[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":611},["ShallowReactive",2],{"publication-curbing-risks-and-opportunities-corruption-natural-disaster-situations":3,"related-curbing-risks-and-opportunities-corruption-natural-disaster-situations":174},[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":23,"featured":19,"topics":27,"languages":28,"type":29,"area":7,"programme":7,"websites":7,"summary":7,"pdf_text":7,"main_points":7,"short_version":7,"subtitle":7,"image":31,"countries":42,"tags":43,"pdf":117,"authors":139},2154,"published",null,"2022-04-27T11:57:38.000Z","2026-05-23T20:08:08.000Z",206,"curbing-risks-and-opportunities-corruption-natural-disaster-situations","Curbing the risks of and opportunities for corruption in natural disaster situations","This chapter appears in International Law and Standards Applicable in Natural Disaster Situations edited by Erica Harper.\n\nThe book aims to stimulate thought and action in relation to establishing human rights frameworks in countries recovering from natural disasters. The authors regard this as essential in order to protect the rights and restore the dignity of the victims of natural disasters. While a substantial body of relevant law exists, the law is only effective if disaster recovery planners and the people working in the field know and understand it. By building legal protections into preparedness and response planning, the recovery timetable can be shortened and order restored more quickly and effectively. At the same time, this process will help to uncover and address systemic injustices that cause continuing poverty and social unrest.\n\nThe aim of this chapter by Gretta Fenner and Mirella Mahlstein is to build awareness of the increased and particular corruption risks of natural disaster situations, to illuminate individual risks and respective responsibilities among the different involved actors, and to provide guidance on tools and mechanisms to prevent and detect corruption when it occurs.","Fenner, G., Mahlstein, M. (2009). 'Curbing the risks of and opportunities for corruption in natural disaster situations' in Harper, E. (ed) International Law and Standards Applicable in Natural Disaster Situations (pp. 241–254). International Development ","English",2009,"International Development Law Organization (IDLO)","2009-01-01",false,[21],"",[],[24],{"url":25,"caption":26},"http:\u002F\u002Fwww.globalprotectioncluster.org\u002F_assets\u002Ffiles\u002Ftools_and_guidance\u002Fnatural_disasters\u002FNatural_Disaster_Manual_EN.pdf"," View book",[],[15],[30],"Article",{"id":32,"storage":33,"filename_disk":34,"filename_download":35,"title":36,"type":37,"created_on":8,"modified_on":8,"charset":7,"filesize":38,"width":39,"height":40,"duration":7,"embed":7,"description":7,"location":7,"tags":7,"metadata":41,"focal_point_x":7,"focal_point_y":7,"tus_id":7,"tus_data":7,"uploaded_on":8},"646b0e8a-a8bd-46b8-8625-8a4f958001b6","local","646b0e8a-a8bd-46b8-8625-8a4f958001b6.jpg","Pages-from-Corruption-in-natural-disaster-situations.jpg","Pages from Corruption in natural disaster situations.jpg","image\u002Fjpeg",253859,1339,1890,{},[],[44,69,85,101],{"id":45,"publications_id":46,"tags_id":66},4234,{"id":5,"status":6,"sort":7,"user_created":47,"date_created":8,"user_updated":48,"date_updated":9,"nid":10,"slug":11,"image":32,"title":12,"body":13,"citation":14,"language":15,"year":16,"publisher":17,"date_published":18,"external":19,"topic":49,"link_internal":50,"link_external":51,"featured":19,"topics":53,"languages":54,"type":55,"area":7,"programme":7,"websites":7,"summary":7,"pdf_text":7,"main_points":7,"short_version":7,"subtitle":7,"countries":56,"tags":57,"pdf":61,"authors":63},"03bebfd8-0b40-4a2a-820d-b9d9c13b9de6","3d9ff205-1640-4f34-b5b6-86977f51bbd6",[21],[],[52],{"url":25,"caption":26},[],[15],[30],[],[45,58,59,60],4235,5190,5191,[62],2195,[64,65],2381,2382,{"id":67,"name":68},932,"Human rights",{"id":58,"publications_id":70,"tags_id":82},{"id":5,"status":6,"sort":7,"user_created":47,"date_created":8,"user_updated":48,"date_updated":9,"nid":10,"slug":11,"image":32,"title":12,"body":13,"citation":14,"language":15,"year":16,"publisher":17,"date_published":18,"external":19,"topic":71,"link_internal":72,"link_external":73,"featured":19,"topics":75,"languages":76,"type":77,"area":7,"programme":7,"websites":7,"summary":7,"pdf_text":7,"main_points":7,"short_version":7,"subtitle":7,"countries":78,"tags":79,"pdf":80,"authors":81},[21],[],[74],{"url":25,"caption":26},[],[15],[30],[],[45,58,59,60],[62],[64,65],{"id":83,"name":84},859,"Corruption