The newsletter covers recent highlights at the Basel Institute in 2023, including a new Working Paper on confiscating sanctioned assets, the launch of our Collective Action Award for Southern Africa and corruption risk assessment training for environmental agencies in Malawi. It also features our latest news, blogs and other publications, as well as guest articles from friends of the Basel Institute. We take this chance to welcome 10 new staff members to the team.

This research case study describes how a pilot behavioural anti-corruption intervention succeeded in reducing “gift giving” in a Tanzanian hospital. It targeted deeply ingrained social norms while also leveraging the social networks of key staff members.

This case study describes how Switzerland is putting to test a rarely used but powerful law in order to confiscate assets connected to Ukraine’s 2014 Revolution of Dignity, with the aim of returning these to Ukraine.

Key points:

Published by the Targeting Natural Resource Corruption (TNRC) project, this Topic Brief explains how a well-designed system of internal controls can help to reduce corrupt behaviour affecting law enforcement against illegal wildlife trade (IWT), as well as enhance the functioning of IWT enforcement systems as a whole.

It is based on extensive field research and collaboration with agencies tasked with IWT enforcement in three countries in Africa and Latin America.

The topic brief covers:

The European Commission's Handbook of good practices in the fight against corruption maps a variety of anti-corruption practices in EU Member States that have proved to be useful in solving problems related to corruption, and which can inspire similar initiatives elsewhere. 

Key among these is Collective Action, which the Handbook explains and endorses in detail. It explains the key characteristics of Collective Action initiatives compared to accountability initiatives and lists several typologies and mechanisms.

This 20-minute course on Collective Action, developed by the United Nations Global Compact, offers a basic introduction and some initial ideas on how to get started. 

Course description

Joining efforts through anti-corruption Collective Action initiatives is a powerful way to level the playing field through the creation of fair and honest market conditions for all.

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. 

This guide to managing risks that affect public integrity was developed by Peru’s Secretariat for Public Integrity of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers, with technical assistance from the Swiss-funded Subnational Public Finance Management Programme implemented by the Basel Institute on Governance.

The guide seeks to help Peru’s public institutions reduce the risk of corruption and other misconduct, especially in critical areas such as service provision, public procurement and human resources.

The International Law Association's White Paper on corruption covers the current global anti-corruption landscape, present challenges, and the way forward to combat this scourge.

This introductory guide for the Targeting Natural Resource Corruption (TNRC) project: