance.org\u002Fapi\u002Fassets\u002Fe9075f1f-8dbe-4009-980b-baaae82f9c49?width=600&height=840","Adam Smith International",[],[701],{"url":702,"caption":703},"https:\u002F\u002Fadamsmithinternational.com\u002Farticles\u002Fpolitical-economy-in-the-weeds-embracing-complexity-in-anti-corruption-work\u002F#resource:all"," View on Adam Smith International website",[705,709],{"authors_id":706},{"id":707,"name":708},572,"Dr Claudia Baez Camargo",{"authors_id":710},{"id":711,"name":712},580,"Renee Kantelberg",[714],{"countries_id":715},{"id":716,"name":717},153,"Malawi",[719,721,725,729],{"tags_id":720},{"id":96,"name":97},{"tags_id":722},{"id":723,"name":724},1375,"Civil society",{"tags_id":726},{"id":727,"name":728},1372,"Training",{"tags_id":730},{"id":604,"name":605},[732],2488,[611],"\u003C!-- image -->\n\n## POLITICAL ECONOMY IN THE WEEDS\n\n## EMBRACING COMPLEXITY IN ANTI-CORRUPTION WORK\n\nBy Renee Kantelberg and Claudia Baez-Camargo\n\n## Introduction\n\nThe Malawi Anti-Corruption Civil Society Support (MACCSS) programme provides a powerful case for understanding how anti-corruption  (AC)  efforts  unfold  in  complex,  politically  charged  environments.  Jointly  funded  by  the  UK  Foreign, Commonwealth  and  Development  Office  (FCDO)  and  USAID,  MACCSS  (2024-2026)  combines  grants  and  technical assistance worth £1.75 million to strengthen civil society's role in promoting accountability. The initiative works through a  portfolio  of  civil  society  issue-focused  interventions  with  national  and  district  partners  across  sectors  such  as agriculture, mining, constituency development funds, justice and infrastructure.\n\nMalawi serves as both an opportunity-rich testing ground for systems-change initiatives and a cautionary case illustrating the constraints and pressure points such reforms face. This blend of promise and challenge renders Malawi pivotal for understanding governance transformations in comparable contexts. It is one of the poorest countries in the world, with corruption deeply embedded in its political and bureaucratic systems. Decades of clientelist politics, weak enforcement institutions  and  low  public-sector  pay  have  entrenched  behaviours  where  access  to  state  resources  is  viewed  as  an entitlement to extract rents for their own benefit and that of particular interests. In the wake of the September 2025 elections, these longstanding dynamics continue to shape the operating environment. Consequently, MACCSS's mandate remains unchanged: to equip committed civil-society organisations from national bodies to rural district groups with the knowledge, networks, and confidence to serve as policy-reform champions, watchdogs, and mobilisers of citizen voice and national advocacy priorities.\n\nAt first glance, the logic of working with civil society in contexts where state capacities are weak is straightforward: if CSOs are  trained  in  strategic  advocacy,  intervention  design,  operational  planning  and  media  engagement,  they  will become  effective  in  exposing  and  preventing  corruption,  thus  fulfilling  their  assumed  watchdog  function.  Yet  the experience of implementation shows that capacity alone does not guarantee influence and that change is difficult and non-linear. The real story of MACCSS lies in how its partners are learning to 'work in the weeds' - embracing uncertainty, adapting to shifting power dynamics, and building alliances that make accountability and anti-corruption transformation possible.\n\n## The Strategy: Ambition and Assumptions\n\nMACCSS's design draws from the classic anti-corruption playbook, which is reflected in the programme's strategy (Theory of  Change),  which  suggests  that  enhancing  CSO  technical  and  organisational  capacity  results  in  greater  citizen engagement and oversight and, ultimately, in reduced opportunities and incentives for corruption.\n\nConsequently, capacity building is pursued through three interdependent strands:\n\n- ∞ Financial resources - seed funding \u002F grants £10,000 - £50,000 to locally designed interventions.\n- ∞ Technical support -  training and mentoring in advocacy, media work, Political Economy Analysis, Gender and Social Inclusion (GESI), and thematic areas such as mining or procurement.\n- ∞ Organisational strengthening -  support  for  financial  management,  grant  compliance,  safeguarding,  MEL,  and other core systems essential for sustainable CSO operations.\n- ∞ Learning - facilitation and convening of peer exchanges where national and district level partners jointly reflect, share evidence and refine strategies.\n\nJust observing the above, it would be tempting to assume that technical support and trainings are enough to build stronger organisations and that the recipients of the support will automatically be able to translate skills into action and\n\n\u003C!-- image -->\n\n## ASI\n\n\u003C!-- image -->\n\n\u003C!-- image -->\n\nresults.  Experience,  however,  shows  that  this  logic  fails  to  grasp  the  incremental  and  iterative  nature  of  building competencies, while also underestimating the political nature of corruption and the depth of systemic inertia. What MACCSS is revealing is that effectiveness depends less on training or resources than on learning by doing, building relationships, moving with opportunities and the capacity to adapt.