risks",{"id":59,"publications_id":86,"tags_id":98},{"id":5,"status":6,"sort":7,"user_created":47,"date_created":8,"user_updated":48,"date_updated":9,"nid":10,"slug":11,"image":32,"title":12,"body":13,"citation":14,"language":15,"year":16,"publisher":17,"date_published":18,"external":19,"topic":87,"link_internal":88,"link_external":89,"featured":19,"topics":91,"languages":92,"type":93,"area":7,"programme":7,"websites":7,"summary":7,"pdf_text":7,"main_points":7,"short_version":7,"subtitle":7,"countries":94,"tags":95,"pdf":96,"authors":97},[21],[],[90],{"url":25,"caption":26},[],[15],[30],[],[45,58,59,60],[62],[64,65],{"id":99,"name":100},1382,"Humanitarian assistance",{"id":60,"publications_id":102,"tags_id":114},{"id":5,"status":6,"sort":7,"user_created":47,"date_created":8,"user_updated":48,"date_updated":9,"nid":10,"slug":11,"image":32,"title":12,"body":13,"citation":14,"language":15,"year":16,"publisher":17,"date_published":18,"external":19,"topic":103,"link_internal":104,"link_external":105,"featured":19,"topics":107,"languages":108,"type":109,"area":7,"programme":7,"websites":7,"summary":7,"pdf_text":7,"main_points":7,"short_version":7,"subtitle":7,"countries":110,"tags":111,"pdf":112,"authors":113},[21],[],[106],{"url":25,"caption":26},[],[15],[30],[],[45,58,59,60],[62],[64,65],{"id":115,"name":116},982,"Anti-corruption",[118],{"id":62,"publications_id":119,"directus_files_id":131},{"id":5,"status":6,"sort":7,"user_created":47,"date_created":8,"user_updated":48,"date_updated":9,"nid":10,"slug":11,"image":32,"title":12,"body":13,"citation":14,"language":15,"year":16,"publisher":17,"date_published":18,"external":19,"topic":120,"link_internal":121,"link_external":122,"featured":19,"topics":124,"languages":125,"type":126,"area":7,"programme":7,"websites":7,"summary":7,"pdf_text":7,"main_points":7,"short_version":7,"subtitle":7,"countries":127,"tags":128,"pdf":129,"authors":130},[21],[],[123],{"url":25,"caption":26},[],[15],[30],[],[45,58,59,60],[62],[64,65],{"id":132,"storage":33,"filename_disk":133,"filename_download":134,"title":134,"type":135,"folder":136,"uploaded_by":47,"created_on":8,"modified_by":7,"modified_on":8,"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":8},"0452c50f-b74d-4a14-a614-4505ba5c9cf0","0452c50f-b74d-4a14-a614-4505ba5c9cf0.pdf","Corruption-in-natural-disaster-situations.pdf","application\u002Fpdf","67f22e04-d26f-4baa-b91f-acc5f89d87f5",86401,"View chapter",[140,157],{"id":64,"publications_id":141,"authors_id":153},{"id":5,"status":6,"sort":7,"user_created":47,"date_created":8,"user_updated":48,"date_updated":9,"nid":10,"slug":11,"image":32,"title":12,"body":13,"citation":14,"language":15,"year":16,"publisher":17,"date_published":18,"external":19,"topic":142,"link_internal":143,"link_external":144,"featured":19,"topics":146,"languages":147,"type":148,"area":7,"programme":7,"websites":7,"summary":7,"pdf_text":7,"main_points":7,"short_version":7,"subtitle":7,"countries":149,"tags":150,"pdf":151,"authors":152},[21],[],[145],{"url":25,"caption":26},[],[15],[30],[],[45,58,59,60],[62],[64,65],{"id":154,"name":155,"position":7,"image":156},297,"Gretta Fenner","06f7143f-fe9b-45df-87a0-8c2e8f721109",{"id":65,"publications_id":158,"authors_id":170},{"id":5,"status":6,"sort":7,"user_created":47,"date_created":8,"user_updated":48,"date_updated":9,"nid":10,"slug":11,"image":32,"title":12,"body":13,"citation":14,"language":15,"year":16,"publisher":17,"date_published":18,"external":19,"topic":159,"link_internal":160,"link_external":161,"featured":19,"topics":163,"languages":164,"type":165,"area":7,"programme":7,"websites":7,"summary":7,"pdf_text":7,"main_points":7,"short_version":7,"subtitle":7,"countries":166,"tags":167,"pdf":168,"authors":169},[21],[],[162],{"url":25,"caption":26},[],[15],[30],[],[45,58,59,60],[62],[64,65],{"id":171,"name":172,"position":7,"image":173},497,"Mirella