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From budgets to bridges: how better public finance management improves lives in Peru and beyond
How public money is managed at the local level has a direct impact on people's lives – from whether children get their school books to the conservation of local environments on which many communities depend for their health and livelihoods. For more than a decade, the Basel Institute on Governance and the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs SECO have partnered with regional and municipal governments across Peru to strengthen public financial management and improve public service delivery. Through the Programa GFP Subnacional, a dedicated team combines practical technical assistance with innovative approaches, including data analytics, digital tools and behavioural interventions. Together, these help governments make better decisions, use resources more effectively and communicate better with the people they serve. In this Q&A, Programme Director Carlos Vargas explains how Programa GFP Subnacional – the Subnational Public Finance Management PFM programme – works, what it has achieved and why its lessons matter beyond Peru. How does the programme help governments deliver better services? Broadly speaking, the programme aims to enhance processes for public service delivery and improve the capacity of subnational governments to use public resources responsibly. In practice, this means really hands-on assistance with things like tax management or budget planning that both covers the required resources e.g. teaching materials and considers what’s needed to deliver a service e.g. enough vehicles to distribute the materials to schools . This in turn ensures that citizens receive public services in the quantity and quality they need and projects are completed within budget and on time. In other words, the programme aims to make a real difference in people's lives – particularly in areas like education, health, biodiversity conservation and the fight against climate change. Our advisors work hand-in-hand with local officials, providing technical assistance, training and support with technology in line with national priorities and systems. What difference has the programme made in terms of revenue generation? The results have been significant. One of the clearest examples comes from Tarapoto in the San Martín region. Through automated WhatsApp reminders, streamlined processes and a new online payment system, the municipality increased property tax collection. The additional revenue helped fund a bridge that now provides around 800 pupils with safe, direct access to their school. In the Municipality of Piura, we helped automate tax collection processes using algorithms and artificial intelligence to better understand taxpayer behaviour. This allowed us to group taxpayers into categories and design tailored communication strategies for each, which helped increase property tax revenue – funds governments need to invest in public services. How about in education or conservation? In education, we have assisted regions to ensure that around 95 percent of school materials now arrive on time before the start of the school year. The programme has also contributed to the timely delivery of vaccines and medicines. On biodiversity conservation, we have supported three regional governments in Peru to establish a baseline for deforestation, drawing on 24 years' worth of data to identify zones that are particularly vulnerable to deforestation and other illegal activities. Based on this, we have developed an early warning system that enables regional governments to act more quickly and direct their limited resources towards the most critical areas rather than trying to cover vast territories. Why are regional and municipal governments so important? In Peru, public spending is highly decentralised – around 35 to 45 percent of the budget is allocated to regional governments and municipalities. These are the entities closest to citizens. If this final link in the chain does not work well, citizens will not receive the services they need. How does better public finance management reduce corruption risks? By improving the efficiency and transparency of processes within public bodies, we limit discretionary power and reduce opportunities for corruption. The programme has generated concrete evidence of this. The regional government of Loreto – Peru’s largest region – for example, rose from 18th to 4th place in the national ranking of corruption prevention capacity after becoming a programme beneficiary. This kind of progress matters, because corruption ultimately undermines the delivery of public services and the responsible use of public resources. What can other countries learn from Peru's experience? We see the Programa GFP Subnacional as a laboratory for public finance innovation. Over more than a decade, it has generated proven tools and approaches that improve efficiency, reduce losses and help ensure the quality of public services. This body of evidence – tested and refined over time – represents a form of global learning. The lessons and best practices the programme generated can be shared not only across Peru but also with other countries, where they can be adapted to local needs. In this sense, the Swiss government's investment in the programme goes beyond impact in a specific region: it is an investment in generating knowledge and innovations that can inform public financial management reforms and help improve public services and the lives of citizens elsewhere.