\n\n## Working in the Weeds: Navigating Complexity and Adapting Practice\n\nAn overarching lesson from the MACCSS programme is that in practice, progress is messy and contested, which should not be surprising. As in many other countries, power in Malawi is acquired, shared and maintained through networks of patronage,  built  and  cemented  on  non-transparent  deals  that  cut  across  the  state,  business  and  political  parties. Corruption  trickles  down  to  the  grassroots,  where  public  service  providers  and  street  level  bureaucrats  routinely manoeuvre the prerogatives stemming from their official mandates to extract benefits and resources for themselves and their social networks.  Therefore, corruption in Malawi is woven into the political settlement itself and embedded in social norms that normalise and lend acceptability to corruption. As a result, when anti-corruption efforts begin to bite, they often provoke pushback: investigations stall, whistle-blowers face intimidation, and reform champions are side-lined or even threatened. The experience of the Zuneth Sattar case, in which high-level prosecutions led to institutional backlash, illustrates how success can generate its own resistance.\n\nCivil society faces additional constraints. Many organisations operate on shoestring budgets and remain dependent on donor funding, which is often project-based and problematises the continuity of their endeavours. Corruption fatigue also reflects public scepticism among intended beneficiaries that activism will not change anything. Legal restrictions on public-interest litigation, slow access to information, and the risk of regulatory reprisals further limit civic space. At district level, organisational inertia is strong: as one partner admitted, 'this is how we have always done things.'\n\n## From capacity building to facilitated partnership\n\nHere the lessons of MACCSS validate those of many other FCDO governance programmes in that conventional grant making  and  capacity  building  too  often  produces  donor-compliant  but  citizen-disconnected  CSOs.  Grants  managed without attention to the contextual conditions and needs can constrain flexibility, distort incentives, and monetise the engagement. MACCSS learned from this and adopted a facilitated partnership approach , deploying mixed local teams to broker relationships among civil society, media and AC institutions, and FCDO sister programmes while encouraging CSO implementing partners to be in the driver's seat in deciding priorities, providing them a safe space to innovate and to build their capacities through learning by doing. The focus shifted from funding activities to nurturing trust, reflection and adaptive learning within a cohort of champions.\n\nERROR! NO The Accountability Working Group (AWG) - made up of our core partner organisations, together with regular learning exchanges, sits at the centre of our work. MACCSS understands its role as a facilitation hub; encouraging trust building, peer exchanges and the emergence of coordinated action, decidedly moving away from focusing and insisting on preestablished  good  governance  practices  and  an  emphasis  on  procedures  and  delivery  mechanisms.  MACCSS-hosted convenings bring together partner CSOs, journalists \u002F media, communities and duty bearers to co-create interventions, share evidence and reflect on progress along with challenges. The emphasis is on brokering relationships and supporting iterative experimentation, not on enforcing rigid workplans. Mentoring and technical accompaniment are complemented by targeted and demand-led training, and small, flexible funding support is provided to pilot critical ideas whose design evolves as lessons and proof of concept emerge. Learning by doing and reflection\n\nFor MACCSS and its partners real capacity is being built iteratively, through cycles of action and reflection. The MACCSS Monitoring, Reporting, Evaluation and Learning (MREL) system promotes 'utilisation-focused' learning loops following the self-reinforcing logic of implementation, analysis, discussions and, adaptation. Quarterly Pause and Reflect meetings with the AWG provide a collective space to share not only achievements but also setbacks, echoing MACCSS core principle that mistakes are data and information that tell us something to consider . These reflection processes strengthen partners' confidence  and  sense  of  agency.    Gradually,  shifts  are  becoming  visible:  district  networks  collaborating  instead  of competing;  local  journalists  and  activists  pooling  evidence  from  civil  society  work;  civil  servants  recognising  that transparency can strengthen, not threaten, their legitimacy. These may seem like small wins, yet they build the bottomup resilience that sustains reform beyond donor and MACCSS project cycles.\n\nEmbracing uncertainty\n\n\u003C!-- image -->\n\n\u003C!-- image -->\n\n## ASI\n\n\u003C!-- image -->\n\n\u003C!-- image -->\n\nWorking this way demands tolerance for ambiguity and deviation from plans. Anti-corruption work that matters will always provoke contestation. MACCSS is still unfolding, but it demonstrates that technically skilled support and facilitation, pace that  is  set  by  the  stakeholders  themselves,  moving  on  needs  and  emerging  gaps  as  well  as  patience  and  political awareness are all more effective than rigid top-down management. Progress depends less on control than on cultivating curiosity and responsiveness with a relational approach that puts partners always in the driving seat. MACCSS recognises that grants alone can distort incentives encouraging compliance rather than collaboration.