Mahlstein","5e30b914-ae7d-402e-8786-518e7511dab1",[175,225,261,315,351,395,428,454,517,567],{"id":176,"slug":177,"title":178,"status":6,"nid":179,"year":180,"body":181,"external":19,"topic":7,"language":7,"type":182,"date_published":183,"image":184,"citation":7,"publisher":7,"link_internal":185,"link_external":186,"authors":190,"countries":207,"tags":212,"pdf":217,"topics":219,"featured":19,"languages":221,"summary":7,"programme":7,"area":7,"websites":7,"pdf_text":7,"sort":7,"user_created":48,"date_created":222,"user_updated":48,"date_updated":223,"main_points":7,"short_version":7,"subtitle":7,"link":224},2437,"evolution-corruption-and-crimes-kapitan-andreevo-border-checkpoint-impact-eu-accession","The Evolution of Corruption and Crimes at Kapitan Andreevo Border Checkpoint: The Impact of EU Accession",2960,2026,"Published in the _Journal of Illicit Trade, Financial Crime, and Compliance_, this article examines how Bulgaria’s 2007 accession to the European Union transformed illegal activities and corruption at the Kapitan Andreevo border checkpoint.\n\nWhile the introduction of stricter EU regulations and advanced surveillance technology aimed to secure the border, these measures had the effect of transforming criminal strategies and corruption. The authors detail a shift from blatant smuggling to more sophisticated financial frauds, VAT carousel schemes and the illicit privatisation of public border functions.\n\nThe article highlights that in some cases, it was the bribery schemes that evolved to bypass new standards. In other cases – particularly involving drug trafficking and the smuggling of human beings – it was the criminal strategies that transformed, including advanced concealment methods or new smuggling routes.\n\nThe study also offers a nuanced perspective on the relationship between corruption and criminal activites at border checkpoints: stronger capacity to counter criminal activities could lead to an increase in the risk of corruption, while a more coherent anti corruption framework could trigger criminal activities to evolve. Ultimately, the article argues that anti-crime and anti-corruption policies must account for this evolutionary nature.",[30],"2026-05-01","https:\u002F\u002Fjam.baselgovernance.org\u002Fapi\u002Fassets\u002F2a662dae-21a7-4e84-971d-1c8a70f4754b?width=600&height=840",[],[187],{"url":188,"caption":189},"https:\u002F\u002Fjitfccjournal.com\u002Findex.php\u002Fjitfcc\u002Farticle\u002Fview\u002F16","View on Journal website",[191,195,199,203],{"authors_id":192},{"id":193,"name":194},304,"Jacopo Costa",{"authors_id":196},{"id":197,"name":198},295,"Claudia Baez Camargo",{"authors_id":200},{"id":201,"name":202},584,"Noémi Jäger",{"authors_id":204},{"id":205,"name":206},303,"Saba Kassa",[208],{"countries_id":209},{"id":210,"name":211},22,"Bulgaria",[213,215],{"tags_id":214},{"id":83,"name":84},{"tags_id":216},{"id":115,"name":116},[218],2492,[220],"Prevention Research and Innovation",[15],"2026-06-01T22:10:25.000Z","2026-06-01T22:34:25.000Z","\u002Fresources\u002Fpublications\u002Fevolution-corruption-and-crimes-kapitan-andreevo-border-checkpoint-impact-eu-accession",{"id":226,"slug":227,"title":228,"status":6,"nid":229,"year":180,"body":230,"external":19,"topic":7,"language":7,"type":231,"date_published":233,"image":234,"citation":7,"publisher":235,"link_internal":236,"link_external":243,"authors":247,"countries":248,"tags":249,"pdf":254,"topics":256,"featured":19,"languages":257,"summary":7,"programme":7,"area":7,"websites":7,"pdf_text":7,"sort":7,"user_created":48,"date_created":258,"user_updated":48,"date_updated":259,"main_points":7,"short_version":7,"subtitle":7,"link":260},2444,"recommendations-combatting-border-corruption-falcon-policy-brief","Recommendations for combatting border corruption (FALCON Policy Brief)",2946,"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)._",[232],"Report","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",[237,240],{"url":238,"caption":239},"\u002Fresources\u002Fpublications\u002Fqg38","Related Quick Guide to border corruption",{"url":241,"caption":242},"\u002Fresources\u002Fpublications\u002Fwp-58","Related Working Paper on corruption at the port of Rotterdam",[244],{"url":245,"caption":246},"https:\u002F\u002Fwww.falcon-horizon.eu\u002F2026\u002F03\u002Ffalcon-policy-brief-recommendations-for-combatting-border-corruption\u002F","Related FALCON