Enhancing law enforcement training with technology and AI
As corruption becomes more sophisticated, anti-corruption training must keep pace. In a recent webinar, experts from the Basel Institute shared insights on how technology has strengthened training efforts for law enforcement practitioners worldwide. They also explored exciting new applications of artificial intelligence AI to further enhance training and learning experiences. This webinar was provided in support of the FALCON project\ , showcasing technological tools and best practices to aid the Fight Against Large-scale Corruption and Organised Crime Networks. As Jacopo Costa, Senior Specialist in Prevention, Research and Innovation, explained, one of FALCON’s key objectives is to explore how technology and AI solutions can be leveraged to innovate the fight against corruption. eLearning: from passive reading to engaged learning Peter Huppertz, Head of IT and eLearning, offered a number of recommendations on how to make eLearning effective and efficient for learners. Central to his message was that the delivery is as important as the content . Too much online learning is passive and disconnected from practitioners’ real-life tasks and needs. The Basel Institute’s eLearning method is built around active participation – and technology is crucial to this learning method. Participants complete simulated investigations step by step on the Basel LEARN platform. They must complete certain tasks correctly in order to progress to the next phase of investigation. Peter demonstrated these interactive features by taking webinar participants through a few steps of our popular Open Source Intelligence OSINT course. His demonstration showed how the learning journey is supported by content taken from actual cases that expose participants to what they need to do in real life. By developing courses in collaboration with subject matter experts, we ensure that the materials reflect real investigative mechanisms rather than abstract theories. At its best, eLearning offers remarkable flexibility and individualisation. Once a programme is developed it can be easily scaled up Basel LEARN now reaches nearly 60,000 users . By employing open source software, the learning management system can be tailored to the specific needs of the training programme. This is especially useful when we deliver our custom-made in-person, in-country training programmes for law enforcement and other anti-corruption practitioners. Blended learning – the best of both worlds Blended learning – combining instructor-led, in-person training and self-paced eLearning – has become a cornerstone of our training programmes, which have seen more than 4000 participants in over 40 countries over 17 years. These training programmes are targeted at government agencies in partner countries to help them develop their capacities on financial investigation and asset recovery. They have been designed to mirror the complexity of real investigations, where investigators search for evidence by analysing financial data and untangling complex legal structures, hidden ownership and cross-border flows. In our trainings, participants investigate a corruption case, uncovering pieces of evidence by locating information and replicating the procedural and legal steps from their own jurisdictions. Thierry Ravalomanda, Head of ICAR Training, explained that this approach enhances participants’ sense of ownership and autonomy. These are critical motivation factors in adult learning. In the past, these simulated investigations were paper-based. Now, with the Basel LEARN platform integrated into our face-to-face training, participants are able to immerse themselves into more realistic investigative environments. They are also able to continue to learn and practise their skills once the training ends. Importantly, the human aspect is still central in our trainings. They are delivered by experienced investigators, prosecutors and financial intelligence analysts who provide guidance as participants work their way through the investigative scenarios. Participants also always work in groups with the LEARN platform, fostering cross-agency collaboration. As Thierry noted: “We need everyone – FIUs, prosecutors, judges and law enforcement – to speak the same language and understand the investigative process together”. Taking blended learning a step further Blended learning will also be a key aspect of our new postgraduate programmes, presented during the webinar by Jörg Schmidt, Senior Specialist, Continuing Education. Delivered in partnership with the University of Basel, the programmes combine academic foundations with new research and real-world practitioner experience. Much of the degree courses will be delivered online, with hybrid introduction and conclusion sessions. Hence, the courses will draw on the Basel Institute’s extensive experience with eLearning and blended learning. They will employ technology to ensure that online modules are interactive, collaborative and closer to real-world experiences. Expanding educational frontiers: the possibilities of AI AI is already being explored by the Basel Institute as a valuable enhancement for eLearning and on-site training. For example, Peter demonstrated a new AI-generated witness interview course activity, which replaces the traditional written interview summary document. The activity allows training participants to actively engage with AI-prompted witnesses by posing questions and receiving realistic responses – a step closer to a real-life interview. As the technology improves, we will integrate this model in other training programmes, for example in our training on interviewing skills for financial investigators. Apart from enhancing participant engagement, AI is also useful for creating training content and eLearning courses. It can assist in creating content such as quiz questions and translating trainings into different languages. It can also help with assessing participant performance, which provides valuable data on the effectiveness of our courses. Technology-supported training enhances effectiveness Basel Institute eLearning courses and training programmes have demonstrated the effectiveness of digital tools in training anti-corruption professionals around the world. As technology becomes more powerful, it can help us to provide better training to tackle the increasingly complex and evolving landscape in which law enforcement and other anti-corruption practitioners work. Claudia Baez Camargo, Director of our Prevention, Research and Innovation team, who moderated the webinar, concluded the session with these words: It shouldn't be about people just becoming lazy and using AI rather than doing their work. It is about making people more productive. It is about us being able to deliver more complex, more sophisticated tools that go with our training, that go with our teaching, that make the experience a lot more immersive and interesting than it would otherwise be. Learn more Watch the webinar recordings. Read the FALCON policy brief “Recommendations for leveraging Artificial Intelligence AI in the fight against corruption”. \ The FALCON project is funded by the EU HORIZON programme under grant agreement 101121281. The Basel Institute's participation is funded by the Swiss State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation SERI .