\n\nBy combining seed funding with tailored technical mentoring and facilitation, partners gain the freedom to adapt their strategies as contexts shift, as was experienced during the September 2025 election period when political will and action waned. Yet,  partners  acted  strategically  during  that  election  period  to  influence  the  Anti-Corruption  agenda  through political manifestos, providing evidence where doors opened by politicians. An indicative example of the success achieved through these means was the fact that the AWG was able to get several key questions into the 2025 Presidential Debate that reflected on issues related to corruption in specific sectors.\n\nSetbacks and detours are expected in the process, just as opportunities are; embracing the political landscape mix (and pivoting) is what partners know and do so well.\n\n## Key Lessons Learned\n\n- 1. Embrace complexity. Change is adaption and pivoting to reality, which is not linear. In governance programmes, unexpected developments and temporary reversals are signs that systems are shifting.\n- 2. Local ownership matters. When partners are in the driver's seat, as in MACCSS's co-creation of interventions, impact and sustainability improve, even if the route diverges from initial plans.\n- 3. Facilitation over funding. Hands-on mentoring and relationship-brokering build deeper capabilities than unidirectional training, grants and results frameworks.\n- 4. Learning by doing. Regular reflection converts experience into strategy; failures become data for adaptation.\n- 5. Build trust and coalitions. Engagement with credible institutions such as the Ombudsman, with champions in the state and in FCDO sister programmes, and leaning on the collective experience of the AWG, altogether shows that reform depends on collective effort, on nurturing emergent anti-corruption networks, rather than on building the capacity of individual actors.\n- 6. Resilience  grows  from  below. District  alliances  illustrate  that  sustainable  accountability  takes  root  when communities see anti-corruption as linked to livelihoods and services, not as an abstract governance agenda.\n- 7. Gender and inclusion strengthen legitimacy. Integrating GESI principles by addressing corruption in mining, infrastructure,  agriculture,  sectors  critical  for  women  and  marginalised  groups  broadens  both  the  reach  and credibility of anti-corruption efforts.\n\nERROR! NO Implications for Malawi and Beyond MACCSS demonstrates the  value  of working  politically  and  adaptively in  anti-corruption  programming  with  local stakeholders driving the agenda and the development of local approaches that work in Malawi for and by Malawians. Technical solutions and training alone cannot overcome entrenched incentives; transformation emerges from iterative learning, trust-building, and responsiveness to context. For donors, this means funding models that prioritise flexibility, process,  reflection  and  a  willingness  to  be  surprised  by  unexpected  gains  as  much  as  outputs  and  indicators.  For practitioners, it means patience, humility and a willingness to depart from the usual approaches and find out how to 'work with the grain' of local systems rather than against them.\n\nAs Malawi moves ahead of the 2025 elections result, the programme continues to focus on citizen energy with CSOs and media bringing collectively concrete accountability demands. The long-term vision is a network of capable, connected CSOs and local champions who can sustain anti-corruption momentum with decreasing external support.\n\nUltimately, the MACCSS experience reinforces a simple but profound insight: anti-corruption work is not about perfect plans but about adaptive partnerships. Change happens through relationships, experimentation and persistence. The task is not to eliminate uncertainty, but to navigate it with integrity and learning at the core.\n\n\u003C!-- image -->","2026-01-28T17:05:36.000Z","b0662e2a-864d-4888-a1b7-4342b7570b30","2026-06-02T21:22:46.000Z","- **Embrace complexity.** Change is adaption and pivoting to reality, which is not linear. In governance programmes, unexpected developments and temporary reversals are signs that systems are shifting.\n- **Local ownership matters.** When partners are in the driver’s seat, impact and sustainability improve. This is true even if the route diverges from initial plans.\n- **Facilitation over funding.** Hands-on mentoring and relationship brokering build deeper capabilities than unidirectional training, grants and results frameworks.\n- **Learning by doing.** Regular reflection converts experience into strategy; failures become data for adaptation.\n- **Build trust and coalitions.** Reform depends on a collective effort with credible institutions and sister anti-corruption programmes. It also requires nurturing emergent anti-corruption networks, rather than merely building the capacity of individual actors.\n- **Resilience grows from below.** Sustainable accountability takes root when communities see anti-corruption as linked to livelihoods and services, not as an abstract governance agenda.\n- **Gender and inclusion strengthen legitimacy.** Integrating gender and social inclusion (GESI) principles by addressing corruption in mining, infrastructure and agriculture – sectors critical for women and marginalised groups – broadens both the reach and credibility of anti-corruption efforts.","\u002Fresources\u002Fpublications\u002Fpolitical-economy-weeds-embracing-complexity-anti-corruption-work-lessons-learned-anti",1780676581254]