news",[],[],[250,252],{"tags_id":251},{"id":83,"name":84},{"tags_id":253},{"id":115,"name":116},[255],2498,[220],[15],"2026-06-01T22:10:26.000Z","2026-06-02T14:08:58.000Z","\u002Fresources\u002Fpublications\u002Frecommendations-combatting-border-corruption-falcon-policy-brief",{"id":262,"slug":263,"title":264,"status":6,"nid":265,"year":180,"body":266,"external":19,"topic":267,"language":15,"type":270,"date_published":271,"image":272,"citation":21,"publisher":273,"link_internal":274,"link_external":275,"authors":279,"countries":288,"tags":293,"pdf":306,"topics":308,"featured":19,"languages":7,"summary":7,"programme":7,"area":7,"websites":7,"pdf_text":309,"sort":7,"user_created":47,"date_created":310,"user_updated":311,"date_updated":312,"main_points":313,"short_version":7,"subtitle":7,"link":314},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. ",[268,269],"Prevention","Research and Innovation",[232],"2026-01-28","https:\u002F\u002Fjam.baselgovernance.org\u002Fapi\u002Fassets\u002Fe9075f1f-8dbe-4009-980b-baaae82f9c49?width=600&height=840","Adam Smith International",[],[276],{"url":277,"caption":278},"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",[280,284],{"authors_id":281},{"id":282,"name":283},572,"Dr Claudia Baez Camargo",{"authors_id":285},{"id":286,"name":287},580,"Renee Kantelberg",[289],{"countries_id":290},{"id":291,"name":292},153,"Malawi",[294,296,300,304],{"tags_id":295},{"id":115,"name":116},{"tags_id":297},{"id":298,"name":299},1375,"Civil society",{"tags_id":301},{"id":302,"name":303},1372,"Training",{"tags_id":305},{"id":83,"name":84},[307],2488,[220],"\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",{"id":316,"slug":317,"title":318,"status":6,"nid":319,"year":320,"body":321,"external":19,"topic":322,"language":15,"type":323,"date_published":325,"image":326,"citation":21,"publisher":327,"link_internal":328,"link_external":332,"authors":333,"countries":338,"tags":339,"pdf":344,"topics":346,"featured":19,"languages":347,"summary":7,"programme":7,"area":7,"websites":7,"pdf_text":7,"sort":7,"user_created":47,"date_created":348,"user_updated":48,"date_updated":349,"main_points":7,"short_version":7,"subtitle":7,"link":350},2367,"qg32","Quick Guide 32: Corruption and human rights",2700,2024,"The relationships between corruption and human rights are complex but cry out for exploring. Could anti-corruption benefit from a human rights perspective? How can the two communities work better together – and what are some risks and challenges?\n\nThis Quick Guide gives a brief introduction to the ideas of the Basel Institute’s Vice-President, Professor Anne Peters, and some of our initial work at the intersection of corruption and human rights.\n\n### About this Quick Guide\n\nThis work is licensed under a \u003Ca href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fcreativecommons.org\u002Flicenses\u002Fby-nc-nd\u002F4.0\u002F\">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License\u003C\u002Fa>. It is part of the Basel Institute on Governance Quick Guide series, \u003Ca href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fwww.baselgovernance.org\u002Fpublications?type=2428\">ISSN 2673-5229\u003C\u002Fa>.",[68],[324],"Quick Guide","2024-10-07","https:\u002F\u002Fjam.baselgovernance.org\u002Fapi\u002Fassets\u002Fb0e49414-bd4a-4f3d-a55b-0caf6e45bcf8?width=600&height=840","Basel Institute on Governance",[329],{"url":330,"caption":331},"\u002Fresources\u002Fpublications?type=Quick%20Guide"," View all Quick Guides",[],[334],{"authors_id":335},{"id":336,"name":337},549,"Prof Anne Peters",[],[340,342],{"tags_id":341},{"id":115,"name":116},{"tags_id":343},{"id":67,"name":68},[345],2405,[68],[15],"2024-10-07T10:05:06.000Z","2026-06-02T14:08:47.000Z","\u002Fresources\u002Fpublications\u002Fqg32",{"id":352,"slug":353,"title":354,"status":6,"nid":355,"year":180,"body":356,"external":19,"topic":357,"language":15,"type":358,"date_published":359,"image":360,"citation":361,"publisher":362,"link_internal":363,"link_external":364,"authors":371,"countries":378,"tags":383,"pdf":390,"topics":391,"featured":19,"languages":7,"summary":7,"programme":7,"area":7,"websites":7,"pdf_text":7,"sort":7,"user_created":47,"date_created":392,"user_updated":311,"date_updated":393,"main_points":7,"short_version":7,"subtitle":7,"link":394},2435,"conceptualizing-evolution-corruption-empirical-analysis-italy","Conceptualizing the evolution of corruption: an empirical analysis from Italy",2911,"In a new peer-reviewed journal article, Jacopo Costa and Claudia Baez Camargo look into why and how corruption evolves over time, drawing on an empirical analysis from Italy. The article was published in *Trends in Organized Crime*.