Publications
Tackling the complexity of border corruption: How technological tools such as the project FALCON dashboard can support investigations
Corruption at land and sea borders facilitates smuggling, sanctions evasion, tax offences and the entry of counterfeit, substandard or unsafe goods into countries including EU member states. This report conceptualises border corruption as a complex system of actors, events and illicit exchanges that is difficult to detect and investigate.
Drawing on research from the Horizon Europe FALCON (Fight Against Large-scale Corruption and Organised Crime Networks) project, it explores how innovative technological tools – illustrated by the “FALCON dashboard” – can help investigators manage, visualise, interpret and report large volumes of heterogeneous data in support of more effective investigations.
About this report
You may share or republish this report under a Creative Commons CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 licence.
This report was written as part of the FALCON project. FALCON is funded under the European Union’s Horizon Europe Framework Program Grant Agreement ID 101121281. The Basel Institute on Governance, as an associated partner without the right to receive funds directly from the European Research Executive Agency, has received funding from the Swiss State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation (SERI).
The contents of this document are the sole responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the European Union, the European Research Executive Agency or SERI.
Case Study 1: The Serwamba case: achieving Uganda’s first successful money laundering convictions
This case study explains how Ugandan prosecutors obtained the first ever convictions under the 2013 Anti-Money Laundering Act, overcoming numerous challenges in relation to the financial investigation, prosecution, international cooperation and asset management.
This landmark case blazes a trail not just for Uganda but for other countries to prosecute cases of money laundering and recover illicit assets. The analysis sets out the investigation strategy and shows how the prosecutors overcame challenges in relation to conducting the parallel financial investigation, dealing with a vast amount of information and long timescales, securing the cooperation of accomplices as witness, obtaining information from abroad through informal cooperation channels, and managing the confiscated assets (cash, vehicles, land).
Open-access licence and acknowledgements
This publication is part of the Basel Institute on Governance Case Study series. It is licensed for sharing under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0).
Suggested citation: Walugembe, Tom. 2020. “The Serwamba case: achieving Uganda’s first successful money laundering convictions.” Case Study 1, Basel Institute on Governance. Available at: baselgovernance.org/case-studies.
Working Paper 23: New perspectives in e-government and the prevention of corruption
Does e-government have an impact in reducing corruption? Do e-government solutions sufficiently take private sector perspectives into account to maximise its potential for addressing corruption risks?
This paper addresses these and additional questions about the dynamic between governments and the private sector with respect to harnessing e-governance tools for corruption prevention. It is written primarily from a private sector perspective and for private sector actors who are interested in a more comprehensive understanding of the scope and examples of e-government solutions to improve their anti-corruption policies, but concludes with numerous recommendations for the private sector and governments alike.
About this Working Paper
This paper is part of the Basel Institute on Governance Working Paper Series, ISSN: 2624-9650.
The Basel Institute on Government was granted funding by GlaxoSmithKline (GSK). The work was undertaken between September 2016 and May 2017.