We see public financial management and anti-corruption as two sides of the same coin. Well-designed budgets and procurement systems cannot deliver their full potential if public money is diverted or controls are weak. Corruption also persists when wrongdoing goes unnoticed or unpunished.

Strong public financial management also makes anti-corruption efforts more effective. When proceeds of corruption and crime are recovered, for example, authorities need to properly safeguard and manage these funds so they can be re-used for the public good.

Our approach therefore integrates anti-corruption and accountability into public financial management rather than treating them as separate issues.

Strong subnational expertise

Much of what matters most to citizens – schools, hospitals, water, roads and other public services – is delivered by regional and municipal governments.

We have more than a decade of experience working directly at this level in Peru, while also helping connect subnational reforms with national policies and systems so that everything flows smoothly together.

This includes developing and applying a tailored methodology to implement PEFA evaluations, which are the gold standard for evaluating public financial management capacity, at the subnational level.

Anti-corruption and public integrity

We help governments strengthen internal controls, manage corruption risks and embed transparency, accountability and integrity into everyday financial processes.

Our experience in Peru – where one regional government rose from 18th to 1st place in Peru’s national corruption prevention index – shows what is possible when anti-corruption measures are integrated into everyday administrative processes and institutional culture.

Asset recovery and criminal justice

The Basel Institute brings specialist expertise in financial investigations and asset recovery that is unusual in the public financial management field. Through our International Centre for Asset Recovery (ICAR), we help both national and subnational authorities to trace, recover and manage assets linked to corruption and other financial crimes, and where possible to bring the perpetrators to justice.

The relationship between asset recovery and public financial management runs both ways. Strong financial management can reduce opportunities for corrupt actors to steal or misues public money. And when governments are able to recover stolen assets, they can return those resources to the public purse and show that corruption has real consequences.

Good public financial management is also essential for asset management. We help governments put in place measures to safeguard returned stolen assets, manage them transparently and ensure they are used for the intended public purpose.

Environment, health and education

Citizens experience public financial management through the services that governments provide: medicines or vaccines in health clinics, school books in classrooms and natural area that are protected against illegal and unsustainable logging or mining.

The Basel Institute’s wider anti-corruption programmes give us deep experience in the governance of sectors such as health, education and environmental protection, where weak systems and corruption can have particularly serious consequences.

Our support is practical and designed together with local partners according to their needs. Depending on the context, it can include:

• Diagnostics to understand institutional, political and financial challenges and opportunities before designing solutions.
• Technical assistance delivered alongside government counterparts through mentoring, workshops and hands-on problem-solving.
• Capacity building through training, peer learning and professional development.
• Practical tools and technology that improve processes, controls and access to information and learning.
• Behavioural approaches that address the incentives and habits shaping how people and institutions actually work.
• Knowledge sharing to turn successful approaches into tools and lessons that can be adapted elsewhere.

Public financial management can strengthen programmes well beyond the traditional sphere of government codes and processes. The Basel Institute can and does bring public financial management expertise into projects focused on business, climate, the environment, justice and social accountability.

• For businesses, for example, we can help strengthen the governance of public investment and public-private projects, so that funds are managed transparently and deliver the intended results.
• For climate and environmental programmes, we can help build stronger financial management into areas such as conservation, sustainable infrastructure and green cities.
• And where trust and social accountability are the goal, we also have experience using participatory approaches to help governments, businesses and civil society build trust and productive channels of communication.