\n\n### Abstract\n\nCorruption evolves over time. This paper investigates why and how this evolution happens. The analysis has employed a combination of qualitative network and document analysis to explore the configuration of corruption in two moments in Italy and the changes that have happened in between them.\n\nThe findings have disclosed that a higher efficiency of the activities of the criminal-justice chain, the transformation of the critical actors and the reform of legal frameworks and governance systems have been critical in determining the evolution of corruption.\n\nThe added value of the research lies in its ability to examine these transformative mechanisms within a conceptual framework that keeps together the fact that corruption is networked and that networks evolve over time.\n",[268,269],[30],"2026-02-03","https:\u002F\u002Fjam.baselgovernance.org\u002Fapi\u002Fassets\u002F8fdd73a7-79ec-4940-aa53-01a9f94922f2?width=600&height=840","Costa, J., Baez Camargo, C. Conceptualizing the evolution of corruption: an empirical analysis from Italy. *Trends Organ Crim* (2026). \u003Ca href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fdoi.org\u002F10.1007\u002Fs12117-025-09586-0\">https:\u002F\u002Fdoi.org\u002F10.1007\u002Fs12117-025-09586-0\u003C\u002Fa>","Springer Nature (Trends in Organized Crime)",[],[365,368],{"url":366,"caption":367},"https:\u002F\u002Frdcu.be\u002Fe1Z0q","Access full-text view-only version",{"url":369,"caption":370},"https:\u002F\u002Flink.springer.com\u002Farticle\u002F10.1007\u002Fs12117-025-09586-0"," View on publisher website",[372,376],{"authors_id":373},{"id":374,"name":375},550,"Dr Jacopo Costa",{"authors_id":377},{"id":282,"name":283},[379],{"countries_id":380},{"id":381,"name":382},108,"Italy",[384,386],{"tags_id":385},{"id":115,"name":116},{"tags_id":387},{"id":388,"name":389},967,"Organised crime",[],[220],"2026-02-27T15:11:33.000Z","2026-05-31T23:16:17.000Z","\u002Fresources\u002Fpublications\u002Fconceptualizing-evolution-corruption-empirical-analysis-italy",{"id":396,"slug":397,"title":398,"status":6,"nid":399,"year":400,"body":401,"external":19,"topic":402,"language":15,"type":404,"date_published":405,"image":406,"citation":21,"publisher":407,"link_internal":408,"link_external":412,"authors":416,"countries":417,"tags":418,"pdf":421,"topics":423,"featured":19,"languages":424,"summary":7,"programme":7,"area":7,"websites":7,"pdf_text":7,"sort":7,"user_created":47,"date_created":425,"user_updated":48,"date_updated":426,"main_points":7,"short_version":7,"subtitle":7,"link":427},2281,"guide-conducting-corruption-risk-assessments-wildlife-law-enforcement-context","Guide to conducting corruption risk assessments in a wildlife law enforcement context",2447,2023,"This guide is a high-level “how-to” for carrying out a corruption risk assessment in a conservation\u002Fenvironmental law enforcement context, using the Map, Characterize, Assess, and Recommend (MCAR) approach designed by the Basel Institute on Governance. \n\n\n- The first section covers planning: the resources, timing, and other considerations for setting up the assessment. \n- The second section lays out each step of the assessment, with tips, basic instructions, and implementation recommendations for each stage. \n- Finally, the annexes provide sample supporting materials, including a simplified process diagram and map, a sample questionnaire for interviews, and a basic confidentiality agreement.\n\n\nIt was developed under the Basel Institute's \u003Ca href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fbaselgovernance.org\u002Fgreen-corruption\">Green Corruption programme\u003C\u002Fa> as part of a wider research collaboration between the Basel Institute and Targeting Natural Resource Corruption (\u003Ca href=\"http:\u002F\u002Ftnrcproject.org\u002F\">TNRC\u003C\u002Fa>) project consortium. \n\n### About the TNRC project\n\nThe TNRC project seeks to improve biodiversity conservation outcomes by helping practitioners to address the threats posed by corruption to wildlife, fisheries and forests. TNRC harnesses existing knowledge, generates new evidence, and supports innovative policy and practice for more effective anti-corruption programming on the ground.