Actors in grand corruption schemes often conspire and deliberately create sophisticated networks to extract huge amounts of public resources from government systems. They hide such conspiracies behind hybrid formal/informal arrangements.

This Working Paper presents international case studies of legal frameworks addressing conflicts of interest and highlights common challenges, opportunities and lessons for practitioners and other interested stakeholders. The report covers three contexts: two national (South Korea, Brazil) and one supranational (the European Union). 

This Working Paper is intended to guide practitioners who are seeking to complement conventional anti-corruption measures by adopting a behavioural communications approach.

It aims to connect a typology of anti-corruption messages with behavioural change theories, and discuss their impact.

Subsequently, 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.  

Corruption is increasingly understood as a form of collective, social behaviour. It slips easily across borders and involves sophisticated financial strategies and transactions to launder the stolen money. 

Yet the nexus between corruption and money laundering is poorly understood. So too are the structures, functions and mechanisms that enable these crimes.

Citizens and business people may invest significant time and money in building informal networks with public officials to overcome public service delivery shortcomings and access business opportunities. Understanding these networks better can strengthen anti-corruption efforts.

This research case study gives a brief overview of our Public Governance team's research in Uganda and Tanzania. Through interviews, the team explored when, how and why informal networks are built and used to access public services or business opportunities corruptly.

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.