\n\nA USAID-funded project, TNRC is implemented by a consortium of leading organizations in anti-corruption, natural resource management, and conservation: World Wildlife Fund (WWF), the U4 Anti-Corruption Resource Centre at the Chr. Michelsen Institute, TRAFFIC, and the Terrorism, Transnational Crime and Corruption Center (TraCCC) at George Mason University.",[403],"Green Corruption",[30],"2023-05-23","https:\u002F\u002Fjam.baselgovernance.org\u002Fapi\u002Fassets\u002F39153f88-1965-485c-8560-d82fb410d6c5?width=600&height=840","Targeting Natural Resource Corruption (TNRC) project",[409],{"url":410,"caption":411},"\u002Fresources\u002Fpublications\u002Fwhere-are-weakest-links-illegal-wildlife-trade-enforcement-chain-lessons-corruption"," View related topic brief",[413],{"url":414,"caption":415},"https:\u002F\u002Fwww.worldwildlife.org\u002Fpages\u002Ftnrc-guide-to-conducting-corruption-risk-assessments-in-a-wildlife-law-enforcement-context","View on TNRC website",[],[],[419],{"tags_id":420},{"id":83,"name":84},[422],2316,[403],[15],"2023-05-23T10:04:36.000Z","2026-06-02T14:09:05.000Z","\u002Fresources\u002Fpublications\u002Fguide-conducting-corruption-risk-assessments-wildlife-law-enforcement-context",{"id":429,"slug":430,"title":431,"status":6,"nid":432,"year":400,"body":433,"external":19,"topic":434,"language":15,"type":436,"date_published":437,"image":438,"citation":21,"publisher":439,"link_internal":440,"link_external":441,"authors":442,"countries":443,"tags":444,"pdf":447,"topics":449,"featured":19,"languages":450,"summary":7,"programme":7,"area":7,"websites":7,"pdf_text":7,"sort":7,"user_created":47,"date_created":451,"user_updated":48,"date_updated":452,"main_points":7,"short_version":7,"subtitle":7,"link":453},2259,"compliance-progress-sensemaking-perspective-governance-corruption","From Compliance to Progress: A Sensemaking Perspective on the Governance of Corruption",2344,"The authors of this academic paper discuss how attitudes to preventing and tackling corruption are different between cultures, and have also changed over time within them, focusing on the East (Asia) and the West (Western Europe & North America). This is particularly important for multi-national companies to consider when developing compliance programmes. \n\nThey look at two challenges organisations face in implementing anti-corruption policies: policy-practice decoupling, which is the difference between what a formal policy says should happen and what actually happens, and means-end de-coupling, which is when the implementation of a policy does not lead to its envisaged goals. \n\nThey argue that ever-evolving cultural beliefs, judgements and practices are key to determining how people interpret and act in the governance of corruption, but that \"ongoing interactive communication\" can help bring people together to close the de-coupling gaps.\n\nIn other words, acting collectively - either within or between organisations - can be a key way for companies to effectively implement anti-corruption programmes.",[435],"Collective Action",[30],"2023-01-24","https:\u002F\u002Fjam.baselgovernance.org\u002Fapi\u002Fassets\u002Fbe7b463e-1edd-4b0a-a18c-ec57c466d4c2?width=600&height=840","Organization Science",[],[],[],[],[445],{"tags_id":446},{"id":115,"name":116},[448],2301,[435],[15],"2023-01-24T17:04:17.000Z","2026-05-23T20:08:43.000Z","\u002Fresources\u002Fpublications\u002Fcompliance-progress-sensemaking-perspective-governance-corruption",{"id":455,"slug":456,"title":457,"status":6,"nid":458,"year":459,"body":460,"external":19,"topic":461,"language":15,"type":463,"date_published":464,"image":465,"citation":21,"publisher":466,"link_internal":467,"link_external":477,"authors":481,"countries":490,"tags":499,"pdf":510,"topics":511,"featured":19,"languages":513,"summary":7,"programme":7,"area":7,"websites":7,"pdf_text":7,"sort":7,"user_created":47,"date_created":514,"user_updated":48,"date_updated":515,"main_points":7,"short_version":7,"subtitle":7,"link":516},2221,"informal-networks-investment-qualitative-analysis-uganda-and-tanzania","Informal networks as investment: A qualitative analysis from Uganda and Tanzania",2277,2022,"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.",[462],"Public Governance",[30],"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)",[468,471,474],{"url":469,"caption":470},"\u002Fresources\u002Fpublications\u002Finformal-networks-investment-east-africa"," View open access research report: Informal networks as investment in East Africa",{"url":472,"caption":473},"\u002Fresources\u002Fpublications\u002Fcase-studies-tanzania-gi-ace-research-informal-networks-and-corruption"," View case studies from Tanzania",{"url":475,"caption":476},"\u002Fresources\u002Fpublications\u002Fcase-studies-uganda-gi-ace-research-informal-networks-and-corruption"," View case studies from Uganda",[478],{"url":479,"caption":480},"https:\u002F\u002Fdoi.org\u002F10.1111\u002Fgove.12726","View peer-reviewed article on Wiley Online Library",[482,484,486],{"authors_id":483},{"id":197,"name":198},{"authors_id":485},{"id":193,"name":194},{"authors_id":487},{"id":488,"name":489},359,"Lucy Koechlin",[491,495],{"countries_id":492},{"id":493,"name":494},224,"Tanzania",{"countries_id":496},{"id":497,"name":498},226,"Uganda",[500,502,506],{"tags_id":501},{"id":115,"name":116},{"tags_id":503},{"id":504,"name":505},848,"Behavioural science",{"tags_id":507},{"id":508,"name":509},1309,"Informality",[],[512],"Corruption Prevention and Public Governance",[15],"2022-09-06T14:10:21.000Z","2026-06-02T14:08:59.000Z","\u002Fresources\u002Fpublications\u002Finformal-networks-investment-qualitative-analysis-uganda-and-tanzania",{"id":518,"slug":519,"title":520,"status":6,"nid":521,"year":459,"body":522,"external":19,"topic":523,"language":15,"type":524,"date_published":525,"image":526,"citation":21,"publisher":407,"link_internal":527,"link_external":528,"authors":532,"countries":549,"tags":550,"pdf":561,"topics":563,"featured":19,"languages":564,"summary":7,"programme":7,"area":7,"websites":7,"pdf_text":7,"sort":7,"user_created":47,"date_created":565,"user_updated":48,"date_updated":566,"main_points":7,"short_version":7,"subtitle":7,"link":410},1753,"where-are-weakest-links-illegal-wildlife-trade-enforcement-chain-lessons-corruption","Where are the weakest links in the illegal wildlife trade enforcement chain? Lessons from corruption risk assessments with agencies in three countries",2214,"This Practice Note:\n\n\n- Summarizes experiences and lessons from conducting corruption risk assessments (CRAs) with authorities responsible for investigations and prosecutions of illegal wildlife trade (IWT) cases in three countries in Africa and Latin America. It seeks to demonstrate the value of adopting a collaborative approach to CRAs, illustrates potential avenues for pursuing such an approach when the right factors are in place, and demonstrates how mapping the criminal justice process provides a solid starting point to identify critical vulnerabilities. The note also highlights factors that might recommend another approach, for example where collaboration cannot be assured.\n- Highlights some common risks that emerged from the CRAs in the three countries and that may negatively affect the progress of IWT cases in other countries. Still, corruption risks vary among countries and agency contexts, and it is not always feasible for practitioners to conduct or initiate a CRA. These general insights can help point practitioners to possible vulnerabilities to look out for.\n\n\nThe practice note was developed by team members of the Basel Institute's \u003Ca href=\"https:\u002F\u002Fbaselgovernance.org\u002Fgreen-corruption\">Green Corruption programme\u003C\u002Fa> as part of a wider research collaboration between the Basel Institute and the TNRC project consortium. \n\n### Takeaways\n\n\n- Effective enforcement against illegal wildlife trade (IWT) and related crimes is a vital component of wildlife conservation, but corruption risks within law enforcement agencies can undermine their ability to investigate and prosecute such cases. Supporting agencies to identify, evaluate, prioritize, and mitigate their corruption risks can help improve enforcement outcomes, assign scarce resources to areas that pose the highest risks, and build trust and cooperation with other agencies and stakeholders.\n- This TNRC Practice Note describes the lessons and insights from a three-country corruption risk assessment (CRA) exercise, using a collaborative approach that involves engaging with agency staff and relevant stakeholders to illuminate and systematically evaluate major risks. This is a sensitive process that requires strong relationships with agency leadership and a deep understanding of local political, social, and economic factors.\n- In all three countries, mitigating high-priority corruption risks in law enforcement agencies required a constructive, pragmatic, and sustained approach. Working jointly and acknowledging agencies’ political, capacity, and resource constraints can therefore represent a viable alternative to simply penalizing corrupt practices through investigations and audits.\n- Experience suggests that mapping the criminal justice process’ decision points is a crucial first step that builds shared understanding across stakeholders and helps identify corruption risk areas. It can take substantial investments of time to produce such maps, but that investment is usually warranted as it ensures researchers and stakeholders are speaking the same language.\n\n\n### About the TNRC project\n\nThe TNRC project seeks to improve biodiversity conservation outcomes by helping practitioners to address the threats posed by corruption to wildlife, fisheries and forests. TNRC harnesses existing knowledge, generates new evidence, and supports innovative policy and practice for more effective anti-corruption programming on the ground.\n\nA USAID-funded project, TNRC is implemented by a consortium of leading organizations in anti-corruption, natural resource management, and conservation: World Wildlife Fund (WWF), the U4 Anti-Corruption Resource Centre at the Chr. Michelsen Institute, TRAFFIC, and the Terrorism, Transnational Crime and Corruption Center (TraCCC) at George Mason University.",[403],[30,232],"2022-04-26","https:\u002F\u002Fjam.baselgovernance.org\u002Fapi\u002Fassets\u002F5f8a6994-0803-4ade-aac0-7a2ba8a398db?width=600&height=840",[],[529],{"url":530,"caption":531},"https:\u002F\u002Fwww.worldwildlife.org\u002Fpages\u002Ftnrc-where-are-the-weakest-links-in-the-illegal-wildlife-trade-enforcement-chain-lessons-from-corruption-risk-assessments-with-agencies-in-three-countries","View publication online on TNRC website",[533,537,541,545],{"authors_id":534},{"id":535,"name":536},314,"Manuel Medina",{"authors_id":538},{"id":539,"name":540},299,"Juhani Grossmann",{"authors_id":542},{"id":543,"name":544},361,"Taradhinta Suryandari",{"authors_id":546},{"id":547,"name":548},296,"Monica Guy",[],[551,553,557],{"tags_id":552},{"id":83,"name":84},{"tags_id":554},{"id":555,"name":556},1303,"Environment",{"tags_id":558},{"id":559,"name":560},1374,"Law enforcement",[562],1781,[403],[15],"2022-04-27T11:53:12.000Z","2026-05-31T22:52:10.000Z",{"id":568,"slug":569,"title":570,"status":6,"nid":571,"year":572,"body":573,"external":19,"topic":574,"language":15,"type":575,"date_published":576,"image":577,"citation":21,"publisher":578,"link_internal":579,"link_external":585,"authors":586,"countries":593,"tags":598,"pdf":605,"topics":607,"featured":19,"languages":608,"summary":7,"programme":7,"area":7,"websites":7,"pdf_text":7,"sort":7,"user_created":47,"date_created":609,"user_updated":48,"date_updated":610,"main_points":7,"short_version":7,"subtitle":7,"link":469},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.",[462],[30,232],"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)",[580,581,582],{"url":472,"caption":473},{"url":475,"caption":476},{"url":583,"caption":584},"\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",[],[587,589,591],{"authors_id":588},{"id":197,"name":198},{"authors_id":590},{"id":193,"name":194},{"authors_id":592},{"id":488,"name":489},[594,596],{"countries_id":595},{"id":493,"name":494},{"countries_id":597},{"id":497,"name":498},[599,601,603],{"tags_id":600},{"id":115,"name":116},{"tags_id":602},{"id":504,"name":505},{"tags_id":604},{"id":508,"name":509},[606],1804,[512],[15],"2022-04-27T11:53:30.000Z","2026-06-02T14:10:29.000Z",1780676561302]